TRUE SPIRITUALITY IS OFTEN THOUGHT TO BE MYSTICISM, WHEN IN FACT IT IS NOT; FOR IT INCORPORATES THE REASONING POWER OF THE MIND. Far Too Many People Are Mislead Too Far To The Left And Too Far To The Right And Become Agnostic About The Narrow Path, The Highway Of Holiness. The way to destruction is wide, but the way to understanding life requires our utmost attention and is not a chance event.

For Christians, is "analyzing the Bible" equal to "interpreting the Bible"? Will the term "analyze the Bible" sound not spiritual enough or derogatory?

Happy Riches Answer requested by Valentina Ruiz

When a person interprets a given thing, this does not necessarily include analysis. Interpretation can simply be a matter of personal imagination and one’s opinion.
The term “analyze the Bible” does not sound very mystical, so for those who see spirituality as pure mysticism, the idea of analyzing the Bible would be a turn-off for them.

Contrary to popular belief, the Bible informs us through the prophet Isaiah that we are to seek God out, so that we can reason with Him. Many people, however, claim that we can only know God through revelation or intuition, but never through reason. Yet these same people will say that everything God does is for a purpose. So are we to believe, then, that God gave us the capacity to reason for no reason at all.

• You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason with your neighbor, lest you bear sin because of him. (Leviticus 19:17)

• Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips. (Job 13:6)

• “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord: “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

• But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. (James 3:17)

• But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed, reviling in matters of which they are ignorant, will be destroyed in the same destruction with them, (2 Peter 2:12)

• But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irrational animals do, they are destroyed. (Jude 1:10)

Clearly, we have been given the capacity to reason and, unlike the irrational creatures of instinct, we have the ability to reason with God. Just because people do not see their salvation from death, a matter of life and death, this does not mean that they have not got the capacity to reason and are irrational creatures of instinct that are born to become food for other creatures in some form or the other—in the wild, even dead elephants are food for vultures.

People claim God does not exist. Yet these people, who make these claims, have never made their appeal to God a matter of life and death, if they have made an attempt to reason with Him. I did. God spoke. And immediately afterwards, Jesus appeared to me.

Now when I read the Bible, I look to see what it can offer me in direction, because I have come to learn that this is a written resource that God uses to instruct people who seek the truth, so they can learn what is required of them.

When it comes to hermeneutics (interpretation of the Bible), my approach is objective and analytical, not reductionist and based upon assumptions. Nevertheless, by using the Scriptures found in the Bible, to interpret the Scriptures within the Bible, and not relying on any assumption—that is usually prefaced with “I believe” or “We believe”—my approach is inductive and analytical, even if purportedly circular, according to claims of the myth-makers, who deny its truth.

The term “analyze the Bible” does not sound unspiritual. Rather, the real issue depends upon how a person approaches analysis of the Bible. If the person begins with an assumption that is false, then the analysis is not spiritual, the same as any hermeneutic using that assumption would be unspiritual.

True spirituality is about “spirit and truth” not whether horse manure or cow manure is better for making turd blossoms grow.

• As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. (Psalm 103:15-16)

Reality is about life and death, and what happens when a person dies because of what they did when they were living their temporal life on Earth. Any analysis of the Bible rejecting the truth that the prime concern of its pages is the violation of righteousness by men and women and the fact they live a futile life—having been born merely to die—may as well be delivered to the paddocks for the benefit of turd blossoms.

Seeking truth is different to seeking justification of one’s assumptions about life. When people overlook the obvious and then go on an analysis binge where reductionism is the rage to the detriment of the bigger picture, this is when people become fools who are fooled by their own foolishness.

A wise person nails the most pressing problem first, not last. For once the most important truth a person really needs to know is established, then one has eternity to do whatever one would like to do. As it happens, learning the purpose of the Omniscient One becomes the next wise course of action. Analyzing the Bible, using the natural method of inductive reasoning, reveals remarkable truths that keep being proven by archaeological finds and prophecy coming true.

• You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides for ever.” That word is the good news which was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:23-25)

Analyzing the Bible is not the same as interpreting the Bible, because a true analysis not based upon assumptions reveals truth, whereas interpretation, that is not exegetical and inductive, is based upon assumptions and eisegesis (human imagination and speculation as the basis of interpretation).

People Unable To Understand Earthly Truths Cannot Understand Spiritual Truths