Happy Monday!
An interesting comment in a class for small group leaders prrompts today’s word-of-the-week…
EXPERTS
“People would rather read books written by experts about the bible than the bible itself.”
It’s an interesting notion–why not let someone who knows the intracacies of Hebrew and Greek, the in’s and out’s of ancient culture, figure out all that interpretation stuff? They’re surely more qualified than I am, right?
The class was called BIBLE BASICS, and we gathered to discuss some ideas about using scripture in our small groups. I’d just floated the notion that the basic purpose of the bible is revelation. It’s God telling us who He is, and He wants a relationship.
Relationships require communitation, time, and the investment of getting to know each other. I asked how that would work out in our personal relationships if we tried to outsource the hard work to a third party. Maybe I could hire a marriage expert to get to know my wife, then tell me the highlights.
Of course that’s preposturous, and creepy, but it’s exactly what we’re doing when we trust an expert to tell us what we need to know about Jesus.
Jesus is a person, not a collection of ideas. If I read a book about the bible, I’ll learn about someone else’s relationship with Him.
I think He’d prefer something more intimate.
Have a great week.
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