River Valley Rockford Blog

How to Understand Your Bible- Step 1: Observation

I was casually driving down the road when all of a sudden three passengers in my car yelled, “Stop sign!” Just so you know, yelling isn’t the best thing to do to any driver. When your muscles tense and your heart pounds, you aren’t necessarily going to choose to do the right thing or physically be able to do it. Somehow, I was able to stop—a little past the sign but short of the crossing traffic. Wiping the sweat and posing as if I was in control, I realized a disturbing fact. I saw, but I didn’t observe. I was looking, but the stop sign never registered. It is a real possibility to miss important information even when you are not distracted.

And here we have an important illustration that supports a critical step in understanding the Bible. 

How to Understand Your Bible- The Big Picture

If the Bible can mean anything, then it doesn’t mean anything. Do you know what I mean?

I had a conversation that went like this (actually, I have had a lot of these, and maybe that says something about my communication skills). “I heard what you said, and I know what you meant. And I disagree.”  Then I respond, “Yes. That is what I said. But that is not what I meant.” To which the expected reply comes, “Yes, you did. That is what you said.”

Now, in a situation like that, who is correct about meaning?

How to Understand Your Bible- The Basics

Why do we need the Bible? So, we can know God and his ways.  Why do we need to know God and his ways? So, we can love him and others better, and so we can experience the incredible life God has planned for us. God wants to bring us into an intimate relationship with him. He wants us to know about life and how to live it maxed out. He also wants to tell us about the future, and how we can prepare for it and eliminate fear of it. He tells us all that and more in the Bible.  All of that, however, hinges on understanding the Bible correctly.

In a recent Reverse Why-Fi survey in our church, we found that 90% of people attending said they don’t read the Bible regularly because they are not motivated or they don’t understand how to do it. I think most people are motivated to understand the Bible, but that dissipates as they try and fail. Who wants to keep reading a book that makes no sense to you and seems irrelevant? But, if you learn to understand the Bible, your hunger (i.e., motivation) grows.

Mini-Lecture: Who Is the Holy Spirit & What Does He Do?

He use to be called the “Holy Ghost,” which was a little eerie, but now he goes by the “Holy Spirit,” which isn’t much better. He is the third person of the Godhead. He is a “He” not an “It.” He lives inside every believer. He transforms, gifts, empowers, fills, and that is just the beginning. Tell all that to a new believer and she might run for the hills. And who could blame her.

So, let’s try it this way. 

Mini-Lecture: What Is the Difference between Mormonism & Christianity?

I remember as a child watching the Donny & Marie Show on television. She was a “little bit country” and he was “a little bit rock ‘n roll.” It was decent. So, it was fun to see their family in person after I became a young adult and they became older people. At the end of the high-energy show, the entire Osmond family came on stage and began to sing a hymn; I can’t remember which one. As they were singing, a super-sized image of Jesus was projected on the screen behind them, and the crowd cried and cheered and worshiped. I was confused.

Mini-Lecture: Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

Sometimes my mind seeks complicated answers to obvious questions. This is one of those. I’ve known almost all of my life why Jesus died. Every kid worth his squirmy energy, if he went to church or heard some TV preaching, could tell you in his own words what the Apostle Paul succinctly stated, “Christ died for our sins,” (1 Corinthians 15:3). But, like I said, sometimes, when a creak catches my attention, my mind drifts, and I think harder about simple subjects.

When someone offends me, I often simply forgive the person. Notice I didn’t say “always,” but I’m working on that. That leads to the natural question, though: Why can’t God do that? Are people better than him? Am I? Jesus' death is the center of Christian faith, so we ought to know a little about why it happened, and that answer ought to have a little more teeth than a trite (but true), "He died to forgive sins." Why Jesus? Why death?

Mini-Lecture: What Is the Difference between Catholicism & Christianity?

We call it the “Lord’s Supper” or “Communion.” They call it the “Eucharist.” We are non-denominational. They have a Pope and a complicated hierarchical structure. We pass the bread and juice among ourselves. They only let the priest give it to you. They have confessionals. We don’t. They have sacraments. Most of us don’t know what that means. We pray only to the triune God. They pray to Mary and saints too. We are called “Protestants.” They are called “Catholics.” Some of “we” are also some of “them,” or used to be. You might wonder what the differences are and if it is right to have a “we” and a “they.” The questions have answers.

Mini-Lecture: What Do We Know about Noah's Ark?

Is a baby store really a baby store if they don’t sell something designed with Noah and his ark? I doubt it. The story of Noah and his ark is probably one of the best-known stories of all time, in or outside of the church. Many people don’t believe the story is historical; others do. Some see it as a sweet story, exemplified by the picture of a kind, old man looking out from the bow of his boat, standing beside a sad looking walrus and a curious giraffe, a rainbow perfectly cascading from a cloud, smiles all around. Of course, the reality of that story is that the walrus was the prettiest thing around.

Mini-Lecture: What about the Dinosaurs?

I count Fred Flintstone and the “yabba dabba doo stones” as my first dinosaur instructors. What a great cartoon. Dino, the pet dinosaur, acted more like a dog, but he and his relatives in the town of Bedrock made the world of dinosaurs playful. As an adult, I find the topic of dinosaurs and the Bible (and more broadly, the topic of science and faith) less playful. Yet, I find it extremely important for my own faith and for the struggles of seekers of God. While some are quite hostile in the conversation, when the goal is to figure out truth and the atmosphere is intelligent and courteous, the inquiry can be quite intriguing.

We had a mini-lecture recently on the topic of dinosaurs. A couple guys even brought some fossils. You can listen to the talk here, and you can download the notes here. Of course, the discussion was “mini,” so a lot went untouched. If you want to continue the discussion, do it in the comments section below. Yabba dabba doo!

Onomatopoeia

Drip. You can hear the water slowly letting go and begin to tumble through the air when you say that word. That is an example of onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like it's meaning. We talked on Sunday about how the Luke used an onomatopoeia word in Acts 6:1 to explain the "grumbling" or "murmuring" (Greek=goggysmos) of the Grecian Jews whose widows were being neglected. Of course, the big lesson from Acts 6:1-7 is that we all have a ministry, and we need to serve right where God has called us to serve. If we do our part, no one gets distracted from their part to cover us, and there is no need for goggysmos.

On a lighter note, language is fascinating. I shared some onomatopoeia-type words: drip, sizzle, chatter, babbling brook, neigh, beep, rustle, hiccup, bam, swoosh, slurp, vroom, whack, woof. I wonder if you might have some favorites you might like to share. I'd love to hear them. Drop them in the comment section below.