I recently found this in a post I wrote in a discussion we had on the Shack back in 2003. I thought these questions might challenge some of our religiously embedded perceptions of Bible study

I have some questions based on an underlying trend we seem to get into regarding the Bible:
1. First, are we afraid that any definitive answers regarding specific meanings of Bible sentences (verses), letters, books or passages will in any way hinder the miraculous life of Christ in us because it may disagree with the way we have viewed those writings?
2. Even if a Biblical statement, passage, whole letter or book has a definite understanding to it (or behind its writing, whatever the case may be) do we really think the accurate discovery of that original thought, custom, habit, circumstance, etcetera defines what we think of as “the understanding of the Word of God”? In other words, if we really did get all the Biblical information down accurately would we have we really come to understand “the Word of God”?
3. Should we be afraid to gain any historical, cultural or geographical information that might better explain what prompted one of those guys to write what has now been included in the Bible as if it might take the “magic” out of those special verses?
4. Do you think we could ever possibly read anything without having it somehow be considered tainted by another’s opinion, since even the meanings of the words we read are so often infused with opinion? In other words, does the exclusion of notes in any way guarantee a non-tainted view?
5. Do we not also “see” many spiritual realities in a vast number of non-Biblical sources (like a movie, a story, a circumstance, something somebody said, etc), realities that have more to do with us than with the original subject matter?
6. Does the fact that we “understood” the original meaning/intent in any way damage the reality that impacted us so that we find a need to pretend that the original, fixed meaning is impossible to determine … or are we only more excited to realize that we saw something in the face of something else?
7. Did we receive the anointing of the Spirit so that we might better understand the intricacies of Scriptural passages, or has it caused us to know HIM?