"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." John 11:25-26
There are times that I read verses like this one quite literally and think that none of us must believe in Jesus, since we all die. Unless, of course, that the base meaning of the words Jesus used was not his actual intention. Isn't that bothersome? At the same time thought Jesus is speaking quite literally in the first half of this section, he is talking about raising Lazarus from the dead. So, in the same paragraph Jesus uses literal and metaphorical language.
I am reminded of a conversation I had not too long ago with someone who told me that the Bible was easy to understand. It took almost every fiber of my being not to laugh in their face. Instead I told them, that I disagree, that I have a Master's degree and still have trouble understanding the Bible. They somewhat politely told me what does a Master's degree have to do with anything. Nothing, I replied, except to point out that the Bible is not easy to understand, and if you think it is, you are mistaken.
Jesus speaks in metaphor and hyperbole and parable. The Bible is full of poetry and erotica and apocalyptic writing that most if not all people completely misunderstand all the time. It is so easy to misunderstand the Bible that there are 30,000 different denominations that all consider themselves Christian. The Bible has been used on both sides of most arguments for the last 1500 years, give or take. And there are some people who still think its easy to understand.
I didn't set out to write about that, I was going to speak about Life after Death, but maybe I did already. After all we who follow Jesus are alive, and before we were dead. Jesus raised us from the dead, and so we can read the Bible and argue about the Bible and try to understand the Bible and try to make it make sense of our lives. Reading these words is life after death.
+ How do you tackle passages like this that use mixed mediums of communication?
+ In what ways do you struggle with what you read in the Bible?
+ How has your understanding of your life been expanded by reading the Bible?
I am reminded of a conversation I had not too long ago with someone who told me that the Bible was easy to understand. It took almost every fiber of my being not to laugh in their face. Instead I told them, that I disagree, that I have a Master's degree and still have trouble understanding the Bible. They somewhat politely told me what does a Master's degree have to do with anything. Nothing, I replied, except to point out that the Bible is not easy to understand, and if you think it is, you are mistaken.
Jesus speaks in metaphor and hyperbole and parable. The Bible is full of poetry and erotica and apocalyptic writing that most if not all people completely misunderstand all the time. It is so easy to misunderstand the Bible that there are 30,000 different denominations that all consider themselves Christian. The Bible has been used on both sides of most arguments for the last 1500 years, give or take. And there are some people who still think its easy to understand.
I didn't set out to write about that, I was going to speak about Life after Death, but maybe I did already. After all we who follow Jesus are alive, and before we were dead. Jesus raised us from the dead, and so we can read the Bible and argue about the Bible and try to understand the Bible and try to make it make sense of our lives. Reading these words is life after death.
+ How do you tackle passages like this that use mixed mediums of communication?
+ In what ways do you struggle with what you read in the Bible?
+ How has your understanding of your life been expanded by reading the Bible?
No comments:
Post a Comment