A Love Affair with God
As mentioned previ- ously, Kierkegaard, perhaps reflecting on his illfated relationship with Regina Olsen, often referred to an individual’s relationship with God as a love affair; it is simultaneously passionate, happy, and painful. He also said that one should read the Bible as one would read a love letter. That is, the reader should let the words touch himself or herself personally and emotionally. The meanings of the words are the emotional impact they have on the reader:
Imagine a lover who has received a letter from his beloved—I assume that God’s Word is just as precious to you as this let- ter is to the lover. I assume that you read and think you ought to read God’s Word in the same way the lover reads this letter.
As you do not read a love letter using a dictio- nary to determine the meaning of its words, neither should you read the Bible that way. The meaning of both the Bible and a love letter is found in the feelings it causes the reader to have. No one should tell you what to feel as you read a love letter or the Bible, nor should anyone tell you what the correct interpretation of either should be. Your feelings and your interpretation define what in the experience is true for you. Truth is subjectivity—your subjectivity.
