Interpretolatry

Interpretolatry, for lack of a better term, is the worship of interpretation. Interpret-, for to interpret, and -olatry, for worship; that is, to worship interpretation. A practitioner of interpretolatry is therefore an interpretolater.

I consider interpretolaters to be very dangerous people. They are synonymous with denominationalists. So here I will discuss what this means in a little depth.

What is an interpretolater and what are the signs of one?

An interpretolater is briefly someone who exalts above the Word, his interpretation of the Word. He believes that the Word is infallible, and by reasoning he believes solely in the Word therefore his interpretation is infallible as well. These people often accuse others over simple disagreements in interpretation of possibly being under the influence of demonic spirits and take it upon themselves to deny that person salvation, belying a God-complex the individual suffers from. They often tell the other that he is doomed to Hell.

Often, the person will make the claim that God /the Holy Spirit has instructed them personally through special revelation in interpreting the Word of God. The claim is often made by so many of them that this "god" they refer to seems to give different people different interpretations at different times. But this is paradoxical nonsense. God is not and cannot be divided, nor is He the author of confusion. This "god" likes to confuse people, or otherwise it is the deluded confusing themselves. But it is not the biblical God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who is responsible for this.

Interpretolaters go to extremes to single out those who resist their wayward doctrines and when in power within communities, even seek to make a personal mockery of that person. Historically, they would commission synods and church councils to publicly ridicule that person and seek ways in which they might be shut up, or even killed. Through the power of church councils, many men such as Arminius were marginalized even to this day, several hundreds of years later.

I consider interpretolaters to be some of the most dangerous enemies of the Church, as they see only validity in their own conceited view of themselves and their own deluded personal opinions. They are of God, they reason, and therefore anyone who opposes them is of the enemy and must be resisted even violently.

The Biblical case against interpretolatry is very simple actually. Man is utterly depraved, he is deluded with the thought of his own divinity and infallibility and outside of a personal relationship with the Savior Christ is on a path to complete destruction. Man's job is to constantly seek after the Lord and His will as well as seeking after deeper insight into the Scriptures. But as feeble-minded and finite men, our interpretations are not always correct and there is always needless to say room for more improvement and instruction. No one has all the answers and should always be willing to learn even more no matter how advanced one may be.

Therefore, interpretolatry is a great evil and should be resisted.