The Blue Parakeet: How We Read the Bible

Good morning.

Well, the Ray Vander Laan series is over for now. And I know you’d rather hear him than me! I would, too. But we’ve decide to take a break and continue the series in the fall. (We were about to forget how to prepare a normal teacher-taught lesson!)

This quarter we’ll talk about how to understand the Bible. It’s hard to imagine a more important topic to a Christian. And it’s important for lots of reasons.

First, of course, for my own Bible study, I need to be capable of discerning what the words mean for today. It’s often easy enough to read what’s said, but it’s really hard to figure out how to apply those words today.

Second, the primary reason there has been so much division within Christianity over the centuries is because we all struggle to come to a common understanding of God’s words.

And our hope is that by carefully considering how to interpret the words of God, we can reach better conclusions – and maybe come closer to agreeing.

[The teacher pulls out a sheaf of papers.]

I have here a survey. It’s not a test. I’m not going to grade this. I just want to see how much disagreement we have over some pretty basic things.

[Here’s a survey —

Mark the correct interpretation of the quoted passages? You may only mark one answer per question, and you must choose one.

1. (2 Cor 13:12)  Greet one another with a holy kiss.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (greet one another warmly) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

2. (Rom 1:27)  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (sex with a temple prostitute is wrong) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

3. (Mat 5:29)  If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (lust is a deadly sin) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

4. (Mat 5:25-26)  “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (resolve personal dispute through compromise, but when settlement fails, financial disputes are appropriate for the courts) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

5. (Mat 5:22)  But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (any name calling that dehumanizes is wrong) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

6. (Mat 5:10-12)  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (persecution should be avoided but if it happens, at least we’ll go to heaven) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

7. (Mat 5:39)  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (do not seek revenge over a point of honor) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

8. (Lev 27:30)  “‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (give generously to good works, especially your church) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

9. (Exo 20:9-10)  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (Sunday is the Christian Sabbath) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

10. (Num 18:29)  You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (wear our best to church) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

11. (1 Cor 14:34-35)  women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (women should do nothing in church that shames their husbands) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

12. (1 Cor 11:6)  If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (women should wear fashionable hats to church) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

13. (1 Cor 11:7)  A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (long hair on men is okay, but no baseball caps in the building) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

14.  (1 Cor 16:1-3)  Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.

a. Says what it means; means what it says.

b. No longer applies today at all.

c. Applies today but only the underlying principle (we should give weekly at church) applies.

d. Other: _________________________

_________________________________

Class, the rules are simple:

* No cheating. You can’t ask your husband or wife. You can’t look on your neighbor’s sheet.

* Don’t write your name on it, if you don’t want someone else to see your answers. But do make some identifying mark if you want it back.

* Don’t get too hung up on filling in the blanks. It’s not a test and there are no bonus points for long answers. Keep it very short.

* If you have a question about one of the questions, come up and ask me. I don’t want you to say something to the whole class that might bias their thinking.

* These aren’t meant to be trick questions. Don’t over-think your answers. It’s not a test.

[The teacher waited for the class to circle answers. Many students were decidedly perplexed. A few had questions that indicated they thought it was test – a test on which their souls depended. The teacher tried to sooth them. It’s just a teaching exercise, he said.]

Everybody finished? Good.

If you want this back, put some anonymous mark on it unique to you.

[The teacher took up all the surveys, made a show of shuffling them, and then passed them out at random. He asked another student to help him. He approached the board and wrote a “1.”]

How many of you have an “a” on the survey you’re looking at. [He had the helper count hands while he wrote.]

How many have a “b”?

“C”?

“D””?

[And on he went until he’d tallied all the answers to all 14 questions.]

Hmm. Does anyone see a pattern? How many “a” answers in total? How many “b”?

It looks like we have a wide scatter, doesn’t it, but there are very few “says what it means; means what it says” answers. We tend to reject the most obvious, most literal interpretation, but then we don’t agree on the alternative.

Instinctively we know that God doesn’t really mean we have to kiss each other each Sunday, but what he really does mean is a bit confusing.

Some of these questions seem almost trivial to us, but there are good, Bible-believing Christians that think these are a big deal. There are churches that have split over women wearing or not wearing hats! There are men who’ve left the church over long hair.

And yet here we are struggling to even know what these verses mean today. It’s generally clear enough what they meant in the First Century, but what they mean today, well, that’s a lot harder.

When does a command apply only in its time and place? When does it always apply? And when it doesn’t apply today, how do we know if there’s some underlying principle that still applies?

This quarter, we’re going to make a run at answering these questions. We may still disagree over long hair on men, but hopefully we’ll at least agree on how to approach the question.

[Teachers, if you have lots of students, you may want to pare the list of questions down.]

Oh, I guess I should explain why these lessons are referrd to by “The Blue Parakeet.” There are two reasons.

First, the lessons are inspired by a book by Scot McKnight called by that name. It’s a good read and very accessible to the average reader. He does a great job of keeping things understandable.

Second, it’s based on a story he tells. McKnight is a bird watcher and has a bird feeder in his backyard. One day, a strange blue bird appeared. He soon realized that someone’s pet parakeet had gotten loose and was now feeding in his backyard, right there with the sparrows.

Except the sparrows were scared of the parakeet. They knew he didn’t belong, so they kept their distance. McKnight tried to catch the parakeet and take it to its owner, but parakeets are acrobatic flyers and plenty smart. And this one was enjoying its freedom. He couldn’t even get close.

Eventually, the sparrows figured out that the parakeet for all its strangeness was safe, and they made friends — making the parakeet something of an honorary sparrow.

Verses like the ones in the survey are blue parakeets. We read them and think that they don’t belong. They don’t fit our preconceptions of what verses belong in our backyard. And we’d like to catch them and tame them, but they refuse to be tamed.

At some point, however, we need to be tamed by the verses. We’d like to cut them out of our Bibles, but we really need to understand them and submit to them. But blue parakeet verses are hard to catch. This quarter will be 13 lessons on how to catch a parakeet.