Instead of experiencing Christianity as a Sunday-only religious activity and as a Monday-through-Saturday operation of secular-humanistic values, this blog attempts to see everything in our world through a Christian biblical lens. In other words, "You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled." —1 Thessalonians 5:5-6
We are experiencing an unprecedented time of rapid change. These are times of war and upheaval. Starting with the death of NBA star, Kobe Bryant in January of 2020, the pandemic, the death of George Floyd, and a contentious election, we've been experiencing event after event of national and international upheaval. The events all over the world are no longer distant. They are happening in our nation as well.
Replace it with a good habit. Easy, right? Well, it depends.
When I was a kid, I had to deal with overt racial tension in school. So, life wasn't easy. I had learned to cope by waking up every morning before school to ruminate on how the day would go. I believed that if I could imagine the worst, it will help make the day go better.
I needed to think about this aphorism for a moment. "The Bible wasn't written to me?"
This statement, when I first heard it, gave me pause. I was a little uncomfortable with it at first. However, the second sentence puts it into perspective. "But the Bible was written for me."
When we read the Bible, we ought not read it to get a personal message from God. The Bible wasn't written that way. However, that doesn't mean the Bible does not have messages that can personally apply to us. In fact, God does communicate to us by giving us understanding of who He is, and what He desires — even what He desires for us.
When we read the Bible we are reading literature that was originally addressed to people who lived at that time. Much of the literature contains lessons and wisdom that are intended to be passed on to future generations, including us. But they were not written directly to us.
Because the Bible is not a single book, but a collection of books written by different human authors, at different times, in different locations, we have the obligation to consider each authors' manner of writing, each type of writing, each historical context, and each original audience as we read any text in Scripture. We must read it well, before gleaning meaning we can use. Otherwise, we will not understand what we are reading.
When we read the Bible well, we will glean what is intended for us to glean. (And perhaps avoid reading into it what we want to get out of it.) And in doing this well, we will hear from God.
Photo by Wallace Chuck from Pexels
I remember giving away Bibles during an outreach event in 2018. Many people either weren't interested in a free Bible because they have a bunch at home, or they wanted a Bible with larger type or a particular English translation. People were pretty fussy about it.
I believe many Christians want something better.
They are tired of the same old Bible teaching that focuses on trite sayings or rudimentary instructions like:
God wants you to do the right things. You don't. You should. Amen.
According to a 2019 Barna study, only 5% of the U.S. citizens surveyed actually engaged with the Bible in a way that it impacted their decision-making. And about 50% are disengaged. And according to a recent 2020 survey conducted by Barna and the American Bible Society, even fewer are engaging with Scripture due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Previously I introduced 4 diverse attitudes Christians have about the Bible:
Last time I talked about the attitude, We respect the Bible and use it to justify what we believe. People who have this attitude generally respect the Bible, but only when it serves their purposes. They fall short of making it authoritative over their lives.
Previously I introduced the issue of 4 diverse attitudes Christians have about the Bible:
Last time I talked about the attitude, We respect the Bible, sort of. People who have this attitude generally respect the Bible's authority as God's very words. The problem is that they sometimes undermine that respect with habits and practices that run counter to what is being communicated in the text. There are several reasons for this, but most of the time it's a benevolent error.
Last time I introduced the issue of diverse attitudes Christians have about the Bible. The first attitude I discussed was the “We don’t respect the Bible” attitude. In it people who have this attitude would never admit they don’t respect the Bible. But they treat the Bible as inconsequential or non-authoritative when it contradicts current cultural values and practices.
I used to think that all Christians believed reading the Bible was essential to being Christian. But over the years I've discovered that Christians vary widely on the Bible's importance.
