It was a pleasure to get such positive feedback on my recent blog post. I was originally a bit disheartened when I wrote the article because it just sat there for a full two days with no one commenting on it, but then Eddie Arthur noticed, and then Wayne Leman, and pretty soon a whole host of folks were talking about it. I found it ironic that many people were referring to my post by quoting from it “out of context” which was one of the bones I was picking, so to speak, about Bible study. When folks quoted the entire last paragraph it sort of spoiled the “punch line” for my article even when they had a link back to my complete post. On the other hand a couple people just copied my entire post on their blog.
The post provoked discussion on Bible reading plans, the role of the Holy Spirit in speaking to us through the Bible, and the way in which people use de-contextualized verses as bullets to attack those who oppose their viewpoints.
This weekend we were together as a family for Memorial Day and my wife read the post out loud to my mother who responded by saying, “That’s exactly the way I read my Bible–to get a ‘pithy little message’ to help me through the day.” She proceeded to open her Bible to Psalm 125 and quoted:
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.
Then she started reading a little poem about rainbows (it was a “Women’s Devotional Bible”) and that made her cry. I know a lot of people read the Bible in just that way and find a lot of comfort in the Scriptures as a sort of “daily dose of spiritual wisdom.” But their reading is many times constrained by a “biblical grid” that helps them to fit “out of context” information into a larger theological framework.
Thanks, Mom, for reminding us of the power of the Word to comfort and inspire. And thanks to all of you for bringing your views to this topic. I’ll be posting more on this topic this week.
Three of us at my church lead CWA (Christian Worker’s Academy) for young people. It’s a two year (once a month) program we carry out. The last two months have been about making Christ known.
One of the other men taught last month and one of his main points was how cults sometimes use canned responses to questions. They are asked a question, and BAM!, a verse gets hurled back at the questioner. We discussed how being a witness for Christ needs to be different than that in order to carry real authority and be believable. It was a good and enlightening discussion.
Your post reminds me of that.
Thanks again!
Mike,
I’d like someone to enlighten us on the role of “sound bite” verses in discourse. Sometimes we talk about stories from the gospel’s being “pronouncement” stories in which an entire story builds up to a “pronouncement” by Jesus. Quoting that verse “out of context” seems to be a case in which a single utterance evokes an entire situation whether it be a miracle of Jesus or a revelation of some sort about his character or purpose. And isn’t much of the verse memorization that Christians do of this type? We memorize a single verse, like Romans 3:23, but it “represents” a larger block of discourse.
So I guess I’m trying to argue positively for the role of isolated verses provided that they are understood in their context or “theological framework.” Any ideas?
Where’s Dr. Rich when we need him?!?
Hi Mr Mish.
I took a lightly edited version of your post [to fit it on one page ... the other side was a bible reading plan: I hope that's OK!] to a talk I was giving at a young adults bible study group. They appreciated what you had to say, I think.
That’s great, David. It’s my privilege. What were their thoughts on the subject (and yours)?