About Me

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I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.
Showing posts with label Bibles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bibles. Show all posts

Friday, February 20, 2015

Having Bible Fatigue?


Disclaimer:  The Bible is not like a novel that you read and file away, saying I know what's in it! You don't read it once and put it back in the library!  There is no panacea and everyone's case is different, but this is my perspective.  I'm not a guru on this and don't claim a special revelation, inside track, or anointing from God, but He has put this on my heart.  In retrospect or hindsight, I do seem to know something about this I'd like to share so you won't have to go through what I have and learn the hard way to stay in the Word.  "It is no empty Word for you, but your very life" (cf. Deut. 32:47).   I have been gung-ho about the Scripture since a lad and know of what I speak, this is mostly empirical first-hand expertise, counsel or advice as follows, and not necessarily dogma or scholarship took a posteriori and I hope you don't think I'm getting mystical:

Have you ever been bored with your Bible reading?  Has it ever lost its pizazz or zip?  Even though this is commonplace, it should not be normative in a healthy Christian or body.  Have you been there and done that?  You know what I mean because this can happen to anyone.  You can feel blase, or get the blahs about anything you like from time to time and the Holy Writ is humdrum and you can live without daily, then weekly, then hardly ever reading it. This scenario could be a  red flag and show impending signs of being lukewarm, warned of by Jesus in Revelation 3:16. It is indicative of something much deeper than boredom and could be a telltale sign of backsliding at worse. It is ubiquitous or constantly encountered and not at all unwanted or unheard of.

You don't want to be nonchalant or indifferent concerning spiritual things and you should nip it in the bud!  Let's rectify and remedy this abnormal situation common in the body, or you could call it systemic (affecting the body at large) because I've heard that only 10 percent of believers are really into the Word on a daily basis!

Sometimes we will get a serendipity (finding a jackpot looking for something else), an epiphany (a discovery), get a rude awakening or rebuke, or have a rare "Aha!" moment, burning in the bosom, or goosebump (sometimes called an existential experience--but don't become addicted to emotional highlights, because God isn't impressed with emotion as much as faith, which is how to please Him (cf. Hebrews 11:6).

You can't teach someone to love the Word--it is something to behold and to cherish.  ("O how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day,"  cf. Psalm 119:97 and "Great peace have those who love thy law, and nothing causes them to stumble," cf. Psalm 119:165).  Let the Word "be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path" (cf. Psalm 119:105)! The Bible feeds you, then makes you hungry!  It reads you as you read it!

What is the cure?  There is a cure for every illness, in my opinion.  But I believe the cure is in the Bible!  Yes, the cure for Bible fatigue is the Bible itself and this is no paradox.  You may be trying to "feed on ashes" according to Scripture or eat yesterday's meal.  Sometimes we do eat leftovers, but not necessarily the next day or the next meal.  We never lose our appetite for milk because milk is a staple, not a treat or dessert.  If we ate cake every day we would grow blase about it or maybe spoiled. You cannot live on bread alone either, because we need a balanced diet.

The bread is Christ and the milk and meat are the Word. Solid food is for the mature who have learned to distinguish good from evil  (cf. Hebrews 5:14) and are not carnal or in the flesh (cf. 1 Cor. 3:1-2).  Baby Christians can only digest milk or the basics of the Word and the deeper or more advanced doctrine is inappropriate.  You don't give a baby solid food!  We all have to learn to feed ourselves eventually, even though faith comes by hearing.  We never outgrow the need for preaching and teaching form the body of Christ.  We edify each other--no one is a rock to himself.   Now, even though mature believers need meat to grow they also never lose the need for milk or any of the staples--the basics.

I still enjoy hearing the gospel message, for example, and like to read the Word without going to deep sometimes.  I don't want to oversimplify, but when I say the cure is the Bible, I mean that if we apply what we know and share what we know God will teach us more in His Word.  There are the so-called "inhale-exhale" phenomena that say that impression without expression equals depression!  There is joy in doing the Word too, not just reading it or studying it.  We need to pray, cry out, and thirst for God as revealed in the Word.  Pray: "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law" (cf. Psalm 119:18).   The cure may be as simple as reading other portions of Scripture or think outside the box, as it were.  Get out of your comfort zone and explore the Bible!  Don't just specialize in one portion or genre.  "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God"  (cf. Matt. 4:4).  Paul says he has not failed to "proclaim the whole will [counsel] of God," not just his agenda, in Acts 20:27.

Another cure is to change translations and this is a way of getting a new viewpoint or to be exposed to a new horizon or new world.  There is no perfect translation; they are all flawed and one must not just be enslaved to one--only the original manuscripts are infallible and no translation can be inerrant, but always loses something in the translation--I know as a German-language student.  Sometimes, it just boils down to what works for you or which one you like to read or will read.

Paul warns us not to argue about words (cf. 1 Tim. 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:14), but that doesn't mean they aren't important.  Lawyers may also be familiar with the nuances of words and realize that many quarrels can be made over the meaning of words--don't get too dogmatic and force your doctrine to be dependent on any one translation--that is don't nit-pick!  You may be splitting hairs; don't major on the minors, but try to get the big picture first or you may become intoxicated with the deep things of the Word and forget its main message which is faith expressing itself through love (cf. Gal. 5:6). We can become too familiar with a passage and need a fresh perspective that another translation or version can give us.     Soli Deo Gloria!