Re: Every Ethical System Subject to Relativist Problems

[Eric Engerbretson <votive@earthlink.net>]

Hi, Bob,

In regards to:

[Eric]
>Usually, confusion between Christians taking different viewpoints on
>interpretation of a certain scripture verse simply boils down to weak,
>uneducateded interpretation.

[Bob]
The Pope may be weak, but I'd bet he's very well versed in the scriptures,
which your argument seems to ignore.  Hence, all of your Biblical
discussion here still does not prove that there is only one correct
interpretation of the Bible.  Very educated people do indeed disagree on
points of scripture!

--------
Of course, "very educated people disagree on points of scripture", Bob,
(your need to state that stems from my stupid use of the word
"uneducated"--I meant "ultimately" uneducated), but no matter how many
abbreviations these folks have after their names, if their interpretations
oppose each other, they simply cannot both be true!  I don't need to "prove
that there is only one correct interpretation of the Bible" any more than I
need to prove that there is only one correction answer to the equation 2 + 2
= X.  The only way there could NOT be only one true interpretation of the
Bible is if there really isn't a God and if He really didn't inspire it.
Perhaps that is even wrong, because WHOEVER wrote a verse, he certainly had
an intended meaning as he penned it.  If there IS a God who inspired the
Bible and directed its compilation, then every single verse had a very
specific intent behind it. God didn't inspire a verse to say that
homosexuality is a sin, and then think to Himself, "But I'll say
homosexuality is okay for those who have another interpretation of my verse
(darn, I wish I could be more emphatic!)".

Now, I was wrong  and foolish to say "uneducated" interpretation, because
education is a human institution and the most educated human will still err.
My point is,  you could be the most educated Bible interepreter on the
planet-- you could be more "well-versed" than the Pope, and that still
wouldn't mean that God had more than one intended meaning for a given verse.
You would still get an interpretation wrong once in a while (as I believe
the Pope has). I personally don't believe there is a person alive who has
the precisely correct interpretation of every word of God. I believe it
would be presumptuous and foolish to pretend that one did. But that fact
doesn't then lead to saying that, therefore, everybody's interpretation is
right, even when they directly contradict each other!  What scientist would
allow that sort of logic in the laboratory?! And yet all sorts of scientists
use that logic when it comes to religion, philosopy, and cosmology.
Interesting-- they certainly are educated well enough.  The fact is, the
people that Jesus got the most angry with when He was here were the most
educated Jews of them all. They spent their whole lives memorizing the
entire scripture. And yet, Jesus didn't say that their different
interpretations of some verses were valid. He said they were wrong. How
unChrist-like of Him.

You will NEVER hear me say that I have the correct interpretation of every
verse of the Bible. But will I say there is one? Absolutely. Will I say I'm
going to keep searching for it? Absolutely.  Will I say that some are going
to find it and some won't? Absolutely. I pray with all my heart that God
will help me to not be arrogant, or haughty when I feel that I have found a
Truth in scripture. I pray that He will help me to lead others to that
particular Truth in all humility and patience.  But oh, how I pity the poor
fellow who lives in a world where everybody is right and he can never know
whether his worldview is truly valid or not!  If there is no truth worth
dying for there is certainly no truth worth living for. What a hollow,
shallow existence.

As for this visionaries list-- I can't have a vision for the best Moscow,
until I have a vision for the best "me". And I certainly can't have that if
I don't believe in a solid foundation for things like morality, ultimate
meaning, justice, and the origin of man.

My best regards,

Eric Engerbretson