eChurch Christian Blog

What follows is a guest-post which appeared on the excellent Scientia et Sapientia blog.

Despite the fact that I’ve already linked to this in a previous post, I requested permission to feature in full on this blog, as this article absolutely ‘nailed it’ and is a timely message that needs to be heard:

Guest blog by Daniel Attaway (Student at Dallas Theological Seminary)

“Bible, Bible, Bible. Everybody is reading the Bible.” This is how one of my seminary profs chose to begin one of his classes and it was slightly shocking because it was satirical. This statement is more or less true about Evangelicals because the Bible is our authority and the written revelation of God (no argument there). Have you ever encouraged someone to read their Bible? Have you ever told them that if they want to know God’s will for their life then they need to read the Bible? Have you ever even given the slightest thought as to what you were asking that person to do?

On a large scale we as Evangelicals claim that if Christians will interpret Scripture using a historical-grammatical method and good exegesis they will arrive at an orthodox interpretation. Is this true? No, and here is one reason why: interpretation never arises from a blank slate, which is what the historical-grammatical approach claims. This approach does not take into account that everyone comes to the text with presuppositions and a predisposition to interpret the text in a certain way. Currently, we find ourselves living in a post-enlightenment world, which states, “I am just concerned with the data.” So we look at the original language, the grammatical structure, and the cultural setting for our interpretation. This method is not all-together wrong or incorrect, but is it complete?

Here is how this scenario plays out… Suppose the head pastor of an evangelical church wants to do a sermon on David and Goliath. He spends the week leading up to Sunday studying the cultural background, geography, history of the Philistine/Israelite controversy, and the fight between David and Goliath. What will likely happen is after this information has been given, the pastor will say, “Here is how you slay the giants in your life,” and he goes off on that subject. Is that a poor application to make? Maybe not, but is the interpretation whole? Is that reading distinctively Christian? I submit that it is not because it is not informed by the Christ event, namely the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Stopping at the “facing your giants” interpretation seems to be what Dr. Christian Smith calls “Therapeutic-Moralistic Deism.” So what is the distinctively Christian reading? Tim Keller gave a good answer when he said, “Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.”

So what is the alternative? A Christocentric, orthodox informed lens through which we read and interpret the Scriptures. The early church interpreted Scripture through the lens of what had been passed down to them, known as the “rule of faith.” A simple definition of the rule of faith is apostolic, orthodox teaching. Irenaeus was a mainstream defender of the Christian faith against heretical teaching and he wrote that the one standard of correct interpretation is the rule of faith, which has been preserved in the church in the apostolic succession. So what is the lens? What should inform our interpretation? Orthodoxy. What is distinctively Christian is our starting point and that informs our interpretation.

In conclusion, we should not seek to read Scripture as anyone other than a Christian. You should not want to read the Old Testament like a Jew. You are not Jewish! You are Christian. The call is that we no longer place ourselves at the center of the Scriptures and determine “what they have to say to me,” but to read the Scriptures through the lens of orthodoxy and what is distinctively Christian. Is the Bible about what we are to do, or about what God has done? I believe that we have taught our people to read the Bible. We have even taught them to read it correctly with a historical-grammatical approach. But have we taught them how to read it Christianly? Don’t get me wrong, the historical-grammatical approach to interpretation is beneficial, but I do not believe it is complete. My fear along with others is that we are encouraging people to go home and read their Bibles in isolation and we give them no lens through which to do so. Sadly, the average layperson does not view God as Trinitarian, nor do they read the Scriptures through a  Christocentric lens. This is raising up a multitude of people who view the Bible as their “roadmap to life,” and have little to no knowledge concerning historic Christian orthodoxy. This, among other things has lead many to predict an evangelical collapse. Do you agree or do you think orthodoxy as a starting point is ill conceived?

Four more fabulous blog posts for you. The Christian blogosphere is on fire today, so make sure you read these as they’re worth the time:

Scientia et Sapientia – Are You Reading the Bible Wrong?

Parchment and Pen – Beware of “Professional Weaker Brethren”

Onesimus Online – The Trinity in Evangelical and Orthodox Perspectives

Roger E Olsen – God and evil

I’ve come across the story of Justo Gallego Martínez in the past and I stumbled on him again today. As he is such a remarkable character, I thought I’d bring him to your attention.

This guy is 85 years old and 50 years ago he wanted to thank God for curing his tuberculosis, so he decided to build a cathedral — by himself.

This is a link to Google Images for a few piccies of the Cathedral and the great man:

Google Images – Cathedral of Justo Gallego Martínez

I found this on YouTube:

Sadly the cathedral may yet be demolished for lack of planning permission:

……..Instead, a problem with zoning permits may mean Spain’s one-man cathedral will have to come down.

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But the future of Gallego’s legacy is uncertain. He is building his cathedral, which isn’t officially recognized by the church, without any permits.

Municipal authorities admit privately that for decades they looked the other way as Gallego raised his structure only a couple of blocks from city hall, in part because he is now beloved in town, but also because few actually thought he would succeed.

That tactic won’t work for much longer, though, as Gallego prepares to leave his incomplete masterpiece to the Diocese of Alcalá de Henares, which will have to decide whether to keep building the cathedral or destroy it.

“What Don Justo has done is admirable. I kneel before his faith,” says Father Florentino Rueda, vicar and legal adviser of the diocese.

“But this construction is illegal, which means we could inherit a problem.”

Read All

You’re not going to believe this one.

I walked into my cathedral this morn to be confronted by this terrifying sculpture, which I found so scary and disturbing when I first saw it online that I blogged about it here.

Now I really will have nightmares….

Just to let you know that I’ve put a new link to Chavah Internet Radio on the left hand side.

This has been put together by fellow blogger Judah Gabriel of Kineti L’Tziyon, himself a Messianic Jewish believer.

As I often listen to this, I thought I’d pop it on this blog for my own convenience and for anyone else whom may be interested.

I asked Judah for a few words of introduction and here’s what he said:

Chavah is internet radio for Yeshua’s disciples with a certain Messianic Jewish slant. Inspired by Pandora, Chavah is frictionless, easy to listen to, no sign-up required, and only the best of the Messianic music genre. Hope you enjoy!

I thoroughly commend it to your ears.