Interpreting the Bible
Throughout history, there have been varying methods of interpreting the Bible. These range from the most conservative to the most liberal. Three of these belief systems are:
| The Bible is the actual Word of God. |
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Its authors were directly inspired by God. |
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The first five books of the Bible were written by Moses. |
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Since God cannot make mistakes their writings are also inerrant - without error - in their original autograph version. |
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It is only when a person is saved - they repent of their sin and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior that the Holy Spirit possesses them and shows them what the biblical text really means. Unless a person is first saved, their interpretation of the Bible will inevitably be in error. |
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All passages are useful for the believer. |
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| The Bible contains the Word of God. |
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However, it also contains material that we must reject because it has always been opposed to the will of God. This includes passages which condone slavery, exhibit religious intolerance, involve the torturing prisoners, treat women as property, require the execution of non-virgin brides, witches and gays, and which advocate genocide, sexism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc. |
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| The Bible is a wide-ranging human document. |
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It was written by very human and fallible people who were not directly inspired by God. |
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The motivation of the authors was to promote the beliefs of their religious groups. |
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The first five books of the Bible were written by four unknown authors or groups of authors over a period of centuries and later redacted (edited) by a fifth person or group. |
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The Bible records the authors' evolution in spiritual and religious belief over a period of about 1,000 years. |
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They incorporated a lot of material from nearby Pagan religions, like the book of Genesis' creation stories and Noah's flood - events that never happened. |
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The Bible contains a great deal of folklore, religious propaganda, and myth. |
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Stories of the great heroes of the ancient Hebrews (Adam, Abraham, Joseph, etc) are myths and involve characters who never existed. |
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Some of its content is profoundly immoral by today's religious and secular criteria, and must be ignored. |
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The Bible calls for justice and decent treatment of all persons. These themes are vitally important today. |
U.S. Religious Beliefs
 A recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that Americans often mix traditional faith with other spiritual ideas. Nearly half of those surveyed said they had had a mystical or religious experience, compared with 22 percent in a 1962 survey.
Researchers found that 24 percent of U.S. adults sometimes attend services of a faith different from their own. (That figure doesn't include people who go for special events such as weddings and funerals or attend services while traveling.)
More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. Jehovah's Witnesses have the lowest retention rate of any religious tradition. Only 37% of all those who say they were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses still identify themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Those who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today is 16.1%. Men are significantly more likely than women to claim no religious affiliation. Nearly one-in-five men say they have no formal religious affiliation, compared with roughly 13% of women.
While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. Among the foreign-born adult population, Catholics outnumber Protestants by nearly a two-to-one margin (46% Catholic vs. 24% Protestant)
Americans' personal beliefs often combine aspects of major religions such as Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs such as reincarnation and astrology. Twenty-five percent of about 4,000 U.S. adults surveyed believe in reincarnation, the rebirth of the soul in another body. Among Christians, the number drops slightly to 22 percent.
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