Why many people do not understand the bible

[jennifer_bloom]

I believe you have to obey the 10 commandments to understand the bible and you do not have to obey them perfectly, as long as you try and seek improvement rather than increasing rebellion and pursuing self destruction, you will gain the capacity to understand the bible.

I also believe the 10 commandments have allegorical meanings that extend beyond a literal meaning: do not steal might involve not wasting the time or emotional energy of others with lies, not worshiping idols, might mean refusing to hate or exclude stupid people in your family or church if they are moral and respectful etc..

[jengeorge26]

Yes, and you have to read it, for me I had to read it again

[Marushka]

There's a lot of theological debates around how certain things are to be interpreted. There has been a lot of schisms over the centuries because people don't agree on fundamental religious ideas and interpretations. A lot of things that are commonly believed by Christians aren't even in the bible and instead developed historically. Very few people, even religious ones, read the bible and even less study it. The fact that it's a translation of very old documents doesn't help. There's a bunch of historical translation errors to take into account that made it into modern versions of the bible. Stuff that was translated from Greek into Latin and from Latin into other languages. There's also different versions of the bible with some focusing more on a pleasant sounding text and others focusing more on keeping the transition as close to the original as possible. There's modernised translations from the middle ages and more modern translations of older Greek or Latin texts. A lot if things in the bible would be understood differently a few hundred years years ago than today.

Each person's understanding of the Bible will be shaped by their personal beliefs on religion and Christianity as well as the reason why they read and try to understand it. I believe the Bible is first and foremost a historical document that fundamentally shaped western society but it's not possible to understand or study without understanding the historical context of each text and the Bible itself, including the way it's interpretation was shaped during the years.

[BlueScorpio]

Because a lot people don't understand the mind and personality of God nor in these times do they have faith. When reading the Bible they aren't asking for guidance or understanding from God or the holy spirit to get a true grip on God's word. As God said, don't rely on your own understanding, if there's something puzzling you about the Bible, then go into prayer and ask Him what the scripture means and He will give you an answer.

Another thing is people over complicate God. Yes He's very complex being but once you read the Bible you will understand He's easy to understand. God's personality is love, righteousness, not of evil, loyal, honest, compassionate, straight forward. But He is also just, and will judge according to works we've done on earth.

When people ask why does God let bad things happen, it's cause 1. We have free will to choose between Good and evil. If we decide to choose evil then destruction will come into our lives one way or another. God also never promised anyone that life will 100% be perfect for anyone here on earth, what makes you so special to have the most perfect life? Even the most faithful man job was tested and went through hard times and that was to show believers that no matter what happens here on earth, always trust your father who is in heaven and will He will come through for you.

In my opinion it all cones down to lack of faith and humanities continuous rebelling against God and His plans. We think we can out smart Him in every way but we always end up repeating history and our historical mistakes/bad decisions. Just read revelation and you will see how everything is playing out now and lining up with what scripture said was going to happen.

[Youryeodongsaeng]

For one, why would I try to "understand" a book filled with mythology? The book just tells tales and altered and removed lots of things from the Jewish Bible.

I am no atheist; I just don't believe in anything that cannot be proven.

[RiseofArtemis]

Because they are not smart enough to know its hidden meaning and are not capable to open their tiny brain to have more knowledge and accept different opinions. The bible was created through years of knowledge by many and the stories they did were put into one book. The bible is a warning to us to not do the same mistake as they did in the past. Ancient Rome fell and was taken over by exactly that religion who's messiah they killed.

[maximumpower]

You are assuming everyone either should or wants to.

A rather large percentage of people don't care.

[Staximus]

Stop thinking about the Bible and god all the time and get out there and enjoy life

[TroyDT]

1 Corinthians 2:14 explains why.

[Dipak123]

Because they haven't read it yet