Q.
64
Is there a right or wrong way to read the Bible?
Jim L. Robinson
Who is...
?
Jim L. Robinson
After high school, I was a barber for several years.
Some interesting heads I’ve trimmed include “Dandy”
Don Meredith and Tom Landry of the Dallas
Cowboys, and General Creighton Abrams, Head of
Military Assistance Command in Vietnam.A.
Absolutely. There is a strong tendency to read the scriptures, not in
order to hear what the scriptures say (which is the “right” way to
read them), but rather to verify what is already believed about the
scriptures (which is the wrong way to read them.) The former is called exege-
sis and latter is called eisegesis.Joshua Einsohn
A.
Perhaps it’s naïve to think that everyone would start reading the
Bible with a critical eye, but I believe that all people should read
the Bible and try to decide its meaning, as much as they are able,
for themselves. Ideally, religious leaders should be there to help facilitate an
individual’s reading of the Bible, not predigest their fl ock’s faith for them.
They should help guide, not impose.
Many people seem to fear what they might discover if they ask too many
questions, but the most comfortably faithful folks that I’ve met have spent a
great deal of time rigorously questioning their main religious texts alone or
with their friends and their community. The more they struggle with the sto-
ries and discover their meanings, the more they fi nd themselves comfortable
and secure in their faith.
One of the most interesting Jewish ceremonies I’ve attended included a
“questions from the audience” segment for members of the congregation who
had questions about a passage and needed some group debate to help them
sort out their thoughts. The people who asked the questions and engaged in
debate had clearly spent time thinking on their own before they came in. Their
religious leaders and other members in the community helped them to clarify
their thinking.
It isn’t diminishing one’s faith to ask questions about the Bible in order to
reach a deeper, more comfortable understanding.