Category: General Christian Teachings

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth. First off, a lot of you have been wanting me to get things more organized here and thankfully, someone from my church is willing to work on my computer and to help with that. Thus, you and I both get our wish. To continue with where we’re going, we’re looking at Christian sound bites now and as an apologist, this next one I find quite annoying.

There have been a number of times when people have heard me speaking about the need for Christian apologetics and have said “Don’t defend your faith. Let God do that.” I always ask the same question in response when I hear someone say that. “Do you take the same approach to evangelism?”

To begin with, we are to defend our faith because God told us to. When we do evangelism, we are going to confront people of different viewpoints and we need to show why our viewpoint is correct and theirs is wrong. We are told to contend for the faith in Jude 3. In Philippians 1, Paul says he is in chains for the defense of the gospel.

However, let’s look at this from another perspective. One question often asked is “What about those who’ve never heard?” One reason I don’t believe this is answered is because God has given us the Great Commission. There is no plan B. God doesn’t say “I want you to do the Great Commission, but if you don’t, I’m going to handle things this way.” Now I do believe he will handle things in a just and right way, but we are not given any excuse to not perform the Great Commission.

God has given us a task. We are to do it. Thus, my biggest objection to this is that it justifies laziness again. We could use it in all manner of ways.

“Don’t donate to the church or give to charity. If God wants them to have money, he’ll get it.”

“Don’t pray. If God wants you to have something, he’ll give it.” (Mind you I don’t think such is the only purpose of prayer anyway)

“Don’t study the Bible. If God wants you to know something, he’ll tell you.”

“Don’t go to the grocery store. If God wants you to eat, he’ll feed you.”

“Don’t go to work. If God wants you to have money, he’ll give it to you.”

The idea is that God is supposed to do everything for us. Now there’s no denial that God can do what has been said above. If God wanted to, he could have food brought to any of us every day so we would never have to go to the grocery store. That has not been his plan however and considering the way the Jews and ancients as a whole viewed deities, that shouldn’t surprise us.

We have this view that God is to do our work for us. This even gets to where we want God to make our decisions for us today. It gets us from the holy view of God where He is not meant to serve us but we are meant to serve Him. (Consider this when The Shack has at the end the main character saying “God, my servant.”)

What is most often the case I would say is people wanting to justify laziness. Yes. Being an apologist requires work and there are many times I do not desire to be reading and it takes discipline, but the results are worth it. Even if you do not do apologetics to the degree a lot of us do, you should be studying to show yourself approved in knowing what you believe.

There is no valid excuse for laziness at the throne of God after all.

Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth! Lately, we’ve been examining the Christian church and considering sound bites that are used in the culture of the American church. While we have often dealt with slogans, tonight, I’d kind of like to deal with an attitude prevalent in the church. That is what I think of as super spirituality.

My current church is an exception, but I know a lot of churches can refer to me as “brother” and yet, they are so often not there. I am thinking right now in contrast of a kind lady whose helped my wife and I out and yet has never met us and as I thanked her she said “We’re all brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s good to help out.”

Now that is the real attitude I think we should have. However, we can often say “Well brother, I’ll be praying for you.” I’d really like us to consider something like this. How many of us when we say something like that actually do pray about that person that we said we would?

Spirituality too often is not about lifting God up, but lifting ourselves up. How many times can we want to flaunt our spirituality before others. Greg Koukl has talked about the Christian who says “I was thinking about you during my third prayer time today” or “You were in my mind while I was memorizing Jeremiah.”

Of course, when this comes to a personal weakness, we often don’t want to show that. Why? Well that wouldn’t be spiritual. A true Christian cannot be depressed. (And if you are one who has said this, shame on you for causing further pain to one who is already suffering) True Christians should have constant happiness.

We say this while our Lord was described as a man of sorrows familiar with suffering.

Christian. It’s okay to suffer. It’s also okay to be upset with God. You want proof? Go to that book of the Bible called Psalms and look at how the Psalmist talks to God. Go read the book of Jeremiah and note the complaints that Jeremiah gives to God. These people were bluntly honest with what they were going through before God.

Something else to consider. How many times do you see someone share something in them that they are struggling with and you look at them afterwards and think “I really have a lot more respect for them now.”? Hence, I have a blog on here about Obama, Socialism, and my story. This was to let my readers know that I too bleed. I say that not to lift myself up, but I think some people reading this blog could view me in a leadership capacity and I want them to know that while they admire me perhaps, that I have many struggles as well and my wife can tell you I have a lot to work on.

Don’t put up a facade please, and I say this to myself as well. Be real. The kingdom is not about building you up. The kingdom is about bringing Christ glory.

Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we dive into the ocean of truth. We’ve been looking lately at Christian Sound Bites. The sad reality is that instead of studying like they should, Christians more often just tossing out little platitudes, sadly many of which they got from their pastor probably. (We do need better informed pastors leading the flock) Tonight, we’re not looking at a sound bite per se, but a kind of attitude Christians can have.

One term that should always put you on red alert when a fellow Christian says it to you is “God told me.” To claim insight into the mind of the Most High and that He has revealed information to you is a serious claim. How seriously you take it is an indication of how seriously you take God. If you toss it out casually, you have a low view of God.

Let me state upfront that I am not saying God cannot speak to someone and tell them something today. God can do what he wants. I’m saying it’s not normative. None of us doubt that God can raise the dead. However, that doesn’t mean we’re going to leave the casket open and keep praying. It’s not a lack of faith when we bury someone. It’s not putting a limitation on God. It’s saying that He has promised when He will do that and we’re waiting on Him to do so then.

In Old Testament times, the claim to speak for God was definitely taken seriously. People died when they said “God said” and God had not said. If you got one prophecy wrong, you were a false prophet and you were to pay the price with your life for attempting to lead Israel astray.

God is the God of all truth. Do you know what you are saying when you claim that He told you something? You are claiming that what you are saying is absolutely true and true on divine authority and not just that, but personally revealed to you. Now there’s nothing wrong with quoting Scripture as the Word of God, but there’s something wrong with going beyond Scripture and giving it divine authority. Are you so sure that God has spoken something personally to you that you’d be ready to die for the claim? You’d better be!

Consider also the damage this does. First off, new Christians can expect that they ought to hear from God when this is normative. If they don’t, they think there’s something wrong. Don’t tell me that this has no effect. I’ve read on the blogosphere of people apostasizing for reasons like this.

Second, you are being an embarrassment in the eyes of those who oppose us. Consider what happened when Pat Robertson spoke on TV after the Haiti earthquake and while what he said was supposed to have divine authority, it was all wrong. Now I do realize that a lot of these are the faith teachers that we Christians don’t take seriously, but many an opponent of the church is ready to lump us all together.

Personally, we have enough that we need to explain in the eyes of a watchful world. Now I do realize we’re not perfect, but we don’t want to add to our bad actions. If we don’t take God seriously, then pray tell why should anyone else? If we make conversation with Him to be something commonplace, we’d better be acting accordingly!

Of course, I think we should all be leading holy lives based on our being in covenant with YHWH, but if you claim to hear from God and half of what you say is wrong, what will people think about God?

Third, you are denigrating Scripture. In fact, this is what happens with many of these people where The Bible becomes a collection of dusty old books. These are the ones we know to be the Word of God that were handed down to us, often at the expense of the lives of several Christians.

If you’re your average American, do something right now. Go to your room and get your Bible and then come back here.

Got it?

Okay. Now consider this.

Most anyone in China would give anything to get what you have right there. If they had just one page from it, they would pore over it constantly. People in China still place great value on what God said. Our concept is really American and one confusing the rest of the world. My former roommate and I were both quite upset once at a church service with some teachers talking about going to the Middle East and having students there in their classes ask “How do you hear the voice of God?”

Makes you wonder why God would even bother giving us a book if He was just supposed to verbally tell us everything.

The result is that our Christianity becomes more centered on us and our experiences rather than on God and how He has revealed Himself to us in Scripture. This doesn’t mean our experiences are meaningless. However, we are to interpret our experiences by Scripture and not use our experiences TO interpret Scripture. Scripture is the authority. We are not.

The sooner Christians drop the idea that God is speaking to them on a regular basis and return to a view of the majesty and awesomeness of God, the better. Perhaps maybe we’ll actually study Scripture again then.

Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth. We’re looking lately at Christian Sound Bites. Last night, we saw that you do in fact need theology if you’re going to be a Christian. Tonight, we are going to look at the saying that you can’t argue someone into the kingdom.

Now in a sense, this one is true. As an apologist, I know that there is no magic bullet argument that will cause someone to convert. I sure wish there were, but there isn’t. Different people have different objections and some are volitional doubters and because of this, they will not bend a knee to any argument.

I also give a warning to young people starting out in apologetics. Don’t go out there thinking that you’re going to convert the world with your new knowledge. In fact, you’re going to get your tail kicked for awhile. All of us have before. It’s normal. Just keep studying.

What concerns me is the implication that I’m supposed to draw from this statement. If it is simply that there is no magic bullet, all is good and well. However, too often, it’s given in a way that says that you should avoid argumentation because you cannot argue someone into the kingdom. Better to just love them.

For the first part, argumentation is not something to be avoided. The apostles and the early church fathers regularly engaged in it. Once again, when training young apologists, I often encourage them to find a place where they can argue. That’s where you can put to test the ideas you have and the more you argue, the better you will be at understanding your ideas and how they need to be improved.

A good Christian wanting to evangelize should know how to converse with people and with people who disagree. That means interaction. That means dealing with people who are absolute jerks and with people who have real questions and really want answers and it will take experience to know which one is which.

But what about love? After all, you can’t argue someone into the kingdom. Well you can’t just love someone into the kingdom. How many people left Christ without coming into the kingdom despite the love that he showed them? In fact, we are told specifically for the rich young man that Jesus loved him, and yet that rich young man did not choose to follow Jesus.

If the idea is that we shouldn’t use argumentation because you can’t just argue someone into the kingdom, therefore use love, then the same reality applies. “But the Holy Spirit can use your love!” Yes. Of course he can. The Holy Spirit can also use a good argument. It’s not an either/or. It’s a both/and.

In fact, that’s the way it should be. We have to be people of truth and we have to be people of love. That’s biblical love however and not sentimentality. We are out to win the whole person. You don’t get their heart and you don’t just get their mind. We have to claim all of them for Christ. He does not want anything less.

Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth! We’ve lately been looking at Christian sound bites. Why do this? Because Christians are supposed to be people of truth and it does not serve us to unthinkingly pass on cliches that are devoid of substance.

Somehow, many of the church have got the idea that it’s holy to believe something blindly. When Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris condemn believing something without evidence, I agree with them. Unfortunately for them, they also believe in a definition of faith without evidence.

This is common in the idea that we don’t need theology. We’ll just have Jesus and that will be enough!

Oh? Which Jesus? Do you want the Mormon Jesus who is the spirit brother of Lucifer?

Do you want the Jehovah’s Witness Jesus who is Michael the archangel and who became Jesus?

Do you want the oneness Jesus who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Do you want the new age Jesus who is an avatar?

Do you want the Muslim Jesus who is a great prophet and virgin born and the sinless Messiah but who is not God nor ever claimed to be?

Do you want a humanist Jesus who just went around doing good?

Do you want the Jesus of orthodox Christianity who is the second person of the Trinity?

All of that will depend on your theology. What role of Christ will you have? Will you have Christ as He is or will you find a Christ who suits your desires and longings?

And you know what? You might actually have to study a little bit about that. It’s amazing that when you send your kid to college, you’ll want them to study the colleges and choose wisely. When they have someone they want to marry, you’ll want them to really look at the person they’ve chosen and you’ll want to meet them and make sure they’re a good match.

When it comes to their faith, the substance doesn’t really matter however. Are you going to say that your child’s belief about God is less important than where he attends college or who he marries?

If you’re not teaching your child theology, you already have said that.

Of course, it helps if you’re living out that same lifestyle. Do you make it a point to study your religion, or did you put more effort into studying to buy a TV or automobile in Consumer Reports? You don’t want to spend that time thinking about religion, but you sure won’t stop thinking about what the season is going to look like for your favorite football team.

Of course, I fall too in some ways here as well. We all do. None of us think about God as we should.

However, the sound bite dealt with today is one plaguing our church. A people that are ignorant of what they believe are sitting ducks for the new atheists. In fact, the reason the new atheists are making any leeway at all is because Christians are too ignorant by and large to realize that straw men are being attacked.

I do believe that the world has lost its intellectual bearings and has moved into a position where metaphysical questions and such are too difficult to think about so we’ll just go with science and let it answer all our questions. We can rightfully condemn that. However, the reason I think the world lost its bearings in the intellectual world is because the church lost them first. We can talk about the mess the world is in today and what we can do about it, but let’s not act like we’re innocent.

Our laxity on such issues has led to the rise of atheism and secular morality. There is blood on our hands when we realize if maybe we’d never stopped fighting the battle that 4,000 babies would not die every day in abortion. Why did we get to the point where it was believed life was not valuable and good from conception? It is because we were not there. We were too busy feeling good about ourselves to make sure the world was good. But hey, we were safe. We didn’t have to enter that heavy intellectual stuff.

Theology is not just a nice little addendum to the faith. It is a necessity. It is not just a pastime. It is a lifetime work. I have often told my wife that theology and philosophy are not an option. We all do them. The question is if we will do them well or not. I pray that you Christian will start doing good theology because as Lewis would say with new atheists on the rise, bad theology needs to be answered.

Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we dive into the ocean of truth! Lately, we’ve been walking down the path of bad argumentation and seeing how Christians use sound bites to argue. These are short little sayings that sound good enough that they get repeated often, but they’re just harmful to the Christian message.

Some of you might be surprised by tonight’s title. Aren’t we to love Jesus? Of course, and it should be our desire to love him more every day. However, what I am talking about is what I have heard often from young men seeking to date Christian girls. They will turn down a date saying something like “I’m in love with Jesus” or “I’m dating Jesus” or “Jesus is my husband.”

If you stopped to think for a moment about those sayings, just realize the conclusion. If you meet three different people who all say they’re in love with the same man, are dating the same man, or are married to the same man, what’s the view given of that man? He must be a two-timer or a polygamist or some other terms that would be even less charitable.

But aren’t we the bride of Christ? Collectively, we are. Jesus is not a polygamist. He has one bride. If you are a young girl, you are not married to Jesus. You are not in a relationship with Jesus in the hopes that that relationship will develop into the eros kind of love. You are sure not going to be having sex with Jesus, but your future husband will be hoping you’re having it with him.

Treating Jesus like this is treating him flippantly. It’s making the great Lord of the universe on the same level as the kind of person you’d date. I am reminded of how Christian comedian Brad Stine has said that if he gets behind a car with the bumper sticker that says “God is my co-pilot,” that he speeds up because he wants to see who’s driving. You have to be good if God is riding shotgun!

Another great danger is saying you’re in love with him. Why? I think it’s a great danger that too many relationships are built on a romantic feeling instead of a romantic devotion. Now you can have both, but let us not mistake the feeling for the devotion. The truly devoted person is the one who serves regardless of how he feels. If you feel great, great! If not, oh well. You have a commitment.

The Christian life is not always a feel good happy time. In fact, we’re promised the opposite. We are promised suffering. Didn’t Jesus say he came that we might have life abundantly? Oh yes he did, but don’t think he’s necessarily meaning what a 21st century American counts as abundant life. Too many kids seem to think love of Christ is all about getting a really good feeling. These kids think they’re being nourished by pizza parties at youth groups and going on these weekend big youth gatherings. They’ll come back really excited, and then a week or two later, it’s back to normal. Then they go off to college and it seems that feel-good has a hard time holding up against a professor with 25 years of atheism.

Finally, you’re also doing a disservice to the guy who’s asking you out. For all you know, this could be a man who will draw you closer to Christ. That’s something we marrieds need to be looking at more often. It shouldn’t just be “Am I having a good time?” It should be more importantly “Am I becoming more like Christ?” Marriage is great, but it’s also work.

By all means, love Jesus. Love him more every day. However, do realize he’s not like any love you will have down here. He is Lord. Treat him with the reverence he is owed.

Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we dive into the ocean of truth! We’ve been looking lately at the topic of Christian sound bites. Unfortunately, we Christians can toss out platitudes as well that show a lack of serious thinking on our part.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a Christian be hesitant to say something critical because you’re not supposed to judge. I also don’t know how many times they’ve told me that I don’t need to say something critical for the same reason.

Why? Jesus said “Judge not.” Unfortunately, this has fed into our victim mentality culture where people are seen as incredibly fragile. Someone’s feelings are more important than the truth of a matter. You can say what you want, but just be sure you don’t hurt anyone’s feelings, unless they’re orthodox evangelical Christians. They’re open game.

When Jesus gave that command, he was referring to hypocritical judging. If you have a plank in your eye, then you are not authorized to remove that speck from your brother’s eye.

Consider when you say you’re not supposed to judge. In doing so, some judgments have already been made. For instance, you have made a judgment that Jesus is a reliable authority figure and someone whose advice you should trust. (Heck. Just by becoming a Christian, you have made a judgment)

Second, you have made a judgment that the person you are telling to not judge has in fact judged. You cannot tell them that they are not to judge then without having done so yourself.

Third, you are also making a moral judgment. You are judging that the act of judging is something that is immoral. Once again, the problem with this is the same as above. As soon as you say something about it, you’re guilty.

I recall one Christian asking me about the Westboro movement and saying “Well I don’t want to judge.” We were in my former roommate’s apartment at the time and so I said to her “Is your car downstairs?”

“Yes.”

“Are the doors locked?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She realized then that she’d been caught in a trap. She locked the doors because she judged that there were some people out there who might want to steal her car and the best way to prevent that was by locking the door.

We make judgments like this all the time. We judge when we marry. We judge when we choose a school for kids. We judge when we choose a babysitter. We judge the best way to get to the store when we drive. We judge what we will spend our money on.

If we say we have no right to make moral judgments, then we can no longer call evil evil and condemn it. We cannot say that there is a difference between someone like Mother Teresa and someone like Adolf Hitler.

We also cannot make the judgment that Jesus is the only way to salvation and Islam is not a way to salvation. We cannot judge that Christianity is a true worldview and that atheism is a false worldview.

All of this in the name of so-called tolerance, but rest assured that those who want us to be tolerant are not as tolerant of us as they want us to be of them. Unfortunately, Christians are buying into the victim mentality cop-out.

Does this mean all judging is good. No. John 7:24 tells us to make a righteous judgment and not judge by mere appearances. We should also avoid an attitude of judgmentalism. Some of us, self included, have a tendency to see the worst always and go straight there. We need to get past that.

Let us be sure however, the idea of “You’re not supposed to judge” is not what Jesus had in mind and to teach it does a disservice to him.

Welcome everyone to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth! Lately, I’ve been looking at Christian sound bites. Bad argumentation is a problem wherever we see it and sadly, Christians can be quite guilty of it. I’m going to look at one tonight that does parallel what we covered last night.

Suppose you’re debating with a fellow Christian on a topic not explicitly discussed in the Bible. An example could be something political. Of course, what I’m about to say could apply to something in the Bible as well unfortunately. You have made your point and your opponent has no argument so they just say “Well you need to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show you.”

Pride once again, and one of the worst kinds, a spiritual pride. This person wants you to pray because they’re sure God will back them if you ask.

For the sake of argument, it could be that this person is entirely right in their position, but they’re just too lazy to develop a good argument. Let it never be thought that because someone uses one of these sound bites as a cop-out in a debate, that they are wrong in their point. It just means they’re being intellectually lazy.

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit helping us understand Scripture has not meant the Holy Spirit will tell us what a text means. It means the Holy Spirit will convict us on the meaning of the text. Otherwise, the job of commentators would be much easier and we’d never need to really wrestle with the text. God actually wants us to work to understand Him and His Word.

I also think that with decision making, the Holy Spirit is never to just decide for us. That can happen, but it is extremely rare. On the other hand, I think it’s entirely appropriate to pray that the Holy Spirit will give us wisdom in decision making so we can make a pleasing decision.

The kind of thinking we see today actually can lead to troubles for many Christians. Some people leave the faith because they don’t have the experiences they think they’re supposed to be having. I have wondered in churches when a vote comes up before a board and we’re asked to vote the way the Holy Spirit is supposedly leading, why it seems the Holy Spirit can’t make up His mind. Why is it we are to give the way we feel the Spirit leading? Why can’t we instead hear a sermon on 2 Cor. 8-9? Rather than wisely decide how we should vote or give, we just say “Hey God. Can you just tell me?”

Like last time, the person making this claim is being prideful. They have been lazy and instead of admitting they don’t know, this time, they’re actually punting to God and saying God will justify their laziness. It’s also dangerously assuming a hotline to God that many cult leaders have claimed to have.

This objection reminds me of what Francis Beckwith once said. “”If they can’t win with logic, they’ll trump you with spirituality.” As I said yesterday, holiness should not be used as a weapon. If you can’t win the argument, then say you’ll be glad to go back and study. Laziness is not an excuse and we should not use God to excuse our laziness.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth! We’re spending our time looking at Christian Sound Bites now. Tonight, I’m going to take a look at the line given by many a Christian who says “I just believe what the Bible says!”

We’ve all seen this happen before. Suppose you and a fellow Christian are debating eschatology. You make an argument and your opponent responds by saying “I just believe what the Bible says”

That can sound good. That can sound holy. It gives the impression that nothing more can be said. The exact opposite is true.

To begin with, if you are a Christian, the Bible should matter to you. If you are told that your opinion goes against the Bible and you can be shown that, then that should be enough for you to change it. However, in a debate like this, it is not a question of “Should we believe what the Bible says?” That’s agreed on. The question is “What does it say?”

The position is also not holy. It’s prideful. When you use this, you are automatically telling your opponent without reason that they do not believe what the Bible says as opposed to you who does. Upon what grounds do you get to make a charge that you are the holy one and your brother or sister the one living in rebellion?

This is just a cop-out and it’s one of the worst kinds too. It’s a cop-out to holiness. Holiness is important, but it is not meant to be used as a weapon. In fact, if you truly have holiness, you would not want to use it that way. You would want to, if you believe you’re right, rationally convince your fellow Christian to see the error of their ways.

In reality also, something can be said to this. When you are told this, you can say “Yes. That is a fine and noble thing to do. Would you care to go to the text with me and demonstrate that that is what the text says?” After all, the person is begging the main question assuming that that is what the text says. You could even grant that if you are shown that that is what the text says that you will freely change your mind.

None of us like to be shown up. This is a reply intended to make it seem as if you haven’t been shown up and are acting “spiritual” instead. Why not admit you are wrong? To paraphrase one of my friends, maybe we should all be more open to what the Bible could say and rather than have to commit ritual suicide, be willing to admit the other side could have a point.

We wouldn’t accept it if an atheist gave a cop-out of a similar nature in a debate. Why would we want to pull one on a fellow Christian? It would be better to study and learn more about the opponent’s view, rather than to build up the sin of pride in your life.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are diving into the ocean of truth! I really don’t like that what I’m including tonight is under the topic of Christian sound bites. However, I decided to put it here because Christians are the ones who usually take the Scripture text more seriously, as they should. However, there are proper ways to settle disputes on how a text should be interpreted.

This is not one of them.

Many of us have done it. Imagine laying out a case for how you interpret a text of Scripture only to hear “Well that’s just your interpretation!” Never mind the work you might have put into coming to an understanding of the text. Your opponent is using this as if it addresses you.

The first thing I want to say in response to this every time is “Yes. That is my interpretation. Thank you for pointing that out.” Of course, you can also, if you are aware of it, point to other exegetes who hold to the same interpretation. The point of saying “That’s just your interpretation!” is just that that doesn’t tell if the interpretation is right or wrong.

Now we should all know that the text of Scripture does not error. However, as has been said and demonstrated numerous times, our interpretations can error. You can read a commentary by a Calvinist or Arminian, a futurist or a preterist, a young-earther or an old-earther. We all know we have our share of in-house debates and we all seek to point to the text.

Who’s right? Of course, we all believe we are. The only reason you hold to an interpretation of a text is because you believe that is what the text says. When interpreting a text, that does not mean you agree with the text, though we should agree with Scripture. It just means you’re saying “This is what the text means.” Whether it’s true or not comes afterwards.

What I am stating here applies not just to Scriptural text, but all texts, even oral or body language. My wife can act in certain ways that let me know she wants to spend some time with me without ever saying a word. My offline friends also know my penchant for sarcasm and when I say something with a certain tone in my voice, they know that I should not be taken in a literal sense.

What do we do? The first thing to realize is the meaning of the text lies in the text itself. You do not find meaning and put that into a text. You draw the meaning out of the text that the author meant to put into the text. You can try to think about what the author had in mind, but all you have direct access to is the text.

As I said earlier, other factors can play a part. Is the text originally in another language? Go back and look up and see what the word meant in that language. Many ideas can often be lost in translation. One of my favorite examples is the 1 John 4 passage of “Perfect love casts out all fear.” It sounds nice to us, but the Greek use of the word “ballo” for “casts out” indicates more like a barroom bouncer throwing out hard an unwanted guest. It definitely enriches my understanding of the passage!

What is the social context? For instance, when you read about marriage in the Bible, you are reading about a male-female unit establishing a family, but you are also reading about an institution that was often arranged by parents and meant to link up two families more than two individuals.

The world of the Bible was very different from the world as it is today. We can easily place our own time and mindset onto the text. Ancient societies did not live as we do today however. They were not individualistic but relied on the group for identity instead. Can that affect how you read the text? Absolutely!

Why would someone go to all this work? Simple. They want to know what the text means. Does that mean that all texts are cut and dry? No. Some passages are very hard to understand. (Usually, these are the ones commentators skip over.) The way to reply to “That’s Just Your Interpretation!” is to ask where it’s wrong. You want to know if you’re wrong don’t you? I hope so.

Make sure you know your opponents’ side. Why do they believe what they believe? Knowing your opponent’s interpretation is as important as knowing your own. It should be the case that if you need to, you could stand before an audience and give a presentation on the other side and why it should be believed.

The sound bite as given however gets to a more postmodern view as if each interpretation is as valid as another. That doesn’t mean that you can’t see the merits a contrary interpretation has. What we need to realize is that the text really does mean something. To argue this way is to just be lazy and say someone’s opinion is just that only instead of addressing if it’s right or wrong.

And as Christians, we need not be lazy concerning Scripture.