|
Biblical Insights: Five Hard Questions
Contents
Introduction to Biblical
Insights
Three Bible Study Ideas
10 Passages to Comfort
Workers
10 Bible Studies that
Affirm Workers
Characters in the Bible
Passages to Play With
What's the Bible Have to
Say About...?
Five Hard Questions
Other Bible Links
We all approach the Bible with
invisible and unknown prejudices and biases. Here are "five hard
questions" to ask as you approach Bible study or Bible reading,
perhaps helping you with your own "invisible and unknown":
- Do
you think of biblical characters -- especially Old Testament
heroes and Jesus' disciples — as essentially like you, in terms of
their membership and attachment to a local congregation of fellow
believers? (Most likely most of them were NOT attached to a
"church" as you know it.)
-
What really bothered and angered Jesus about the religious
institutions of his day, and their leaders? (Be careful here, or
you might be projecting onto Jesus' day things that are more true
of today's religious institutions.)
- Who
gets ignored in the biblical stories, or our retelling of them?
And who gets the consistent glare of our spiritual spotlights? Do
you see any problems or possibilities in comparing the two?
- How
much does your study and application of the Bible require
"extra-ordinariness" (or heroic activity) as the expected response
to God's will? Is there any room in your biblical interpretation
for ordinary, everyday spirituality?
- In
what ways does the context of a Bible passage or story match your
lifestyle and living context? In what ways does is not? (Be
careful again, because you may be imposing impossible conditions
on contemporary life OR ignoring subtle similarities that are
easily overlooked.)
|
|
