Bible Bridges: Part 1 of ...

There is something compelling about being free to write a blog, where essentially I am not accountable to anyone about what I write. I suppose that is largely because I don't get paid to do it, so I seek a deeper, intrinsic reward. So I felt that one of the most rewarding things I could write about is what is so precious to me: Bible Study. For those who decided to stop reading now, I ask you to keep with me.

This is the first part of a series of writings that hopes to offer you a more penetrating passion for God's Word. This is motivated by a number of things:

1. Bible literacy is rapidly sinking. For many reason, people simply do not engage the Bible as part of their real life. For many, the Bible sits on a bookshelf along with their over-priced college books. Regrettably, this is even true of professing Christians.
2. Bible study has been so maligned in recent years so that many newer churches refrain from even encouraging it. Today it is more popular to form groups that gather for "living life together" (nothing inherently wrong with that). Christians have a role model in Acts 2:42 of a more powerful reason to gather: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (ESV). That devotion was exemplified in the Bereans (Acts 17:11), as "they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."
3. My own desire to see people engage the Bible fruitfully. As a follower of Christ, I know that being transformed in Christ -- to develop the "mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) -- is an essential element of gospel-saturated discipleship. Yes, the Holy Spirit assists us to understand Scripture (this is called the doctrine of illumination). Yet our skills in handling the text of Scripture has tremendous bearing on how well we do this: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, ESV). Bible study is indeed work. I know it pays better than any job for which we can be hired on this earth. And talk about fringe benefits!

This series is called Bible Bridges. The concept of crossing bridges in studying the Bible is not a unique concept. Duvall and Hays book Grasping God's Word uses the metaphor of a bridge to describe journeying over the distance between the Bible times and our own world:

"Principilizing Bridge" from Grasping God's Word

This is a helpful concept, and I may return to this sometime soon. I have linked to an excerpt from their book above if you want to learn more. You will find Zondervan has shared a considerable portion of their book if you want to get started.

The purpose of this series is to provide a variety of tips and suggestions for getting more out of your Bible study. This will combine a bit of technique, advice, and a little pastoral encouragement. True, I'm not a pastor these days, but I am motivated to see believers be molded by Christ and live out their faith.

The design of this series is seeking interaction with you, the audience. I may have questions and will encourage a response. Who knows, your question could be on the minds of many others. As I would like to see a community interaction, someone else may supply an answer. This is dialogue. I will share what I have learned in my years of study, but I don't have all the answers. So let's cross the bridge together and see what God has for us on the journey!

Writing Bug - Am I a pest?

Lately it seems that I've caught a bug -- the writing bug. I was recently asked to write a short paper for church leadership on the Genesis 1-2 "origins debate". There has been quite a bit of research associated with this project, and with good reason: there is a prolific number of scholarly treatments on the topic. Now it isn't like I need to add to the choir. Yet as I started the paper, I found I missed the process of doing research papers. The fact that my introduction exceeded six hundred fifty words showed that I have rediscovered a passion.

My difficulty lies in keeping what I write accessible...err, easy to read. I don't intend to write with big words as though I'm some erudite...err, well-read smarty pants. Yet the words just flow out, which often shows my writing to be more elusive for the majority of readers out there. Indeed, I would much prefer to produce perspicuous...err, clearly understood text that benefits more people. I really don't set out to impress people -- at least I don't think so. Perhaps I have a blind spot here. If so, I ask forgiveness from those who see me as their friend.

I realize I need to keep sentences shorter. After all, inserting several commas in a thought, noting that multiple clauses in a sentence, in which confusion might emerge, is a fairly outdated mode of discourse (or should I say writing?), which no doubt loses the readers' attention in this fast-paced, video-driven culture, by which finally the reader has long since given up gleaning anything useful. See my point?

In watching a recent video lecture by Dr. John H. Walton (Wheaton College), I learned about communicating in "high context" and "low context" settings. A high context setting is where the author and reader share many things and explanations are not needed. For instance, when talking to a computer technician, I do not need to explain how layer 1 works in the OSI networking model. They should generally grasp that it is the physical layer. However, in a low context setting, I would have to explain that it's the connection via an Ethernet cable or wireless signal that is the foundation for establishing a working network. In the context of my Genesis research, the ancient Israelites would have a shared history, culture, and language and no explanations were needed. We live many thousands of years later. Not only do we need translations of the language, but also of the cultural situation that shapes their very thought life. Of course, this is an example of hermeneutics (something I will post on in future writings).

The take-away for me is simple: I need to do a better job of knowing when a target audience for me is in high context or low. There's very little to be gained for writing myriad...err, a lot of words if no one values from the experience.