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Literal interpretations (#2)

When I say a word, how do I know that you share my understanding of the word that I've used? There is perhaps an expectation that when I say the word green that the word carries an inherent shared meaning which does not need to be explained. However this is an expectation which can create challenges if the assumption is not accurate. 

When I was growing up, my parents and extended family were members of the Jehovah's witness church. Many of the churches core beliefs centred around a literal interpretation of the Bible, and only from a specific translation of the Bible. These literal beliefs did not take into account human evolution, information and messages that were lost in translation, and changes that were necessary to make up for cultural and social context. 

My argument was always that the words that described the situations in Levant culture 2,000 years ago could not be directly translated or compared delete that applied to life situations in Australia. They were principles of course that could easily be applied across multiple different cultural social and environmental contexts but the literal comments could not be taken advantage because they were written for a different time a different context and a very different situation.

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