Easter! can ya relate to that?

So, this past weekend was Easter.

A time with family.
A time for reflection.
Well, for the believer in Jesus it's a time for reflection.
I'm not sure what non Christians think of this holiday.
I've often wondered if non Christians ever question the ridiculousness of painting eggs and hiding them.
Or are these events the same as most things in their lives that we don't understand.
They just don't question it. Not publicly anyway.
But in private, do they ever wonder?

Truth is, Santa Clause and the Easter bunny ya just don't mess with. Christian or not. Those two things top the list of things you leave alone. Unless you want a fight on your hands.

We say, how dare we deny our children the same fun we had? Never considering that maybe 'we' were mis guided.
Besides, fun is fun and whose gonna challenge fun?

Only ones I can think of that might challenge this are those who are tired of all the nonsense our American culture dishes out, in every capacity of life.
From politics to religion.
From media to music.
Nothing gets left out.

Maybe I identify "nonsense" as all the stuff we've handed down to our kids that we never questioned ourselves.
We just kept going with flow never sensing all the garbage that this "flow" picks up as it moves faster along from one generation to another.
And with every new version of whatever comes along we just accept it.

 These days we  think different. We comprehend different and interpret different.
But these differences we have didn't happen overnight.
The things that influence us is forever changing.
Now try connecting that to something (the Christian faith) that 'never' changes.
Not an easy trick.
We "think" that's a  trick but it's not.

This post is just some random thoughts as I think on and consider how Easter has been conveyed to Christians over my life.
It may not seem important but when we look at what we have , years and decades later , I cant help but wonder what happened.
Maybe not everyone struggles with things as I do ( I am sure that's the case) but whether its  being broken over my sin or in awe of our wonderful Savior, finding out what that truly means is something I desire most of all.
I wont find that in the local church. I wont find it in books or movies. Those things are good but they all are designed to bring a believer to a quiet place before God. If the goal of all the things we use , that we think will bring us closer to God , isn't closer communion with God , then what good are they.
Sometimes I think that I will do anything the Christian culture offers just to avoid the one on one closeness God wants from me.
I am thankful for all the resources available today , to strengthen our walk with God.
But unless we are willing too get alone with God , the years spent in modern Christian culture can have a believer spinning their wheels a long time.

So what causes some of the disconnect or confusion?

CAN YA RELATE TO THAT?

People today, young and old, feel that everything they take in, by way of information (concerning any topic or issues) must somehow "relate" to 'them.'

If the things we discuss don't "relate" to us they are either ignored or deemed irrelevant.

Not too long ago I was chatting with someone and at some point I mentioned something about church persecution.
He gave me a puzzled expression and  I asked why he was puzzled.
It turned out that he knew nothing about Christians being persecuted. Had no clue that was occurring anywhere.

I Was shocked at that. How can Christians being killed for their faith go unnoticed?
I think it has to do with the fact that ,  we all hear what's happening but people , specifically  Americans, can't "relate" too it.

There are plenty of of things people can't "relate" to and most of its in the news media.

My friend couldn't comprehend Christians being killed because he couldn't "relate" to that and there's no way to make persecution "relatable" unless we actually go thru it.

(ahhh, there is a clue in that last comment.)

This mindset (relating to things)  has settled in the visible church and there's no better time to see that than at Easter time.

God's Word (or the Bible) has much in it that we can't "relate" to.
So.. Over time the preaching of it (the Bible) changed.
It had to change with communication changes & how people interpret things.
As attention spans grew shorter and narcissism grew bigger, how the Bible gets preached changed.

It doesn't matter if God's Word was preached by topics or preached verse by verse.
The main thing became whether or not the one hearing the preaching could "relate" to it or not.

It's almost as if not being able to relate to things is a crime in this country.
There are many things I can't relate too.
I can't relate to liberal thinking.
I can't relate to criminal thinking.
And yes, there are huge chunks of the Bible I can't relate too.


I said earlier that Easter was a good time to observe how preaching the Bible has changed.
That's when Eisegesis is in high gear

.
I've  made mention of this many times on this blog. I'll put a definition of Eisegesis at bottom of this post.
Applications to our lives that occurs in the Bible is real and serious stuff.
But tremendous liberties have been taken when pointing them out.
Churches apply scripture to our lives all the time. The only way to know if what there saying is accurate is to have an understanding of what the entire is all about. If you don't grasp the Bible's true meaning  you could be  believing anything from our words  can create reality to tithing is a commandment.
(ever hear someone ask you to sow a seed into their ministry? I'll bet you thought that seed was money)


Anyway, a fancy word for mis applied Bible applications to our lives is eisegesis.

All it is, is.. Let's say we are discussing the resurrection and we get to the part where the stone is rolled away.
Then I pause and ask you 'what stones you need removed in order to get to Jesus.
Or David and Goliath and Goliath represents your problems.
Or Habakkuk asking you to write your vision on a tablet. (in chap 2)
Or Solomon is telling you your vision will perish (in ch 29)
Or even that you will prosper because Jeremiah says so. (ch 29)
That's eisegesis.
That stone is just a stone. Goliath is just a giant and those visions aren't yours personally.
The points that were made were  good points but making the stone and giants   something they aren't  has had many un intended effects on how the rest of the Bible gets read.
These effects, btw, are sub conscious. We don't even know they're happening.

It's not exactly heresy preaching this way, but sometimes it can be.
It helps in a big BIG way learning how to recognize it when it happens, and it happens all the time. Discerning this becomes a weary endeavor.


Something happens when Gods Word is talked about like this. When we make details of a biblical story, such as a stone, apply to us.

Applying scripture to our lives is a daily occurrence with believers. When applying these passages to our lives, much caution is needed m
When this occurs in a large group setting, such as a church service,  its much different than when it occurs in our private quiet time with God.

(my wife likes this method)


When we are alone with God we can ask "God, what are you saying to me from this passage?
Whatever the answer is, that's the application.
At other times, when we ask God" what are you saying in this passage " He" reveals " things to us.
Maybe what the passage means or maybe some sin in our lives.

Quite often, we are so busy looking for applications that we miss God's revelation.

Think about it. Most applications we find we already knew.  We're just not doing them. Like in that example from the Easter story of the stone being rolled away (what obstacles do we have

People must think that the Bible is some giant band-aid that needs to be "applied" to the wound of life.

God's revealing His Word deals with things we don't know. Or worse yet, things we don't want to know.
Things we naturally resist, in our sinful flesh.

Applying scripture to our lives has "us" doing the looking.
Revelation from God is all God.

Yes, we can ask God to reveal life application, but is that what God wants to reveal?

Much of what God reveals is not exactly what we want to hear. In the flesh anyway.
For the believer in the Holy Spirit, it's all we want to hear.

Let's be careful when applying scripture to our lives.

Gods Word is filled with descriptive passages (or passages that describe certain things)
But when these descriptions are used as prescriptions for our lives, confusion can occur here.

When the Bible is continually read like this in a church setting,  everyone in the congregation is now thinking different. They are thinking of themselves.
On one hand we are told that Jesus Himself removed that "stone" by rising from the dead that third day . Then almost immediately we are now thinking of which stones we need to be removing. Then we are reminded that we cant remove the stones in our lives nor do we need to.
And back and forth it goes.
Passage after passage, scripture after scripture , year after year.

The only thing I've found to correct any confusion that reading ourselves into the Bible creates  is verse by verse, line by line preaching.
I'm thankful that there are still men who rightly handle God's Word.
Eisegesis occurs even when the Bible is taught verse by verse but it's better understood in that setting.
The points being made aren't the main points. (that's not the same in many places)
By putting these passages in context , any reading of ourselves into the text seems to be diminished. The clear context is dominating .

Many churches can get away with mis applying scripture for several reasons.
1) the entire passage rarely gets read.
2) people do not fear God anymore

Somehow, in ways I can't explain, the attempts at making the death & resurrection more relatable me (or any Bible descriptive narrative)  has created some un intended effects.
The Easter story gets watered down.
It's no longer about just my sins being forgiven but it's also about me getting rid of the stones in my life. David's life is not only a type and shadow of Jesus , his life also represents me.

True believers know the difference. They know the true meaning.
When I post like this , my pointing out how our Bibles get read is not a matter of salvation.
My point is, much time is given to making the Bible relate to us.
This clashes with the understanding that there's no way we can relate to much of the Bible.

The true message of the entire Bible is overwhelming so by definition I'm not going to relate to it.
On the other hand, human beings can best help one another as we relate to one another.
Example : an ex drug user helping someone on drugs.
But does that principle apply to reading God's Word? I'm not so sure anymore.

Christians have the ability to get things backwards.
To illustrate that :
I'm reminded of when one of our children, when they were a teenager, told us of how they could relate to their friends better if my wife and I were divorced.
After picking myself up off the floor upon hearing such a ridiculous notion, I suggested that if their friends parents stayed married, THEY could better relate to them (our child)
You see, my children had it backwards.
They thought that they , being the minority , needed to relate to their friends , who were the majority.
Christians think that the Bible is some tough book to understand and that we need to have years of schooling to comprehend it. So to counter for that we unknowingly created a desire to relate to much of it and the parts that we cant relate to , we tend not read. And that is sad.
Those passages  that do not relate to us NEED to be kept in context.  

As for Christians it's not so much much me relating to God as it is God relating to us.
Isn't that what Jesus did?

I can either try to relate to that or be overwhelmed by it.

By the way, that story of one of our children suggesting divorce  happened over ten years ago and I'm glad to announce that my wife and I didn't take that suggestion  and we will soon celebrate 32 years together.

Confusion is not the desired effect of many good preachers but given the way we feel this need to have everything we hear relate to us, this changes how Gods Word gets communicated .
There is clearly a fine line between things being about me and things being for me.
I think that over the course of my walk with God I have crisscrossed that line many , many times.

All I know is , when Exegesis is applied to line by line , verse by verse preaching, things come into focus. This may not be the case for other believers but for me it is.
By understanding Gods Word in context, that is what brings on the application to my life.


Many people tell me I am over thinking things like this .
I am not saying what's right or what's wrong with todays visible church. That is far to complicated to even begin to discern completely. Even when the Bible is preached with wrong motives , people can be convicted by the Holy Spirit of their sin. So who's to say? Not me.
The best we can do is recognize it when it happens.

[ this next clip is from a popular ministry.  When ministries build their theology on both Exegesis & Eisegesis, confusion is sure to follow. Much wisdom &  discernment is needed in  recognizing it]

*there is no biblical foundation for this thinking anywhere in Scripture. Christians beware : this thinking is dangerous.!  This is what the Bible means when it speaks of "scratching itching ears."





All I know is , there are two approaches to the Bible I have now been subjected to.
The first one is where the emphasis is on me.
The other is where the emphasis is on Jesus.
One finds "life lessons" in every passage.
The other has all scripture pointing to Jesus.

I can understand how my posts might be misunderstood.
Sounds like sometimes I'm looking for blame or trying to find something wrong no matter what it is.
We can't blame the influences of our culture had on us.
All most people want, myself included, is truth. Just give it to me straight.
Truth is out there. And when God reveals it you never forget it.


By not understanding how communication has changed , we can miss so much.
If there is any relating to be had between me and what the Bible says, it is with the ugliness of sin mentioned throughout.
When a believer considers that if it were not for the grace of God, they too could be the worst of sinners.
Believers can read about awful things. (in that Bible) They can read stories about murder and incest and even pagan idol worship.
If we must find ways to relate to our Bibles, try relating to that because if it were not for the grace of God, we too would be involved in the things that disgust us.

Now, on the flip side of that , take those passages we currently can not relate too , like Job , which in our minds is a depressing book.
But think of Jesus as He was praying in the garden of Gethsemane when reading all what Job says.
The Psalms is this way too.
These were Jesus' sentiments .
Understanding this makes the Gospel even more glorious and incomprehensible .
Sometimes I think this is why Heaven needs to be for eternity.
It would take that long to express thanks for Gods Love.

These are the things we miss when we read ourselves into every passage.

Learning how to read God's Word is important but growing spiritually is more important.
What that means is knowing when something has run its course and move on.
My spiritual growth is threefold.
1) it begins with putting our faith and trust in a risen Savior for our sins.
2) reading all God's Word. Commentaries and discernment podcasts can help there.
3) after learning how to read God's Word, take a break from all the commentaries & verse by verse teaching and just get alone with God in prayer and His Word.

I'm moving and growing in that third area. This has been a fifty year journey for me,  so don't be in a hurry.
Simply..... tryreadnit!