{"id":484,"date":"2020-02-27T19:54:54","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/?p=484"},"modified":"2020-02-27T19:58:45","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:58:45","slug":"put-meaning-aside-when-reading-scripture-aloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2020\/02\/put-meaning-aside-when-reading-scripture-aloud.html","title":{"rendered":"Put Meaning Aside to Read Scripture Aloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Recently, I came upon a blog post by Scot McKnight at Christianity Today<\/em><\/strong>. The piece is titled: When the Bible Ain\u2019t Pretty<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>I was excited because the post pretty perfectly illustrates why I think Lay Readers should put meaning aside when they read scripture aloud. Sounds strange. But it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s always great when anyone is willing to acknowledge that many passages in the Bible are not pretty, and that those parts that are not pretty should not be avoided or ignored. In fact, I think the difficult passages are often the most necessary.<\/p>\n

The challenges of Deuteronomy<\/h3>\n

Scot McKnight\u2019s post addresses how we, as Christians, can begin to come to terms with difficult content in the Bible. The passage his post considers is from Deuteronomy. It instructs victorious men in war, who desire beautiful women they have taken captive, to follow strict procedures. Below is the KJV version:<\/p>\n

When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,<\/em><\/p>\n

And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;<\/em><\/p>\n

Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;<\/em><\/p>\n

And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.<\/em><\/p>\n

And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. (KJV)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

The blog post does a good job of enumerating all the problems we have today with taking the directives of this passage at face value. I encourage you to read it.<\/p>\n

I think that we want to take passages like these at face value, because wandering in our own wilderness, we hunger for law: laws that restrain us and protect us. We want to believe that we are receiving divine guidance. But we now have trouble reconciling this instruction to modern sensibilities. Would we dare to give instruction like this to our own soldiers in the field?\u00a0 What similar instruction would we offer today to our women in uniform?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>How are we to interpret this?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When we read passages solely for meaning, we\u2019re tempted to accommodate that which we find uncomfortable and even reprehensible in any of a number of ways. The most obvious is to simply turn away and avoid them. But when forced to confront them, we attempt to mitigate the discomfort they cause us by explaining them away, by making them less meaningful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Render the language more anodyne<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We begin to do this with a softening of the language we choose to recount upsetting events and \u201cinstruction.\u201d Later translations of this passage from Deuteronomy (that came after the KJV,) substitute the words \u201cattracted<\/em><\/strong> to her\u201d for \u201chas a desire <\/em><\/strong>unto her.\u201d Desire is physical. Desire is clear, powerful and troubling. \u201cAttracted to\u201d is passive, potentially more intellectual (what qualities were you attracted to?) and less physically threatening. But the passage makes plain that it is her beauty that stirs desire, not her intelligence, wit or warm and loving personality.<\/p>\n

Later translations substitute \u201cyou may marry her\u201d for you shall go in unto to her and be her husband. To marry is to enter into a contract and covenant with another person of equal worth. Go in unto her and be her husband begins to sound like assault.<\/p>\n

When you \u201chave no delight in her\u201d is to say when you tire of her, you shall let her go. More modern translations substitute \u2018If she no longer pleases you,\u201d as if the fault is all found in her.<\/p>\n

We can always choose different words to lessen the stark brutality of what here is essentially the raw exercise of power and domination over the helpless.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Contextualize<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We most often attempt to contextualize difficult readings by explaining that things were different then. That\u2019s the way things were back then. As if, well that\u2019s O.K. then.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not as if this behavior has only now come to be understood as brutal. This was always brutal. To say, that\u2019s the way things were then does not make it less brutal or more acceptable to Jesus. It was and is still brutal and remains unacceptable to Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Rationalize <\/strong><\/h3>\n

The blog post offers a solution to the difficulties posed by this reading in the idea of \u201credemptive movement.\u201d This is the idea that things are improving. They\u2019re not as bad as they were. This reading represents a movement away from the total mayhem and violence of the battlefield to a kind of law and order and more moderate behavior. It\u2019s suggested that we may find redemption in that. We have even come some distance further as a society since then. We may not be all the way where we need to be, but there is hope.<\/p>\n

The first difficulty we face as readers is that none of these ideas can be communicated in a reading. All three just leave us with a lot of explaining to do. As readers, we do not need to concern ourselves with any of it. As readers it\u2019s our opportunity, obligation and privilege to reveal the human experience captured in the reading. That\u2019s our role. Our calling. As always that is cold comfort for the victims.<\/p>\n

When read aloud, what this passage makes clear is that part of the human experience is the intentional masking of many human sensations, emotions, and behaviors that are not pretty. In this passage, we are asked to recognize many human characteristics we would deny.<\/p>\n

Triumphalism and arrogance<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Victors in battle claim the rights not only to all property and the rewriting of history but to morality and the law. There is a self-satisfied, self-justified and entirely self-serving arrogance to these instructions and the voice that offers them.<\/p>\n

Self-righteousness<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To cloak the brutality of a one-sided, non covenant relationship in the language of morality and \u201claw\u201d is ultimately self-righteous. These strictures are intended to exonerate, justify and even exalt the baser instincts and behavior of powerful men. These instructions are not oriented to God. They\u2019re entirely oriented toward the satisfaction of the self and its physical desire.<\/p>\n

The first thing you hear when reading this passage aloud is that there is only one voice. It\u2019s not the voice of God. It\u2019s not the voice of Jesus. Maybe it\u2019s the voice of Mosses, or Aaron. But it\u2019s undeniably human and male. And it\u2019s only a single voice. Where is her voice? Where is her voice in all of this?<\/p>\n

This is the point. While it\u2019s impossible to convey the nuance of word choices, <\/strong>historical context and rationalize-as-we-go, we can more easily convey the attitude, emotion and tone of voice in a reading.<\/p>\n

Read for experience not meaning<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Rather than less relevant today, this passage has never been more relevant.<\/p>\n

Even in the triumphs of war, politics or business, humans will sadly continue to be all too human. It\u2019s our role as readers to hold up the mirror to our nature.<\/p>\n

Reading for experience requires no explaining, positioning, or justification. Reading for experience requires a clear eye, the courage to confront that which is not pretty, an unwavering voice, and the conviction that only through our faith in Jesus — not in the performance of any antique process or procedure — can we overcome our own failings and ultimately triumph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, I came upon a blog post by Scot McKnight at Christianity Today. The piece is titled: When the Bible Ain\u2019t Pretty.\u00a0 I was excited because the post pretty perfectly illustrates why I think Lay Readers should put meaning aside when they read scripture aloud. Sounds strange. But it\u2019s true. First, it\u2019s always great when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":621,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPut Meaning Aside to Read Scripture Aloud - Hear the Gospel %<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lay Readers should put meaning aside when they read Scripture aloud. Read for experience. Sounds strange. 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