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Can a non-Christian read the Bible and truly understand it fully?

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    No. Unless you're enlightened by the Holy Spirit, parts will remain mysteries. The Holy Spirit was given to Christians to teach us. Without the Holy Spirit giving us the Spiritual meaning, the Bible would seem like nonsense.

  • 1 decade ago

    No... The Bible is not intended for the non-believer to understand without the leading of God. If a non-believer comes to the Bible honestly seeking to understand God's Will then there will be some understanding as God alows... as for Christians who may claim to "fully" understand The Bible... They either are misunderstanding their own understanding... or they are lying and not truly of The Faith, just running a con...No one of The True Christian Faith would make such a claim anyway...It is more than a lifetime study, if one started from day one, let alone starting late in life... I did not come to God from any reading of The Bible. I did not even own a bible on the day of my Salvation. I did not start to read it, for study, untill after answering God's Call to me... and I do not expect to even finsh one reading of it even if I surpass the " average" life span..and I am near sixty now...and I have been of the Christian Faith just over 6yrs now.

  • 1 decade ago

    Can a Christian read the Bible and truly understand it fully? I don't think so. Even less so those that don't have the Holy Spirit leading them into all truth.

  • 1 decade ago

    mmmm in a way you can, but as the Bible says, some things will sound crazy to the "normal" person. At the same time, some of the people that God guided to write his Word wrote it in a spiritual sense, not human sense. They used metaphors and symbols that are normally explained to you when you start a formal study of the Bible, which is my suggestion.

    The most important thing to understand the word of God, is to have God guide you through it. The Holly Spirit is the instrument that He will use.

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  • 1 decade ago

    A Christian can't fully understand the bible, only what God reveals to you. A non-Christian more than likely doesn't have God to help them.

  • 006
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    The question is, can a Christian read the Bible and understand it fully, or can they only read it from a Christian point of view?

    Source(s): "When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. Twelve thousand men and women fell that day--all the people of Ai." -- Joshua 8, verses 24 and 25.
  • 1 decade ago

    Many of the non - Christians you refer to were once born again spirit filled nut cases like the rest of you. Yes they understand the bible and the lies and fables within it's pages. The finally realized that it was all false and a book written by men and changed by men to manipulate others to control them and take their money.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I read it and I understood it when I was an atheist. It changed my life! I repented and got baptized!

    But one could make the argument that you need the HS to understand spiritual truths. I would agree the HS certainly helps and is a guide but most people dont receive it until after baptism!

    When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit -Acts 8:14

    Your Q may just have well read "Can a person whos never drove a car truly understand the speedometer?"

  • 1 decade ago

    I don't personally see any reason why not, if you are a reasonably intelligent person, I would say go ahead and read it. I am a Christian, and I know it would not offend me to see anyone reading the bible.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Pro 14:6 A scorner seeketh wisdom, and [findeth it] not: but knowledge [is] easy unto him that understandeth.

    If they pray for wisdom, God will give it to them:

    Jam 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

    If they are just looking for contradictions and discrepencies, God will even help them find those, too:

    2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

    2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

    I guess it depends on your motives:

    Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.

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