I have noticed that people really enjoy interpreting the bible. We look for every opportunity that we can find, to find our own interpretation of every verse in the bible. We are looking for one that most people have not thought of before. It is awfully hard to find one that is new and original. And if you find something new and improved, it really doesn't matter any way. After a while, once you have heard one you have heard them all. Even if two people are having one of "those" conversations and have totally opposite opinions, they are each using the same verses for substantiation for their point of view. When I engage in one of those conversations, I get dizzy. It even gets worse when I am just listening to them. One sentence spoken by only one person can not be saying two, three or four different things. The only way that we can get along, is if we all agree that it is OK for everybody to have their own interpretation. The only other way that we can get along is if everyone agrees that ...I AM RIGHT ... I vote for this second choice. I was just attempting to be funny, but now that I have thought about it, that would work!

There is another way. Why don't we all try to not interpret any scripture at all. Is that even possible. Maybe we should think about that for a minute or two before we read another word . Is it possible to stop doing something that we have been doing all of our lives. It is easier to quit smoking or drinking or fishing or dancing or what other vises we might have. We do it more than any of us would ever think, and we need to quit it. And I am almost sure that you are saying right now;...NOT....... me! ......I noticed this fact almost ten years ago,....... I've been trying to quit it ever since, I come pretty close to it, every once in a while, and then I catch myself doing it again. I have to keep reminding my self, If I was a little child who has just learned to read. No that would be too young. A ninth grader who has never read or heard any of this before. What would he think, what he was reading actually says. I forget who said it but somebody said that wisdom comes out of the mouth of babes. Now this last sentence coming out of one persons might have meant either of two things but when it was said the speaker only had one intention, when he ( I ) said it. We shouldn't do that with scripture. The simplest way to understand any thing is usually the closest to the truth. That is unless they have told you that it may be a trick question, and if you get it right, you will win a new car.

Look for the simple meanings, and when we start this new and improved style of reading scripture, we should start by reading the red words first. The Jesus said part of the bible. Read them several times until you can almost feel how Jesus must have felt, when he was saying what he was saying. And once we have gotten to know how he must have felt, we are then ready to proceed to reading what the disciples were telling the people, about things that they believed that Jesus said . It seems as though the disciples were the first ones to do it. They were the first ones to interpreted the mind of Christ. "Well if They can do it, why can't I do it"? But if I do it, you will want to do it too. Here we go again. I promise I won't do it if you promise you won't do it. OK !

OK. back to reading what the disciples said. If we hear the disciples say anything that does not sound similar to anything that we remember Jesus saying, we should really think about it. But instead of looking for some kind of interpretation to help us understand it better, we should reread these verses, looking for an interpretation that is already there that we can get rid of. AND we should ask ourselves, are we believing in Jesus? Or are we believing in the disciple? We should believe what Jesus says over and above what the disciple is saying. The bible being the inspired word of God has no contradictions. It is our interpretations that are contradictory. When we find a contradiction, we must reread those passages until we find that misinterpretation. I promise you that if you will start at the beginning, (Jesus says) and try this new and improved style of reading scripture, you will change your opinion about many things, and feel better for it.