I can't get to sleep at the moment and so thought I would take the chance to put down some thoughts which have been working their way round my head. This may just be stating the obvious to some people or heresy to others but I thought I would put something down and see whether it makes any sense.

The sheep on the right above is a good (if extreme) example of many discussions over the meaning of scripture. These all too often seem to descend into one person having a clear understanding of a passage and someone else being left scratching their head.
One of my biggest frustrations is when people use the phrase "clear reading of scripture" or something similar. It must be wonderful to be able to use it without any sense of the wider implications it has. It seems such a simple phrase, and I'm sure for many people who have a strong idea of what certain passages in the Bible mean to them and those in their faith community it is not one which seems terribly controversial. Yet over the last six months I have come to the conclusion that it's at the root of many of the impasses found in churches around the world today.
In many ways I'm envious of those who can use it. For me scripture is never clear and I wish it was. It's always difficult to work out exactly what is meant and how it can apply to the world today. I don't want to argue against the idea that a series of books written in Greek and Hebrew in the Middle East over 1500 years ago can transmit the same message to people in the many and varied cultures of the world that have happened since, and in many different translations (or should that be mistranslations). I think that is a wonderful possibility. However, given that huge spread of billions of unique human contexts it seems an improbable one. Surely no two of those billions of people can have the same understanding of a text that is around 800,000 words long in English translations.
Anyway, those arguments are just minor as far as I'm concerned. My main point is this, and I've not yet been given an answer to it. Given that every clear reading of scripture I've come across has a strong principle of the fallibility of man, how can anyone claim to have the perfect understanding of any text that the phrase "clear reading" implies, let alone one that is or contains the Word of God? (Is it actually a heretical phrase is this respect?)
I think my conclusion is this. The phrase is all about power and a lack of willingness to critically engage seriously with both those who hold differing views to us and our own faith. It changes the debate from whatever issue is being discussed to a questioning of the authority of scripture. We all need to have a little more humility when we discuss our faith. Our understanding of the Bible is just that, our own unique understanding, which is just as unique as we all are as human beings. There may be certain core beliefs to the Christian faith but I doubt there is a single statement you can make to which every other person calling themselves a Christian will agree. And what sort of arrogance does it take to assume that we are right just because we see ourselves as holding the majority or so called orthodox view. I challenge anyone to place themselves on that pedestal.