May we hear the voice of the Spirit calling us to the study of God's Word and gladly hear and learn it.
If you are reading this newsletter then all the manipulations and calculations of Harold Camping to predict the beginning of the “rapture” as occurring on May 21st and then October 21st, 2011 have been proven wrong. Given the number of such predictions and the 100% failure rate over the 2000 years since Jesus Christ one would think that people, especially, the people of God, would begin to listen to what they read in scripture. 36“No one knows when that day or hour will come. Even the angels in heaven and the Son don’t know. Only the Father knows.” (Matthew 24:36) It is straight forward and simple, no need for a lot of difficult translating or interpretation. People will give millions of dollars in fear of the unknown for some unbiblical prognosticator of the end of the world or the rapture while local congregations doing real work caring for their neighbors struggle.
The problem is today that we are quickly becoming a nation of Biblical illiterates and increasingly do not know simple basic Biblical content and concepts. The excuses for either not reading the Bible, although 70 percent of Americans say they have read the Bible at least once during the past year, or more importantly, actually, studying it include; too busy, too difficult, too confusing, the world is too different today and a few others. Instead of reading the Bible for themselves many people have chosen one of two other paths, 1) to forgo reading scripture at all on a regular basis let alone studying it, or, 2) allow others to do the interpreting for them without using any criticism of what is being said. This allows people like Harold Camping and others to completely define for them what the Bible says because “He sounds smart” or seems to know a lot.
The Bible is a complex library of books but it is understandable and is one that can be studied to very good ends. It is not some type of Dan Brown novel and jigsaw puzzle of deep, dark mysteries. It is the experiences of people experiencing God’s self revelation across centuries in real world contexts. It defines the basic doctrines of the church and points towards the basic values of lives well lived before God and dependent upon God. It provides the foundation for both Judaism and Christianity.
The Bible study I have been teaching this fall has attempted to teach people some important basic techniques that scholars use to study the Bible and more importantly that members can see and apply these concepts for themselves in an introductory way. What is surprising to many is how simple, direct, and intuitive many of these insights are. We have come to see that the Bible is a library of books filled with different authors writing to different communities in different situations and periods of history, material carefully studied and stitched together from a great multitude of manuscript fragments, and it is material containing numerous types and genres of literature, including poetry, letters, history, story, parables, and more. And we are learning how to ask questions about the passages we study to broaden our understanding of God's Word.
When individuals and congregations fail to study the Bible and become skilled we give all the more power to those who either abandon its relevance and power all together or those who use it to their own ends as power to manipulate people. The middle path between these two positions is broad and deep but does require us to be involved and to pick up our Bibles and do some of the work for ourselves.
Every program of the church and every corner of our lives are benefited when we directly engage the Bible, personally. When we do not participate in Sunday School classes and Bible studies, when we do not read the Bible devotionally at home, then we empower those others who dismiss it or manipulate us through it. Lay hold to the Bible for yourself and discover its power for your faith.
If you are reading this newsletter then all the manipulations and calculations of Harold Camping to predict the beginning of the “rapture” as occurring on May 21st and then October 21st, 2011 have been proven wrong. Given the number of such predictions and the 100% failure rate over the 2000 years since Jesus Christ one would think that people, especially, the people of God, would begin to listen to what they read in scripture. 36“No one knows when that day or hour will come. Even the angels in heaven and the Son don’t know. Only the Father knows.” (Matthew 24:36) It is straight forward and simple, no need for a lot of difficult translating or interpretation. People will give millions of dollars in fear of the unknown for some unbiblical prognosticator of the end of the world or the rapture while local congregations doing real work caring for their neighbors struggle.
The problem is today that we are quickly becoming a nation of Biblical illiterates and increasingly do not know simple basic Biblical content and concepts. The excuses for either not reading the Bible, although 70 percent of Americans say they have read the Bible at least once during the past year, or more importantly, actually, studying it include; too busy, too difficult, too confusing, the world is too different today and a few others. Instead of reading the Bible for themselves many people have chosen one of two other paths, 1) to forgo reading scripture at all on a regular basis let alone studying it, or, 2) allow others to do the interpreting for them without using any criticism of what is being said. This allows people like Harold Camping and others to completely define for them what the Bible says because “He sounds smart” or seems to know a lot.
The Bible is a complex library of books but it is understandable and is one that can be studied to very good ends. It is not some type of Dan Brown novel and jigsaw puzzle of deep, dark mysteries. It is the experiences of people experiencing God’s self revelation across centuries in real world contexts. It defines the basic doctrines of the church and points towards the basic values of lives well lived before God and dependent upon God. It provides the foundation for both Judaism and Christianity.
The Bible study I have been teaching this fall has attempted to teach people some important basic techniques that scholars use to study the Bible and more importantly that members can see and apply these concepts for themselves in an introductory way. What is surprising to many is how simple, direct, and intuitive many of these insights are. We have come to see that the Bible is a library of books filled with different authors writing to different communities in different situations and periods of history, material carefully studied and stitched together from a great multitude of manuscript fragments, and it is material containing numerous types and genres of literature, including poetry, letters, history, story, parables, and more. And we are learning how to ask questions about the passages we study to broaden our understanding of God's Word.
When individuals and congregations fail to study the Bible and become skilled we give all the more power to those who either abandon its relevance and power all together or those who use it to their own ends as power to manipulate people. The middle path between these two positions is broad and deep but does require us to be involved and to pick up our Bibles and do some of the work for ourselves.
Every program of the church and every corner of our lives are benefited when we directly engage the Bible, personally. When we do not participate in Sunday School classes and Bible studies, when we do not read the Bible devotionally at home, then we empower those others who dismiss it or manipulate us through it. Lay hold to the Bible for yourself and discover its power for your faith.
RSS Feed