1. as a rule book - a guide to proper living so that we do not get off track and offend God.
2. as a devotional book, filled with wonderful promises/blessings to help us handle life.
3. as a mirror, reflecting our image; we look for confirmation in it of our already settled ideas.
4. as a big puzzle - scattered pieces of data that we have to assemble into a coherent belief system.
5. as mainly the teaching of some key figure (Paul, John, Jesus, Moses, Isaiah, David), around which all the rest revolves.
I certainly have fallen victim to numbers 1, 3 & 4 over time, and know many people who run to number 2 regularly, especially under stress. Relevant Magazine this month carried an article that gets to a point I have made for some years now - that we tend to over-apply Bible verses as pertaining to ourselves as individuals, despite their original context and the intended audience when first written. Jer. 29:11 is a prime example, which the article develops in some detail. I'll leave it to the article to articulate the argument.
The point is, when we see in the Bible something we like, we tend to apply it to ourselves personally, whether or not that is appropriate. And when we see something in the Bible we DON'T like, we tend to wave our hands and make a case for why it only applied "back then". We are selective in our approach to interpreting Scripture... when we really need to be principled, and consistent.
Myself included. Which, in seminary, I am just beginning to learn.
2 comments:
So - I look at principals to apply. For instance with Jehosaphat I look at 1. Adversity is coming (my life and his and yours) 2. How do we handle it? Get afraid? Yeah. Scared? Yeah. 3. What do we do? Do we seek the Lord or curse him and die (Job's wife)or escape or ignore or hide or in our own strength... but certainly we seek him, have faith and trust. Is the battle really His? Yes - I am powerless and utterly dependent on Him. and I don't know what to do. Will God bless like in Jehosaphat in my circumstance? Maybe not - but can He? Could He? You bet. Can we trust Him to provide? Yes. In the way we want? Probably not - but in His way (as they are higher than ours) and Praise the Lord for that. So we trust, have faith, walk through valleys and He is with us and can we have peace and joy admidst the struggle? By His grace.
Yup, that's the deal. Look for the timeless principles, not the specifics that are context-sensitive. So, we can't go so far as to say that if God delivered Jehosaphat by making his enemies take each other out, that God will do the same for me. God gave Jehosaphat specific promises that we have to leave with him alone. But, we can sure expect God to care for us graciously, regardless of the outcome.
:)
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