“That's just your interpretation. There are thousands of denominations—everyone reads the Bible their own way.”

The 30-second answer

Christians disagree on secondary matters, but the historic churches agree on the core: one God, Jesus fully God and fully man, crucified for our sins and risen. Most of the Bible is plain, and the question is not whether it can be interpreted but what it actually says.

💡 Ask them back“When you read a text message or a news article, do you assume it can mean anything, or do you try to understand what the writer meant? Why should the Bible be different? Could we read a passage together and see what it plainly says?”

⚠️ What not to sayDon't claim all Christians agree on everything, and don't bash other denominations to prove yours is right. Don't just say "That's what God says"—show them the text in its context.

📖 The full defense

Interpretation Is Unavoidable—and Possible:
Everything we read, we interpret—including the sentence "That's just your interpretation." Meaning is set by the author, the words, the grammar and the context. Some readings are simply better than others, and we can check them together against the text.

Agreement on the Core:
The Nicene Creed (AD 325, expanded in 381) is confessed by Catholic, Orthodox and most Protestant churches: one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Jesus, God the Son made man, crucified, risen and coming again. Disagreements over baptism, church government or the end times are real, but they are family arguments about secondary things. The large numbers of "denominations" often quoted count separately organized church bodies; they measure organization, not disagreement about the Gospel.

The Central Things Are Plain:
Paul summed up the Gospel "first of all": Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Jesus expected ordinary people to understand Scripture—"Have you not read...?" (Matthew 19:4)—and He blamed error on not knowing it: "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God" (Matthew 22:29).

Be Honest About the Hard Parts:
The Bible itself admits that some things in it are "hard to understand," and that some people "twist" them (2 Peter 3:16). That is why we are told to be diligent, "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15)—reading carefully, in context, not making it say what we want.

Often the Clear Parts Trouble Us Most:
As the old saying goes, it isn't the parts of the Bible we can't understand that bother us; it's the parts we can. "All have sinned" and "You must be born again" are not hard to interpret. Gently bring the conversation from the Bible's difficulties to its clearest message: Jesus died and rose to save sinners.

✝️ Scripture anchors (NKJV)

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Matthew 22:29

“Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God."”

2 Timothy 2:15

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

2 Peter 3:16

“...in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”

🔁 If they push back…

The comeback you are most likely to hear next — and a reply that keeps the conversation moving toward Jesus.

They say“So which church is the right one? Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals—they can't all be right.”

You can sayThey do disagree on some real things, and those matter. But the question that decides your eternity isn't which church has the right style; it's who Jesus is and what He did. On that, historic Christians across all those traditions confess the same thing: He is God the Son, He died for our sins, and He rose again. Start with Him; the rest can follow.

They say“People used the Bible to defend slavery. Doesn't that show you can make it say anything?”

You can sayPeople did twist it—and others, like the abolitionists, answered them from the same Bible, pointing to verses like Exodus 21:16 ("He who kidnaps a man and sells him... shall surely be put to death") and Galatians 3:28. That shows readings can be tested, and some are simply wrong. Misusing a text doesn't mean it has no real meaning; it means we must read it carefully and honestly.

They say“And who gets to decide what the Bible really means—you?”

You can sayNo, and I'd be worried if it were up to me. We let the text speak in its context: who wrote it, to whom, and what the words meant. You can check my reading against the passage itself. Let's look at one together—John 14:6, say—and you tell me what you think it means.

🕊️ Pentecostal key — the Spirit on the streetJesus promised that the Spirit of truth "will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). Instead of arguing about interpretation, open the Bible with them, read a short passage aloud, and quietly ask the Holy Spirit to make it plain. God's word does its own work (Hebrews 4:12). Then ask if you may pray with them.