God or interpretation of God

[iamnoman]

In each religion that professes the worship of a god or gods there is a defining work that holds all of the key elements to the religion or belief set(i.e. the Holy Bible, The Qua' ran, the Torah, etc.). Each of these were written by the hands of mortals and is subject to the interpretation of the author(s), translaters, and readers (not to mention the many different subsets and variations of each religion). Does this negate the validity of these holy works?

[Buffy]

The basic claim is that they are the actual word of God with a human "prophet" tasked by God to deliver it to the world. Some religions give this prophet a more or less active role based on the circumstances, but unless the book is exactly what God desired it to be, it would indeed be illegitimate.

 

The sticky mess comes in when in order to fill in the "gaps" in the teachings of God, the leaders of the religious groups that claim to be inheritors of the role of the prophets have trouble claiming that they too have the blessing of God to further interpret what She means and intends. Any charlatan can get up and claim to have this divine blessing, and many do!

 

The most defensible position--one you will find numerous examples of here in our Theology Forum--is the notion that only the text is divine and it is up to the *individual* to do the interpretation of what God means and wants of Her children. In this view, the interpretation solely affects the individual, and thus does not become yet another source of oppression or a tool to satisfy greed.

 

If "validity" is an individual opinion, then there is no need for a more scientific interpretation of whether belief in a religious text as the word of God is valid.

 

There is no legitimacy on earth but in a government which is the choice of the nation, :phones:

Buffy