Does anyone read and interpret their own religious text?

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Like the Bible, Tanakh, Qur'an, etc. I for one look up the verse number that refers to a certain rule, look up the verse and interpret it for myself, and I'm Muslim. if you do, or if you don't, what religion are you?

Yes, the spirit speaks through the living word.

Yes, I do.
Religion: Christian

I am a Hindu, Buddhist, Wicca (whatever I feel like being at the time).

Certain religious texts I take at 'face value'. I mean, it's difficult to interpret the Vedas as being anything more than what they are!

I mean, the Upanishads are all practical lessons in philosophy which all boil down to one of the four Mahavakyas (great sayings), which are all essentially the same in essence...'I AM Brahman', 'Thou Art THAT' (I can only remember two of the four). lol

Anyway, two things about all that still irks me:

1. There is still 'Subject' and 'Predicate' with the relation existing between the two of 'Individual Self' and 'God' - so I have taken the artistic liberty of interpreting that as being there is no separate existence between man and God &

2. Why Hindus didn't just stop there and it required all of the Puranas to go on...and on....and on in the attempt to 'explain' the most simple concept, I'll never know!

If your religious texts are so ambiguous and contradictory that you need to "interpret" them, or have them interpreted for you,...
...just sayin

Is there something wrong with approaching religion with an open mind rather than simply accepting a doctrine without question?

Nope, I say question everything but when a religious text contradicts itself on every other page I don't find it worth interpreting. Ambiguity is intentional. Whatever of value that exists in such texts is already simplistic. The remainder is deliberate manipulation and deceit. Speaks for itself.

Well, I wouldn't deny you of your opinion. However, I cannot truthfully say that religious texts have not benefited me. I have tried Atheism and found that I did not like the person I was. I felt hollow angry at myself and the world because I could not find a reason to exist as a good person. So, I decided to take a fresh look at religion. Instead of entering mainstream religion I decided to increase my reason through Stoicism. Now that I approach religious texts differently I find that I have gained a tremendous benefit from the words and no longer feel angry, sad, or intolerant. In truth I am the most happy I have ever been and am happy to live, eager to help others, strengthened by a new sense of morality, and content whenever I may die.

If you need a book to explain to you why to be a good person I feel sorry for you.

So did I. May I ask for you to feel happy for me now that I have found joy and reason in life?

I apologize for seeming crude. It is just beyond my comprehension to need instruction on being a good person. I always believed that it is human nature to be good. Being bad is a learned behavior. Being good is our true nature.

Yes, but it is also human nature to reason , which if compounded with Autism can create doubt about following good nature. Especially when bad nature is easier to attain. For example, at one point I was suicidal and struggled to find a reason why it would be bad to take my life. After all, death was simply the end of feeling, which at the time were o so terrible. I have no friends so I wouldn't be hurting anyone, I was simply, "checking out early". I will tell you it is a dark moment and human nature does not rise to the occasion, it simply falls back on training. All there was left was a little voice of doubt that perhaps there was some reason I had missed. It turns out for me I was missing religious morality, which gave me a reason that should be employed not simply for my benefit but also for the benefit of others.

I don't think it's as much a question of 'why' but 'how' and what actually is a 'good person' anyway?

I've only read the Bible twice, being that there are great messages and lessons in there....if one can be bothered sifting through all the parables and stories to actually find them, but I guess that can be said for many texts.

Not only that, but the Bible was written for 'the common man of the day', but it has seen many translations, interpretations and omissions by the Church, one can only wonder what it must have originally looked like.

I felt so much must have been 'lost in translation' as to make it totally irrelevant now.

One could read The Bible, get to the Ten Commandments and go 'so, if I do nothing but obey these to the letter, I'll get into heaven, right?' I needed to read no further, really.

The first line of the Tao Teh Ching goes something like 'If it has a name or can be described, it's not the Tao'...way to spoil the whole Tao Teh Ching in the opening line. lol