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| 3. Fundamental Integration -> Hermeneutics -> Basic Understandings |
Basic Understandings
Basic Understandings By what is taught today In Bible interpretation we are hindered by most of everything that is taught. For instance, we concern ourselves with the principles such as: Literal meaning always but allowing for idioms and figures of speech, Illumination by the Holy Spirit, Grammatical principles concerning grammar, Historical setting, Teachers within the church to protect from wolves, and Scriptures should agree on proper interpretation throughout.1
But after all these, there are even more, such as only one interpretation (explicit meaning) or many applications (implied meanings) principle, that implications must always be subordinate to the explicit meaning principle, first mention principle, two or more witnesses principle, and the biggie that the meaning of a word in a particular verse is determined by its immediate context in which this one verse is used, coupled with there can be only one interpretation for a context but many applications, and many others. All these principles begin to appear rather self-defeating. You will fully understand this statement after further reading here to learn why this is true.
We are lost in confusion of all the personal choices within these parameters of principles and even within each principle. Our interpretations can still be totally incorrect or only partially correct. All the different denominations witness this truth. What we need is a guide for our personal choices (thinking) to assure finding "the" Truth, the exclusively true. This guide to choices must be our means of interpretation, our Hermeneutic. By the Holy Spirit, our infallible guide must be free of personal bias, personal choices, or influences.
Just think, every Bible school and Seminary in the country teaches that the way to understand the meaning of any word in a particular verse is determined by the immediate context of this one verse in which it is used and all the other principles listed above. World-wide all Bible teachers in Bible Schools and Seminaries teach, "The context must always
determine the meaning of the words. This may make possible multiple meanings for a single word depending the number of different contexts considered. To force one meaning of a word upon
all passages is the chief way false teachers twist the scriptures." This is the absolute rule of today's Dispensationalism, Calvinism, Roman Catholicism, and all denominations, the Emerging church, and all cults.
THIS IS FALSE ! "EVERYONE' IS GETTING THEIR FALSE MEANING BY ASSIGNING ANY PREFERENTIAL MEANING TO A WORD, DEPENDENT UPON THEIR OWN ALLEGORIZING (WHETHER OF A CONTEXT OR AN INDIVIDUAL WORD) and insisting this is the valid interpretation, regardless of whoever is teaching it.
Allegorical interpretation is whenever any kind of spiritual meaning is perceived by anyone as being expressed by any individual word or a context of words together. This "allegorical" meaning was first described and taught as a valid means of interpreting God's Word by Origen about 220 AD, and although totally rejected at the time, it has become unknowingly indirectly totally taught by just the means as described above by all modern day Bible Schools and Seminaries and denominations.and cults.
So, today, when anyone wishes to devote his Life and schooling to our Lord Jesus Christ Service, he must first choose which denomination or cult doctrines he first chooses to teach, realizing that the distinguishing characteristics of all choices depends upon what their basic different doctrines being taught by each. This choice will determine all his future and Eternal doctrinal choices for his personal salvation and those he teaches.
In the words of a little child's thinking, "I must choose my Eternal Destiny at that moment. In this world of the satan, I am being given ONLY to choose between the allegorical spiritualizations (starting assertions) of multiple different contradicting teachings to seal my personal fate, and everyone I teach, for Eternity." In this world kingdom of the satan, the little child is able to see that he has no other choice offered to himself. So with great self assurance of his sinful flesh nature and soulish choices, blindly with great sincerity, he unknowingly chooses for his Eternal choice ONLY what the satan (rebeller) of his kingdom, the world system, provides for him to choose between.
It is true that false teachers twist the scriptures, but what is the false means that they use to get the meaning? The answer is simple. Without controversy, it is by starting with unfounded ALLEGORICAL SPIRITUALIZING assertions from which they force their meanings or methods. Anyone (as Bible Schools and Seminaries) can say the context of any word, going by FIRST their taught bias (interpretations, doctrines), indicates a different meaning to any word in each different context. This is EXACTLY the cause of multiple false meanings given to any word (Lexicons) depending upon making a different meaning for the one word from different contexts of allegorical spiritualizations. This is WHY we say when anyone graduates from a Seminary (Cemetery) he is forever as a dead man walking, so proud of his great learning.
So we have as many as 40 or more disparate meanings for some single Greek words in our translations today. So teaching that false interpretation is made by making the meaning of a word dependent upon a single context by self biased allegorical interpretation, obviously is a false and irrational teaching to any normal inductively thinking person. But this is the irrational mantra every Bible School teaches (deductive thinking) and every "educated" pastor glibly repeats like a robot parrot throughout his future life on earth. Deceiving and being deceived.
Consider this, does making as many meanings for one word as seems appropriate to us for our wishes in different contexts of "what it should mean," in each individual context, make our many meanings more valid? It should be obvious that all these well-meaning dogmas are really not safeguards at all, but actually working biases secretly supporting themselves. Any one word may thereby obtain many disparate meanings. This is only compounding MINDLESS SELF-CENTEREDNESS OF THE SATAN.
Note: A bias, prejudice, is nothing more that a beginning premise upon which a person bases all their decisions or choices regardless of an intimate knowledge of the Greek or Hebrew. (The premise of course, is a righteous and true understanding of all the scriptures; or so thinks the individual.) For instance if one believes that something is true, then he will necessarily interpret a context to support that starting premise and, of course, the word in question will be correspondingly interpreted to support the premise as well. This is nothing more than a bias at work, saying: "The (single) context must always determine the meaning of a word used in it." This, therefore, demands that many different contexts will result in many different meanings of the same word to continue to support the beginning premise (the bias) of the interpreter. Have you noticed that they all (utilizing these rules) end up with hundreds of different beliefs and interpretations? So convinced is each one by utilizing all these rules of interpretation that major denominations and schisms are formed, being founded upon them, among these brethren. And they can all base their divisions upon the use of these rules.
Obviously, these rules dogmatically taught as sacred as the gospels are not the answer. Personal choices (biases) can so enter into our application of these rules that all these rules of interpretation are transformed into justification for each person to believe just whatever his beginning soulish choice-bias is. This is godless self-centeredness (of the satan, rebeller).
In other words, all the books and principles in the world will not help us if we don't have a fool proof means of making personal choices among all the details. This gives us two goals:
1. Learn the one fool proof means of making choices.
2. Thereby, clearly discern all of the one truth, and all the false. It is equally obvious that the Bible schools teachings on Hermeneutics fall far short of these criteria. Indeed, obviously the dogma of saying, "different meanings of a word must be determined by EACH specific context in which the word occurs," is absolute INSANITY. This is totally backward--today, called, "scholarly." A little child can only understand a sentence if he learns one meaning for each word in the sentence.
Wouldn't it just be wonderful to have a way of thinking that would remove us from all this confusion and imprisonment of man-made "scholarly" principles to the free and glorious light of the exclusive Truth, easily discerned and comprehended? This is what a correct and liberating joy Hermeneutics should be.
So let us return to our previously stated simple but all inclusive definition "and practice" of Hermeneutics. "The endeavor of understanding anything by exacting rules of rational thinking." In plainer words, learn how to think rationally, how to form conclusions conclusively, rationally.
HERE IS WHAT WE HAVE ALL "SCHOLARLY" OVERLOOKED FOR CENTURIES
Actually, we think this is a simpler endeavor for a little child, than for the most complex for our minds more practiced in much less innocence. "Truly, I say to you, that except you should receive the Kingdom Rule of God as a little child, you should never ever enter in yourself" (Mark 10:15). "Truly I am saying to you, that unless a person should receive the Kingdom Rule of God as a little child, that person must never ever enter therein himself " (Luke 18:17). "In that hour the disciples of Jesus came near saying, So then, Who is greatest among us in the Kingdom Rule of the Heavenlies? Jesus Invited a little child, and stood him in the midst of them. And He spoke, "Truly, I Say to you, unless you should have been made Turned Around, and you should become as these little children, you should never ever enter into the Kingdom Rule of the Heavenlies. Therefore, whoever should have humbled himself, as this same little child, is greatest in the Kingdom Rule of the Heavenlies" (Matt 18:1-4). WE HAVE MISSED THIS AS THE MOST IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE.
For us who make great complexities of our lives, we must lay out explicitly stated rules by which "common sense" is laid bare for all to adore. As a preoccupation, man must admire all the facets of that which a little child innocently enjoys.
God gave all little children common sense (INDUCTIVE THINKING, See footnote 2 ). Rational thinking is that which we all know instinctively AS CHILDREN. First discerning the meaning of words and therefrom the meaning of sentences (contexts). We start out in our lives like this, but quickly become quite misled by all of the satan's world kingdom of schooling and of sinful flesh natured people about us, to believing that sentences or even larger contexts define the meaning of a word within them. Completely backwards of a child's original thinking.
There is no deficiency in God's provision even to natural unregenerate men when it comes to a rational logical mind, governed by instinctive principles of consistent dependable thinking, by which men may harmoniously exist with one another and recognize and submit to their Creator. These principles or rules of hermeneutics (rational thinking, inductive thinking) detailed in this article are nothing more than what each of us instinctively knows to be true. But, Oh, how far we may stray because of our deceitful flesh (sinful, self-seeking, and self justifying nature) when we become adults led by sinful flesh nature and soulishness OF SELF-CENTERED CHOICES.
However, if a person by reason of loving sin of any kind (false doctrines included) uses his mind to practice irrational (deductive) thinking of the satan, then the common sense of a little child is lost. God allows them to have a "reprobate mind." This includes any who practice deductive thinking of the satan whether they are thinking "spiritually" or "sensually." The most spiritual teacher is highly vulnerable. He must guard his mind against deductive thinking of the satan. And no one today is taught in a usual school of any kind what deductive thinking is, and how it differs from inductive thinking.
We must sadly smile as we recall the spontaneous prayer of our Lord when he was contemplating the terrible judgment to be visited upon Capernaum where His works had been plainly revealed.
"But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.'" Matt:11:25-26 and Luke 10:21 Established !! Let us never forget that the marvelous Word of God given and revealed to us is only revealed to the simple child's thinking, a child's simple believing and thinking that is hid from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes. Greater profoundness cannot be found. It is this simplicity which we must here discern.
When we said above before this, "the dogma of saying, "different meanings of a
single word must be determined by EACH specific context in which the word
occurs," is absolute INSANITY," we did NOT consider what a little child would consider the context of God's Greek Word would be !!
Wouldn't a little child think that the context of God's Greek Word would be the "entire Greek NEW COVENANT to determine the One meaning of each of His Pure (monadic, one of its kind) words ( Psa 12:6) would be that they have only one meaning each as they are tried as silver in a furnace of earth, purified seven times (Psa 12:6) as He says in His Word, and that they would be preserved Pure forever (Psa 12:7).
THIS MUST BE OUR CREATORS PURE WORDS AS INTENDED FOR US. WE ARE TO LEARN THE SINGLE MEANING OF EACH IN HIS ENTIRE NEW COVENANT TO UNDERSTAND THE ENTIRE CONTEXT OF HIS PURE GREEK WORD AS GIVEN IN THE NEW COVENANT (TESTAMENT).
AND FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS NOW WE HAVE COMPUTERS TO DETERMINE AS BEST WE CAN ALL THE CONTEXTS OF ANY SINGLE WORD AND THE ONE, ONE OF A KIND (MONADIC), MEANING OF THAT WORD THAT GIVES A COHERENT ONE MEANING IN EVERY INSTANCE OF USE THROUGHOUT OUR LORD AND MASTER'S ENTIRE GREEK NEW COVENANT TEXT !! But only one such endeavor has been done and available today: The Pure Word (TPW), by OnePathPublishing.com in 2016.
The unregenerate man and the born-again man are both hampered by three enemies: his (1) own fallen sinful body-nature called lusts of the flesh (1 Cor 2:14), (2) soul SOPHISTICATION (lusts of the eyes) of territory and pride of life (1 John 2:16, is not of the Father, but is of the world), and (3) by satan himself (2 Cor 4:3-4), in DECEPTION. Notice that two of his enemies are in man himself. The flesh, soulishness, and deception are the enemies of those interested in learning and using this profound simple truth of how to interpret AND TRANSLATE the Word of God IN THESE VERY LAST DAYS OF THIS AGE..
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