[I cannot, and I will not, take credit for any of the thoughts on this Post. This Post consists of my paraphrasing and interpretation from my professor's thoughts and lectures from this week in my HT102 class. Any "genius" or "genuine" thoughts from this Post should be properly attributed to him, Dr. Jeffrey Bingham, while any "stupidity" can accurately be attributed to me... Please comment accordingly]
What matters is not that you read the Bible, what matters is how you read it. If a child runs across the room with a pair of scissors, what do you do? You yell out, "STOP! Give it back!" As if to a child, we scream out, "Give those scissors back! Once you can learn to walk safely across a room, then you can carry the scissors..." Too many people are reading the Bible and using it to say whatever they want. The Biblical text does not pose a foundation for numerous theologies, all these differing views are a result of our failure to censure the past interpretations of the Biblical text.
Because we have become so passive in the way that we read the Bible, far too many words [in the Evangelical context] have lost a definite meaning. We have produced a vast Christian language that is full of code words. In churches today, new believers learn this array of words, but it is as if we have received a bundle of note cards with words on the front side, but blank on the back—there are no definite definitions! Words like Jesus, God, Jesus died "for" me, Grace, Sin, etc. all have become ambiguous. We baptize people in our church who have "placed faith in Jesus Christ," but have absolutely no idea what it means that God is One Essence and Three Persons. How can we be "Christian" if we don't know how we relate to this wonderful Triune God? Well, we aren't truly Christian.
So ultimately, yes, anyone can "speak Christian," but all sense of orthodoxy and the meaning behind these words—as they have traditionally and accurately been held in the Church—can very easily be lost. Be careful what you say, and how you say it—but even moreso, ensure that you understand exactly what someone means when they say, "Jesus Christ is my Savior," or "I am a Christian."
Some helpful books in understanding how to read the Bible: Living by the Book by Hendricks, Basic Bible Interpretation by Zuck, How to Read the Bible for all it's Worth by Fee and Stuart.
3 comments:
I see this blog as partially discouraging (even though you gave me Living by the Book and I love it) for a few reasons, 1) How does this fit in with having faith like a child? and 2)What if someone is simply ignorant to the deep theological roots and significance of a specific Christian term? Surely, that does not banish someone to hell...
kyle...this comment has nothing to do with your blog but everything to do with hilarity. check these out - i think you will find them quite funny: http://www.despair.com/viewall.html
ashley house
In response to Austin's Comment: 1) I agree with you, AT. Having faith like a child is certainly Biblical, and beneficial to our Christianity. However, the primary focus for the term childish, or 'innocent,' is on our faith—NOT on our knowledge. But these two qualities—faith and knowledge—tend to form a divisive tension. I have seen this first hand from my college years, that the more someone increases in [Biblical?] knowledge, the less passionate they become in their faith. So ultimately, I guess we must daily strive to hold to both sides of this tension that is Christianity, because both sides are commanded in the Bible, to have faith like a child, and to seek to increase in our knowledge of God and the Christian faith.
2) I certainly am not saying that someone's lack of knowledge of doctrine or orthodoxy is a ticket to hell. I am saying, however, that as is clearly evident in history we must make absolutely certain what the Christian faith is. There are divisions all over the Christian faith, but I believe with all my heart that there is a small "hill of beans" that we must absolutely, with full conviction, hold onto even to death. These vital truths must include for the Christian: (1) The Triunity of God, (2) The Dual Nature of Christ, (3) Man's Total Depravity in the original sin of Adam, (4) Man's salvation singularly in the Penal Substitutionary Atonement of Christ, (5) the resurrection from the dead of Christ, and lastly (6) The innerancy of the Word of God. Now, I don't think every Christian would use this terminology, but any true follower of Christ needs to have a basic understanding of the truth of these points. These are the issues of Christianity that I will not compromise.
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