Youth need to know how to read the Bible, right? Seems simple enough. How hard can it be to make the Bible come alive to students? Well, its not easy. Now don't get me wrong, not every student will have a hard time being passionate about Gods word. I believe it is important as a youth pastor to make the word come alive in very real ways. My question is, how do we do it? What is the missing link between today's students and Gods word? Is it pizza and fun games? Joking aside, there are many answers to finding this link. One answer I do believe lies in the terrible tragedy of our bible illiteracy in our society. How can someone be passionate for the Bible is they do not know how to read it? This was a question I answered in a three part Sunday School series on how to read the Bible.
If you are unaware of a more academic approach to reading the Bible, there are two camps one could dwell in when reading the Bible. First is an eisegetical approach to reading the Bible. Simply put, this is taking the truth that you want from the Bible and forcing scripture to work within that construct. Sounds dangerous right? The other way to read the Bible is an exegetical approach which reading the word first and drawing truth from scripture. Exegetical approach is always going to be the healthier way to go. So how to do you teach something academic to teenagers? I had a great mentor for the last year of my life who gave everyone in the college group which he lead, including myself, an outline for this proper way to read the bible. The blessing was that it was simple and condensed for anyone to understand. Always use the resources that you are given. I simply used this to help my students to understand these concepts. Here is the run down on an exegetical study of the bible:
Step One: Observe: What does the Bible actually say?
* What is the context of the passage that you are looking at? Ask all the who? what? where? and when? questions of the passage and the author of that passage.
*What are the obvious themes in the passage? What are the words that repeat? What jumps out to you when you read the passage?
Step Two: Understand: What was the authors intention?
* Look at other translations to see what is similar and different. This will show what words stay consistent with the passage and what is up for interpretation; both things will reveal more about the author was trying to convey in the passage.
* Do some research! Search more about the passage of scripture to find out more about the intention of the author. There are plenty of bible help resources online (use Google for what its meant to do; find information you wouldn't normally find on your own). If you have Bible commentaries or any others Biblical resources that would be best, but the internet is a great alternative.
Step Three: Apply: What does this scripture mean for us?
* This is a very important step to do LAST, so that we do not lose the truth that that is found with the first two steps.
* Ask yourself after knowing what you know about the passage; what truth does this passage have for life today? (Don't be mislead, there is truth in all scripture for our lives.)
I know that by teaching this method and affirming this method in further Bible studies, that the students are going to have a deeper appreciation and love for the Word of God, even if its a slow process for them to get there. I'm ready to be patient to see what God does in their hearts.
No comments:
Post a Comment