When reading the Bible, I am responsible for the kinds of questions I'm willing to ask and for the way I am willing to hear what a text is saying. I'll come back to that idea.  But first . . . 

A Current Class

At the moment I'm writing this post, about 20 people are engaged in an online class called, The Art of Conversation in Caring Relationships.  In our most recent live Sunday session, Dr. James C. Savage emphasizes the responsibility we all have in the course of our conversations.  He suggests that giving or asking for a paraphrase of statements in our conversation can help to clarify meaning:

No matter whether I’m the speaker or the listener, I need to take responsibility for either asking for a paraphrase or offering a paraphrase, and that’s a contribution I can make to clarifying the interchange. [His emphases]

As I originally heard this sentence, and as I now hear it again with my ears, read it with my eyes, and think about it and evaluate it with my mind and heart, I will paraphrase what I think he is saying:  

Effective conversation is active, not passive.  In conversation, I must take responsibility.   I am not only responsible for how I choose to speak, but responsible for how I choose to listen and ultimately to hear—how I choose to interpret what I hear. 

Being willing to paraphrase what I am saying or what another is saying is important for both parties.  My willingness to ask questions and restate ideas in a conversation can play an important role for how we understand each other. 

In Conversation with Biblical Authors

This class about effective conversation has not been talking about “how to read the Bible.”   But, I want to point out that the principle is the same whether you and I are talking face to face, or in an email or a text, or whether we are reading what Paul said in a biblical text.  There are certainly some specific differences, but the principle is the same.  The more we are willing to take responsibility for reading actively, in conversation with biblical authors—asking them questions and treating them the way we want to be treated in a conversation—the better and more productive that conversation will be. 

There are as many examples of this as there are words, concepts, and claims in the Bible.  I'll give just one.  Let's pick one at random.  Like, oh, I don't know—let's reach into the jar and pick one:  how about Jesus on politics, or Jesus on abortion, or Jesus on Gay rights, or Jesus on transgender issues, or Jesus on nuclear war, or Jesus on the Trinity, or Jesus on how I tie my shoes, or Jesus on ____________ (you fill in the blank).  Because we are all part of our society and because we are all influenced socially and have impressions and opinions and beliefs about all such things, the absolute easiest (and most often used) path is for us to simply read all of our already existing baggage into biblical texts so that they support what we already know to be true. 

We are all like little "pigpens," carrying our dust-clouds of beliefs and opinions with us. 

And whenever we read the Bible, that stuff gets all over it.  It gets in the way.  It taints what we are looking at.  In other words, if we are not extremely intentional about how we read, we'll read all our own stuff back into those texts so that they will end up saying just what we need them to say. 

This is how we "protect" and "shore up" our already existing beliefs or doctrines or hopes or prejudices or stubbornness or more. 

It's also how others can control us—they sometimes take advantage of the clouds that surround us, and they manipulate us, using the Bible to do it. 

• Church leaders can do this to us. 
• Politicians (of all stripes) can do this to us. 
• Even our friends and family can do this to us.  

This is why we need to be intentional about the conversations we have with biblical authors.  We need to do two things:

1. We need to face the fact that we all are bringing this kind of stuff with us.
2. We need to take responsibility for reading the Bible by actively listening to it, in conversation with biblical authors—asking questions of them and treating them the way we want to be treated in a conversation. 

These two things are NOT necessarily natural for us or easy to do.  That is why "intentional" is such an important word, here. 

This is not a game, not a gimmick, and not guesswork.

So then, I am responsible for how I choose to speak and for how I choose to listen.  To you.  To Paul.  Or to any other biblical author. 

Gary D. Collier