Should we be surprised that Bible text is sometimes confusing, or
even beyond our belief? Consider the origins of Scripture ---- some of it is
more than 2,000 years old, was written in various languages by authors who may
not have compared notes very carefully, and has been translated by people of
different cultures and different eras.
Nevertheless, many of us believe that Scripture is divinely inspired and
contains very important guidance on how we should live our lives.
However, the readers of Scripture themselves may also bring some "blinders"
to their understanding of what they read from the Bible. Let's examine four
such reader "blinders," so we keep them in perspective:
1.) Forgetting that all of Scripture is about Jesus. If you
think the Bible is only about you ---- what you must do and how you must live
---- then you do not need Jesus. All you need are the rules. Actually, there
are just two ways to read the Bible: a.) you can read the Bible as if it is all
about you and what you must do to please God and be a good person;
OR b.) you can read the Bible as if it is all about Jesus and
what he has done for you.
2.) Failing to distinguish between the Bible's major themes and
message, and its less primary teachings. Some people say, for example,
that they cannot accept what the Bible says about gender roles or politics, so
they are not sure about any of the other things the Bible tells them. However,
Christians all agree that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. Are the
doubters saying that because they do not like what the Bible says about gender
roles, let's say, that Jesus could not have been raised from the dead?
If Jesus is the Son of God, then we have to take his teaching seriously.
If he is not who he says he is, then why should we care what the Bible says
about anything else? In short, people should not worry about such things as
gender roles, until they have decided what they believe about the central
teachings of their faith.
3.) Jumping to false conclusions about what a Bible passage is
actually teaching. Be patient with the text. Many of the things people
find offensive can be cleared up with a decent commentary that puts the issue
into historical context. The text may not be teaching what you first
thought.
4.) The culture in which one grows up
may uniquely shape how we "hear" what the Bible teaches, and be the source of
some misunderstanding. Perhaps one is offended by certain biblical texts because
of an un-examined assumption of the superiority of our own cultural moment.
The disciples traveling on the road to Emmaus misunderstood the prophecies about
the Messiah because as Jews they were thinking of the redemption of Israel and
not the redemption of the world. It is very easy to unconsciously read a Bible
passage through one's cultural "blinders" and therefore misunderstand what the
text really teaches.
Some people may say a passage is regressive and offensive because it is a
problem for their culture, but other cultures may think the same passage is
perfectly acceptable. For example, in some cultures, what the Bible says about
sex is a problem, but there are no issues with what it says about forgiveness.
In other cultures, they like what the Bible says about sex, but what the Bible
says about forgiveness is considered ridiculous. Why should one set of cultural
sensibilities trump everybody else's?
If the Bible really is the revelation of God and not the product of
any one culture, why wouldn't it be inevitable to offend some cultural
sensibilities at some point? Could the problem with some Biblical texts simply
arise from an un-examined belief in the superiority of one historical/cultural
moment over all others?
Finally, might there be value in reading and re-reading, discussing and
pondering, a Scriptural passage over and over, in hopes of weakening our
reader's "blinders" and thereby gradually finding the "truer" meaning of that
Scriptural teaching? For many Bible students, part of the thrill of reading and
studying Scripture is precisely wrestling with the text and pondering the
questions with which it leaves us.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development
Team, hoping to encourage some personal growth this year at CPC.
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