Biblical Interpretation. Eh?

I wouldn't call myself a theologian, for me that title belongs to smart people like those clever chaps and lasses on the Faith and Order Committee. But as a Christian, and as a training local preacher, I do interpret the Bible. If you're a 'keen' reader of this blog, you might have seen my post on being an archaeologist. When I interpret the Bible I cannot help but do it partly with archaeological thinking in mind. To be sure, I feel this gives me a better insight than many into how people lived in the past, particularly in the the field of statecraft, kingship and religion in the ancient world.

However, something I've had to work much harder at, is then taking that knowledge of what the Bible meant to people in the past, and applying it to how we live today. It's something I have been working on and something that I have been improving on at least.

In the last few days I've been helping write commentary for Plymouth & Exeter district's Bible in a year challenge, as the year is drawing to a close, and everyone is pretty tired. As such, I've drawn Revelation, as a book, which is a challenge for me because it's widely open to interpretation, and I can't help but feel that the meanings could be rather open, if not rather improbable. For example, the beast with seven heads could represent a city with seven hills, like Rome. But what about cities that also have seven hills, Sheffield for instance?

So often I find stories of people interpreting the Bible to justify their own opinions about people that it makes me want to scream. For me Christianity is a faith of peace and of love, and to me the scripture speaks overwhelmingly so! So perhaps when we interpret the Bible we need to be v. careful?