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How not to Study the Bible

The Dangers of Looking for Deeper Meaning
by Shawn Nelson

HOW NOT TO STUDY THE BIBLE:
THE DANGERS OF LOOKING FOR DEEPER MEANING
Copyright © 2013 by Shawn Nelson.
Published by GeekyChristian.com, Temecula, CA. [email protected]

In this work by Shawn Nelson, he examines how to not go wild in finding hidden meanings in Scripture when the intent of God and the earthly writer was not to convey such non-sense.

Contents of Nelson – How not to Study the Bible

Obviously Harold’s Been Out Camping…………………………………………………….3
Why Would Anybody Follow Harold Camping?………………………………………….4
There Are Many “Campers”………………………………………………………………….5
My Confession…………………………………………………………………………………..7
Examples of Allegory from Pastor Wayne…………………………………………………8
We Desperately Want the Bible to Be Relevant……………………………………….10
Gose Relationship Involves Conversation………………………………………………11
What Is Allegory?…………………………………………………………………………….12
Some Clear Allegories in the Bible………………………………………………………..13
How Far is Too far?………………………………………………………………………….14
When Literal Interpretation Was All There Was……………………………………….16
Allegory Came From Greek Philosophy………………………………………………….17
A Brief Summary of Plato…………………………………………………………………..18
The First Jews to Adopt Allegory………………………………………………………….20
The Early Church Fathers Follow………………………………………………………….21
Two Rival Schools Begin to Form…………………………………………………………22
Allegory and the School of Alexandria…………………………………………………..23
Literal Approach and the School at Antioch…………………………………………….23
Allegory All Grown Up: The Roman Catholic Church………………………………….24
Say Goodbye to Personal Bible Study……………………………………………………26
The Reformation: A Return Back to a Plain, Literal Approach………………………26
Final Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………27
Where to Go From Here?…………………………………………………………………..28
Appendix l: “Allegorical Vs. Literal” Not A Good Description……………………….30
Appendix 2: Other Ways We Look For Deeper Meaning…………………………….32
“God Spoke To Me through This Verse Today”………………………………………..32
Playing the “The Fortune Cookie Bible Verse Game”…………………………………34
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………36

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Quote from the Book

Martin Luther (1483- 1546), the man who sparked the reformation with his Ninety-Five Theses, actually confessed that he was a horrible allegorizer. But upon reading the book of Romans, he realized something that might be obvious to us, but which nevertheless, was revolutionary for him at the time. Luther said that Christ cannot be an allegory—he had to be real. Eventually this thought led him to reject the allegorical method of the Church altogether. He argued that the Bible was the only supreme authority and that the text should be understood literally.

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