Why a plain reading?

Because most of us are plain people. We don't know Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and we don't have the time or inclination to learn. Besides, if the Bible contains difficult or hidden meanings, does that mean we must trust someone else, who may be wrong, to interpret meaning for us? Would a loving God who wanted his creation to be saved make it so difficult to understand his words that most human beings would be lost? Should we say, like the Muslims do of the Koran, that only the original words in the original language have the correct meaning? In that case we are out of luck, no original 1st century manuscripts of the New Testament exist, nor do any originals of the Old Testament. We are stuck using a Bible in a language we can read and still must trust that the transcribers and  translators did it correctly. Let's just make things simple and accept an approved (?) translation at face value. I usually use the NIV study Bible, an inter linear Bible, and a concordance. I also look at other English translations like the KJV and the JPS for comparisons. For ease, I will refer to articles in Wikipedia and other Encyclopedic sites on specific topics. Feel free, in fact I urge you, to go into more depth on your own.

For the most part, I will be ignoring the subtle and the obscure meanings attributed to the text, and instead will be focussing on the obvious. I will also be asking pertinent questions whose answers are not revealed in the text. Again, my intention is to keep things simple and straightforward for the benefit of those who want quick reference points to examine on their own.

Edited 9/11/16