The Holy Bible

Before the bible was written, it was a collection of stories that were passed down from generation to generation. There were no computers, phones, typewriters, pens, or paper. "The earliest known writing was invented there around 3400 B.C. in an area called Sumer near the Persian Gulf." According to this site "The Bible is between 3,400 and 1,900 years old", and this site states, "The Old Testament was written between 1500 BC and 400 BC, though many scholars differ on the dates." Creationists, or literalist, or fundamentalists (different terms for same type of interpreters) believe that "the Bible, interpreted literally, suggests that the world is roughly 6,000 years old". Literalists belive that God created the earth roughly 6,000 years ago and yet the bible was only written roughly 3,000 years ago, which leaves us with roughly 3,000 of the bible not being in written form. 

Before the bible became written word it was spoken word. For roughly 3,000 years the bible stories were shared as a community and passed on through the generations. Since there wasn't any technology at that time, the people of the day would tell stories, they would gather and tell the stories as a community and contemplate them together. There was no preacher telling anyone what they should be doing. Christianity didn't exist back then and "The origins of Judaism date back more than 3500 years". Judaism being the predecessor to Christianity.

Current biblical religions are unrecognizable when compared to earlier human beliefs and traditions. Current biblical religions have been transformed into a patriarchal belief system in which there needs to be a person at the top to tell the community what to do and how to do it, a preacher. The bible was originally shared by everyone for everyone as opposed to its current position that only a select few are "chosen by God" and it's those chosen one's responsibility to tell the masses how to interpret the bible. Which is fine, that's where our society is now and it's all part of the process.  

The issue with our current western religious situation is a preacher is only preaching their own personal interpretation of the bible. For Literalists, this is fine, since literalist believe that there is only one interpretation of the bible and that is interpretation is literal, and the preacher has divine wisdom that the rest of the masses weren't blessed with. Nothing wrong with the literalist view of the bible. It should be mentioned that even literalists disagree about the literal interpretation of the bible, which results in different denominations of churches. If there was only one literal interpretation of the bible, then why so many denominations?

There are four major types of interpretation of the bible. The four senses of Scripture is a four-level method of interpreting the Bible. This method originated in Judaism and was taken up in Christianity by the Church Fathers. As you can see early church fathers took up this belief, the belief that there is more than one way to interpret the bible.

From Wikipedia:

For most medieval thinkers there were four categories of interpretation (or meaning) used in the Middle Ages, which had originated with the Bible commentators of the early Christian era.

1. The first is simply the literal interpretation of the events of the story for historical purposes with no underlying meaning.

2. The second is called typological: it connects the events of the Old Testament with the New Testament; in particular drawing allegorical connections between the events of Christ's life with the stories of the Old Testament.

3. The third is moral (or tropological), which is how one should act in the present, the "moral of the story".

4. The fourth type of interpretation is anagogical, dealing with the future events of Christian history, heaven, hell, the last judgment; it deals with prophecies.

Each of the four major types of interpretation also include various types of minor interpretations, some believe that there are countless ways to interpret the bible, since it ultimately boils down to each individual experience, perspective, and viewpoint. 

In John 10:11 Jesus Christ states "I am the good shepherd". "A good shepherd knows how to make his flock go where he wishes without force. He guides them. He must guard his sheep against predators. And a good shepherd can offer them comfort through just a word.." The definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: to guide or guard in the manner of a shepherd. 

A good pastor is a shepherd, not a preacher. A preacher tells you what to do, a shepherd guides you. A preacher speaks from their own interpretation, a shepherd allows you to interpret it your own way while guiding you and protecting you. Here's a real-life example, a preacher will tell you that "it is your duty to tithe and give back to God, or else you'll be punished", a shepherd would simply explain to you, "by tithing your learning to trust in and rely on God" and then leave it up to you to decide whether or not you choose to tithe.

This post is not bashing on preachers, people who preach are doing what is necessary for them and those that follow them. The world needs preachers, that's why we have them. This post is simply to ask the question; what type of pastor are you following; a preacher or a shepherd? I Love You and Peace Be With You!