Let’s Get To That Later

The story to be told.

I’m not being evasive, that’s clear to both of us. But I am reluctant to satisfy your quest regarding the Bible. At least not in an intentional way. 

I have read the Bible my whole life, and by that I mean my whole life. My parents were the source when I was young, and when I was in grade 10 I sat down one day and God and I had a stand off. I would read Romans chapter 1, everyday until he taught me what it was about, and how to understand it. 

Aside: at Red Rock youth camp, where I spent at least a week every summer for about 6 years or more. We’ll call him Mr McGregor for now, but he was the camp handyman a for a couple or three years. One year, I must of been about 15 years old, he offered any of us $5.oo in exchange for us reciting from memory the Bible verses on the list he provided us. Well! I did that, I forget which verses they were in particular exactly, except one or two of them, but I probably still remember those verses by heart, but they are now amount so many other gold coins.

And we’re back from our flashback. One of the verses quite possibly could have been John 14:26. Excuse me, I just noticed another eggshell.

In his book, “A Hidden Wholeness” Parker Palmer explains about the soul. Hearing one’s own soul. In that regard he mentions what he calls ‘third things’ the truth coming out, our souls speaking on the slant, as though whispering from the other room! Don’t look in that direction head on! And for crying out loud don’t walk over and invite them over to your table!!! Let him speak. My daughter’s way of putting it is by her eggshell analogy. And hers has a slightly different twist to it. The whole of Palmer’s message is so precious I only want to pull this one plum from it for now, because it allows me to differentiate how I reference various scripture. Bible Exegesis is explained really well in the book – it’s title is a hike, so make sure you have proper shoes on to walk the length of it – “How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth” Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart. The Bible means what it means, not what we think it means, not what we wish it meant. It’s not fodder for us to puff ourselves up on, or to become an expert in so that we can sound knowledgeable. Read their book. Insert bland command face emoji here.

For me it’s been and ever will be my food! It’s what sustains me! It’s my fat reserve! It’s my ever present help in time of trouble! It’s hidden in my heart, it’s an app on my phone, it’s a URL that is immediately auto typed when I type Bi… And my testimony is this: It is living and active! It is the sword the spirit wields! It is the living Word of God: Jesus Christ. If you look up ‘Bible’ in the dictionary there’d be a picture of Jesus!

Proper exegesis and or hermeneutics is to first understand what the particular scripture meant to the original audience, and then applying it to our current context remembering the distance cultural, time, and language difference. The Bible was written by God (the official term is divine inspiration) through x human authors, over the course of 1500 years. Its authenticity was verified by the early saints in the first century, and is referred to as the Cannon, and the original languages were Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Our modern day Middle East is the geographical location of the authors, and the culture… but I digress 😅 I think I’m giving myself away here! It’s one of my favourite topics maybe!

Now back to ‘third things’. I’m just wanting to wait here while you go read that book! I’ve read it (my brain is yelling at me LIAR!!! Cuz most books I refer to in this way I’ve read by listening to them as audiobooks)

So I fumble on past that and I explain it as I now see it, and apply it. Poetry for sure, prose, and books in general speak the plain literal message intended by the author for his to hear. What other people think of me is none of my business. (Citation needed) What others say about me tells you more about them than it does about me. (Citation needed)

For example when I read “The Great Gatsby” Arthur Miller, for the first time, I thought, “hey! Want this written by F Scott Fitzgerald?!?” And I also heard it as prose! A masterful work of genius! I think I waited my whole life to read it! The only reason I did so was that one of my most precious mentors, my older brother Andrew, had recommended it for me recently, as in a few years ago. When I read “Darkness at Noon” Gomer Pyle, I subtitled it in my head “Fear of Death”

These books spoke to my soul? 🤔 They maybe a better explanation is to say they revealed a bit of my soul to me, via third things.