February 02, 2016

Steps

I have Windows 10 on my new computer and in some instances the program calls for additional steps that weren’t needed in previous versions. Rather than making the program more user friendly, I’m having to retrace steps and go in and out of folders trying to figure out where I am and how I got there. Something similar can happen with the Word of God. A children’s Bible is easy to follow and with fewer concepts needed for a beginner’s Christian walk. However, when you upgrade to a study Bible there are more verses to connect, greater spiritual depth and additional steps required. Eventually I may learn Windows 10, but Paul reminds me that as a Christian there are always more steps to be taken, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal 5:25 NIV).

4 comments:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----God gave His Word to mankind thru mankind’s language tool. Mankind’s language tool, like everything else in this world, is built of components made of components made of components. A book is constructed of chapters made of paragraphs made of sentences made of words made from the alphabet. The alphabet represents basic sounds which together in particular combinations draw forth mental concepts combining into thoughts combining into knowledge formulating belief. The most useful step into the Word is the one recognizing it as a structure of God’s ideas meant to construct a particular belief. The more that belief is learned, the more it reveals the meanings of particular Bible verses.
-----I believe you can find on earth every brand of Christian belief imaginable. I believe that’s because another way to step into the Bible has been overused to the point of being abused. Some people study the Bible until they reach an overarching meaning, then they go around teaching this meaning. Most other people are quite happy to learn that meaning from these studiers so they don‘t have to do all that study work themselves.
-----One underlying truth about people is the high degree of bias required for each individual to function successfully. Another truth about people is their need to critically assess their biases so they can function accurately and efficiently. Yet another truth about people is their overwhelming failure to do that assessment. Therefore, teachers spread biased hiccups to eager students, a small few of whom spread those same hiccups with embellishment to more students ad infinitum until the church has acquired a patina of many more colors than Joseph’s coat.
-----I thank God for giving His Word in the form of human language. For language hangs upon the skeleton of reason, therefore it is a logical structure of ideas that disassemble and assemble in accord with rules of reason and artifacts of reality, maybe not as precise as math, but far more precise than piling disjointed verses onto platforms of personal agenda. After so many centuries, handed down theology becomes personal agenda, and Christianity has more such agenda than Baskin-Robins has flavors (and they’re all more worn out than is the Baskin-Robins analogy.)
-----Getting back in step with the linguistic nature of the Word of God develops a mental sensitivity capable of detecting wrinkles in theology made by folding the Word of God to fit some over-honored teacher’s personal agenda.

Love you all,
Steve Corey

Unknown said...

Gail,
Most of the Windows (any version),to me is like trying to decipher
the geneology of Genenis.
Bob Hampton

Christian Ear said...

I'm with you Bob!
Gail

Steve Corey said...

-----My Windows 7 system is sure to offer upgrade to Windows 10several times a day. That's as close I will allow windows 10 to get to me. I remember when Windows 7 came out. The advice I most heard was to wait for a better version. Which wasn't Windows 8. Now that Windows 10 is out, Windows 7 is touted to be the best. And I'm still languishing the fade of XP, which I reluctantly accepted after a long period of tooth pulling. Good ol' Windows 98 is somewhere underneath that pile of all my teeth. I think Windows illustrates any good human's struggle for perfection. We all seem to produce more effects by that struggle, but our good rarely gets better.