Limits on Likening to Ourselves

I parse things I read and hear first, then I interpret. I believe it is important to grant the writer or speaker the benefit of the doubt and believe the words they actually use before looking for a way to interpret what they say. If for some reason I don’t feel confident that I have found the author’s original intent, I don’t mind getting more than one possible meaning or lesson or interpretation out of a text - even if only one of them was meant by the writer.

I believe in likening things unto myself - when the original intent doesn’t seem obvious. There are some times, however, when doing so can create some doozies. For example, I personally am not going to try to call down fire from heaven on anyone in the near future, even though that might be a simple way of likening Old Testament scripture to myself.