Interpretation of Religion?

There are so many things that I want to talk about, but I don't really know where to start. I guess I will start with the source of all of my many thoughts. In class today we talked about the different questions that are brought up in religion. What are important about the Psalms? Is religion scary? Is there a hard shell around religion, or is it intertwined with society? Is God a reflection of our social world? We discussed a lot of potential answers to these questions. The problem was that all of the answers made a lot of sense. This makes me think that religion is not always a clear cut set of beliefs and rituals.

The idea that religion is not a cookie cut interpretation for everyone makes me feel that religion can be open to interpretation. Some people might see a passage in sacred text differently than someone else does. Isn't this the whole idea of the "journey with God?" Everyone has a different way of bringing God into their lives, by interpreting texts and general rituals a little differently than everyone else does. I think that this individual interpretation is essential for anyone believing in God, because they have to find God for themselves, and not find God through what other people say about him.

This thought has got me thinking of different religions and different sides on this idea. It seems like some religions strive for people to interpret God for themselves and allow followers to see God a little differently from one another. However, there are some religions that have a set way that they want God to be interpreted. There is no way, in a religion with this mindset, that God can be seen even a little differently. Their views on him are pretty much identical. I guess this whole thing boils down to the interpretation of religion and the flexibility that is allowed in some religions and not in others. Is this caused by a certain group of people that are practicing the religion? Is it because of their scripture?