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As I See It: The Bible is a book of mysteries
...Can I have the mind of God? I just have to tell you I am skeptical of anyone who claims to understand everything in the Bible and says it means only "thus and so." When people step into the mind of God with, "God wants this ... " and " God wants that ..." my buzzer goes off.

I know there are those of us who are more learned, but I firmly believe when someone assumes he knows what God will and won't do they are presumptuous, and I am dubious. Sorry. It is no surprise to me when different Bible-waving evangelists prove to be false prophets.

Love one another? Love your enemies? Pray for those who despitefully use you? These are the challenges that grapple me. They have the ring of truth which I can't dismiss. But I don't think I shall ever be able to claim to know it all. I don't know that I'm meant to, or that anyone else is meant to. If it were so cut and dried, it would not have the same allure. It might depreciate from its supernatural quality of healing, its inexplainable versatility to mean different things at different times to different people. Where does faith come in?

The word of God is spirit, a two-edged sword that can pierce us to the quick, a fire that can sear our hearts, a bolt of lightning out of the blue. It brings a new meaning to each fresh wound we bring to it.

When we need it, it's there. The Bible has an inexplicable way of soothing, being the balm for whatever pain or quandery with which we cope. I believe the Holy Spirit dwells within the pages of the Bible. "Be still, and know that I am God," it states. Jesus did not leave a bunch of platitudes. He brought a "new commandment," the message of love and mercy.

Does God intend for us to know everything, sit up on a bench and pass judgment on each other? Are we all supposed to interpret what he says in exactly the same way? How many denominations do we have? How many translations of the Bible are there?

My help comes from a Lord who doesn't speak to us moralistically. His message comes in the verses of what we called the Beatitudes, positive statements that tell us how to be, not how NOT to be. "Love is the fulfillment of the law," is the Christian message. Do we really need much more than that?...