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I think people misunderstand this verse. When people say "strength" and "power"... a lot of people will think physical strength, or social/political power. No, what I think what God is referring to here, is *spiritual* power. (cont)

Or, if you don't like/understand that, then *emotional* strength. I can personally attest to this. After I started reading the Bible and following Him, I don't get depressed, and I don't feel down as often and I find that when I do... I examine my actions... and it turns out, I had been lax (cont)

...in doing things like reading the Bible and praying. He also gives you courage. Kinda hard to feel afraid of the future when you know that no matter how it ends, you got the One and Only that cannot be defeated on your side.

Also, as an afterthought... a being like God (an omnipotent/omnipresent/etc one) would know what a person would do with what He gives, before He gives it. God would not be in the market for doing "useless" things, therefore He would not give gifts to those who would "waste" them.

We would not understand why He does what He does, but He has a purpose for everything He does, and if He gives strength or courage, or power to somebody who doesn't use it in such a way *we* would understand, doesn't mean it was a "useless" venture.

If you want me to try to explain in more detail, feel free to ask questions about what I said. As far as the Bible... well, it actually is not open to interpretation. People think it is, because they either cherry-pick verses and ignore the rest, or they are reading it with preconceptions as to what it means. Not that this is a 'bad' thing, but it is a common thing people do wrong (understandably so).

What I more meant, is that there's only 1 way it was meant to mean. Sure, you can come to any conclusion you wish about the text in question, but when the author wrote it, they meant one thing in particular, and took great lengths to provide enough cross-reference material to rule out other possible interpretations.

Obviously people can, and have formed their own opinions of what they think the Bible means by any certain verse or verses... doesn't mean that they are aligned with the Bible's author(s) though.

That is.... a question with a complicated answer. I will give the gist of it: pretty much the entire Bible is good for general instructions and knowledge. However, the Bible also contains a lot of doctrine, instructions for worship, and such. But here's the thing: (cont)

The Bible, as you say, was written over the course of about 4,000 years by 60 authors. Some of it is NOT meant for us today, such as the animal sacrifice system. We call this "dispensationalism". It's complicated, but the easy thing to remember is this: certain parts of the Bible are addressed to certain people.

I hope I didn't offend you or anything... I was merely trying to help with understanding and such as you said that I lost you with the earlier attempts to explain. But if you don't wish to talk further, that's ok too...