I am trying more and more to read the Bible with fresh eyes and removal of all prejudices. I often wonder how I would see the Bible if I just now received a copy for the very first time. How would I see Christianity presented in the New Testament?
I am afraid it may be impossible for me to really read the Bible with fresh eyes. To some degree I can but in reality I can never fully accomplish my task. I have too many preconceived ideas and beliefs. Try as I may, I will always have some level of subjective thinking at work in my study of the Bible.
However, the good news is that I can do more serous study because I realize my limitations and my prejudices. I find myself asking, "Why?", more and more. The answers that satisfied me at age 21 do not satisfy me today. The pat answers given to me at 25 are no longer acceptable to me today. The simple books of men that once thrilled me no longer interest me. I now find their conclusions seriously lacking. What has changed? Not the books of men that I read at an earlier time for they still read the same. What has changed is, ME. I have changed. I have grown, experienced more life, read more books, studied more and investigated more in detail. I have prayed more for wisdom and meditated more on the Word. I now see the loop holes in arguments that at first I never saw.
Such is growth! Some people grow through the years. Others do not. Some are very proud to be 90 and to boast, "I have never changed my mind about anything ", and that is very amazing!
But beware, there is a price to pay for being an adventurer and open minded person. Old friends will forsake you, congregations that once said they loved you now condemn you to hell, and dear preachers that once stood by your side never return your phone calls. Brethren will give you a cold shoulder and turn their faces away from you in public. Why? They all feel threatened by the one who dares to think outside the box. They are most comfortable inside the box saying the same things over and over to each other and reciting their creeds again and again. Some people can hear a lie said and repeated so many times they come to believe it is true. So, if you hear in your church something declared as Bible fact repeated a million times you come to think it is true regardless if it is true or not. Frightening! Fear can cause people to become strange animals indeed.
Let us know that the men of our great brotherhood of today and past generations were just men and no more. They made mistakes and we shall as well. They were not right about everything. Their arguments that might have worked in their day will not satisfy today. They read the Bible from their background and prejudices and we do the same today. We strive to open our hearts and see the Bible and the world as God sees it and that is no small task.
We strive to follow Jesus. He thought outside the box of the norms of His day. What was believed and practiced in large measure was contrary to the Law of Moses. Jesus was seeing it so clearly. They hated him for such and nailed Him to the cross. Paul the Apostle made a big change in his life and reversed the path he had been on and it caused a great disturbance in his world. He talked of the fact that he had "suffered the loss of all things" in his pursuit of Christ (Phil. 3:8). However, he considered the excellency of Christ for more valuable than anything he had lost.
Let us all never get tired in our study of the Word and our fervent desire to travel wherever it leads us. Let us always question everything and dig deeper into the Word. God help us all to see as He sees.
"And be as nursing infants, and yearn for the word as for pure and spiritual milk by which you shall grow strong for life," (I Pet. 2:2).
*Allen Ashlock, 2014
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