When I was in high school, a teacher of mine asked me a question that I haven't forgotten since, nor have I formulated a definitive answer to, but some of my classes yesterday caused me to reflect on it some more. So I'd like to post the question and hear other thoughts on it before posting my own.
I don't remember exactly how he phrased it, but it was more or less:
Is a believer who is well-studied and familiar with the original languages as well as the social and historical context of the Bible more capable of understanding the Bible than, say an eskimo believer out in the middle of nowhere who has no access to that sort of information but only has a Bible?
Another slightly different but related question would be:
Is one of those two people more capable of knowing God through reading the Bible or hearing God speak through reading the Bible?
I would love to hear your thoughts in regards to these questions or anything related or in between!
5 comments:
Well, I think we have to analyze the question from an other perspective. Is the bible the only way that God could reveal Himself? My answer would be no. And an other question would be, do you, by reading the bible, automaticly, know God? My answer would be no again. So the point is not if you can read the bible, with all kind of studies, and in all kind of languages, but your atitude, and openess towards it. I know several atheists who have studied a lot in the biblie, historical context, original languages, blablabla, but they never really opened their hearts to the possibility of the story to bo truth. So I think both have the same possibilities of knowing God, BUT... But we have to remember that for, as you used in your example, an eskimo, without the right explanations, the bible would not make sense at all. He would need someone to explain the story and the way to apply that in his specific culture. Of course God can speak to him through it, but I think that we, as christians, are responsible for those we preach to, and give bibles to. I think God would want the person that gave the eskimo the bible, to explain it to him, from the beginning till the end.
Another point is that most of the revelations we have of God, are in the bible. For example, I knew that God is love, before I ever read the bible, because my mom told me the story`s. So when I started reading the bible, I already had a basic understanding about what I would find in there. But an eskimo, without someone to explain the bible, and without any other additional help, could take years before he finds that out. The greatest revelation we have of God is his word, the bible, but without any help it would be as starting christianity out of zero again, from the begin, having to discover EVERYTHING thats normal and logical for us. Its as if he would have to start math from the beginning and has to find out that 1+1=2 but 1x1=1 and 1-1=0. It would take years before he gets the basics.
So the point is not just knowing the context of the verses and the original languages, but knowing basicly what the bible is about, where it starts, what happent, and what is still coming. Well, this is just a little bit of my point of view.
Hey where did my greetings go? Ok, will write them again.
(in the beginning)
Hi Stefanie,
how are you doing? And the studie? Liking it?
(at the end)
Blessings
Tijs and Kelly
Hey Tijs and Kelly,
Thanks for posting your thoughts! I am doing well and my studies are keeping me busy (thus why it has taken me so long to post a response!).
I agree with you that the Bible isn't the only way that God can reveal Himself and that people don't automatically know God by reading the Bible, and that someone without the Holy Spirit cannot understand the depths of God's truths in the Bible no matter how much they know and study.
The more difficult question for me comes when comparing two believers who both rely on the Holy Spirit in their interpretation and application of the Bible, but one who is well studied and the other who does not have that opportunity. Can the well-studied one understand God better or hear more clearly from God?
At this point, I feel fairly comfortable saying the well-studied person could understand the Bible better, though that does not necessarily equate with a better understanding of God. As you mentioned, God can reveal Himself in ways other than the Bible.
I think there are certain dangers and risks for people in each position. The more educated person runs the risk of relying so much on their studies and knowledge that they may lose the focus on God and the dependency on His Spirit to understand His Word. But the unstudied person is more likely to be deceived by a spiritual leader teaching something that is not quite biblically sound, like the theology of wealth and prosperity, for example. But even the uneducated person who has a Bible has the opportunity to study it to guard against being led astray.
One thing that I love about God is that He is so creative in how He reveals Himself, that He reveals Himself to each of us in a unique way suited to what He knows we need, and I believe that those who truly seek Him will find Him in one way or another, and that all, regardless of level of education, can rely on His Spirit to guide them into truth. The trick is always relying on His Spirit rather than ourselves and knowing His voice from our own.
Hi Stefanie,
I totally agree, but you said: "But the unstudied person is more likely to be deceived by a spiritual leader teaching something that is not quite biblically sound, like the theology of wealth and prosperity, for example." The problem is that that kind of theology grows much more between the studied and many times already rich christians. Because for the unstudied, and many times poor, its totally unreal. So, the "problem" with the Bible are the diferent ways you can intepretate a certain verse, being well studied or not. But of course it is easier to deceive an unstudied believer, specially if I'm a well studied person and I garantee that what I believe is actually the truth. Here in the slums it is easy to see some kinds of distorced christian believes, but at least the people are honest in their faith. In opposite, the well studied christian, alltough they know the truth, they don't live according to it. So both sides have lots of troubles around the world
Greetings my daughter ...
Interesting thread and question ...
An Eskimo believer vs. a well studied believer ...
I agree a lot has to do with the condition of the heart and how much the believer loves Jesus. The analogy that comes to mind for me is from my experience in parenting and the realization how unique each of my daughters are ...
God's children are each unique too ... the well studied believer is more likely to have the ability to correctly apply and comprehend, but concievably, the eskimo's heart may be more aligned with God and application in daily life may be more natural, more consistent in staying within God's will ...
Love,
Dad
Post a Comment