Words'nTone

Almost every Christian in America has their own Bible.  Most have a high enough literacy level to be able to read it.  Comprehending might be harder, but I think most American Christian can give it a good shot.  So, there I was teaching in a Sunday School class, many years ago now, when I had everyone open to Matthew 6:33 and I read,

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

After reading it I asked a simple—well what I thought was a simple—question: ”What does this verse say?” I was actually surprised—no one said a thing.  They stared at their Bible and then stared back at me—a few times.  Their lips pinched together and scrunched up and foreheads frowned, all motioning they had no idea.  So I prodded a little more.  But nothing.  Then someone said, “I don’t know what you mean ‘what does it mean.’ I am not sure what it really says.” I was dumbfounded.  Perplexed.  Here’s what I got out of that.  Even the plain English wasn’t enough to get what this verse said, at least to the “lay reader.” They weren’t let in on the “secret” behind the text.  That secret knowledge only certain people have to interpret the Bible.

I don’t think I was far off on this.  These good people had grown up in the Church or listened for years to preachers who preached from texts, telling them what a text meant, but the “meaning” wasn’t always obvious.  That’s why the preacher had to explain it.  This took a special insight; a gift not given to the laity.  Or so it seemed.  The meaning preached wasn’t what the plain English set before their eyes.  The preacher/Sunday school teacher “has special insight” and powers to get a meaning that couldn’t be gotten from words, syntax, and grammar.  Now come on—admit it.  How many times have you liked what the preacher said, but it’s really not what the text says.  And secretly, you just don’t know where the preacher got it.

I think many Christians are simply not motivated to devour the Bible for themselves because what is preached and taught isn’t matched up with the texts the preaching/teaching is from.  And it takes special insight and a special connection to God to get this information.  One reason the people of the pew don’t dig deep in and devour the Bible is that they don’t have the “secret knowledge” to get what it “really” says.  They have been taught this over and over for years as preachers and Sunday School leaders bombard them week after week with “interpretation” that only they could get—because they have special insight and for crying out loud, they have a special connection to God.  Heck some, maybe even most, tell us week after week that God gave them this interpretation.  They speak for God.  We can’t do that.  We are not on the in.  And who are we to disagree once a preacher says, “I prayed and God gave me this message.” Even if the texts used don’t match up with the interpretation.  It must be us—we don’t have that special, secret insightful power.  Of course the preacher, et. al. will disagree with me publically, most anyway, but it is what they teach week after week, subtly, some innocently, some purposely.  It is what they say with their actions each week.

Another reason, akin to the first, is that the preacher/Sunday School teacher/Bible Study leader doesn’t show the Christians in the pew how… the topic of the third post in this thread…

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