Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Again I think the question is how we think God expects us to read the Bible. Does he expect us to read it simply with the view that all is being said is what the writer and speakers were trying to say. Or is that God include messages in the Bible based on the meaning and associations of words that even the writer wasn't aware of?
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Well, given the fact that we still don't see everything in the universe subject to Christ, and the Rebellion of Satan still rages, we cannot assume that the writers and speakers of the Bible knew everything. Because if they did, arguably, the battle would be over. The triumph of God would have been final. So we pick up the mantle, find meaning, and soldier on.
Secondly, if the writers of the NT were true and "Christ is in you" and "we see Jesus" then we the readers also have an active role to play in finding meaning and associations of words. I can read the text and say that this means such-and-such to me, or that I see Jesus in such-and-such a way.
All of which happens in the church meeting, and if I go off the rails the crowd is expected to pull me back in. So our reading, and interpreting, is supposed to be a kind of "holy madness" just as the original vision was. And the crowd, assembled (the ekklesia) is supposed to restrain the madness of the prophet.
Unless you go to the LSM meetings. Then "the oracle" belongs to "the chosen vessel of this age", and the rest of us are supposed to be "one". And both the speaker and the crowd go into a ditch.
I prefer the Podunk Community Church. There, I'm the wild-eyed guy in the back, muttering to himself about "visions" and "dreams".