In Reply to: Re: KJV...and the saintly Marie Rubens posted by Farmer on February 05, 2010 at 02:38:43:
We are all still trying to search for and interpret meaning, derived from words written by human hands, filtered through inescapable culturolinguistic biases and human limitations; human authors also themselves searching for meaning and who inevitably influence the writings.
I don't fault the Holy Spirit for failing to get through despite, I fault humans for not getting it all right, because we can't help it. I also think we are understanding a lot more, getting closer to the truth of what was really meant, due to the development of critical thinking in modern times.
The Bible is full of contradictions, due in part to the fact that the truth has many angles, but also due to human error, personal preferences, biases, you name it. Just take the accounts of Jesus' life for example. However, the fact that there are errors and contradictions only convinces me that there was something real to it all. Without errors or contradictions, I would tend to think there was a conspiracy.
Personally, my faith is rock solid, but there is a limit to hair-splitting. I don't believe we should take every single thing literally anymore. What matters to me when it comes to the scriptures, is what they mean to the person concerned, how it comes alive for them personally, and how they relate to it, in modern times, in modern contexts. And if they don't relate to the scriptures, I would be interested to know about their own faith if they admit to having one.