Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Reading the Bible ... or missing the point?

By JOHN HATCHER
Religion Columnist

“You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me. And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want” (John 5: 39-40 Ð “The Message Bible”).

There’s an old preacher joke about the preacher who could go down deeper, stay down longer, and come up drier than anyone else. That is, he could go deep into the Bible and Biblical truths. He could ponder the Scriptures long, hard, and wide. And then, when he finished his Biblical exposition, he was dry as a bone. He had no application, no inspiration, and no present day word for his audience.

A lot of that kind of stuff goes on in Bible study circles. Would-be spiritualists hover over a verse of Scripture, often groaning, but when it comes to what the Scriptures are all about, they are dry as a bone. The Bible is about Jesus. The Old Testament talks about his coming. The New Testament talks about that he has arrived and will come again. The whole point of the Bible is to help people establish, develop, and enrich a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

God’s purpose through the Bible is not that people will moan and groan and play spiritual games over the Scriptures. You know as well as I, you can quote the whole Bible and be mean as a snake. You can have a “word” from the Bible for any and every circumstance and still burn in hell. Why, Jesus made himself sure that we knew that the devil was a Bible thumper and could quote Scripture at the drop of a match.

Churches are not seminaries. Seminaries are those institutions where called men and women learn the Bible, how to study the Bible, and how to teach others what the Bible means. Churches are those fellowships and assemblies where we learn Biblical truths about how to develop and enrich relationships with God and one another. In other words, how to love one another.

I fear that more and more churches are finding their sense of worth as seminaries and not as fellowships. In seminaries you demonstrate success by passing a course, not by developing friendships and learning the arts of compassion and love. I know I worked hard to earn the master of divinity of degree and then years later the doctor of ministry degree. Only once in the multitude of courses that I took did a professor comment on the degree of love that I might have demonstrated. Imagine that. The very place where you are suppose to learn about God and the Bible says that God is love, I heard an evaluation of my love once.

Now, before you get your dander all up, of course, the church ought to be a place where we learn what the Bible says. We ought to learn Biblical principles and even memorize cherished passages. But did not Jesus say that the world would know his disciples by their love for one another? Should not we be bound to get love and be bound by love more than by knowledge?

But I have a sneaking idea. You can accept it or put it in your garbage. A seminary — much like a university — can become a huge institution. The University of Georgia is fully fulfilling its purposes even with 35,000 students. Why? Knowledge is its basic goal. You can promulgate knowledge with thousands of folks. You can’t, however, foster love and develop genuine fellowship among thousands of people at the same time.

Churches are about love, fellowship, and healing. Seminaries are about knowledge. Whom would you rather call if you feel a little near dead or have a broken heart? You want some more knowledge or some love?

John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach International Center, 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, Georgia 30215. 770-719-0303