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SemperReformanda said:

I agree. I like what one of the seminary chapel speakers said last week: If you interpret a text in a way that no other commentator has come up with before, there's probably a good reason why!

That's pretty accurate in my opinion. As far as using commentaries, the exact rule is the following

"Please avoid using any commentary, including study Bible notes, on the lesson until after the discussion group and lecture"

So they don't rule them out completely. But, still I don't like the idea of even asking someone not to use a commentary until after the lesson and discussion. One reason may be that they want to encourage people to think about the Bible on their own, but is that even a good thing. I mean we are fallen people and even as Christians our minds tend to try to distort Scripture to serve our on will. The other thing I am thinking of is that, being a non-denominational organization, they want to promote unity. If you aren't well prepared on the true meaning of a particular passage, it's harder to assert that your position is accurate and someone else's is not.

John