You have here two pics of the same scene on one of the planets in our solar system. The picture on the top is taken without a filter, and the one on the bottom WITH a filter. Amazing that they are the same exact scene, huh?I love the fact that many of my AXIS gang are really deep thinkers. Corey set my mind to dancing on Sunday night and it hasn't stopped since.
We were covering part of the material we never got to on Sunday morning from the beginning of Luke Chapter 4, the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. There were several interesting points of discussion, but one of them centered around Satan's use of scripture 'against' Jesus. Corey commented to the effect that we need to be careful, because even believers can use scripture to harm others. He said we all have a 'filter' we use to look at scripture, which can be very dangerous.
So I am wondering...what filter do you and I possess? Have you ever been involved in a situation that you felt someone used scripture to harm another? How can we avoid doing this ourselves?
6 comments:
hmm. well everything about my life thus far has created the filter through which i look at everything. scripture included. maybe i'm filtering the definition of filter (hah) here, but i read it sort of as "point of view".
i read scripture as a single white 24 year old middle class female who's life experience involves being adopted, sisters who were bullies (for lack of a better word) until they took off for good, parents who kept the leash as short as possible as long as possible, going to college, losing my faith, regaining it, finding a "church family" and losing it only to find a smaller, stronger one in all of you.
i think our filters can be okay. when i read scripture....because of where i've been, i might be able to see a truth in it that someone else can't at the time. we can help each other and learn from each other.
i dont know how to keep the filters from distorting scripture. obviously if i see something incorrectly through my filter, i'm not going to know it. i guess there's a "handle with care" disclaimer here. because i like that when ryan reads a scripture he can tell me about it and i gain something new that i never would have been able to see on my own. and then jamie or jonny or whoever might see something different, yet still good.
i guess we just have to be humble enough to accept that there might be other ways of seeing things. if i think it's my way or the highway and that's that....well someone will always eventually get hurt.
i'm rambling now...
It is SO easy to take a verse or two of Scripture and make it say whatever you like. I remember studying to give a devotional and was struggling to find a topic. Finally, a topic came to me, and I knew exactly what I wanted to say. But dog-gone-it, I couldn't find a single passage to back up my thought!!! So I quickly decided to take a verse with a couple words that related to my topic to base the whole devotional on. That's when I read the context and saw that this verse was not about my thoughts at all!
I realized then and there how even my own good intentions can skew God's Word. That scared me pretty bad. How many times have others given me an altered message, and called it "God's Word"? And I accepted it! That is why I always encourage people to read for themselves. It is so crucial.
I believe that the Bible itself is our filter. Yes that's pretty general and some would say obvious but think about it. Many believers have chosen the view that the Bible is an instruction book to take literally, others have taken it as metaphorical. I believe, like any filter used in photography, you get different results by how the photographer uses it. One filter can give you different results in different locations. So to apply that thought to the Bible, Jesus' word is meant to provide different insights and instructions around numerous circumstances. The difficult part is, how do you use the Bible as a filter to get the result Christ was intending us to see when we look through it onto our own life's situations? I believe that if I were to "look through" a scripture onto my own life and someone else "looked through" the same scripture onto theirs, we should see the same image but with different details. To get to my point, if someone uses scripture to dictate what you should do in your personal situations, they are misusing the filter. Often we see the use of scripture to back up one's opinions. They chose an action or advice, others disagree, they throw scripture out, and claim the high ground. I think that if I were to find a specific scripture helpful to someone or to something I'm doing, I should share how "my filter" see's it and ask how their "filters" see it. I don't think God intended every word of the Bible to mean the same thing to every single person in history who reads it. Therefore, we should recognize that the Bible is a filter for God's word for someone to "look through" onto their own life's situations, not to force our own version onto them.
Right now, I am reading scripture through about 25 different filters a week.
One of my favorite things about LST is getting to see scriptures through the filters of my readers. So, this year I have gotten to read the book of Luke through the filters of philosophy students, engineers, janitors, Catholics, Atheists, Brazilians, Panamanians, Columbians, and Taiwanese. And watched as many read these scriptures for the first time ever. I am amazed at how the Word of God speaks different messages to different people, right where they are. Reading the same scriptures out of the same book of the bible 5 days a weeks for most of 52 weeks could seem like it would get a little dull but not when you get to read it with different filters. I am constantly learning from these same scriptures.
I think those new viewpoints are truly a gift from God. It is awfully powerful to see the Bible through someone else's eyes, especially someone who has never read those words of life before. It helps to keep you from getting stuck. I am jealous of many of the experiences you and Greg have had on the mission field this last year, and look forward to sharing in those experiences together in the coming years.
The real question, in my mind, is how can we avoid doing this ourselves? Imposing our filters on others? Because, when it gets right down to it, each of us thinks WE are right! WE have the answer/s. WE know the best way.
Years ago, in my earlier Believer's walk, I used to get irritated when people didn't live up to my standards of what the Bible teaches. Often, I would get slightly upset when people didn't just do what I suggested they do.
At some point several years ago, I had an eye opening time with the Lord that radically changed my perspective...I was thinking about how God loves His children, all of them, without question. I was relating that to how much I loved my own children. I thought about all the things I do for my children, what I would be willing to do, how I would lay down my very life for any one of them. And then, I thought about what they did for me. Nothing. They gave me hugs and told me they loved me. But, they didn't take care of me, or bring anything to the table. They didn't pay for their keep. They didn't earn their keep in any way. They were helpless and completely relied upon me for their very lives.
Even when they misbehaved I still loved them without wavering. Yes, I still would become angry with them at times. However, that did not change my love for them. I loved providing for them. I loved giving them gifts. Spoiling them on their birthdays and at Christmases. I required nothing really from them for that love.
Suddenly, I realized that God loves us infantesimally more than that! He LOVES US NO MATTER WHAT!!! Yes, each of us is different, as my children are, with different ideas, personalities, ways of doing things. That is what God wants. Not little copies of each other.
I then went on to realize that the scripture on worry, Jesus talking about the sparrows and lilies in the field was meant to let us know that, like ourselves as parents, He loves to take care of us. He longs to spoil us. We just need to RELAX in HIM!! Trust Him. Quit trying so hard to be or to force others to be, but just BELIEVE and let the Holy Spirit guide. Amazingly, it felt as though a burden had slipped away and instead I felt freedom. Complete and utter freedom. I no longer carried the burden of myself and everyone else in the world.
Once I realized the freedom I have in Christ, which was a HUGE revelation for me, I was able to let go of others and let them have freedom as well. (Golly, I hope this makes sense - it's very difficult to correctly explain) I quit worrying about other people needing to see things my way. I could just share what I have and if it was from God, then the Holy Spirit would work it His way. I felt that God could handle His children Himself. He could bring His children to the truth Himself. For the first time, I understood that I am just a little light along the path to help point the way, but I am not THE Light. I can let go and let God be God. What a relief!!
In the words of Karen Sampson, "Go God...." Just let go and let God. It's easy. Freedom in Christ is real. I am convinced that once we understand this one, simple truth, however God chooses to bring it to each of us, we can & will quit trying to force our vision from our filters onto others.
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