The Bible Says . . .

The three small words "the Bible says . . ." have sparked much debate within and between Christian churches. For example, "the Bible says" that God created male and female at the same time (Gen. 1:27), but in addition, "the Bible says" that God created Adam first and then created Eve out of Adam's rib (Gen. 2:18-23). "The Bible says" that Noah took two of every kind of animal onto the ark (Gen. 6:19) and "the Bible says" that Noah took 7 pairs of every clean animal and 1 pair of every unclean animal onto the ark (Gen. 7:2). So what does the Bible really say about creation, or about the flood, or about anything else for that matter?
When people disagree about what the Bible says, or when they disagree about how to figure out what the Bible says about any given topic, division happens (most of the time anyway). Martin Luther unknowingly started the Reformation when he disagreed with how his Catholic Church was reading the Bible. The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod (LCMS) split from the predecessors of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) because of differing opinions on what the Bible says about who should preach the word and the place of women in the church. Many churches in the ELCA have recently broken away from the ELCA because of differences about what the Bible says about homosexuality and relations with other church bodies. How can we know for sure what the Bible really means when it speaks? How can the Bible be authoritative for life and faith when it seems that everyone has a different opinion about what it says? What do you think?