A Mind is A Terrible Thing To Waste

I have, for a long time, been adamant about people loving the Lord with all their HEART, MIND and STRENGTH, but it seems, at times, that people just don't want to do that...

Now, that is quite a statement out of the gate, isn't it? What I mean by that statement is that it seems today that everyone wants to love the Lord with all their HEART... Notice anything missing? Yeah, it would be the aspect of loving Him with our mind and strength... I am constantly amazed by otherwise sane human beings, who place their brains on a shelf when they begin to read, and/or discuss the Bible.

I have previously discussed 'worship' songs that are more like pimply-faced, erotic, and emotive but doctrinally empty, love songs that have sprouted from the quills of some modern-day songwriters. And I have addressed pieces of this throughout some of my other posts, but today I wanted to address something head-on: That is, the tendency in our culture for 'free interpretation' of the Bible.

How many of us have been to a Bible study where the teacher/pastor/leader provides a teaching on a section of Scripture, only to be interrupted by three or four people with heavily marked up Bibles, and a Strong's nearby, who proceed to 'correct' the teacher by providing their interpretation! These are the folks who are the first to inform you that you don't understand the difference between zoe and psuche. Sound familiar to anyone?

First, let me dispel one common myth -- We do not all possess the same amount of knowledge as regards the Bible -- some people have given their lives to studying the Word, and have MORE knowledge than others (I am not referring to myself here, but to many great teachers out there). Just because you heard a pastor speak on the difference between zoe and psuche, don't assume that you now have it all figured out. Also, don't assume that because you read all of the meanings in Strong's and inserted your favorite meaning into a particular passage, that you are naturally correct. Tools are good, but they are only as good as those who know how to use them. Just because you have a forklift at the house does not mean that you know how to load a 44' trailer!

We need to learn from people who have given their lives to studying the Bible in all of its facets. I spend most of my waking, and non-working moments ensuring that, as Paul says in 2nd Timothy, I am rightly handling the Word of God. However, I still have a lot to learn and will not get dogmatic (usually), about something that I do not have a grasp on. The egalitarian mindset, that everyone should be able to foist their 'opinion' on everyone else in a study, is simply not correct. I have seen many new believers led astray by people speaking on things they know NOTHING about, but speak as if they are an expert.

Second, the Bible does NOT mean what you want it to mean! I have heard plenty of people say, "Well, what this passage means to me...[you fill in the blanks]". Now, the Bible does have application in our lives, but first and foremost we need to figure out what the passage is SAYING, NOT what we THINK it might mean. Many times the passage in question is a narrative, in other words it has clear context and clear meaning which must be discerned before we begin applying it's meaning to our lives!

Let me provide an example: when teaching through Acts one may constantly be 'corrected' by a person who is providing their interpretation of Paul's travels in Acts 13 in some SUPER-spiritualized, and almost inevitably wrong-headed manner. Now, don't get me wrong, many of these people are absolutely wonderful and love the Lord. I don't think that it is their intent is to take a study down a rabbit trail, they have just bought into the bad teaching that everyone's interpretation is equally true to the text because the 'Holy Spirit told me' (hard to argue with that, huh?).

I suggest that everyone get a book such as Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart's How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, and actually read it! Study the types of literature that the Bible contains and understand the difference between a narrative, wisdom literature, and apocalyptic literature. We could dispel a lot of fringe-element eschaton teaching if people understood more about the literature they were reading.

And finally -- lest you think that studying the Word of God in a balanced manner will rob you of your 'joy' (another widely used, but poorly understood word), let me refer you to Paul's doxology in Romans 11:33-36, where, after going through and exegeting Scripture and examining God's plan, Paul is driven to say:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord,or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Paul loved the Lord with all of his HEART, MIND!!!, and STRENGTH.

I would recommend that you not only purchase and read Dr. Fee's book, but you also place yourself under the teaching of a solid, Biblical, teacher, and LEARN from him!