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What’s So Dangerous About Misinterpreting the Bible?

Sean Cronin — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 09:15:00 +0000

By Daniel McCoy: Dr. Orpheus J. Heyward is involved every day in the trenches helping people to be disciples of Jesus. He uses the Word of God as his foundational manual for disciple making. And yet … there are many people with questions about Scripture.

The following is a Question and Answer post by Daniel McCoy and Orpheus.

Daniel McCoy: Alister McGrath wrote Christianity’s Dangerous Idea in which he explains that if you give everybody their own Bible in their own language, you will have tons of different interpretations. With everybody having their own Bible (and their own social media account, blog, podcasts, etc.), there’s a risk that people will invent and teach some very unbiblical interpretations. Can you give an example of when you heard somebody’s interpretation of a Bible passage and it made you say, “What in the world?!”

Dr. Orpheus J. Heyward: I can think of numerous cases and some of those cases may even be from my own early preaching experience, where after looking back retrospectively, I started to realize, Man, I really took some Scriptures out of context.

In the name of theology and doctrine, sometimes our zeal gets ahead of our hermeneutical understanding. When we want to be orthodox or when we want to ensure that we’re theologically correct, sometimes we’re more loyal to a particular religious tradition than to a proper interpretation of Scripture.

One example would be 1 Corinthians 14:40. This is a really common passage, where it says,

“Let all things be done decently and in order.”

That passage has been used for a great variety of things from saying you shouldn’t clap in church, to how women are dressed in church, to what should be the order of worship, to the idea that you can’t sing and do the Lord’s supper at the same time.

Protecting the Practice vs. Interpreting the Scripture

So, there have been numerous ways that that passage has been used to suggest various positions, and every position I’ve heard on that passage has been about trying to protect the practice—as opposed to truly treating what the apostle Paul was treating in the context of 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.

In 1 Corinthians 14:40, when Paul says that all things be done decently and in order, contextually he was dealing with the management of spiritual gifts. And he was dealing with the fact that you had prophets and tongue speakers who were not doing things in a way that would be edifying, in a way the church could understand.

Yet we have taken that passage and used it for everything we want to use it for. We use it as a double-edged sword. We cut people coming and going without truly understanding what Paul was dealing with in that context.

DM: What’s another example of people teaching a Bible passage which they clearly hadn’t taken the time to interpret correctly?

OH: Another would be in Acts 17, which says that God is not worshiped with human hands. That verse has been used to suggest that clapping is a sin. Yet, if you look at the context, you see that they were making idols. Paul addresses the practice of idol making by helping them to understand who God truly is—that he is not a God that needs you to make him or create him. In that context, he’s far from dealing with clapping.

DM: I think clapping is a sin … but only when it’s off-beat. Other than that, I think it should be okay. So, a lot of people see spirituality as a matter of opinion. They might say, “Well, this is how I read the Bible. And I find it to be an inspirational, inspiring way of reading it.” If I’ve got my own inspirational feelings from reading the Bible my own way, then does it really matter what the original authors meant to say? Isn’t it enough just to figure out what it means to me?

OH: You know, that’s a common approach of reading literature called the “reader-response method.” The reader response method took the position that in the absence of the author—since we do not have access to the author and we can’t ask the author what is meant—then we need to ascertain what it means to us. Therefore, the method was called “reader response.”

The problem with that is that God places the meaning in Scripture. We need to be very careful that we don’t negate the methodology of God by which He wants us to be guided by his wisdom. And to that end, he gives us Scripture and Scripture is not to be privately interpreted from the perspective that I can come up with what it means to me.

I need to ask, “What is God trying to communicate to me? What is God trying to say to me? What is the instructive mechanism involved here?”

For instance, 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness that the man of God might be equipped for every good work. Well, if it’s left up to me to come up with what it means, where’s the rebuke? Where’s the correction? Where’s the instruction in righteousness? It then becomes subjective, which means I can then bend Scripture to my will as opposed to making my will bend to Scripture.

So it becomes a dangerous process when I lead with the notion that I can give Scripture meaning. That perspective negates the wisdom of God—that God is the revealer of Scripture by which He wants to communicate meaning to us. So, I think the reader response philosophy is very dangerous and gives birth to a plethora of different religious positions that are predicated on what people want and what people feel as opposed to what did God actually communicate.

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Recommended resources related to this topic:

Join Orpheus Heyward in the Discipleship.org Collective on Thursday, April 22nd at 10:00 am CT where he will talk about how to read and understand the Bible and what to do with our questions. Hosted by Daniel McCoy and Renee Sproles from Renew.org

Original Blog Source: https://renew.org/whats-so-dangerous-about-bible-misinterpretation-qa-with-orpheus-j-heyward/

The post What’s So Dangerous About Misinterpreting the Bible? appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: What’s So Dangerous About Misinterpreting the Bible?

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Spiritual Formation for One

Sean Cronin — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Home > Blog > Spiritual Formation for One

Spiritual Formation for One

By Ed Stetzer

When I think about my own spiritual formation, one of the things that’s been helpful for me to remember is that people of different personalities approach spiritual growth differently. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach.

For instance, I am wired very differently than my wife, Donna. I’m a “get stuff done, change the world now,” type of personality. I have much more of an “activist” personality. Donna, on the other hand, has a much more contemplative personality. She is more likely to consider her actions for a while before she makes them, and this has made her naturally more prayerful than myself.

For example, when the weather is warm, Donna will bike over to the nearby park with her Bible and just sit there. In that environment, it is natural for her to engage in prayer and reflection. That’s not as natural for me. Some people are more like me and some are going to be more like Donna. In fact, there’s a whole continuum of personality; from the more contemplative to the more activist.

Jet fuel drinkers and candle lighters and everyone in between

Mindy Caliguire leads a ministry called SoulCare, which provides coaching and spiritual direction for weary ministry leaders. She is a key partner with the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center’s Resilient Church Leadership initiative. Mindy has worked in a lot of places with get-it-done people, people like myself. She calls people like that jet fuel drinkers. They are constantly on the go, often burning the candle at both ends.

That’s one side of the spectrum.

The other side, using Mindy’s terms, is the candle lighter. The candle lighter moves a bit slower. Things might not happen as fast, but they also might happen more deliberately.

In our house, I would be a jet fuel drinker and Donna would be a candle lighter. Mindy tries to help the jet fuel drinkers realize the practices that they need to stop burning the candle at both ends and exhausting themselves.

And, I see the need.

A few weeks ago, I preached at Saddelback’s weekend services. While there, I referenced a meeting that was hosted by Saddleback about a decade ago. It was one of their national conferences, and (like all such conferenes) it had a flyer. I still have that flyer to this day.

The flyer for that particular conference the conference had seven people on it. Rick Warren is on one side of the seven, I’m on the other.

There were five nationally-known pastors between us. You’d probably know all their names. Three of the five had some experience that caused them to leave the ministry, at least temporarily.Of course, the reasons would be as complex as the people involved, but I was also reminded of my own failures and frailties.

And, as a person who’s not naturally contemplative or prayerful, I actually have to say to myself, “I have to prioritize my formation.”

Spiritual formation in stressful times

This has been the most difficult year of my life and in many people’s lives. I’ve never had so many leadership challenges, amidst great personal challenges as well. The first month or so I just had to do certain things. I have a network of people that rely on me. I have faculty that I need to serve and staff members with budgets collapsing, and I had to do all these things, no matter how overwhelming it all was. In the midst of that, my kids and family are facing the disappointment that accompanies canceled high school graduations and not going off to college like they were planning to do.

And then, on a Tuesday, I just said, “I can’t do this.” Like so many others, I was emotionally and spiritually at a wrecking point. Not long after I reached my breaking point, a friend of mine died by suicide.

It was at this breaking point that I was reminded how much my spiritual practices had suffered in that period of stress. My discipleship had lost its focus. And, I realized why— I got too caught up in the work of the Lord that I neglected the Lord of the work. I got so caught up in the work at hand that I ignored the work that God is still doing in me.

One of the things that people have to do in these extreme times is to hit reset. My spiritual practices are often reset in order to prioritize them. I desperately needed a reset earlier this year.

Spiritual formation that engages you

This breaking point has taught me the value of my spiritual practices, especially in difficult seasons. I have to remind myself to take the time for my spiritual formation because I can be a busy person and forget to prioritize that time.

But then I look at that flyer, and I see friends of mine, three of the five who have had public failures.

This is both a warning for me and also a reminder of a deep need in my own heart. I need time in the Word. I need prayer and spiritual growth and formation.

At Wheaton College, many people are more formal in their spiritual practices than me; there are people are using prayer books and people going through a lectionary or whatever it may be.

That’s just not me. I’m the guy who opens his Bible. I sing aloud, so you don’t want to be around me during my prayer time. I sing songs from the eighties because that’s when I learned to worship.

I open my Bible, I read, and I pray.

But, I’m not at all against those other practices. Some read Puritan prayers for their growth and I praise God for them. Others are going through a prayer book. I’m for all that, as long as you are pushed toward growth and formation as a disciple. For me, I’m just more of a simple “read the Bible, pray and worship” kind of guy.

But, my point is this. Find a path to engage spiritual disciplines that changes you, makes you more like Jesus, and sends you on mission.

We all need to be pursuing spiritual formation in effective ways, no matter who we are. Furthermore, in times of disruption, we need to lean into our disciplines even more.

Source: Spiritual Formation for One

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Normalize Bible Reading in Your Life and Leadership

Patrick Bradley — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 09:00:34 +0000

By Daniel Im:

Growing up, my favorite sermons were the ones where the preacher would get into the Greek or Hebrew and explain to us common folk what the Scriptures really meant.

In the Greek, this word is translated, pistis, and it means…

In the Hebrew, this word is translated as hesed, and it means..

Those were the moments where I felt like I was being fed “meat,” rather than “milk.” Those were the moments when my ears perked up. Those were the moments that made the sermon worth it…since I couldn’t get that sort of insight on my own. Reading the Scriptures in the “simpleton language” of English just didn’t cut it. Unless I knew the Greek or the Hebrew, I could never attain the level of depth in my relationship with God that my pastor had.

How did that last paragraph make you feel? Did something feel off to you?

In my pastor’s pursuit to be exegetically sound, and to provide “meat,” depth, and insight into the Scriptures, he unintentionally made the Scriptures inaccessible to the congregation.

Without verbally saying it aloud, he was basically saying that the English language wasn’t adequate to understand the true intent of the Scriptures. In his desire to be helpful and shepherd us toward spiritual growth, he was actually going against the point of the Reformation—to make the Scriptures accessible to all.

Ouch.

Who else is guilty of this? As a pastor myself, I know I am…

If you’re like me, the last thing that you want to do is make the Scriptures inaccessible.

After all, as articulated in the discipleship research in my book, No Silver Bullets: Five Small Shifts that will Transform Your Ministry, the frequency of one’s Bible reading was one of the key indicators and influencers toward spiritual growth.

In other words, the more you read your Bible, the more likely you are going to grow in all aspects of spiritual maturity. ALL ASPECTS. Isn’t that incredible?

Unfortunately sometimes, there are things that pastors and church leaders (myself including) unintentionally do that hurt, rather than help.

If reading the Bible makes that much of a difference, what are things that we can do to help our congregations and/or those that we disciple dig deeper into the Word? In other words, how can we normalize Bible reading?

Here are three ways to normalize Bible reading:

1. Don’t use the Greek or Hebrew words when preaching.

I know it makes you sound smart, and I know that it makes you feel better that you’re putting those Greek and Hebrew classes to work, but when you do this, you’re actually telling everyone that the English translations aren’t trustworthy or readable. Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that you should never consult the Greek or Hebrew texts while preaching a sermon. I’m just saying that what happens in the study doesn’t always have to make it to the pulpit.

If you studied the languages, then by all means, get insight from the original texts (make sure that you’re referencing lexicons and commentaries to ensure that you’re interpretation is accurate), but share your insight in English. Use illustrations to articulate the original intent of the Scriptures. Read the passage from several different English translations across the spectrum and then explain the meaning.

By preaching this way, instead of making the Scriptures inaccessible, you’re teaching your congregation and/or those that you are discipling that they can do what you’re doing. All they need is a few different English translations to dig deeper.

2. When illustrating a point, share about your personal Bible reading.

When preaching or discipling, illustrate your points by sharing what you’re learning through your own personal Bible reading. By doing this, you’re emphasizing the importance of reading the Word without necessarily saying it outright. This is one of the most powerful ways to normalize something.

For example, this past summer, while I was preaching through the Book of James at my church, there was this one particular sermon where I spent 5-10 minutes sharing what I learnt in 1 Samuel 13 that week. You can read more about this specific example here.

By making my personal Bible reading the illustration, I was not only showing my congregation that God speaks through His Word, but I was also teaching them a way to engage with the Scriptures.

Win win.

3. Use the Bible to disciple others.

I love curriculum, study guides, and books. There are so many helpful resources out there that can help you disciple others. Even when I look at my own spiritual life, I can point to several books and studies that have been influential in helping me overcome sin, temptation, and the strongholds of the evil one. However, if these resources aren’t pointing you to the Bible, or helping you read and understand what God is saying through the Scriptures, then what good are they? What power do they actually have to change you and I?

That’s why, when I disciple others, I make reading the Bible the central component. And when I use curriculum, study guides, or books to disciple others, I make sure that they are supplementary to the discipleship process, so that they don’t take the place of the central role that the Bible has in one’s discipleship.

Source: Normalize Bible Reading in Your Life and Leadership

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