“It’s a matter of interpretation.” Do we really speak the same language? Or, is it imperative to rely on interpretations of what is said?
“Don’t read into what I said.” I confess that I do this all the time. In fact, if I don’t consciously stop myself, it is literally all the time.
“My life is an open book.” Few of us can truthfully say this. Most people are closed books and people like me are constantly trying to open all these books and when unsuccessful we resort to fictionalizing the stories that we get an inkling from off of the book jacket, the outside of the book.
I got to thinking about this whole idea of interpretation from a Facebook forward from Mindful Christianity. In part, it goes like this: “Two people read the same Bible. One sees…. The other sees…. Two people, one book. One Book, two views. The book is a mirror. The reflection is you.”
For example, the third commandment (Deuteronomy 5:11) says in the old-timey KJV of the Bible, “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Now, I grew up with the idea that swearing or some called it cursing, especially saying words like damn, and all of its versions saying Jesus or Jesus Christ, or God, as in Oh My God (OMG), was breaking commandment number three.
So, did the actor in the British drama, Line of Duty misuse the name of God when he exclaimed, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and their wee donkey,” at a ridiculous answer to a question, under caution, an oath to tell the truth? Did Will Ferrell’s character in Talladega Nights, blaspheme when he exclaimed in exasperation, or prayed to, “Baby Jesus?” Should Protestants be up in arms at the line in Paul McCartney’s “Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom…” in one of my favorite songs, Let it Be?
But “swearing” in this way, is not the same as swearing in an oath by God’s name and intending to break that oath, or is it? That is swearing falsely and breaks the covenantal law set out in Leviticus 19:12.
Is this swearing, and or a breach in the third commandment? It seems, a matter of interpretation. What is swearing? Talk about swearing under oath, I borrow a line from President Bill Clinton, “it depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”
If we’re talking Bible, there are multiple versions or interpretations of this magnificent book. Why do you suppose that is? Why do we need so many versions or interpretations? Why so many divisions in the Christian Church?
What is fundamentalism? Is it a type of interpretation? Orthodoxy, or adhering to correct, standard, or accepted creeds is fundamental to one’s interpretation of the Bible. Whichever creed you adhere to, possibly the one you grew up with, will color what you see in the words written in the Bible.
Now, back to interpretation, specifically. Interpreters worldwide are not only fluent in at least two languages, they are empaths as well, so to speak.
Not only does the interpreter translate words, they translate meanings. In other words, we don’t just interpret language, we interpret culture, emotion, intent, tone, and attempt to bridge the exchange between two speakers/listeners.
Two people reading this column may interpret it very differently, depending upon what each sees in the mirror. Either way, I hope it stimulates you to think deeper than today’s weather, but that is also open to interpretation.
“Some like it hot.” Some like it cold, cool, or colder than now. Others like it humid, but not too much. Because of the basic tenet of interpretation, one can suppose that is why we have degrees built into our language, e.g., cold, colder, coldest, Autumn, Winter, or frozen tundra; warm, warmer, warmest, hot, blistering, and right out of the gates of hell. Where I stand, on the weather, well, let’s leave that up to your interpretation.