Ears

Little Johnny came home from Sunday School and his mother asked him what he had learned. He said the teacher had read a story about Jesus helping beggars. But I don't understand, he said, why they only asked for nuts. What nuts? his mother said. Little Johnny said, Well, they were crying out, 'Almonds for the poor, almonds for the poor.'

Sometimes we don't hear Scripture correctly. Obviously people of faith and intelligence hear the Scriptures in different ways. Intelligent and faithful Christians read the same Scriptures and come away with different understandings. It's a fact of life.

I suppose it has to do with our individual biases, our individual life experiences, and the influence of those who have taught us.

I was a teenage fundamentalist. I grew up in a fundamentalist Southern Baptist Church. Whatever fundamentalists believe today--that's what I used to believe. I didn't know any better. No one told me there was any other way to 'hear' the Bible. But today I have a more open view of the Christian Tradition.

In my first year of college I was exposed to views of Scripture, faith, God, etc., that I had never heard before. Some of it was shocking to me. The college was a liberal arts school run by the Baptists, but it had a faculty which was not held captive by narrow viewpoints.

As I look back on that experience, I see that I could have rejected those new ideas and stayed in my safe cocoon of fundamentalism. Why didn't I? What made me be open to new ideas and not only hear them but accept them? I think the crucial factor was my teacher. My major professor in religion was a man who was trustworthy. He not only taught us about the concern of Jesus for the poor, he lived it out in his life. He was a person of integrity, gentleness, humility, and conviction. Because I trusted him, my mind and heart were opened up to alternative ways of hearing the Scriptures. Once I began to embrace a new perspective on the Bible, I began to feel the transforming power of God in my life and saw that my former categories of concern were too restricted.

Christians will always disagree about some controversial subjects, just as Christians will always be found in both of our political parties.

I find that the Bible speaks to my mind, my heart, and my soul. It affects the way I try to live my life. I don't claim to understand it all, or possess the 'truth' as if it is something I can put in my pocket. But I do feel strongly about some things that I believe Jesus cares about.

Christians not only need to listen to the Bible, but also to each other. Who knows--maybe almonds is what the beggars needed.

"Everyone should be quick to listen,
slow to speak,
and slow to become angry." (James 1.19)