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Bible Critical Reflection

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As a Christian, especially someone who was a Christian from birth, the Bible is something I have been familiarize with very well. I have had multiple editions growing up, I read through it cover to cover once, and I would say that the Bible is something that I am comfortable with. I could sit down and just enjoy the stories, listen to the Psalms to help relax if I get stressed out, study Revelation and Daniel and compare them to world events, or I could go to the Bible for some marriage advice. One thing I was not taught growing up however, was how to read the Bible critically. I feel that there was a big push from mentors and my parents to read the Bible and interpret it for myself, but that is technically not reading the bible with a …show more content…

The Old Testament is not something that we should dismiss when studying the New Testament, especially when considering the context that the Old Testament adds to the New testament. When studying the New Testament, it is also important to keep in mind the ancient historical context that was happening at the time. Asking questions like “What was happening in the known world when this text was written? Where was the author? Who was the ruling authority?” is important to better understanding the text. Who was the antichrist that John wrote about in Revelation? Was John referencing some future ruler that God gave him visions of? Or was John referencing the current Roman ruler at the time as the “Beast”? Most likely John was referring to Domitian, the ruler of Rome from 51AD to 96AD, but without thinking of the historical context when reading revelations, interpreting the dreams becomes a little more difficult. When Paul wrote Corinthians, was he really calling for all Christians to prefer celibacy over marriage, even today? or was he trying to cut into the church at Corinth and give them an alternate path because of the sexual impurity and promiscuous behavior that was rampant within the congregation at the time. We especially know who Paul wrote his letters to, the Pauline letters where written to a specific church and they were critical of that specific church. However, we can still apply those letters to ourselves and our current church,

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