Category Archives: Bible study

Why some people don’t like educated preachers

Diploma and mortar boardIn thinking about how people love “quick and easy” Bible study, as we discussed yesterday, it’s easy to see how an anti-intellectual spirit can grow in our churches.

Joe Churchmember reads “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:22), and he can understand it: don’t do anything that looks bad. Then new preacher Dr. McSmartypants comes in and says that passage is talking about testing the spirits (holding onto what’s good, avoiding every form of evil) and Joe Churchmember feels like Dr. McSmartypants is taking a simple passage and making it confusing. He may even say, “I shouldn’t have to have a college degree to understand your sermons!” [Interesting note: my spell checker flags “Churchmember” but not “McSmartypants”]

I think that also explains the popularity of topical preaching. In a topical sermon, the preacher can string together “easy” verses, not having to wrestle with context, culture, linguistics or any of those other things. He can say, “We put money in the collection plate EVERY Sunday because 1 Corinthians 16 says ‘Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him'”, and the whole congregation will nod in agreement.

When I was in college, one of my friends told of having been rebuked by an older member for not using the King James Version. The reason? “We didn’t lose arguments back when we used the King James.” Says something about the strength of the reasoning behind those arguments.

So how do we convince people to have the patience to do serious Bible study? How do we encourage them to read the Bible, while still saying, “You can’t always take a text at face value”? How do we make the Bible accessible to the masses while maintaining intellectual integrity?

Any suggestions?

Photo by Mary Gober

The best study on the subject

How many times has someone recommended a book or an article to you, saying, “This is the best study on this subject that I’ve found”? What do people mean when they say that?

Sometimes the person means that they held a different view prior to reading the study, but found the thoroughness and persuasiveness of the article to be so strong that they changed their view.

In a few rare cases, they mean that the author has done careful research and presented it extremely well, even though the reader remains unconvinced.

More often than not, it seems to me, the person means, “I found someone who agrees with me and expresses it well.”

What do you think? On what criteria should we judge the quality of a study of a biblical issue or text?

The importance of context

As part of my work at Herald of Truth, I do a 15-minute program, Monday through Friday, called “Lea La Biblia” (Read the Bible).

The program itself is divided into segments. During the first part of the program, I do a 3-4 minute segment on Bible study, offering up tips on how to study the Bible. (And I’m always looking for suggestions on that! Feel free to chime in with tips you think would be useful)

One of my favorite subjects is the subject of context. I like to mention that the word context comes from Latin words basically meaning “with knitting.” I like the idea of the Bible as a knitted garment, made up of many threads that are all brought together as one.

Years ago, I sold clothing in a men’s clothing store. One day, I was delivering a pant to a customer when I noticed that there was a thread sticking out. Being a helpful clerk, I started to trim the thread. From across the store, one of the longtime employees yelled, “NO! You’ll ruin the pants.” She knew that cutting that thread would cause it to continue unraveling.

To me, pulling a passage out of context is a bit like that. One thread doesn’t tell you what a finished sweater looks like. Pulled out of the sweater, it’s just a bit of trash, and the sweater is damaged.

I also use the example of a note of music. One note doesn’t tell you what the symphony sounds like.

When I preach and teach, I try to use as long a passage as possible. There are times when I teach topically and quickly refer to a verse here or there, but I try to stay away from that. We need to learn to study the Bible in context.

The old saying goes, “A text without a context is a proof text for a pretext.” (I’ve also heard “pretext for a proof text,” but this way makes more sense to me) When it comes to Bible study, context is king.

Can you think of examples of passages that are often lifted from their context?

More Audio from Ray Vander Laan

A while back, I posted links to some audio by Ray Vander Laan. Ray does a wonderful job of providing insights into the Jewishness of the Bible, helping us to understand the message in its context. He has a very helpful website: FollowTheRabbi.com

I first discovered Ray through Jay Guin’s website. Yesterday I noticed that Jay had posted a link to more audio files. Since several people commented that they found the previous links helpful, I thought I’d point to these files as well. You can download recordings of lectures that Ray gave in Idaho by going to this URL: http://www.box.net/shared/6bs7nk5g62 

Here are links to the individual files:
File #1 (23.1 MB)
File #2 (23.6 MB)
File #3 (15.5 MB)
File #4 (23.5 MB)
File #5 (22.8 MB)
File #6 (22.8 MB)
File #7 (17.2 MB)
File #8 (22.7 MB)
File #9 (15.4 MB)
File #10 (22.7 MB)
File #11 (22.8 MB)
File #12 (20.8 MB)
File #13 (22.0 MB)
File #14 (2.3 MB)

Usual disclaimers apply: I don’t agree with everything Ray says in his lectures. I haven’t studied his doctrine fully, but wouldn’t be surprised to find things there that I disagree with. I listen to these lectures for the cultural insights they provide.

Snooze or the Light of Christ

Writing about wisdom literature reminded me of a study I did a few years ago. Inspired by the hermeneutic used to condemn alcoholic beverages, I undertook a study of an evil that is similarly condemned in Proverbs and other books. Here’s something I wrote back then (the title played off a similar title that was sent to me):

SNOOZE OR THE LIGHT OF CHRIST

It’s time that we warned the church about: sleeping! Yes, though the Bible at times seems to speak favorably of sleep, I think we can see the evils of sleep outweigh any possible benefits we might find in that practice.

Let’s look at what the Bible says:

“Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” (Proverbs 6:4-11)

“Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.” (Proverbs 20:13)

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” (Proverbs 24:33-34)

Yes, Solomon, the great wise king, has much to say about the dangers of sleeping. But what about the New Testament? Revelation urges Christians to resist this temptation:

“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” (Revelation 3:2-3)

We can also see that Paul did not approve of sleep: “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.” (Romans 13:11) Though this is figurative, we can see that sleeping is used as a figure of evil.

It’s also connected with drunkenness: “For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:7)

And Paul makes it clear that we have to choose: “This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”” (Ephesians 5:14) We can either sleep or we can have Christ shine on us.

Obviously positive references to sleep involve mere napping or nodding off, not sleep like we think of it today. We have no approved examples of Jesus or his apostles sleeping in a bed with a pillow and have no reason to think they would have condoned such behavior. Brothers, as we seek to stamp out the evils in our congregations, let us not forget this slumberous sin.