Sunday, February 3, 2019

If you teach the bible, you get the topics

I once knew a guy who, for a term of his high school scripture lessons, all he would do is read a chapter of the bible and them discuss it with the class.

It was... dangerous.

Usually, scripture lessons are driven by themes and topics.
These are easy.

For, I can think of plenty of landmines which people would try to avoid in the bible.

Murder.
Marriage.
Divorce.
Women in the church.
Homosexuality.
Sin.
Sex.

But the bible, particularly the epistles, won't allow this.

They are filled with topics we try to skirt around.
And, this was the rationale this scripture teacher had.

When it come to the topics which matter, they will come up organically and he would be prepared to speak about what the chapter was about. 
He believed that you shouldn't cherry-pick your topics.

This makes people think that you're hiding something.
This makes for underdeveloped theology.
This makes for a weakened spiritual discipline of bible reading and engagement.

So, he deals with the tough topics.
And, while it's dangerous, it's also one of the most mature ways to treat the bible and one of the most faithful examples to set.

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