The God Who Exists has revealed Himself and His perfect design for all that exists, but humans, from the very first pair, consider themselves sufficient in ability and authority to interpret and apply His revelation as they see fit. Some have thought that God intended every human to reach his own "individual interpretation" of the expressions of His revelation, but such a concept is a complete contradiction not only of the Creator's design but also of His very person and nature. The Creator never intended any human, even the individuals who received and wrote His words, to interpret Him and His revelation according to that individual's own understanding. The content of His revelation, in all the forms in which He expressed it, was to be understood according to His perfect mind, because His revelation, regardless of the means by which He gave it, was a perfect expression of His person and nature. No finite created being, nor all of them acting in concert, regardless of their status in human perception, could ever possess the ability and the authority to superimpose any "meaning" or interpretation upon God's own expressions of Himself. His every expression, every point and aspect of His revelation, was to be understood and applied according to His perfect mind and His perfect purpose as He gave it, and not one point of it was of "private interpretation."
Certainly, the Creator's provision of so much of His revelation in a worded, written format may seem to
indicate that "individual understanding" is acceptable for interacting with Him. After all, His very words, in the original languages which He chose for giving them, have been preserved and reproduced through the centuries, making them available to virtually any human who desires to know their original content. Then, too, His words have been translated and printed in a plethora of other languages, thus making "His words" widely available to individuals unfamiliar with the languages of His original texts. Humans, however, have done as they do so well; they have taken the words of His revelation, in whatever language they choose to use, and determined for themselves "His meanings" and "His interpretations," without regard to the meanings and interpretations which He, the God Who Exists, actually built into the words when He gave them. For many humans, even many who claim to be "believers," the words of God say and mean whatever they, humans, think His words to say and mean, but this practice is humanism in its purest expression, because it makes God's revelation subject to human minds, that is, finite humans usurp to themselves the authority and ability to determine what the transcendent Creator intended, or should have intended, to communicate. This is, indeed, pure humanism.
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