Education – My Beloved is Mine

Do you take the Bible literally?

mybelovedismine — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 14:49:05 +0000

In my discussions with others, there is a question that is asked that by its very nature misunderstands the nature of scripture. They will say something like, “Do you take the Bible literally?” For some they say this with scorn and for some they honestly want to know whether you believe the Bible and what it says. However, “literally” is a poor choice of words, for no one takes the Bible literally, nor should we. The Bible is written in different genres and within these genres there is symbolism and idioms and the like. For example, when it says the “trees clap their hands”, we don’t assume that the trees literally have hands and that they clap with these hands. Instead we ascertain that the Bible is written by humans and uses human modes of communication on of those being symbolism. We must also be careful with trying to interpret the Bible “literally”, because in that purview many have fallen into serious heresies. Whether being loose with the text or being a “wooden literalist”, we can often get out of the Bible serious errors if we handle it in a way it is not intended. There is a better question that cuts to the heart of both those who scorn the Bible and those who want to deal with it honestly. Are we handling the Bible with the proper hermeneutics? Or to put it in more colloquial terms – Are we handling the Bible scholastically? When you handle the Bible scholastically, the purpose is not to prove a point or a certain theology, but to understand what the text is trying to say. And those who love the Bible will lay down their tightly held beliefs and seek to submit it to a scholastic understanding that endeavors to let the text speak for itself. There is a distinct difference in the rigor of scholarship between those who value God’s word and those who don’t. If you read liberal papers, even by doctorates in the field, you will find that they skip out on scholastics to promote a theology or view they have. Sure they can site papers by other authors who have done the same, but because their submission is to their agenda instead of to the Bible they ignore the scholastic research that subverts their ideas. I have read papers by so called “doctorates” in the field and have been shocked. How did this paper pass scrutiny? On the other hand, those who truly care about what the Bible says are brutal and ruthless, not in a rude and obnoxious way, but demand proper scholarship and vetting of ideas. The goal is to kill idols not to hold on to pet theologies. Here is the thing, if God made the effort to give us the Bible, do you not think he wants us to understand it? The answer is a resounding, “Yes!”. The whole point of the Bible is that we come to know God. I hear people say, well there are so many ideas about the Bible, how can we possibly know. And those who say this don’t know that there is proper hermeneutics or have watered the idea down so much they ignore proper scholarship. Yes, there are many ideas about the Bible, but there are a lot of foolish people who don’t approach the Bible scholastically, sadly even among “experts” in the field. In an error that claims to be based on science and evidence, it is odd that scholastic evidence is thrown out when in the universities when it comes to studying the Bible. There are so many doctorates that if put before real academic rigor would be stripped of their titles. Will there still be differences if we all had scholastic rigor, most certainly, because none of us are perfect, but the idea that we can’t know what the Bible says is a foolish one. Were there are differences, we don’t abandon scholastic rigor, but instead seek it more. What other field abandons the scholastic approach because of differences. Those who abandon scholastics live in a fairy tale world of their own making and try to pass it off as intelligence. If the Bible is true then we ought to continue our endeavors to let it speak for itself. Iron is supposed to sharpen iron, and by this means we come to understand what the scripture says. Iron sharpening iron is a part of loving one another. I have found that those who have this kind of hermeneutic and humility are strongly united with those who share their passion for the truth of scripture even in distinct and vital disagreements. They understand the foolishness of pursing our own agendas, and the importance of iron sharpening iron, for true scholastic endeavors prioritize this kind of behavior. Truth is the focus, not pet ideas or agendas. Their love of scripture unites them. They hold strongly that even in their disagreements they are brothers in war and united in the church and in their love for truth. The danger is not being without error, the danger is not seeking in love a scholastic understanding of the Bible. Instead, the danger is in those who are foolish and ask absurd questions like, “Do you take the Bible literally?” or “There are so many ideas from smart people, there is no way we can understand” or make statements like “Doctrine only divides or argues about foolish and needless points”. We all pursue ideas and doctrine whether we know it or not. Every time we say something about God or the Bible we are espousing or doctrine our belief about God. We can continue to dangerously and foolishly pursue our own agendas and ideas or seek to understand and allow the Bible to speak for itself. When you love someone, your desire is to know them in truth. We don’t tell the person who they are and expect them to conform to our perspectives. Instead, we seek to know them for who they truly are. And yet so many refuse to do this with God, because they do not want their worlds to be shaken. They love themselves rather than God.

Only someone unworthy can learn

mybelovedismine — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 18:20:00 +0000

I was talking with my daughter about something and I realized you cannot learn and be prideful at the same time. Pride creates a fool.

You cannot seek your worth and learn, it is in only in realizing that you are unworthy that you realize your need to learn and can finally be free to grow.

Fight to the death

mybelovedismine — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 02:25:00 +0000

I believe in taking ideas and putting them in a gladiator match and seeing who survives. I am not easy with or handle Christian beliefs gently. I ask hard questions. And if we are pursuing truth, we ought to be willing to ask the hard questions and be willing to be proven wrong. Every time the Bible has decimated any competition. My faith in the scripture is not a blind faith, but a faith with substance. I am not saying this proves I am right. It doesn’t. But I do not say lightly that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And after seeing more battles in the gladiator field than I could ever count, I am confident that the foundation cannot be moved. And then we could talk about the love of God. And to know that, to be pursued by it, to be held by it. Sure, we all come to our ideas of what wisdom, enlightenment, understanding, and truth by faith, whoever we are. That is why there are so many ideas of what this is. I have chosen to believe and have faith, not in the concept or idea of Truth, but in the One who claims to be Truth. This is a very radical claim. And one that doesn’t make us comfortable, because if this claim is true, then we are no longer left to our own concepts of what truth, enlightenment, wisdom, understanding, and love are. We must submit to the one who defines all that is good, beautiful, and love. I don’t expect others to agree, but the weight of this implication is important.

Answering your own questions

mybelovedismine — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 02:13:00 +0000

One of the things that frustrates me, is watching a video, or seeing a post where someone is asked a question, but instead of answering it, they argue for their point of view, making all these points, and sounding great, and yet with all the show and emotion, tears and sweat, they never once address any of the objections of the person asking the question. They sound good to those who already agree with them, but leaves the person asking the question, feeling ignored. They spend time answering imaginary objections. And in the end, they are only having a conversation with themselves, which is a little weird. If you refuse to listen to your opponents, your position is not as strong as you thought it was. Pride puffs up and destroys. None of us knows or understands as much as we think we do. We all have this tendency toward this insanity of only talking to ourselves. And we all have done it. It is something we have to be aware of about ourselves and fight vigilantly. And this is an important fight, if for anything else, for our own sanity. We need to be addressing real people, not imaginary ones.

False Interpreters of God’s Word

mybelovedismine — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 22:37:00 +0000

The original sin was reinterpreting God’s word, rebelling against God’s word, and putting our interpretation of the world, wisdom, good and evil above God’s word. We tend to do this as we read the scriptures. Often we don’t know we are doing this for we misinterpret scripture naturally do to our fallen nature. Here are some common fallacies when interpreting the scriptures:

• Interpreting the scriptures through your own morality or truth, determining what is good and evil and what wisdom is and then manipulating the scriptures to fit your standard of morality and truth.

• Stating that the scripture or the writer is inconsistent and fitting that into an argument around your determination of truth. This is a pretty sure test that the person has poor scholarship and hermeneutics, is not open minded, and is trying to fit their interpretation into the text, instead of allowing the scripture to speak for itself.

• The facts are ignored either do to laziness or because they don’t like the truth and prefer to be closed minded.

• Ignoring the fact the scripture is God breathed and written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

• Ignoring the marriage of Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology.

• Ignoring the Gospel.

• Proof texting, taking scriptures out of context.

• Not being open minded and using and having poor scholarship. Good scholarship is not quoting “experts” and “papers” that in reality are horrible and have poor scholarship or do much of what is written here. A degree or paper does not make one a good scholar or open minded.

• Being a wooden literalist – both liberal and conservatives do this.

• Changing the original language definitions of words to fit their perspective.

• Ignoring the perspective of proven and tested godly men throughout history.

• Thinking in extremes or in the middle. Scripture is holy, totally other; it does not fit on a scale.

• Taking the text out of the whole of the Bible.

Since, true interpretation of the scripture is against our fallen nature, we must die to ourselves, lay our bodies down as living sacrifices, turning away from comfortably to this world and our own interpretations, and instead look to the only true God, so that we come to understand and discern the goodness, beauty, and truth of God’s will, through the testing of His word.

Chores are just as important as School

mybelovedismine — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:41:00 +0000

We teach are kids to desire and honor education. I believe it is just as vital to teach our kids to desire and honor hard manual work. I believe part of raising a kid and teaching them to walk in the way of the Lord is to give them chores, and not just a few, and also not to the point of exacerbating them, but a good healthy number of chores is important. We should teach them to value and love good and hard labor and good stewardship of the resources God has given us. We should teach them to honor people who work with their hands just as much as those who work with their minds. It is the fear of the Lord that gives people honor, my child’s character is just as important as what they know.

Segregation in the church

mybelovedismine — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:13:00 +0000

One of the things that hurts me is the segregation that is found in the Church. There is a group for young children. A group for adolescents. A group for college students. A group for young single adults. A group for young married couples. A group for middle aged people. And a group for the elderly.

This is not God’s heart for the church. He has knit us together as a body and we need all the parts coming together. There may be a time and place to separate into these groups, but separation into these groups should be a rarity and not something that is common. If you hang out, make sure you invite people of all ages. Make sure that you seek to be involved as a body in the church and not a segregated group. This takes hard work and it’s a different thinking for this modern age (and this is more of a modern thing). But segregation in the church has never meant to be the norm.

So older people invest in and seek out younger folks. Younger folks pursue the wisdom and encouragement of older people. When you hang out work hard at this and don’t just give into the easy standards of modern thinking.

Men who understand the times

mybelovedismine — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:33:00 +0000

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
-1 Timothy 2:1-6

I think in times like this, as Christians, we must be careful to hold fast to the council of our Lord and King. We must not respond out of our emotions or fear. No matter who rules, we have one King. A King who is mighty and because of that we do not fear, and we are able to stand. In our pilgrimage, we are to be faithful observers of the times and are to live in understanding as we represent the Kingdom, in a fallen world. We are ambassadors, calling out on behalf of our King. And even in difficult times, we are to represent our King in our speech and conduct. And so, we do not walk in this world like other men. We do not beguile or slander as other men, but we also do not back down on the truth, but remain faithful and honest, loving mercy and justice. We do not to fail to pray for the ungodly or to love or enemies. And we are not to fail to stand and be a banner, to be salt and light in this world, and to call out for repentance. We are honest about sin, and we are bold in declaring salvation through Christ Jesus. God calls us to both be a rightful observer of the times and to be a call to repentance, but He also calls us to do this with respect and gentleness. When we fail to call out with gentleness and respect, we become blinded by our own passions and are no longer able to see the times. When we fail to call men to repentance and fail to be honest about sin and make a stand, we become like the times or we become cold, lacking love. And in this I challenge myself, this is where I would like to be, and I ask for accountability, if I fail to represent my King. We must call these things out in each other and remind ourselves; we serve one King.

And of the sons of Issachar, men that had understanding of the times ,to know what Israel ought to do. –1 Chronicles 12:32

Dangerous arguments for the leadership of women

mybelovedismine — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:01:00 +0000

I have been reading and listening to arguments that are made to defend the allowing of women to have authority or over men. I did this to challenge myself. Is what I believe about the woman’s role in the church true? You see, I have no stake on either side; my heart’s desire is only to be submissive to the word of God. So, I want to know if there is any objective challenge to what I believe. If I am wrong, I want to be corrected. And I have no fear to proven wrong because I trust God at His word.

In reading the arguments for allowing women to lead and have authority over men, it has amazed me and shocked me to see how those who believe that women can lead and have authority argue and defend their position. As I see them present their arguments and lay out support for what they believe, it is the exact same arguments and scriptural presentation used by those who seek to prove that homosexuality is not a sin. (I am debating on whether to present this information; I want to make sure I present it well, so that it doesn’t cause people to stumble. It can sound good if you’re not being objective with the scripture. It scares me a little. If people are so quick to buy into these arguments when it comes to women in leadership, will they do the same with homosexuality?) I know most who make these arguments for women leadership don’t know that they are same arguments that people use to defend homosexuality. And I am not accusing them of going that direction with it at all here. And I know that this error is not intentional, but it is still dangerous.

I also have not read any arguments for women having leadership over men that candidly use the scriptures within the context or meaning within which they are presented. When I read or hear the arguments it’s like a circus act connecting points that aren’t there and disconnecting points that are connected. Basically, the scripture is interpreted to fit an already preconceived idea, instead coming to the scripture with no preconceived idea and allowing the scripture to define itself. Scholarly and objective presentation of scripture is not used. Because the scripture is God’s word, we ought not to be afraid to approach scripture objectively and candidly and allow it to present what it says.

Also, in reading a lot on this issue, on both sides, and after hearing the other side presented, I am amazed at how biased and unfair their arguments are. I can say that those who believe that women should not have leadership or authority over men, often present both sides of the issue, and after reading both sides I can tell that they honestly portray the opposing side of the argument, presenting the exact arguments of the opposing side and what they believe. They give a fair presentation of both sides of the issue, not being afraid that doing so will hinder their position. But when I read those who argue that women can lead and have authority over men (now, I am basing this on what I have seen), they will distort the opposing side and what they believe and even state that they believe something that they don’t, instead of objectively presenting both sides. They basically build a straw man and tear it down. This is not a fair presentation of the issue. I don’t think this is purposeful either, at least I hope it is not. I think they are hearing what the culture is telling them the opposing side is saying or they have heard people who talk who do oppress women, and they hear this instead of really listening to what the opposing side has to say. And so, their arguments get distorted. So, I do not mean to be harsh in saying this.

I know some might say, I am biased on this issue. What made me look at this issue more and to want to see what both sides said about this, is that I wanted to marry someone who at one time believed that women could lead. I was not about to ask her to do something that the scripture did not ask of her. I wouldn’t ask any women to do that. And I was ready to be proven wrong, why should I lose a great woman over this issue? I also hate the idea of oppressing women and would not support something that did that. Like I said before, I had no stake in believing either side.

Honestly, I am shocked by this. I didn’t expect to find this. Even though I might disagree with the opposing side, I did expect to find some objectivity. I am not writing this because I want to tear apart the opposing side. I’d rather not be the case. What I have written here is more of an emotional response. I am heart broken and hurt, to see the word of God used in this way, to see faith torn apart, to see such a lack of trust in God. And to see arguments that are so dangerous and that lead people away from scripture and toward things like homosexuality. I don’t think its intentional and my I want to be gentle… Emotionally, I am in a place where I am unsure how respond to it accept to say that it hurts, and my heart is broken.