Gunnar wrote:LittleNipper wrote:God has provided us with His Word. We are to study His Word and then compare what God is saying in His Word with what man tells us God is saying. One may find that the conflict is not with the Word but with one's interpretation of the Word. And one's interpretation is often clouded by what one wants to believe. God does work to mature christians; however, this always involved reading God's Word and asking God for His understanding of that Word.
Given the undeniable fact that there are so many mutually contradictory examples of "God's Word", there is much more than ample justification for doubting that "God has provided us with his word"--at least not in any clear and unambiguous way. And don't try to claim that He has unambiguously and clearly provided us with His word. The still undeniable fact that there are so many mutually contradictory religious belief systems, all of whose devout adherents sincerely believe themselves to be proclaiming "God's Word" devastatingly destroys the credibility of that claim! There is simply no honest or reasonable way to get around that fact!
Certainly it is true that one's convictions can be clouded by what one wants to believe, but in no field of inquiry is that more obviously true than in religion. This is due to the simple fact that when one doesn't require hard evidence and sound reason for what one believes (as religions typically do not), it is virtually inevitable that one's interpretation will be clouded by what one wants to believe. In other words, subjective faith, untempered by evidence and sound reason, is by far the most effective way to perpetuate error, once it occurs.
The only effective way to minimize error and root it out when it occurs is to honestly acquaint oneself with and consider the evidence as it becomes available, and honestly identity our own confirmation, and how it may be distorting our perceptions. This is the process that has made science so outstandingly successful in discovering and discerning truth. This is the process that has brought us the technological marvels and advances in medicine and agricultural productivity that our modern civilization enjoys!
What is genuine is often copied. Those who are His sheep will recognize His voice. The truth remains consistant and unchanging.