God says what He means and means what He says. Therefore the Bible must be understood plainly and normally. Satan wants us to think that the meaning of a verse lies somewhere hidden or behind the plain, face value meaning of the text.
Deviating from the plain and normal understanding of the Scriptures is one of the reasons why the Bible is diversely interpreted. Plain and normal interpretation is not the culprit for the existence of various interpretations. It is the solution to it.
True, the Bible conveys a spiritual message. But its spiritual message is conveyed through plain and normal language. Satan has successfully smoke-screened the message of the Bible in many people's minds by propagating the idea that the message of the Bible lies somewhere under the plain and normal understanding of the text.
True, the Bible employs poetry and therefore employs a lot of figures of speech. Plain and normal interpretation recognizes and treats figures of speech in the Bible as such, fully aware that behind every figure of speech lies a plain and normal meaning. This method recognizes the figure of speech, treats it as such but looks for the plain and normal meaning.
Not everything in the Bible is poetic however. A lot of it is plain prose---straight forward and direct in-your-face words. What's poetic about "You shall have no other gods before Me" for example? Or "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life?"
Satan has robbed many of us of the Word of God by making us believe that the plain and normal understanding of the text is not the way to go in reading the Bible. Thereby, making many of us disobey God's plain revelations and commands. You can't be wrong when you take God at His Word PLAINLY and NORMALLY.
Deviating from the plain and normal understanding of the Scriptures is one of the reasons why the Bible is diversely interpreted. Plain and normal interpretation is not the culprit for the existence of various interpretations. It is the solution to it.
True, the Bible conveys a spiritual message. But its spiritual message is conveyed through plain and normal language. Satan has successfully smoke-screened the message of the Bible in many people's minds by propagating the idea that the message of the Bible lies somewhere under the plain and normal understanding of the text.
True, the Bible employs poetry and therefore employs a lot of figures of speech. Plain and normal interpretation recognizes and treats figures of speech in the Bible as such, fully aware that behind every figure of speech lies a plain and normal meaning. This method recognizes the figure of speech, treats it as such but looks for the plain and normal meaning.
Not everything in the Bible is poetic however. A lot of it is plain prose---straight forward and direct in-your-face words. What's poetic about "You shall have no other gods before Me" for example? Or "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life?"
Satan has robbed many of us of the Word of God by making us believe that the plain and normal understanding of the text is not the way to go in reading the Bible. Thereby, making many of us disobey God's plain revelations and commands. You can't be wrong when you take God at His Word PLAINLY and NORMALLY.
