Why This Approach?

It’s common for some to question our approach to ‘Thinking through the Bible’ since there are other ways of reading through the Bible and thinking about God’s Story. Here are some thoughts by Eugene Peterson in ‘The Jesus Way’:

If we want to get the full impact of the story of Jesus and the way of Jesus, there is no substitute for taking a long, slow, leisurely pilgrimage through the pages of Genesis to Malachi, getting that river of narrative flowing through our bloodstream, observing the enormous attention given to place and person, so that this story is rooted in the immediate and the local, in named people in the neighborhood, among the animals and angels alive in those forests and deserts… We cannot understand the way of Jesus by means of summary accounts of those two thousand years of history and belief and worship that preceded Jesus. If a summary could provide adequate preparation, the Holy Spirit would surely have supplied it and saved us the trouble of making ourselves at home in that narrative country, learning the language of faith, finding our way around the kingdom of God.

Years ago I was traveling along a spectacular mountain road with an old college friend who was visiting from Texas. This road is one of the scenic wonders of North America. My friend had a map open on her knees. I kept pointing out features in the landscape around us: a five-hundred-foot waterfall, a glacial formation, a grove of massive Western Red Cedars, a distant horizon of mountains on which a storm was forming. She rarely looked up; she was studying the map. When I, with some impatience, tried to get her attention, she told me that she wanted to “know where we are.” And “knowing where we are,” for her, was defined by a line on a map. She preferred the abstraction of a road map to the actual colors and forms, the scent and texture of Mount Reynolds, the roar of Logan Creek, an alpine meadow on the way to Piegan Pass, luxurious in bear grass…

Too many of my faith-companions for too long have been reducing the way of Jesus simply to the route to heaven, which it certainly is. But there is so much more.

Dorothy Day, one of our iconic American pilgrims, a sturdy and discerning traveler on this way, loved to quote St. Catherine: “All the way to heaven is heaven, because He has said, ‘I am the way.’”

Session 2: Introduction

If you desire a full summary of our session for ‘Thinking through the Bible’ on Sunday mornings, send your request by email to carlsonpj@gmail.com. This blog is a summary of what Paul presented, as well as what others shared during the session.

HISTORY

The Old Testament begins with ‘God’ (Genesis 1:1). The New Testament begins with the ‘Son’ (Matthew 1:1). It’s God’s Story. It is not, however, a mere story. It is history from one point of view. Stories within the story are not recorded simply because they happened; it’s because they reveal God working throughout history.

The Old Testament sets the stage. The New Testament describes it. The central theme is a Person. The events of history did not determine who the Person was; it proved who He was through the event.

THE BIBLE

When we talk about the Bible, we should have an understanding about:

‘Written Revelation’: This is God’s Story, written over a period of 1,600 years in 66 books by 40 men and combined by one Author into ‘One Book’. It has been given names such as ‘The Bible’, the ‘Holy Bible’, the ‘Book’, the ‘Good Book’, the ‘Book of Books’, ‘Scripture’, the ‘Scriptures’, ‘Holy Writ’, the ‘Word’, and the ‘Word of God’. The word ‘Bible’ is derived through Latin from the Greek phrase ‘ta biblia’, meaning ‘the book’. Greek ‘biblia’ is derived from ‘biblos paprus’, from Byblos, the name of a Phoenician port from which papyrus was exported to Greece.

The word ‘testament’ means ‘covenant’ or ‘agreement’. There is the Old Testament and the New Testament that give God’s covenants before and after He walked on this earth.

The Bible was originally written in three languages: the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic; the New Testament was written in the everyday Greek. God speaks to us in our ‘mother tongue’; not in a ‘sacred’ language, but in ordinary language, so that we may ‘hear’ Him. He brings us into a company drawn from every people, tribe, tongue, nation, and language. We have today in the collection of 66 books the ‘canon’, giving the idea of a decree issued.

‘Revelation’: This involves ‘uncovering’ of truth, which has been completed through God’s written Word. God’s plan included a form of revelation that would be permanent, clear and preserved. The written form was chosen. God has taken pains to give a progressive revelation and we should take pains to read it from beginning to end. We cannot suppose that reading little scraps can ever take the place for doing serious thinking through God’s Story.

‘Inspiration’: It means ‘God-breathed’. This is the ‘way’ God spoke through men. The original writings were inspired, not the men! Working through the personalities of men, God gave them His message to record according to their personal styles and vocabularies.

‘Illumination’: This involves ‘understanding’ the written Word of God. Ask God for wisdom and you are asking God for illumination. There is no command in the Bible to ask for additional revelation. We are told to search the Scriptures, study them, and in so doing we can obey the God of the Scriptures.

‘Communication’: This involves God’s ‘method’ of explaining Himself to us. He uses action, figurative language, and interpretative words, and we are to respond with love. The Bible opens with, ‘In the beginning God created…’ God cannot be described literally because He is Spirit without form, so He communicates with figurative language. We learn about God by observing the results of His work, that is, His action. God also communicates through interpretive words because actions can be misinterpreted. This can be illustrated by the first name a slave woman used for God. God’s angel communicates His concern and gives her a promise. She responds by calling God “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees”. God accepts this accurate description.

‘Translation’:  This has to do with ‘changing’ the original written language of the Bible. Before translation came ‘copying’ when scrolls wore out, which no one could replace by simply printing another copy from their office computer. Someone had to reproduce the desired copy by hand. Scribes, developed in Jewish culture during the Babylonian exile, made it their sole duty to preserve and transmit the Scripture with precision. They pledged themselves to follow strict disciplines in copying the Scriptures to ensure accuracy, such as: old manuscripts were buried or destroyed; a special kind of animal skin was used was used; columns had a specified number, length and breadth; a specially prepared recipe of black ink was used; they could only copy from an authentic copy, and nothing from memory; a breadth of one hair was left between every consonant, and between every section was the breadth of nine consonants, and finally a space of three lines between every book; they used a fresh quill to pen the Lord’s sacred name; letter by letter was copied; one scribe would copy and another would count the number of times each letter of the alphabet occurred in each book; he would also calculate the middle word; and finally, if three mistakes existed, the scribes would destroy the manuscript.

The ‘Septuagint’ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made in Egypt in the Third and Second Centuries, B.C. It means ‘seventy’ and is abbreviated LXX. According to legend, seventy-two translators, six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, all separately made a translation, and all seventy-two were identical.
Through the years printers have made mistakes that have given Bibles nicknames: Miles Coverdale’s 1535 translation is known as the ‘Bug Bible’ because at Psalm 91:5 it has ‘Thou shalt not nede to be afrayed for eny bugges by night’, instead of ‘terror by night’; The ‘Fool Bible’ was published during the reign of Charles I (1625-49), where Psalm 14:1 reads, ‘The fool hath said in his heart there is a God’ – instead of ‘there is no God’. The printers were fined £3,000 for this mistake; The psalmist complains in Psalm 119:161 in the ‘Printers Bible’ that ‘printers have persecuted me without a cause’, instead of ‘princes have persecuted me’; The ‘Wicked Bible’ gives the seventh commandment in Exodus 20:14 as ‘Thou shalt commit adultery’. For this error the printers were fined £300.

The chapters and verses of the modern Bible are not part of the original texts. The Bible was divided into chapters around 1227. Numbered verses came later. We should be careful not to take verses out of context; it can be like misquoting someone. It is better to follow the natural divisions of the Bible, which can especially be noticed in the Psalms.

We gain a better appreciation of the Bible by changing the written language through:

·         ‘translations’ – Bible changed into a language for another time. ‘Literal’ Bibles translate word for word. ‘Dynamic equivalence’ translations convey the ideas of the words.

·         ‘versions’ – translating from another language other than the original.

·         ‘paraphrases’ – it interprets idea for idea rather than word for word, relating to a particular audience.

The meaning is not being changed, just the language.

It is important to remember that translations and versions of the Bible are not inspired; only the original texts are! It is marvelous that God has preserved the original intent of His message no matter what scholars have done to the Bible through the centuries. The Bible remains an adequate representation of the authoritative ‘Word of God’.

‘Interpretation’: This involves the ‘way’ of reading and understanding the text of the Bible so that the original meaning and intent is grasped before making application for the present audience. It is important to determine the meaning of a passage from what the author intended the first hearers or readers to understand. Then we can transmit that meaning to modern hearers.

‘Application’: This requires ‘hearing’ and obeying truth as we correctly understand it. We are not the focus of the story, and we are not to read ourselves into each and every circumstance or experience. ‘Hearing’ means more than just being within earshot while the message of God is read aloud or explained. ‘Hear’ in its full biblical sense, implies attention, acceptance, and application to oneself of the things learned. It has to do with listening with a purpose to obey and then behaving as God’s Word requires. The Bible is a relational document. When we try to reduce it to charts and lists we lose the significance of what it was like for God when He had to break His relationship with sinful human beings.

NAMES OF GOD

Strictly speaking, ‘Yahweh’ is the only name of God given in the Bible. All other terms are titles. This name is connected with a Hebrew verb meaning ‘to be’ and may mean ‘I am’ or ‘he who is’. In many versions of the Bible, ‘Yahweh’ is translated as ‘the Lord’. Since Hebrew words were originally written only with consonants, Yahweh may be written YHWH. It also appears in a shortened form ‘Yah’, especially in names. Because the name ‘Yahweh’ was considered too holy to pronounce, the word ‘adonay’, ‘my lord’ was said in its place when the Hebrew Bible was being read. Eventually, the vowels of ‘adonay’ were combined with the letters YHWH to give God a constructed name, which has become ‘Jehovah’ in modern English. ’El’, the common word for ‘deity’ in the ancient Middle East, is used occasionally in the Old Testament to refer to pagan gods but most frequently designates the God of Israel. It is seldom used alone in the Old Testament; it is frequently found in compound constructions such ‘El Shaddai’, ‘God Almighty’. ‘Elohim’ is plural in form but used with a singular meaning, as it appears in Genesis 1:1. Deuteronomy 5:9 uses three of the names or titles for God: “I the Lord (Yahweh) your God (Elohim) am a jealous God (El). The various titles for God found throughout the Old Testament were used as a personal and intimate self-expression in worship of God.

VALUE OF THE BIBLE

Listen to what people have said about the value of the Bible:

·         “I have found in it words for my inmost thoughts, songs for my joy, utterance for my hidden griefs, and pleadings for my shame and feebleness” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet).

·         “I believe that the existence of the Bible is the greatest benefit to the human race. Any attempt to belittle it… is a crime against humanity” (Immanuel Kent, German philosopher).

·         “The Bible is worth all other books that have ever been printed” (Patrick Henry, American statesman).

·         “The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying” (John Flavel, English churchman).

Read what the Bible says about itself:

·         “Your word is a lamp to my feet

And a light to my path.”

(Psalms 119:105)

·         “The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

·         “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

·         “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12-13, NIV)

·         “But the word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:25)

The Bible is…

A fire to warm and a hammer to break, water to cleanse, milk to nourish, meat to invigorate, light to guide, a sword for the fight, and a mirror to reveal. It is ‘at work in you believers’, ‘able to build you up’, ‘living and active… piercing… discerning’.

It’s time to read God’s Story… from the beginning! Be ready to begin sharing from Genesis in our next session. Read about how God related to households; pay attention to how individuals responded to God and one another; think about what God was doing and how you fit into His Story.

It defeats the purpose of this study to selectively read and think through the Bible. One of the principle fundamentals of ‘Thinking through the Bible’, especially for those who have had a long exposure to the Scriptures, is that as you read Book by Book, do not superimpose your concepts and notions on the text, but simply paraphrase what you see in the story.

‘Walk’ with Adam; talk to Eve; what was it like walking with God in the cool of the evening? What was it like being deceived in a perfect environment? Feel the pain of Cain after murdering his own brother; think about what it was like being married to a murderer; what was it like to be Enoch’s wife when he walked with God and God took him? What would it be like to have your father taken away by God? What would it be like to have a father who built an ark when there was no ocean nearby? Ask his son Seth, Ham, and Japheth.

This cartoon tells you how NOT to approach your Bible reading in 'Thinking through the Bible'.

Session 1: Preparation

If you desire a full summary of our ‘preparation’ for ‘Thinking through the Bible’ on Sunday mornings, send your request by email to carlsonpj@gmail.com. This blog is a summary of what Paul presented, as well as what others shared during the session.

MATERIALS

·         ‘Text’ or ‘Reading’ Bible – this helps us think about the actual story without being distracted by ‘Study’ and ‘Theme’ Bible notes. These types of Bibles have their place, but not in this approach.

·         Notes are available to guide you in your reading and thinking – they should not replace your personal Bible reading. They are available in printed or electronic (pdf) form – request by email.

·         A Bible Reading Log is available in the notes or separately – simply request one.

·         Optional reading of a textbook can be ordered on line or through a bookstore: ‘Putting Together The Puzzle Of The Old Testament’ by Bill Jones

APPROACH

Listen to the beginning and ending of chapter 1 in The Jesus Storybook Bible: The Story and the Song by Sally Lloyd-Jones.
She begins: God wrote, “I love you” – he wrote it in the sky, and on the earth, and under the sea. He wrote his message everywhere. Because God created everything in his world to reflect him like a mirror to show us what he is like, to help us know him, to make our hearts sing… And God put it into words, too, and wrote it in a book called “the Bible.”
She ends: Our Story starts where all good stories start. Right at the very beginning...We’re not here to develop a bunch of bullet lists and formulas and definitions for Christian living. We’re reading God’s love story, and we don’t do well trying to define love; it’s better described.

We are accustomed to asking ourselves: How is my relationship with God? Turn that question around and ask: How is God’s relationship with me? That opens the way for other questions about God’s relationship with me: What does God think of His relationship with me? Does He keep putting me down? Does He haul out my sins He’s forgiven?

READING

Find a Bible that helps you to simply read and think about what you’ve read. There is a good reason why God wants us to read the Old Testament as we have it. Our local musician (Zach) shows us through a song he’s written from Genesis that we can see God as our ‘redeemer’. Click on the ‘Zach Songs’ tab to read his ‘Genesis’ song. God gave us a progression of His revelation through the ages. Can we use the Old Testament for personal application before we get to the New Testament? Yes, just look at what Abraham did before the Law was revealed! ‘Crushing Satan’s head’ was enough for those in the beginning of Genesis to know in order to believe. Just read and grasp the flow of the story and see how it unfolds, and fits together into one marvelous story, without struggling with confusing English. Look at a sample of what we’ve done with it:

1.    The bandage was wound around the wound.

2.     The farm was used to produce produce.

3.     The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4.     The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert and he will get his just deserts.

5.     Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

6.     When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

7.     There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

8.     They were too close to the door to close it.

9.     After a number of injections my jaw got number.

10.  I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

To understand these words we need to read them in their context, which is how we need to understand ‘God’s Story’. Don’t stall at what you don’t understand in the story. It’s like eating fish, if you get a bone, spit it out and move on.

RELIVE HISTORY

Essential to our approach in ‘Thinking through the Bible’ is that you read each Book of the Bible as if you lived during that time. Read as if you are there. Think ahead only to the degree the future was revealed to those living at the time. In this way you will best discover that “Behind and beneath the Bible, above and beyond the Bible, is the God of the Bible” (Henrietta Mears). The story will unfold for you. For example, read the first command by God to ‘go’, found in Genesis 6:18; and the second ‘go’ in Genesis 8:16; and finally the third ‘go’ in Genesis 12:1. What would have been the consequences if these men disobeyed?

ATTRIBUTES

Another essential to our approach is to remember that we are reading God’s Story, so learn through the story how God relates to His creation. A good motto is to ‘Watch God at work’. As you read, make special note of what it tells you ‘about’ God, how God revealed Himself through what He ‘did’, and how God ‘related’ to people. This reveals God’s ‘attributes’ – what God ‘is’. Be careful not to think of ‘traits’ or ‘characteristics’ or ‘qualities’ when describing God, because these words apply to created beings.

RELATIONSHIPS

Finally, as you read God’s Story, focus on the relationships He had with ‘households.’ What becomes apparent are ‘household’ relationships. Look at the description in Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21. We are accustomed to looking at how individuals related to God and what it was like for them; while ‘Thinking through the Bible’ look at how God related to His created beings and what emotions He expressed. This helps us appreciate God as ‘our’ God in all His fullness.

COST
·         The greatest ‘cost’ is your time. Adjust your schedule according to the amount of time you need to complete your Bible reading. G. Campbell Morgan once made the statement: “The Bible can be read from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 at pulpit rate (out loud) in 78 hours.” A lawyer challenged him on that. Morgan told him to go on and try it. The lawyer went home and read the Bible in less than 80 hours. We don’t ‘make’ time to read the Bible; we merely ‘take’ time.

·         Pray for fellow ‘Thinking through the Bible’ participants around the world – request a list by email.

·         If you request printed notes, inquire about the cost – there are twelve parts for the entire Bible.

NEXT SESSION

Our next session on October 10 will be the INTRODUCTION, when we’ll look at how the Bible was put together; the difference between ‘revelation’, ‘inspiration’, ‘illumination’, ‘communication’; names of God; and the Bible in its setting.

But, on October 17 we’ll enter Genesis, so be sure to begin reading your Bible. It’s fine to read ahead, but don’t get behind!

TEACHING

If you are guiding an individual or group through ‘Thinking through the Bible’, you may want to read Paul’s full set of notes and fill in the gaps to this summary and the one you request by email. Enjoy reading ‘God’s Story!’

Listening and Responding

As we prepare to interact in our first session on Sunday, October 3rd, in our ‘Thinking through the Bible’ lessons, here is something we all will do well to embrace…

Listening without Interrupting

Throughout our ‘Thinking through the Bible’ lessons, we are all encouraged to share our insights, ask questions, and give answers, as long as we follow the guideline of ‘riding the donkey sitting backwards’ so that we ‘live’ in each of the sixty-six Books of the Bible without knowing the future beyond what each Book reveals. 

Important to our sharing together is that we listen without interrupting so that we understand the views of others. Lingenfelter and Mayers remind us: “The key for successful personal relationships and ministry is to understand and accept others as having a viewpoint as worthy of consideration as our own.”

William Stringfellow said: “Listening is a primitive act of love.” But listening has its obstacles, so he goes on to say: “You cannot listen to the word another is speaking if you are preoccupied with your appearance or with impressing the other, or are trying to decide what you are going to say when the other stops talking, or are debating about whether what is being said is true or relevant or agreeable. Such matters have their place, but only after listening to the word as the word is being uttered.”

Listening is one of the most effective expressions of love, because it honors the person speaking. It also communicates that we are willing to be taught by the one speaking. It opens the way for people to share more deeply and intimately about themselves. We will share out of the depths of our lives if we are good listeners.

Responding Wisely Promotes Good Listening

We should learn to respond wisely even when we do not agree with each other. We usually give evaluative responses. This is characterized by agreeing or disagreeing, by correcting any error we might detect, by giving a counterpoint, by saying “Yes, but…”, by changing the subject or by withdrawing. We shift the conversation into debate or close it down.

Let us promote dialogue by:

·         Probing: Ask questions that help us go deeper into the topic.

·         Interpretation: Repeat in our own words what we heard the other person say.

·         Support: Express emotions appropriately.

·         Understanding: Ask for more clarification or details.

Even though we do not always reach an agreement or solve problems, let us have mutual respect and never compromise the dignity of allow for dignity of each person present.

Interrupting others is a way of saying

I know better than you do!
“The first duty of love is to listen.”

(Paul Tillich)

“It is the province of knowledge to speak,

and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”

(Wendell Holmes)

'Stories'

Why are stories so appealing to most of us? I like what Lon Allison says about stories in “Going Public with the Gospel”: they are “the only containers big enough to carry truth, because stories convey not just the facts but also the feelings and nuances [shades] of truth. Stories are a bigger and better container for the whole of the truth than propositions, concepts and dogmas. Propositions are wonder when filled out by story, but abstract and skeletal when divorced from story.”

Stories are basic to us because, as Eugene Peterson puts it, life itself has a beginning and an end, plot and characters, conflict and resolutions. Life isn’t simply made up of generalizations such as love and truth, sin and salvation, atonement and holiness; life involves details that connect personally and specifically.

God reveals Himself to us not in an abstract formula or a bullet list but in the kind of stories that describe the journeys He takes people on throughout history. Peterson points out in “Leap over a Wall: Early Spirituality for Everyday Christians” that “somewhere along the way we pick up bad habits of extracting from the Bible what we pretentiously call ‘spiritual principles’ or ‘moral guidelines,’ or ‘theological truths,’ and then corseting [covering] ourselves in them in order to force a godly shape on our lives.”

God gave us truth by telling stories that place truth not just in our heads but also deeply in our hearts. Only stories can speak to us in that level. ‘Thinking through the Bible’ is designed to lead us into thinking about ‘God’s Story’ from beginning to end so that as His Story develops it is lived out in the stories of our lives

Sarah Hinckley expresses in “Talking to Generation X” the state of her media-influenced generation: “We have every little inconsequential [trivial] thing, Nintendo 64s and homepages and cell phones, but not one important thing to believe in. What do you have left that will persuade us? One thing: the story. We are story people. We know narratives, not ideas. Our surrogate parents were the TV and the VCR, and we can spew out entertainment trivia at the drop of a hat… You’re wondering why we’re so self-destructive, but we’re looking for the one story with staying power, the destruction and redemption of our own lives. That’s to your advantage: You Christians have the best redemption story on the market.”

It is our prayer that ‘Thinking through the Bible’ will recapture for you a renewal of the ‘best’ story, ‘God’s Story’.

'Handling Diversity'

I’ve often heard it said that we are to ‘love the sinner, but not his sin’. I have also searched the pages of Scripture to find support for this kind of approach in accepting others. The search has led me to thinking about how different cultures vary in directness in language. I’ve learned that western culture tends to separate the person from the problem, so we can speak to a problem without offending the person. The person is separated from the action. This allows us to criticize ideas, behaviors and failures of others. I’ve had people say to me, “I have nothing against you personally, but…” It’s harder to accept when someone says, “I’m only saying this because I have your best interest in mind.” Or worse yet, “Don’t take me wrong, but…” The problem with this is that the difference between the person and the behavior or idea is not very precise. Western cultures hold a high value on logic and truth, even at the cost of human dignity. It’s acceptable to evaluate and critique one another’s ideas so that the ‘smart’ person wins the argument and gains the approval of others by destroying the other person’s idea.

Growing up in cultures that shared other values, harmony, solidarity and group identity as primary values, the distinction to ‘love the sinner, but not his sin’ didn’t fit. The person and the idea or behavior are one. To criticize my idea, behavior, or words is to criticize me as a person. The truth about a person depends on his character, and his truth depends on the character of his words. There is no dichotomy between the person and the words or acts.

When we engage in any serious interaction with others, such as when ‘Thinking through the Bible’ together, we soon begin to realize that others may hold different values and use different rules to respond to situations. What we do begin to notice is that the majority of the people in the world value relationships above most other values. So they want to be able to ask their questions, share their insights from reading and thinking through the Bible, and listen to the views of others, all in an environment of trust and respect. Some build trust by showing themselves competent in handling biblical truths, whereas others tend to build trust by spending time together where they listen and respond. The best way to build trust in a group is to learn to observe, ask nonjudgmental questions, have an attitude of learning from each other, and seek understanding when clarification is needed. It helps to think of differences as neither good nor bad (“I like that” or “I don’t like that”). Rather, we can think of them as curious differences that exist for good reasons.

Wouldn’t it be a marvelous demonstration of love and friendship if our community could hear about and even witness how we are helping each other in our pursuit of God in ‘Thinking through the Bible’?

(Once again, my thoughts for this article were stimulated by Duane Elmer’s book, ‘Cross-Cultural Conflict’, chapter 4)

Diversity is rooted in the creative activity of God

I grew up in South Africa (1947-1965), and in particular Zululand in the southeastern province of Natal. I learned local cultural values from one of my Zulu playmates. I also grew up in a home in Zululand with parents who came from Michigan with their own cultural values. Then I also attended government schools in northern Zululand with British and Afrikaner (local Dutch) cultures. But most importantly, I grew up in a home that valued a ‘Christian culture’. This is the culture that influenced most of my thinking, so that when I started reading the Bible for myself, I identified with values that were instilled in me by godly parents. I slowly discovered that the ‘Christian culture’ is trans-cultural; it is exemplified through all cultures and provides stability in all types of cultural situations. The most important lesson I discovered is that the Christian life is really about a lifestyle that learns to ‘watch God at work’ in others. I’ve since come to appreciate that the Bible records God’s Story so that I learn what He does in the lives of others in their journey of faith. It becomes quite personal when I see how He uses me to touch the lives of others for Him! It has become a lifelong journey for me to learn to appreciate the God of the Bible who wrote HIStory for me to read and think about.

We are typically egocentric – we believe our perspective is correct and better than others – so that when we read and think through the Bible, we make little effort to understand another culture. To truly appreciate how God related to individuals, families, and nations, we need to adapt to the cultural lenses of those in the Bible. This does not require putting our cultural values aside, but adding theirs. This allows us to appreciate their responses to God.

While Jayne and I prepared for her to move to South Africa, and for me to return there, we attended some classes covering the importance of cultural diversity. As beneficial as this was, it was easy to assume that since we had an ‘education’ in cultural awareness, our judgments were better. When ‘short-termers’ stayed in our home for exposure to cross-cultural ministry, we suggested they relate to a new culture by asking why they did things the way they did instead of asking why others did things differently. This helped them address any personal attitude of superiority. It wasn’t long before they put aside their personal agendas and focused on the diversity found in other cultures. This approach helps in receiving a genuine appreciation of God’s work in others through diversity. God’s grace is active in all cultures, and we appreciate this in new ways not obvious to us in our own cultures. We are compelled to love others, and this love is expressed to the degree we understand others. We truly love others when it is expressed in ways they understand love. An example of this is how friendship is expressed. In Africa we are expected to visit friends unannounced, and accept that at least a cup of tea, if not a full meal, is included in the visit, no matter how much preparation time is involved. If a time, place and agenda for meeting are always prearranged, the relationship cannot be open and spontaneous.

If we are accustomed to making quick judgments about people’s motives and character, we won’t do very well in understanding God’s Story that describes His unexpected visits with people from the beginning of time!

As we read and think about their responses to God’s visitations in faith, or their rebellion, we are able to suspend judgment and think more before drawing conclusions. We easily believe the worst in others, which is really called prejudice. The Bible calls it sin!

If we approach ‘Thinking through the Bible’ as intended, we can learn from our mistaken understandings of the past. We easily confuse facts with our interpretation of the facts. Our cultures teach us to make quick decisions and judgments so that we are restricted from keeping our minds open to culturally appropriate explanations. When we do this in our Bible reading, we are slow to accept the description of God from the Bible. This leads to biased answers that make more sense to our own cultural context. Then we justify our conclusions and ignore facts that contradict our positions. If we follow this pattern long enough, we develop a diminished view of others as our selfish view inflates. It isn’t long before others find it quite difficult to relate to our attitude of superiority.

God created human diversity, and the more we appreciate it, the more we gain insight about God and His world. His Story starts with declaring that all He created was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). For God to display variety in the human, plant, animal and inorganic world, He allows us to capture His character, grace and glory. We learn more about God, not in a creation of similarities, but in diversity.

“Thinking through the Bible’ is just another ‘diverse’ way of appreciating God’s Story. It is not intended to replace other ways; it’s an additional way to learn more about HIStory and learn about God. I pray that this leads you to better ‘know’ God!

(My thoughts for this article were stimulated by Duane Elmer’s book, ‘Cross-Cultural Conflict’, chapter 1)