Checking My Watch: Ramblings on Biblical Narrative

In the following post, What A Servant Looks Like, I mention that I "took a look at the time" and realized it was after 10:00 pm. My first draft of that post however, read something like this: "after looking down at my watch and realizing it was after 10:00..." When I had been writing out this story the first time, I lied. I wrote that I "looked at my watch." This is funny because I don't wear a watch. I vividly remember on Sunday night checking the time on my phone, not a watch. But, the watch seemed fitting to the story and just came out as I wrote down my thoughts. It wasn't necessarily a blatant lie, I was just telling the story. This "lie" had no meaning other than it was a detail to add to the story.

Does that make me a liar? Would that have made my story about Danny untrue? Certainly not. We all add elements when we tell stories that belong more accurately to our own ingenuity than to the actual events of reality. I didn't lie because I wanted to alter the truth, I simply was telling a story, and my details would have added to the appeal of the story—nothing more. This is also true with Scripture. When it comes to Biblical Narrative, we are not supposed to read ever single little word and arrogantly profess that every single thing exactly as it happen. Though the Word of God is inspired and inerrant, it also was written by human authors—creative, unique, and limited, human authors. Thus, when we read the two different accounts* of how Peter first met Jesus in the Gospels (Matthew & Mark vs. John), we should not conclude that these stories contradict each other; instead we must simply realize that each account of this meeting is told through the perspective of a unique third party—be it Matthew, Mark, or John. All of whom, throughout their detailed Gospel accounts of the life of Christ, will often describe the times when they look down and "check their watch," all by means to better illuminate the wonderful story of our Redeemer's life on earth, our Immanuel.

*(1) Matthew 4:18–20 and Mark 1:16–18
(2) John 1:35–42

Code Words

[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]

Just because you read the Bible does not mean you're a Christian. Just because you read the Bible does not mean that you know how to read it. 

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.