What is one of the biggest misinterpretations of the Holy Bible?

Answer 1

One view from a Jehovah's Witness:

Your answers are in:
Matthew 9:13

Daniel 9:27

The New Testament (New Covenant)!
Malachi 4:5-6 says Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

Luke 12:51-53 Jesus says "Do you suppose that I came to give peace on Earth? I tell you not at all, but rather division. 52 "For from now on five in the house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 "Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

Jesus was given the title of Christ, and isn't the Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible called the (The Old Testament).

John the Baptist isn't Elijah or Elisha
Although in Luke 1:17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and the power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children...
John 1:21 says, And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you a Prophet?" And he answered, "No."
Luke 1:17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children...

Jesus isn't Immanuel or Emmanuel.
Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel or Immanuel (plays on names).
This is not Jesus.
Matthew 1:21 says "And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for he will save HIS people from their sins.
Matthew 1:23 is basically Isaiah 7:14 paraphrased. Emmanuel was sent as a sign regarding a war in the book of Isaiah and didn't have much to do or perhaps not anything to do with the New Testament. It's being used to make the reader affiliate Jesus with Immanuel.
Matthew 1:25 and he called His name JESUS.
Luke 1:31 and shall call his name JESUS
Luke 2:21 His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
Isaiah 8:8 The land of Canaan is called the land of Emmanuel
Emmanuel is a Messiah not a Christ. A Messiah is a Leader of God. Christ is a sacrifice of God.

Another view:

There have been many over the years that have tried to deny the basic teachings of scripture. Like the above 'answer', these are usually as a result of unskilled interpretation, lack of knowledge of the original Greek or Hebrew, and verses taken totally out of context either to 'back up' an heretical religious position or a bigoted prejudice, rather than look at the historical and literary context in which the words were written.
Probably the three greatest misinterpretations I can think of off the top of my head are these:
1. The misogynistic putting down of women and women's ministry by certain churches that allow only men to become priests, ministers or elders. This is a misinterpretation of a few of Paul's words when he wrote to a church at a particular time and place in answer to a particular question. Despite his claim that there is 'neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free for we are all one in Christ Jesus', some totally ignore the early church set up where women (like Priscilla and Lydia) were church leaders and presided at the Eucharist, in favour of a men-only leadership. This is wrong and counter scripture. And counter- Jesus' own teaching.
2. The demonisation of homosexuals. The Bible has only three main references to homosexuals - one in Leviticus which can be ignored by the Christian as we are not bound by Levitical Law (or else we would not be allowed to eat pork!) and two others, written by Paul. But in both these cases, Paul was not teaching about a normal homosexual relationship as we would understand today. He was demonising those who purported to be Christian and yet cavorted with pagan homosexual prostitutes in the pagan temples at Corinth, among other cities. He used the word - homosexual pagan prostitutes - rather than a homosexual in a loving committed gay relationship. But homophobes the world over have failed to embrace this, preferring to misinterpret scripture wrongly, conveniently because of their own prejudice.

To avoid misinterpretation it is really important that the Bible student uses a recognised commentary by a Greek or Hebrew scholar or group of scholars (such as the New Interpreter's Bible series, or the Matthew Henry commentary as examples) in order that he/she does not fall into the same traps of interpreting the bible wrongly.