Scriptural Interpretation

In this thread, I want to take certain parts of scripture and "teach" them as if this were a Bible study. I then want to have feedback on why my interpretation is good..or not..and how others see the same scripture. This will be similar to the Parables 101 thread that I had several months ago, but I want to go beyond the parables of Jesus to the scriptures that actual "Jesus people" use in their Bible studies.
I want to go to Faith and Belief. OK, Admin?

How about opening with your first example?

This scripture is a good one to use with incarcerated youth who have been into gangs. I may break it down like this:My son, if sinners entice you,do not give in to them. If they say, "Come along with us;let's lie in wait for someone's blood,let's waylay some harmless soul; let's swallow them alive, like the grave,and whole, like those who go down to the pit; we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; throw in your lot with us,and we will share a common purse"-- my son, do not go along with them,do not set foot on their paths; for their feet rush into sin,they are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds! These men lie in wait for their own blood;they waylay only themselves! Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;it takes away the lives of those who get it. I would interact with the young men more than what I have wrote here. I might ask them how they got in trouble. How the home life is. How their friends act. I would use this scripture as an icebreaker and conversational opener to lead to further discussion on the solution to rebellion.(from New International Version)

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

Well I see one point that could use further explanation - where do you get your definiton of "sinners" from ? And is it not the case that according to orthodox Christian belief EVERYONE is a sinner ? So how does it make sense to single out some people and not others ?Aside from that, I don't really see much point to this example. It certainly doesn't illustrate any important issues in Biblical interpretation let alone any that might be directly relevant to the subject matter of this forum.

Your example is actually covered in the ten commandments.
Altho, whatever works with whomever, works for me.
I've spent much time in prisons including the infamous Attica. There are no sinners in any of them, only innocents convicted for no reasons at all.
Clearly the behavior described in your example applies to anyone of any age as criminal.
Next.
Thank you.

Hi, Paul. My point for this post wasThe Bible is a book of interaction between humans and God. You are right that everyone is a sinner by nature according to orthodox belief. This particular story is suitable for young incarcerated youth. Lets take another bit of scrip: You see, Paul..the message is always the same, no matter who you are teaching it to. Any more comments? BTW what advice would YOU give to young delinquents? I want to hear your speech. Well, the only interpretation that we are concerned with is what the Bible verse says to the listener.This message has been edited by Phatboy, 01-10-2005 11:24 AM

Sorry, but I don't see the point of asking what I would say to young offenders. That's certainly nothing to do with Bible interpretation.And you don't really answer the question as to how this is relevant. It's not even saying anything significant about Bible interpretation.

Hi Phat,Could you do me a favour and leave a line between the quote boxes and the present message text?I find it a little difficult to follow at times.Cheers.Brian.

The relevance is that the lesson is about morality. The fact that you do not see it is why you do not consider the Bible as relevant. That is why I challenged you to show comparable relevance in a lesson.

Ok. Done. How have you been, Brian? This topic is off to a slow start.

quote:

---

The relevance is that the lesson is about morality. The fact that you do not see it is why you do not consider the Bible as relevant. That is why I challenged you to show comparable relevance in a lesson.

---

Being that these verses are from Proverbs, this lesson can be seen as wisdom being passed down from Solomon. The morality lesson portrayed in this section from Proverbs is not found only in the Bible. Take the movie Pinocchio. The lovable wooden puppet went to that fantastic playground where he played pool, smoked cigars, etc. Pinocchio gave up a moral life and instead fell in with kids that were sinful. Pinocchio almost fell to the same fate as the rest of the kids who succumbed to their "sinful nature". Does this mean that the move "Pinnocchio" was divinely inspired? (rhetorical question).I don't think it takes an understanding of God, Salvation, or the supenatural to understand the wisdom found in this lesson plan. If you are teaching youths, they won't take the advice from a supernatural entity that they don't believe in, so Pinocchio may actually be as useful as the Bible in this situation. Many times, young adults will develop trust with an adult counselor and may start to heed the advice of that adult. No matter what, telling kids not to hang out with gang-members and other bad kids is good advice, no matter where it comes from.

In other words the subject is not about how to interpret scripture, nor is it specifically aboutr interpreting scriptures relevant to EvC arguments.So what IS the relevance ? Don't tell me you're leading into a Straussian -religion-as-social control argument.

Reminds me of The Message paraphrase Bible, where Eugene Peterson writes his interpretation of the Bible in contemporary language.Here is that same passage from Proverbs in The Message:

---

If you say there no absolutes, I ask you, are you absolutely sure?

The pesher of this verse is to stay away from Jim Bakker and his ilk.