Last month I wrote about how complicated reading scripture can be: there are language, culture, and literary barriers that can keep us from properly understanding the text. These obstacles can be discouraging—they can make it feel like we’re just not qualified to read and understand the Bible. However, our tradition, the Restoration Movement, is founded on the idea that every Christian can read the Bible for themselves. How can this be if there are so many obstacles before us? How is an average Christian to read the Bible without a seminary degree?
Many people read the Bible with a certain approach, which I call “Dragnet” Reading: they’re looking for “just the facts, ma’am. Just the facts.” In Dragnet reading, you take a passage, chop it up, and mine it for the “facts” it contains. When you’ve figured out the facts in that passage, then you can say “This is what the passage means!” and move onto the next passage. For example, someone who is Dragnet-reading might read Leviticus 19:28 (“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.”) and say, “Okay. This passage means God doesn’t want anyone to get tattoos!” and move onto the next passage. They never need to come back to that passage again, because they’ve gotten the facts out of it. As long as they remember, “Tattoo=bad,” they don’t need Leviticus 19:28 anymore.
This is where we need to be very careful to keep in mind the context, genre, language and other barriers, so that we don’t misunderstand the facts of the passage. In this case, that interpretation is a poor understanding of what Leviticus is talking about. If we start calling tattoos sinful without being absolutely sure, we are going to hurt a lot of people.
But this is not the kind of reading that God expects of all Christians. God doesn’t call all of us to mine his Scripture for facts. He calls us to meditate on his word. Just read Psalm 119, where meditation comes up six times (v. 15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 148). What is meditation? The Hebrew word is siyach, which means to rehearse, to think or talk about something over and over again. This is what God asks of us: that we read his word and then constantly think and talk about it. The process for meditation looks like this:
Here’s the great thing about Biblical meditation: you don’t need a Bible degree, a Bible dictionary, a study bible, or anything else to do it. All you need is the Bible, your heart, and your mind. The goal of Dragnet-reading is to find all the answers—if you read a passage and don’t fully understand it, you’ve failed to “get the facts.” But meditation thrives on questions. Questions motivate us to think about, talk about, and wrestle with Scripture. If you read a passage and you have all kinds of questions, that’s great! That means you’re engaging with the text! Don’t be afraid of the questions—lean into them! Chew on them! Talk about them! The more time you spend thinking, talking and praying about Scripture, the more Scripture will begin to transform your mind. Success isn’t measured in the facts you can mine out of the Bible; success is measured in the time you spend meditating on God’s word, seeking his heart and his word. All who truly seek Christ find him, especially in Scripture.
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Many people read the Bible with a certain approach, which I call “Dragnet” Reading: they’re looking for “just the facts, ma’am. Just the facts.” In Dragnet reading, you take a passage, chop it up, and mine it for the “facts” it contains. When you’ve figured out the facts in that passage, then you can say “This is what the passage means!” and move onto the next passage. For example, someone who is Dragnet-reading might read Leviticus 19:28 (“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.”) and say, “Okay. This passage means God doesn’t want anyone to get tattoos!” and move onto the next passage. They never need to come back to that passage again, because they’ve gotten the facts out of it. As long as they remember, “Tattoo=bad,” they don’t need Leviticus 19:28 anymore.
This is where we need to be very careful to keep in mind the context, genre, language and other barriers, so that we don’t misunderstand the facts of the passage. In this case, that interpretation is a poor understanding of what Leviticus is talking about. If we start calling tattoos sinful without being absolutely sure, we are going to hurt a lot of people.
But this is not the kind of reading that God expects of all Christians. God doesn’t call all of us to mine his Scripture for facts. He calls us to meditate on his word. Just read Psalm 119, where meditation comes up six times (v. 15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 148). What is meditation? The Hebrew word is siyach, which means to rehearse, to think or talk about something over and over again. This is what God asks of us: that we read his word and then constantly think and talk about it. The process for meditation looks like this:
- Read the Bible. Any amount: a verse, a paragraph, a chapter, or a book. Just read!
- Ask yourself: what stands out to you? An insight? A promise? An encouragement? A question? A problem?
- Meditate. Think about it. Talk about it. Pray about it. Wrestle with it.
- Repeat.
Here’s the great thing about Biblical meditation: you don’t need a Bible degree, a Bible dictionary, a study bible, or anything else to do it. All you need is the Bible, your heart, and your mind. The goal of Dragnet-reading is to find all the answers—if you read a passage and don’t fully understand it, you’ve failed to “get the facts.” But meditation thrives on questions. Questions motivate us to think about, talk about, and wrestle with Scripture. If you read a passage and you have all kinds of questions, that’s great! That means you’re engaging with the text! Don’t be afraid of the questions—lean into them! Chew on them! Talk about them! The more time you spend thinking, talking and praying about Scripture, the more Scripture will begin to transform your mind. Success isn’t measured in the facts you can mine out of the Bible; success is measured in the time you spend meditating on God’s word, seeking his heart and his word. All who truly seek Christ find him, especially in Scripture.
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