Can the Scriptures be harmful?
Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:20 am
In our devotion today, I was struck by the imagery of flocks being harmed by rushing water, unable to be absorbed by the hard ground.
Today was Sunday, and I preached in the morning and led Bible study for a group of "older" adults this evening... And when I preach, I feel like I do a pretty good job of taking the Scriptural text, breaking it down (exegesis), and applying it to real life. But when I teach Bible study in the evenings, often I find myself asking hard questions...virtually unanswerable questions.
In my head, I want my people to wrestle with Scripture. Most of these people have spent the last 40-60 years being spoon fed a combination of "spiritual milk" and legalistic hogwash. And I don't know of a better way to help them come to grips with the fact that a good bit of what they've been taught is unbiblical...and it doesn't even make sense. And so I'll read a passage with them and ask a question dealing with the ramifications of the passage...then I'll let them flounder around a bit. Sometimes they are able to come to the right answer on their own...sometimes they aren't. Sometimes I answer the question for them by the end of our Bible study...and sometimes, I leave the question unanswered.
But it never occurred to me that the truth and life available in the Scriptures might be harmful...and I'm still not 100% sure that it can be. But when Laniak described the rushing waters drowning flocks, it took me to my congregation sitting in Bible study floundering around a Biblical passage that they haven't been prepared to deal with.
"God help me discern the best way(s) to teach my congregation about your nature through your Scriptures."
Today was Sunday, and I preached in the morning and led Bible study for a group of "older" adults this evening... And when I preach, I feel like I do a pretty good job of taking the Scriptural text, breaking it down (exegesis), and applying it to real life. But when I teach Bible study in the evenings, often I find myself asking hard questions...virtually unanswerable questions.
In my head, I want my people to wrestle with Scripture. Most of these people have spent the last 40-60 years being spoon fed a combination of "spiritual milk" and legalistic hogwash. And I don't know of a better way to help them come to grips with the fact that a good bit of what they've been taught is unbiblical...and it doesn't even make sense. And so I'll read a passage with them and ask a question dealing with the ramifications of the passage...then I'll let them flounder around a bit. Sometimes they are able to come to the right answer on their own...sometimes they aren't. Sometimes I answer the question for them by the end of our Bible study...and sometimes, I leave the question unanswered.
But it never occurred to me that the truth and life available in the Scriptures might be harmful...and I'm still not 100% sure that it can be. But when Laniak described the rushing waters drowning flocks, it took me to my congregation sitting in Bible study floundering around a Biblical passage that they haven't been prepared to deal with.
"God help me discern the best way(s) to teach my congregation about your nature through your Scriptures."