Bible pt. 4

Question:
How many Bibles (versions) are there in this day and age?

Answer:
Too many and not enough. 

There are so many translations that many of them conflict with one another as they try to outdo one another.  The main struggle is that so many of these translations are actually trying to push a theological and doctrinal stance while they disguise their arrogance and ignorance as a desire for "scriptural truth". 

There are not enough, because there are still Bibles passages that have not been written in a way that can help the modern reader fully understand what was being conveyed to the original audience.

The more accurate answer to the question is, well over 100.  It is hard to find an actual number because there are so many small publishing companies and online publishing and self publishing to know for sure.

Prayer pt. 1

Question (paraphrased):
What is your opinion on pre-written prayers and responsive readings?

Answer:
While it may only be a two part question, I am going to answer it like a three part. 

Part 1 - prayers that were written by the person praying

When I first started my ministry in Houston, the elders of the church were expected to pray before communion and offering each week.  Most weeks, the elder who was praying that week would stand up and pull out a 3X5 index card where they had written a prayer out and they would just read their prayer in that typical, reading from a card, tone of voice.  It often came across boring and insincere to me.

I questioned the sr. minister about why he allowed it to take place (which is actually a statement in regards to my ignorance of believing that it was the sr. minister's job to dictate every action within a church). 

The answer he gave me is the answer that I have held by ever since.  They could stand there and stammer around and worry about all of those people who are watching and listening or they could take the time prior to their "moment in the spotlight" and meticulously pour over every word that they wish to share with the Almighty God.  The question was later posed to me, between those two options, which one is more reverent and reflects an awe for God? 

Then, after the great religious answer, the non-spiritual answer was that it seemed better to have them write out these short prayers than distract everyone as they stumble through some quick quirky prayer.

Psalm 119 is a brilliant, albeit lengthy, prayer to God.  But it was written as an acrostic (at least I think that is what you call it).  The prayer starts with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the second part of the prayer starts with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and so on throughout every letter.  This prayer was carefully crafted and yet God though so much of it that He chose to put it at the very center of the Psalms and the center of His book.  The author may have carefully thought out, wrote and rewrote entire portions of the prayer, but in the end it is still a genuine prayer of hope, love, admiration, fear and angst toward God.

Part 2 - reading the prayers of others as though they are your own prayer

This is another idea that used to really bother me, until I started to actually read some of these prayers.

For example, there is the prayer of Francois Feacutenelon who said, "Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of Thee.  Thou only knowest what I need; Thou lovest me better than I know how to love myself." 

Or there is this prayer, usually attributed to Francis of Assisi, "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is offence, pardon, where there is discord, unity, where there is doubt, faith, where there is error, truth, where there is despair, hope, where there is sadness, joy, where there is darkness, light.  O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

There are many others that I hold to (like the Jesus Prayer we discussed in class), but these are a few examples of prayer others have given that I am so moved by that I want to give them also.  I may adapt them or modernize them, but I often pray parts of them because they were stated better than I can state them myself.

Part 3 - responsive readings

This one is pretty simple for me.  Song of Songs is filled with responsive readings.  The Psalms have been used as responsive readings for centuries, even before Jesus.  It is hard to read Psalm 136 and not get the immediate idea of a responsive reading.  I have no trouble with them and often prefer them because they can create a participatory dialogue of worship, not just following the band.

A few years ago I was in Grand Rapids, MI for a church conference and asked our waitress that night if she had heard of the church.  She told us that she had and really enjoyed it.  I went on to ask why, and her answer was that the services were so great and they use so many neat elements, like responsive readings.  I was blown away, this college aged student then went on to tell how her church did not use things like responsive readings and so she felt so distant from the worship. 

  

Prayer pt. 1

Question (paraphrased):
What is your opinion on pre-written prayers and responsive readings?

Answer:
While it may only be a two part question, I am going to answer it like a three part. 

Part 1 - prayers that were written by the person praying

When I first started my ministry in Houston, the elders of the church were expected to pray before communion and offering each week.  Most weeks, the elder who was praying that week would stand up and pull out a 3X5 index card where they had written a prayer out and they would just read their prayer in that typical, reading from a card, tone of voice.  It often came across boring and insincere to me.

I questioned the sr. minister about why he allowed it to take place (which is actually a statement in regards to my ignorance of believing that it was the sr. minister's job to dictate every action within a church). 

The answer he gave me is the answer that I have held by ever since.  They could stand there and stammer around and worry about all of those people who are watching and listening or they could take the time prior to their "moment in the spotlight" and meticulously pour over every word that they wish to share with the Almighty God.  The question was later posed to me, between those two options, which one is more reverent and reflects an awe for God? 

Then, after the great religious answer, the non-spiritual answer was that it seemed better to have them write out these short prayers than distract everyone as they stumble through some quick quirky prayer.

Psalm 119 is a brilliant, albeit lengthy, prayer to God.  But it was written as an acrostic (at least I think that is what you call it).  The prayer starts with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the second part of the prayer starts with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and so on throughout every letter.  This prayer was carefully crafted and yet God though so much of it that He chose to put it at the very center of the Psalms and the center of His book.  The author may have carefully thought out, wrote and rewrote entire portions of the prayer, but in the end it is still a genuine prayer of hope, love, admiration, fear and angst toward God.

Part 2 - reading the prayers of others as though they are your own prayer

This is another idea that used to really bother me, until I started to actually read some of these prayers.

For example, there is the prayer of Francois Feacutenelon who said, "Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of Thee.  Thou only knowest what I need; Thou lovest me better than I know how to love myself." 

Or there is this prayer, usually attributed to Francis of Assisi, "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is offence, pardon, where there is discord, unity, where there is doubt, faith, where there is error, truth, where there is despair, hope, where there is sadness, joy, where there is darkness, light.  O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

There are many others that I hold to (like the Jesus Prayer we discussed in class), but these are a few examples of prayer others have given that I am so moved by that I want to give them also.  I may adapt them or modernize them, but I often pray parts of them because they were stated better than I can state them myself.

Part 3 - responsive readings

This one is pretty simple for me.  Song of Songs is filled with responsive readings.  The Psalms have been used as responsive readings for centuries, even before Jesus.  It is hard to read Psalm 136 and not get the immediate idea of a responsive reading.  I have no trouble with them and often prefer them because they can create a participatory dialogue of worship, not just following the band.

A few years ago I was in Grand Rapids, MI for a church conference and asked our waitress that night if she had heard of the church.  She told us that she had and really enjoyed it.  I went on to ask why, and her answer was that the services were so great and they use so many neat elements, like responsive readings.  I was blown away, this college aged student then went on to tell how her church did not use things like responsive readings and so she felt so distant from the worship. 

  

where is this going

Question:
Brian, do you have an outline of where this class is going? What are the other "What About's" we can expect? Have you considered "What About" God's Kingdom or Church?

Answer:
I do have an outline. It looks something like this:

Oct

15 Angels-Demons-Satan

22 History of Christianity & the church

29 Worship-Communion-Sermons-Offering

Nov

5 Bad/Good things to Good/Bad people

12 Christian maturity-Priesthood of all believers

19 Salvation (this is the one I am most excited about)

Here is the problem with sharing this, is that I have no idea if this is actually where I am going to be going. Sometimes I just hear God telling me it is time to tackle a different topic and sometimes I have something inside of me that will just cause me to explode if I don't get it out (although I often consider those two things identical).

The other reason that I have not posted this is because of the simple fact that sometimes I bite off more than I can chew. For example, I have every intention of covering the Church and it's history next week, but that is a pretty big topic, and I am not sure I can condense it enough for it to matter.

Grace pt 1

Question (paraphrased):
In class we looked at all of the different ways that the Hebrew word for "grace" is translated.  Sometimes it is "kindness", sometimes "pity", sometimes "unfailing love", etc.  Why are there all of those different words if the word is "grace"?

Answer:
In the modern English language we use the word "love" a lot.  But in the Greek language there were four words for "love." (Stay with me, I am trying to go somewhere.)  Today we might say that we love french fries, we love our cars, we love our home, we love going to the beach, we love our kids, we love our parents and we love our spouse.  If we were to translate those into another language, like Greek, we would have to differentiate what kind of love we are talking about, because no one would actually say that they love their spouse in the same way that they love their cars (at least we would hope not).  While that one word can have different meanings, the basic theme of the word is the same.  It is a word that denotes a deep appreciation that draws us to the object of our affection.  One word with one underlying theme can be used in a wide variety of situations. 

The same holds true for "grace" in the Bible.  The word is used in different contexts with a slightly different understanding.  The translators are attempting to help us understand the context of the word by changing the way it is translated.  So, sometimes they may say "grace" and other times they may say "pity", but the underlying theme is the same. 

The main problem is not in the word usage of the translator as much as it is the definition that we give to word chosen to help us better understand.  Today we have a number of abstract definitions for words that refer to intangible thoughts. 

Let's look at "love" again.  When I say "love," many people today begin to think of the feeling of love, or the way of thinking about a person or object.  In the Hebrew, there was almost no concept of a random abstract thought (that is primarily a Greek philosophical way of seeing the world).  In Hebrew, for a thought to be a reality it must be an action that is driven by the thought.  In other words, (forgive the cheese factor here) love is a verb. 

For love to be true, there must be an action that is driven by the feeling of affection, otherwise it is a lie and empty.  That is how James could say that faith without works is dead.  Faith cannot be a concept, it must be an action. 

A translator can choose to use the word "pity" for "grace" and be just fine, so long as the reader understands that it is a pity that is seen in the action of reaching down and helping someone up.

That is how we find ourselves back to the definition we gave for grace; "God's empowering presence".  If His presence has no power than there is no grace.

If you were not in class and wonder where all of this comes from, feel free to check out my files page where you can download the class sessions.