Rules for Interpreting Historical Narratives, Part 4 | Rapp Report Daily 0060 | Striving for Eternity

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Welcome to the Rapid Bull, daily edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications.
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This is a ministry of striving for eternity. As we continue to look at the methods of interpreting
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God's word, we are spending this week looking at historical narratives. And we've been addressing this one because of so much abuse that happens with it.
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One of the things we were going over is the rules specifically for this style of literature.
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We said that when we look at historical narratives, we must remember that they don't directly teach doctrine.
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They could sometimes, but that is not always their purpose. We saw that historical narratives record what did actually happen, not what should happen.
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We saw that historical narratives don't always include a statement of whether something is good or bad, whether it should be practiced or avoided.
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We also must understand that historical narratives are not allegories with hidden meanings, and this is something you see people doing often.
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They try to look for some secret meaning within the historical narrative, as if it had to have some special spiritual purpose that has special meaning to people.
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So you'll have someone like Joseph Smith seeing reference to two sticks, that the scriptures tell us that these two branches are the two branches of the
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Israelites, and yet they will take that and say, well, that's the Bible and the Book of Mormon. They give it a hidden meaning that had no understanding for thousands of years.
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This is something that you'll see them do. And so we must realize that it doesn't have some secret meaning.
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It also to be understood that these stories are about God first and foremost, and that's the purpose of a historical narrative.
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This podcast is part of the Striving for Eternity ministry. For more content, or to request a speaker or seminar to your church, go to strivingforeternity .org.