k-lai.com

Interpretation

K-Lai — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:02:00 -0800

**Disclaimer: The following is an opinion rendered from a guy who has been up all night because he drank too much coffee. No formal research or scholarly deeds have been done to substantiate his opinions, and so it would be a good idea to exercise caution while reading. With that being said, do carefully consider what I’m saying because I do believe that what I am saying is true…as best as I know it. I welcome feedback, both affirming and disagreeing.

Again, I have not taken any formal classes on hermeneutics (the science of interpretation, particularly in relation to interpreting Scripture), so I don’t know what the scholars say about how we should interpret the Bible. Since I’ve run into two or three situations lately where Bible interpretation ended up being an issue, I just wanted to flesh out for myself what I believed about how to understand the Bible. A lot of this is going to be general observation and reasoning; but hopefully it will make some sense (and for my readers who are interested in understanding what the Bible has to say, hopefully it will jive with what you believe on the issue too).

Originally I was thinking about just writing paragraphs of thoughts, but I think that a list might make things look a bit more organized. The list is not in any particular order, and I’m just going to state and then expand on some observations I’ve made about how I read and interpret the Bible.

The Bible should be interpreted in light of what the author(s) meant to say, not what we think their statements mean.

Suppose I have a girlfriend, and she writes me a love note. “Dear Kevin, you are so amazing. The very thought of you makes my heart flutter and my head faint. I can’t stop thinking about you. Love, Imaginary Girlfriend” Now, suppose that when she wrote about her physical reactions to thinking about me, she was trying to communicate that thinking about me was an exciting experience. However, when I read her note, I think that she’s saying that she gets violently ill whenever she thinks about me. Did I interpret her note correctly? Of course not! I need to try to discover what she originally meant to say, in order for me to truly appreciate and understand what she is saying.

Likewise, I believe that we ought to do the same with the Bible. In order to understand what the Bible is actually saying, we should seek to discover the intent and meaning that the writer wanted to communicate. If we don’t, we can pretty much make the Bible say whatever we want it to say.

In order to know what the author meant to say, we need to understand the context (historical, cultural, linguistic, etc.) in which the passage was written.

This is a tough one – because for many of us, we don’t have time to do the studies necessary to find out those contexts, or we don’t have access to the resources, or many other reasons. Personally, I believe that’s why it helps to have friends who are either currently attending or have graduated from seminary that can help provide some of that understanding. This may be a pastor or a counselor or a friend. While I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to know the full picture in order to understand a passage, it does enrich and expand that understanding so that the passage may have greater meaning than it did before.

Understanding the cultural context does not prevent us from applying the Bible to our lives now; rather, it clarifies principles and keeps us from applying the Bible wrongly.

I’ve heard from some people that they believe that culturally contextualizing the Bible makes what the Bible says irrelevant to our daily lives, which sounds like a heretical/unScriptural thing to do. And I identify with their concern – the Bible is applicable to our 21st century lives, and I don’t want to be promoting something that makes the Bible irrelevant. However, I think that if we understand the cultures and the specific situations that were being addressed in the various books of the Bible, we would find that it becomes much easier to apply the Bible to our lives, because we can take parallel situations in our current-day world and see how those issues were addressed and and how we can apply those same principles to our daily lives. It also makes sure that we don’t misapply verses – because, like I said before, it’s easy to twist verses to suit our fancy.

Different parts of the Bible were meant to be interpreted differently.

The Bible uses so many different literary devices – poetry, history, logical reasoning, story-telling, just to name a few – and each of these devices contribute to the rich and abundant multi-layered truth that the Bible conveys. That being said, we need to learn how to interpret parts of the Bible based on how it was written, just as much as we should look at its historical or cultural context.

Taking the Bible strictly at face value is not only wrong, but dangerous.

I see the appeal to those who maintain that we should interpret the Bible literally. The problem I see with this idea though, is that not everything in the Bible was meant to be literal. If this were so, then we all should maim ourselves, because Jesus taught that if a part of our body causes us to sin we should cut it out (Mark 9:43-48). Does this mean that no part of the Bible is literal? Of course not – there are a lot of statements and records that help verify the Bible’s historical accuracy, as well as many of the commands and principles that were taught that can be taken literally. But to form our theology and understanding of God based on “face value” interpretation of Scripture leads to some very contradictory and potentially heretical views.

Consider what the words in our language mean for the time period in which the original was written, rather than according to our cultural understanding of a word.

The meaning of words change over time. For example, the word “cookie” used to only refer to the yummy baked goods. Now, it could also refer to the small bit of information that a webpage stores on a computer. When we read the Bible, we need to be careful not to use our 21st century meaning of words to form our understanding of what the verses are saying.

Here’s an example of what I mean. In Philippians 1, Paul writes that he is a “slave of Jesus Christ” (Holman Christian Standard). The New American Standard translates that Greek word as “bondservant,” while the New International Version translates the word as “servant.” According to a seminary professor who is quite fluent in Greek, that word is most literally translated as “slave” – but in understanding we must look at what slave meant in the context of Paul’s time, rather than thinking of a slave in terms of American slavery. That is probably why the NASB and the NIV use different terminology, in order for us to think about the nature of Paul’s calling by Jesus Christ in a fuller light.

It is God’s Holy Spirit who gives us understanding of what the Bible is saying.

Jesus promised us that His Holy Spirit would indwell in us and teach us “all things” (John 14:26). If we have a relationship with Jesus, His words will be made known to us such that most of what we read in the Bible should be pretty clear to us. And that truth should agree with those who also know Jesus. There will still be disagreements between Christians about some interpretations, but never on the major things. For the minor things, I believe that as we all grow closer to God we understand His heart a bit more, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll eventually reach a consensus on what the more difficult-to-understand passages mean. I believe that what matters in those situations is that we trust God to continue making Himself known to us, and that we believe and act with a clear conscience – trusting that God will continue to instruct and guide our thinking on those areas.

We will never have it all figured out this side of heaven.

Paul puts it this way: “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:9-12)

Our interpretations are going to be tainted by our biases and experiences, whether it is of the Bible or anything else in this life. While this may imply that all truth is relative to our point of view, I would submit that absolute truth can still exist and be knowable, at least in part. As we seek to understand God’s heart as it has been communicated to us through the writings of His servants, we should appreciate that this is a process to discover that which will be made fully known to us when we finally see Jesus face-to-face. Does this mean that we should get so caught up in the “mystery” of this unveiling of truth that understanding absolute truth as best as we can is not important? Absolutely not! The journey is NOT the destination – let us continue to seek after truth, and carefully and prayerfully discover God’s heart as we read the Bible and grow in our experiential knowledge of who God is.

So there you have it, some of my basic thoughts on how to interpret the Bible. Hopefully it made some semblance of sense – since I wrote most of it on the last legs of my coffee insomnia, and then finished it up after getting 3 hours of sleep afterward. Let me know what you think!

Coffee Musings

K-Lai — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:21:00 -0800

3.21 AM
It’s currently way too dark to be awake, and yet, thanks to my foolish coffee consumption earlier, I am still lurking about the internet.

While I journal myself to sleep, I’m taking some time to ponder a few things.

I have way too much assorted junk, but since most of it is fairly useful, I can’t throw much of it away. I bought a new bookshelf yesterday during my quest to clean up my room for the new year, and sadly I’ve already filled it completely. I have approximately 2/3 of a shelf left for my new acquisitions, but it appears that I may be needing another shelf soon. Books aside, I have random OTC meds, papers, notes, etc. that are currently littering my floor. I probably should go buy a storage bin, label it “miscellaneous,” and then just throw it all in there. That way, I can still have it, but it’s all in an easy-to-store container.

I don’t care to spend hours upon hours in deep thought anymore. I don’t know if it’s a function of my ever-increasing busy life or perhaps my attention span has decreased considerably since I’ve gotten older, but I just don’t care to do things by myself these days. I have plenty more down time than I’m used to (which is fantastic), but I seem to find excuses to go hang out with people or have long conversations with them through various media. I guess in some ways I’m seeing God changing me to be more relational…which definitely helps pull me away from the nerdy world that can suck me in at any time. Still, I probably need to learn to intentionally pull away from being social every free moment I have so that I can do some of those things that God has gifted me to do – like writing music or novels, reading really fast, and saving the universe from aliens.

I have learned recently that discerning and communicating truth is extremely difficult. Several experiences in the last few months have made me reconsider how I should communicate what I believe to be the truth. I believe there are at least two kinds of truth – situational truth, which is relative to our personal experiences, and absolute truth, which doesn’t change with the situation and applies to everyone. Since it seems like everyone has an opinion these days, on what grounds do I base my perspectives on truth claims, and how do I communicate my thoughts to others in such a way that I don’t needlessly anger people?

One of the situations I encountered was a person who was so convinced that he knew the Bible and I did not that he was confident in accusing me of not knowing or understanding what the Bible says. The way he used the verses that he would quote in his arguments led me to believe that he was the one in error…not I. He would conclude many of his arguments with statements like this: “I don’t think I’m perfect, but I have the Word of God. Read the Bible (and these passages I’ve quoted). Take them at face value. Pray about it, and I believe that you will find the truth if you are honestly seeking after it.”

Now, before my readership takes another nosedive due to my sarcasm, I will put out this disclaimer that my aim is not to personally attack this person…but rather to use this situation as an example of what happens when a person’s perspective of truth is communicated arrogantly.

Arrogantly? Whoa, hold on there…those are pretty weighty words. But so are the words that I’ve paraphrased – what I did not mention was that through every single argument there was a running subtext of “I know that I am right, and if you interpret the Bible differently than I do you are wrong.” Now, I believe that the Bible is divinely inspired, inerrant, and is the authoritative truth in every aspect of life that it addresses – since the Bible is the spiritual document for the faith with which I identify, I think it’s universally acceptable for me to believe that. I also believe that the Bible has one singular message; that while it is “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and rebuking in righteousness” (1 Timothy 3:16), there is one right interpretation and many wrong interpretations of the Bible. I also believe that there are several parts in the Bible that are difficult to understand…and in fact, some of these ambiguous passages are the reason for the numerous denominations of Christian. Universally, these difficult sections of the Bible do not change the overall theme or message of the Bible; they color people’s perspectives on various aspects of life, but do not affect their eternal destiny in the Christian faith.

When I read this guy’s arguments, I did my best to honestly consider what he said and what he claimed the Bible said, and prayerfully allow the Bible to speak for itself. And as I read each of his quoted verses in the context in which they were written, I came to conclusions that differed from his. While how I think we should interpret the Bible is material for a completely different post, I will just say that if this guy were being intellectually honest, he should respect that I did what he asked and yet I still came to a different conclusion. Instead, he maintained that I did not read the Bible correctly and that my faith was weak and twisted by my own sinfulness.

This situation made me think about all the times I tell people things that I believe to be true – am I intellectually honest enough to allow people to disagree with me in such a way that if they are genuinely seeking the truth, I don’t have to be right? Hopefully the next time I tell someone what I believe to be the truth, it is communicated in such a way that they don’t feel like I completely disrespect their desire to know the truth.

Deciding which residency program to rank #2 is way harder than I thought it would be. I need to submit my rank-order list to the Match really soon. My #1 choice has been pretty obvious to me (and hopefully that program thought that I was an obvious #1 choice as well), but listing my #2 and #3 choices has been really tough. My interview in Baltimore was better, but I can see why I might prefer living in Chicago to living in Baltimore. And then I’m reminded of Chicago weather (which is kinda nasty this time of the year). I felt like I fit in better with the Baltimore residents than the Chicago residents. And yet I’m still hesitant to list an East Coast program above a Midwest program. I think that Chicago has the better didactic program, but Baltimore just felt nicer, though I can’t say that I like the city of Baltimore that much. It’s still really close to DC though, and with it being on the East Coast there’s just a whole lot more to do than in Chicago, where apart from Chicago there aren’t that many other places to go do things…maybe Milwaukee (?). My roommate thinks I would like Baltimore better. Weather-wise I think I would agree with him. Things-to-do-wise I agree. And yet for some weird reason I’m still hesitant. I must admit, I really love the city of Chicago…but is it enough that I would want to live and work there for 3 years? So I haven’t submitted my list yet, though I should.

4.52 AM
Well, I think I’m done with this post. I’m still not tired. This is getting to be rather pathetic.

Book Review: <i>The Unseen</i>

K-Lai — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:38:00 -0800

This is my first blogger book review for Thomas Nelson Publishing, as part of their Book Review Blogger program. As per their wishes, here is a 200-word review.

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The Unseen, by T.L. Hines, is a modern thriller that takes the reader through the increasingly complicated life of Lucas, a young man whose life in the shadows unravels as more and more of his life and the lives around him are exposed to the light. The minutiae of Lucas’ exploits are written with great expertise, and Hines weaves an intricate plot that takes the reader alongside Lucas, never knowing who is trustworthy, until all is revealed in the end.

I felt that for the amount of intrigue and suspense generated by this dynamic plot, the story dragged in some parts, which stalled any potential emotional buildup. Hines does a fantastic job of describing Lucas’ process in great detail; however, there were times that the details overshadowed the urgency and suspense that probably could have been explored. The themes of the novel were powerful and quite evident, and overall I would still say that this was a good read.

I enjoyed the pace of the novel and I was challenged by the questions the book raised about exposing the truth. This is a page-turner that is worth checking out. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends.

Coming Soon...Reviews?

K-Lai — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:54:00 -0800

I just signed up to do blog book reviews for Thomas Nelson publishing. In exchange for writing a 200-word blog review of their latest books, I get advance release copies of any of their books that I want to review. Pretty cool!

So be prepared: The Unseen is coming soon!

Travelings

K-Lai — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:28:00 -0800

Well, it’s interview season in my last year of medical school. Kinda scary, but I’m doing it! I think of all the things I find difficult with planning these trips, the hardest would probably have to be justifying in my head that it’s okay to be throwing down hundreds and thousands of dollars to basically jump around the country in the next few weeks and months. At least I can say I’m doing my part to contribute to the dying economy, even if it’s all loan money that someone’s going to have to pay back.

I’m looking forward to seeing these programs, meeting new people, and hopefully even getting to enjoy some time away from school stuff. I have this really bad habit of finding what I study to be enjoyable, so instead of playing recreational sports or reading a book for fun or hanging out with friends or even working on the many novels I’ve started writing (but haven’t finished), I study for fun.

Yeah, I still take out my big thick Robbins Pathology book from 2nd year and learn about random stuff in there. I’ll pull out my lecture notes from 1st year and review anatomy, just for fun. I think though, it’s because I want to make sure that I truly understand the material – after all, once I graduate, it’s no longer just a wrong question on a test…it’s someone’s life.

Plus, I’m working on my medipedia project. It’s been lots of fun, and it keeps me thinking, not only about my own understanding, but if I understand the concepts well enough to teach and explain them in a manner that genuinely makes sense to other people.

All of this to say, this past month has just flown by. I’m interviewing all week, but this is the last week of a 4-week rotation, and it just seems like I started up the course yesterday. I hope the rest of my 4th year doesn’t fly by the same way…I hope to truly enjoy and make good use of the last vacation I’m going to have for a long while.