The Text, the Whole Text, and the Context

[kerravonsen]

I was pondering bible-studies I had participated in, and I realised something. Many Christians just sit around in bible-studies and wait to be told what to think. How totally bizarre! What do they think bible-studies are for? A place where someone in authority (the leader) spoon-feeds them pre-digested doctrine, and then they have a cup of tea and a gossip?

Don't they want to find out for themselves? Do they think themselves incapable of finding out for themselves? Or not qualified? Or not authorised? Or is it just like too much hard work? It's a text. Read it. Think about what it says. Figure out what it means. Like we did in English at school.

What do they teach them at these schools?

Yeah, I know. They teach them to hate learning.

Thank God for fandom, where people analyse texts in minute detail, for fun.

Comments

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but as someone who *has* asked questions in Bible Study (and who was a Christian at the time), I got told I couldn't possibly question the subject because I wasn't an expert in it, and my friend who invited me was asked if I really *was* a Christian because I didn't just accept the Word.

So it will depend totally on the group, I'm afraid.

(I discovered later that my question was actually pretty accurate and did pertain to an important point in translation)

[kerravonsen]

I am not surprised, considering (from what you have already told me) how toxic that damned place was (and, yes, I use the word "damned" deliberately). Shit. I mean, the statement "couldn't possibly question the subject because I wasn't an expert in it" is completely illogical: surely it is the NON-expert who would have the most questions? Does one have to be qualified before one can ask questions? That's just... ludicrous. Or grotesque. (*headdesk*)

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

That was actually the Anglicans.

The Pentecostals just tried to exorcise me. Much more direct.