Just because we have the right to interpret Scripture doesn't mean we have the right to interpret it any way we want to. Just because we feel something is true doesn't make it so: e.g., not believing in election because it seems to make God out to be a despot. We cannot fabricate our own truths! We are obliged to cutting it straight so to speak. There have been many "mystics" who claim special revelation and new interpretations that only they have been privileged to know. For example, the Quakers believe they should listen to an "Inner Light" and Mormons believe God testifies His Word with a "burning in the bosom."
Remember the road to Emmaus: "Were not our hearts burning within us?" Neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth said that a passage becomes the Word of God when you have an existential experience with it. Well, that could subjectively mean anything: Does he mean getting goosebumps, chills down the spine, or burning in the bosom? Somehow God can convict us of the truth and speak to our hearts; it is usually different to each individual. Reading into the Scriptures what we want to see is called eisegesis and correct interpretation is called exegesis.
God can speak through the air vent if He chooses, but He has chosen to primarily speak through His Word. "And the Word of the Lord tried him." "He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word" (1 Sam. 3:21). "For it is no empty word for you, but your very life" (Deut. 32:47). "Do not My words do good to him whose ways are upright?" (Mic. 2:7). Note that God uses His Word. "The LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD" (1 Sam. 3:21).
Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian Emmanuel Swedenborg was a mystic that decided he would eliminate some of the books of the Bible that he didn't "feel" were scriptural. Today we have a sect following his errant teaching. If God is going to reveal the meaning to you He will do it to other members of the body also as confirmation. "For no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation..." (2 Pet. 1:21). In summary: Subjectivism is a road to mysticism and we must endeavor to be objective, even though there is no such thing as total objectivity except with God. Soli Deo Gloria!
Remember the road to Emmaus: "Were not our hearts burning within us?" Neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth said that a passage becomes the Word of God when you have an existential experience with it. Well, that could subjectively mean anything: Does he mean getting goosebumps, chills down the spine, or burning in the bosom? Somehow God can convict us of the truth and speak to our hearts; it is usually different to each individual. Reading into the Scriptures what we want to see is called eisegesis and correct interpretation is called exegesis.
God can speak through the air vent if He chooses, but He has chosen to primarily speak through His Word. "And the Word of the Lord tried him." "He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word" (1 Sam. 3:21). "For it is no empty word for you, but your very life" (Deut. 32:47). "Do not My words do good to him whose ways are upright?" (Mic. 2:7). Note that God uses His Word. "The LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD" (1 Sam. 3:21).
Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian Emmanuel Swedenborg was a mystic that decided he would eliminate some of the books of the Bible that he didn't "feel" were scriptural. Today we have a sect following his errant teaching. If God is going to reveal the meaning to you He will do it to other members of the body also as confirmation. "For no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation..." (2 Pet. 1:21). In summary: Subjectivism is a road to mysticism and we must endeavor to be objective, even though there is no such thing as total objectivity except with God. Soli Deo Gloria!
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