The Bible was not written to you

The Bible was not written to you. 

There, I said it. It took me years to realize and months to share with others. I'm not exactly sure why, but I've spent most of my life convinced that the Bible was written as a "love letter from God to me".

Hear me out. I promise that I'm not going off the deep end and rejecting the Bible and God, or that what I've been learning is even controversial. In fact, this may be common knowledge to everyone else but I was just too dense to hear it before recently.

Growing up in the christian church, it wasn't uncommon for me to hear a pastor define a word in the Bible using the greek/hebrew or give a few historical facts about the times surrounding the passage of scripture.

What I never heard was that when the writers of the New Testament said things like "All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness..." (2 Timothy 3:16) they were referring to the Old Testament, what the writers of the time knew as "The Bible". I also never heard that Jesus quoted Deuteronomy more than any other book in the Bible.

 In fact, Jesus quoted both Deuteronomy and Leviticus when He was asked what the greatest commandments were.

Those types of facts are significant because they all point to the Old Testament as the foundation of our faith.

 If we don't understand our foundation, how can we fully understand the blocks we have built upon it? 

How many of us have read the Old Testament? If we have read it, did we read it with the understanding that it contains our foundation and is just as essential as the New Testament? (Why do we tend to give "new christians" a Bible that excludes the Old Testament altogether?)

 Do we realize that the Bible was written in a certain language for a specific people that understood what Jesus was saying?

How foolish we are to think that when Yahweh inspired men to pen the Bible, that He had them scribe the words exclusively for an english-speaking, western-way-of-thinking, group of Americans.

I sincerely believe that Yahweh is all knowing and He KNEW that we would one day be reading these words. I also believe that the Bible is "alive and active". (Hebrews 4:12) However, that doesn't mean that He wrote the words TO us, in our context of the world. Rather He wrote them in the current context and it is OUR job to "rightfully divide the word of God" and "study to show ourselves approved". (2 Timothy 2:15)

I used to be content with going to church on Sunday, being fed a sermon (typically based in New Testament), and then doing my own personal devotions throughout the week. Those devotions usually involved reading a portion of scripture (once again, typically in the new testament/psalms/proverbs...) and I would read it to understand it in the context of my worldview and then ask "What does this mean for me today?" While I do believe that this has given me a basic understanding of Jesus, I think oftentimes this method has fallen flat.

I have been compelled that the correct question to ask is: "What did this verse/passage mean when it was written?" and "What did Yahweh intend the hearer to take away from this?"

 

Let me give an example:

We've all read Matthew 6:22 where it says "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light." and it goes on to say that "If your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness".

When this scripture is read in a christian setting, there are a few ideas thrown around about what this means for us. Usually it's something like "Our eyes can be used to see that which is good or evil, that which is beneficial or harmful, and the things we see and perceive affect our whole being. "  (I typed in "What does Matthew 6:22-23 mean? and I got this exact answer from a commentary. I read the first handful of "answers" and they were all of very similar thought processes)

Now here's the crazy thing, in the Hebrew language and culture "If your eye is good" is an idiom that means "a generous man" and "your whole body" means "your whole being/person". In the modern english language, this idiom would be "open-handed".

In its simplest terms, Jesus is saying that generosity is the ultimate sign of a righteous disciple. 

Which makes a lot of sense considering the passage before and after are both talking about money matters. 

Instead of trying to interpret the Bible through our own frame of mind, why don't we search out what it meant in its time/culture/language and then see how God is able to speak to us more clearly?

I will give you an example of how this has practically played out for my husband and I. Awhile back we came across the concept of Sabbath in our Bible reading. We had pondered Sabbath before but had never really sat down and studied it out. So, we took a day and we did just that. We know that "Keep the Sabbath day holy" is one of the ten commandments and that the church teaches us that we should keep the ten commandments. However most churches have tossed the Sabbath day of rest out.  So we paused and asked "Why did we do this?" After careful study of the old and new testament, we saw no reason that this commandment should be discarded. Over and over again, the Bible speaks of the the blessings of a sabbath rest and it was NEVER commanded to stop observing Sabbath.

"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." -Isaiah 58-13-14

When Jesus addressed the Sabbath in the new testament, He often addressed those who had added endless rules to the Sabbath. They had added so many regulations, that they had taken the heart completely out of it. Yahweh's intention was that the Sabbath was a day of rest, a day set apart to Him that we would be able to 'reset' ourselves for the week, both physically and spiritually. I believe that Yahweh was intentional when he didn't give a long list of rules. He truly wanted our hearts to desire rest in Him and knew that rules would burden us and lead us to despise what was intended as a blessing.

There are the "rules" of Sabbath that we have found: (I'm not promising this is complete or perfect-we are always learning more as we continue to study.)

1. Observe Sabbath every week/ don't neglect it

2. Do not work (or force anyone else to work)

3. Don't go about your way/do as you please

4. Don't speak idle words and keep your hands from evil

5. Keep it holy

6. Your brother/sister in need "trumps" these rules. Bible example: If your donkey is thirsty, untie it and lead it to water. (Luke 13:10-17)

Real life example: If your friend has to move on Sabbath and asks for your help, buy fuel for your truck and help your friend move.

 We hate rules and we hate being told what to do. I think that's why you don't find many people observing Sabbath. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 that "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Yahweh has a yoke for us but it is not burdensome. Sabbath, for instance, is a day we are commanded to devote to Him, but the predominant theme of the day is REST.

To observe a weekly Sabbath, you must prepare your home and your heart for it. You would need to plan ahead so you don't have to run around and do errands all day. This keeps Yahweh on our mind throughout the week. You must set it apart from other days of the week in order to make it holy.

Personally, we have decided that from Saturday sundown to Sunday sundown, we will stay off our phones except for phone calls or Bible study. We won't go to the gym or workout. No work, errands, or spending money. I try to not do any cleaning or to-do list items (these become obsessive for my type A personality). We attend church service in the morning and we spend time studying the Bible together. It's a day to focus on prayer, Bible study and learning, and time together as a family. Weather permitting, we try to get outside for some fresh air and clear our minds. These are ways we've decided that we can best honor Yahweh as a family. We may change some of the "rules" we've set for ourselves, but this is what we prayerfully decided upon for right now.

I'm not going to lie and say that we've done this perfectly. Some weeks it hasn't happened at all or we've gone through the motions but don't have the true heart to rest and reset ourselves. It's been a re-learning for us as Americans to truly rest and focus on Yahweh for a whole 24 hours.

The times when we have the correct heart attitude and truly "observe Sabbath" it has blessed our entire week and kept us more focused on Yahweh and it has connected Justin and me on a spiritual level. 

(Remember, this is just an example of a point I'm trying to make, not necessarily a declaration of what I think all christians should do, or what laws we are to adhere to in the Bible.)

I am not here to put down the christian church or to discard the beliefs I was raised with. Rather, I have come to a place where I am okay acknowledging that the evangelical church doesn't have everything right and neither does any other denomination. I'm not giving up on my church and "doing my own thing". 

What I AM doing is learning to study the Bible and dig a little, ask the hard questions that people have been too scared to ask, and be okay with discovering answers that are outside of the "flannel-graph Jesus" view we've been handed our whole lives.

My generation has been known for testing everything. We especially like to test authorities.

 We demand proof.  

We don't value traditions for the sake of tradition. 

We don't want to be force fed or even spoon fed. We want to feed ourselves because we know we are capable.

I think this way of thinking has some serious downfalls. You see the negative side of this displayed in the blatant disrespect for those above us, whether they be law enforcement, teachers, parents, elders, etc.

We also don't treat anything as sacred, which can lead to some serious consequences.

However, the upside of our generation is that we have a passion for what is right, not just what we've been told is right.

  

Just because we've believed something our entire lives, doesn't make it truth.

 In the christian world, this looks like studying the Bible for ourselves. To some, it can seem like we are abandoning our faith, when in actuality, we are searching out how to know and love God in a deeper way than previous generations ever dared.

We aren't asking the church to tell us how to love God anymore. We don't need a mediator to know God and to read His word. 

While there is a time and place to be taught the Bible from those who have studied and have been gifted in leadership, it should not replace a personal responsibility to know Yahweh by studying and asking questions.

The veil was torn so that you and I could come meet with Yahweh without a mediator. I don't want to take that for granted. I want to value that privilege by showing myself to be ^"approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth". (2 Timothy 2:15) So many have fought and died that the word of God might be accessible for all peoples.  

The Bible was not written TO me, but it was surely written that I might know, understand, and love Yahweh for who He actually is.

If any of this resonates with you, would you email me or comment below and let me know? God has been taking me on a sincere journey to know Him better. Throughout the next months, I plan to post from time to time about ways my view of the Bible has been challenged, expanded, and grown. 

Resources:

"Sitting at the feet of Rabbi Jesus"- Ann Spangler/Lois Tverberg

"Walking in the dust of Rabbi Jesus" - Lois Tverberg

http://www.biblicalhebrew.com/nt/goodeye.htm

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Torah-Aware/torah-aware.html

http://yeshuaincontext.com/2010/10/the-eye-as-a-lamp/

http://www.yhwh.com/GINGN/gingn.htm

https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/category/Audio