Hasten To The Word of God

IS BIBLE COLLEGE BAD FOR CHRISTIANS

For the past several years I keep hearing whispers by spiritual minded Christians that Bible learning and schooling in Bible colleges is bad for Christians. The idea is that somehow too much learning hinders one from hearing the Holy Spirit influence our minds and hearts. In addition to that we hear that all one needs is a good memory and the clear words of the Scripture will be sufficient.

First a few words from a friend about rightly dividing the words of Scripture as 2 Timothy 2:15 says we should do.

“When I come upon a baffling passage or set of passages, it is an indicator that I need to dig deeper, seeking more context. The whole Bible is inspired by the Spirit, but a human is limited in what they can hold in their mind at one time. If I am given a few jigsaw puzzle pieces and am informed that they are part of a larger picture, yet I cannot get them to fit together, I suspect I need to look for more pieces.”

What my friend is describing is inductive study. Inductive study has to do with reasoning into. I like to think of it as leaving the Scriptures in their Biblical context and see the meaning from within Scripture. The opposite is deductive study, which means to deduce from one’s own thinking. In other words if we take a Scripture out of the context and reason from that particular set of words it’s meaning, that is deducing. Deductive study can and does create a barrage of ideas according to the thinking of different people with different ideas and experiences. What Christians desperately need to do is to do inductive study, leaving the Scriptures in their context and finding the meaning from the context of the book they are written in as well as the entire Bible.

I am fairly certain that all Bible Colleges have courses on how to properly study the Bible outlining exactly how to do inductive, contextual Bible study. This is essential for everyone and in my opinion pastors, preachers, and Bible study teachers should have the training to be instructing Christians how to do that. It would indeed cut in half the amount of dissension in the Body of Christ. Instead we have a large number of untrained, uninformed, opinionated Christians following believers who talk the loudest and sound spiritual. And often these people like to say that college almost always shuts down a person’s ability to hear the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us.

However, there is a believer in Scripture that was a diligent Torah observant Jew, who was trained by the most famous Hebrew teacher of that era 2000 years ago.  Gamaliel was the grandson of the famous Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder. Almost any Hebrew book or set of Torah translations will have notes by Hillel. Gamaliel, influenced in his studies by his grandfather Hillel, became famous for his knowledge and understanding of the Torah and writings. He became a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the time of the early church. Paul of Tarsus who wrote a large part of the New Testament letters is the believer who was instructed by Gamaliel. In fact, Gamaliel even defended Paul and the apostles when the Jewish High Court, the Sanhedrin, wanted to kill Paul and the apostles. [i]

Now Paul, a highly trained student of the Scriptures, used his training and knowledge to impart understanding of God’s Word. Anyone who thinks the Holy Spirit did not inspire him is being foolish at best. Paul is one of the best examples of using our minds and hearts to understand God’s messages to us. Paul extensively used examples from the Torah and writings. He praised the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if what they heard were true. [ii]

Reading in ontext also means to read before and after the verse one is reading. Often the writers set the stage for a point. If we read before,  we may see what he was thinking about. Reading after may give us some further clarity. Sometimes we best see the picture by reading the whole epistle or story and then go back and note all the elements. Not doing these things is how one gets odd and often antiBiblical concepts and teachings.

If more believers learned how to effectively search the Scriptures we would have less divisions in the Body of Christ today. And we would have far fewer injustices being proclaimed as God’s ways. Searching the Scriptures does not mean only doing a search on one word and compiling Scriptures into a teaching. Believers need to learn what it means to read in context. One compelling picture of “context” is to put oneself in the authors’ cultural setting and to hear as if one were there at their feet listening. This would include a picture of life in that era, knowledge of the things they might experience and insight on what was happening around them. It would also include some degree of understanding that the language we read Scripture in was not the language spoken by the apostles of the New Testament or the writers of the Old Testament. We read a translation. Thus, sometimes it really does help to find a means of understanding something of the original words used, whether going to a book (or app) written by some studious college trained person, or by seeking out a linguist. Just as the Holy Spirit used Paul with all his training and knowledge, so we can be not only helped in our studies by the Holy Spirit, but also directed by the Holy Spirit through our studies. College training need not get in the way.

Training and/or degrees from Christian institutions of higher education does not get in the way of hearing the Holy Spirit speak to our spirit. Rather if submitted to the Lord, our learning will amplify our ability to hear.

 

[i] Acts 5:27-42, [ii] Bereans Acts 17:11

 

 

 

STIGMATIZING THOSE DIFFERENT

 

To stigmatize someone is to mark them as disgraceful or contemptible in some manner. To mark in a negative manner is to brand, to make an end judgment, to deem as unworthy or below oneself. This is something we humans do that is usually an inaccurate assessment of one’s whole person.  The picture above is me in the 1970's.  Hippie Teri.  Now there were some interesting viewpoints of hippies from back then.  :)

Humans are a unique creation of God’s. We have a capacity to be a vessel for either good or bad, and also for both. Thus, judgments and perceptions must be fluid in that we know that people can change directions or go deeper in the direction they are in. We cannot see that deeply into a person’s heart even though some people are more adept at perceiving where a person is at in the present.

Sometimes I wonder how God manages to stay compassionate to those who stray far from His amazing love in how we treat others. And then there is Genesis 6:17.

For behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all life under the heavens in which there is the breath and spirit of life; everything that is on the land shall die.

The hatred, contempt, fear and pain in human’s hearts and experiences of life must have just been too much for God to handle or to see, after creating humanity with so much hope for grander things. It is interesting that God says, “I even I”. In both the English and the Hebrew it looks like God is even dismayed with Himself. In Hebrew, “I, even me”.   God’s judgment was correct but even then God’s amazing love led Him to determine to find another way to lead mankind toward redemption. Four hundred years after the flood came Abraham who was to be the progenitor of God’s people. Out of the faith of Abraham was born a deep and intimate relationship with God bringing forth the Torah and eventually bringing forth the Messiah to the entire world.

Today we have racism and misogyny as the great universal dividers of humanity. The unimaginable wickedness that is born of this stigmatizing of national differences and gender differences must be painful beyond our understanding to the heart of God.

I just watched a tape of former Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard in 2012. She was addressing some proposition being put forward by a member of their parliament (?). The proposition was openly misogynistic and she addressed many of the instances of this attitude in the members present, which was an incredibly brave thing to do. Because of her speech to which the majority said, “hear hear”, the Macquarie Dictionary of Australia adjusted its definition of misogyny to include, “entrenched prejudice of women”. To say I am shocked is an understatement. The hatred of determined misogyny is deeply ugly in so many ways. I think I understand just a pinch of why God said, “I, even I” am going to do this thing (cause a flood to wipe mankind off the earth) because I am overwhelmed with the darkness of heart that mankind has come to with misogyny and racism.

Those are the big ways we brand people we have chosen to elevate ourselves above. We make their very humanity as less than ours because we brand things that cannot be changed, such as gender and nationality (skin color, body shapes, etc.) as less desirable. And when we do that we lead the way to degenerate treatment, cruelties beyond normal thinking, tortures, limiting life styles, etc.

We also brand small things as reason for rejection such as religion, careers, life styles, social status, wealth, political choices, health, and intelligence and so forth to an unending list. To say that arrogance and criticalness have infiltrated humanity and the church to a huge degree is an understatement.

Why do we do this? I have concluded that the biggest reason is because we do not know or understand God’s LOVE. And since I am speaking to the international body of Christ, believers in Jesus as Lord and Messiah, I believe that it is our fault that we have allowed these stigmatizing sins to run rampant in the world without any noticeable check. And yes, that includes me.

We who know the intimate deep love of God toward all, without racism or misogyny, need to speak up. It is time. We will be castigated for it and called many ugly names, no doubt. But if you believe and know God does not segregate, brand or limit people through racism or gender stereotyping, I believe that gift was given for us to share with patience, compassion, forgiveness and diligence. And I sincerely hope that more people will stand up and stand against this international condition of a lack of God’s Love.

Let us read the Bible with prayer and share the truths of God’s healing, deliverance, and freedom to live with all who will hear us. And let us start today.