"Interpretation"...what an interesting word. Interesting especially when discussing Psalm II (both new and old versions). To early Americans reading about "heathens" and how God's people will take land they see on the coast from the heathens. The early Americans could have viewed the "heathens" as the Native Americans. Someone in class today brought up an interesting point of interpreting the Book of Psalms in a way that plays in the advantage of a situation. This could very well be relevant to the early Americans. Think about it...you arrive in a brand new place, and in order to explain your surroundings and world more clearly (aka. purpose of religion) you revert to a passage from Psalms that seems to depict an "exact" explanation of your situation.
This exemplifies that power of interpretation. Because religion is something that has been present since the Paleolithic age, religion has to be able to adapt and be applicable to the current world. I am not suggesting that this is a bad thing to do or that adaptation is wrong, in fact, I feel it is necessary to constantly reexamine the historical clues and scriptural evidence that has been given to us in order to try and explain our current world. But one cannot deny that different interpretations can lead to skew what historically happen and possibly, in a biblical context, lead to misconceptions about what God wants and what God's people are supposed to do. Hence, this shows the power of interpretation by man on the supernatural.
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Not only do I agree with you that interpretation is important, but I think it's one of the essential components of religion! It's what keeps people coming back for more, so to speak. And at the same time it's the need for a community same-across-the-board faith that is another component. This combination is something I've always found really fascinating. But one of the most interesting things about religion, I think, is that while many people may identify with the same faith they're all there for different reasons. I think interpretation is the root of this!
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