March 24, 2008

I’m reading a book by John Piper called Don’t Waste Your Life. The second chapter begins by discussing original meaning—the author’s belief that God intended the Bible to mean something specific, that the Bible is not up to individual interpretation. He continues to address a common belief found in today’s postmodern society: that there is no actual truth; everything is relative.

I’ve seen postmodernism fleshed out at the university I attend. There is no such thing as truth there. There is only each person’s understanding of the world at a particular moment in his/her life—a perspective that is and should change with life’s experiences.

To a certain extent, I can understand why people view life in that manner. I have changed over the years, matured, grown in God; I see life differently now than I did when I was 16, and I hope that I see life differently in the future than I do now at 24. Life changes us, experiences give us something to reflect on, and we are all at a different level of understanding.

Objective Truth vs. Postmodernism vs. Eistentialism?
To another and greater extent, of course, I do not agree with postmodernism. I believe in the absolute truth of the Bible—that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16) and that He died to save my soul from hell on earth and in eternity. The Word of God is my foundation, and without Christ as my anchor, I would be lost in an unstable world.

Many people apply their own interpretation to the Bible just as they apply their own interpretation to everything that they read. In his book, Piper relates this attitude to Existentialism. What does that mean? He says that it means that “existence precedes essence. That is, I don’t find meaning—I create it.” He gives an example of the way an Existentialist looks at the Bible—as if it were a lump of clay and that person the potter. He makes of the Bible what he wants it to say. It is a philosophy that Piper and I are against.   

We can see Existentialism at work in American politics. Many activists want to reinterpret the meaning of the Constitution—to find out what it means for today. They say that it doesn’t matter what the authors’ intentions were.

But Is Objectivity Even Possible?
Is it truly possible to read objectively, without bringing our own understanding and life experiences with us? Will we always read with the colored glasses of our life? I say that we can read objectively, but in saying that, I must say that I think that it is impossible to know the Truth of a text without knowing what the author intended—no matter how objectively we think we are approaching the text.

An old friend once told me that is how she understands the Bible. It is like a poem that one person interprets as being full of anger and rage, while the author intended it to be a love poem. Who is right, the reader or the author? The author, of course.

“All these scholars insist that their own love letters and contracts be measured by one rule: what they intended to say. Any mumbo-jumbo about creatively hearing ‘yes’ when I wrote ‘no’ will not go down at the bank or the marriage counselor…. At the university I undermine objective meaning, but at home (and at the bank) I insist on it,” Piper writes.

Has that happened to you before? Has anyone ever misinterpreted what you said, did, or wrote, and just gone crazy on you? It has happened to me plenty of times. No matter how hard I try to say something positive and to communicate a good message, inevitably someone somewhere reads into what I’m trying to say and twists it away from the meaning I gave it originally.

Deep Frustration,
It doesn’t keep me from frustration when someone reads into who I am, what I’ve said, or how I do things. It is not my intention to cause disunity, hurt anyone’s feelings, or put anyone down. I wish that people would see that in me and give me the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure that most of you feel the same way, and I hope that I give you the benefit of the doubt when I meet you and see how different you are from me.

I said all that to be able to say this: next time you are interpreting someone, trying to figure him out, or simply just finding immediate fault, take about an hour to sit and talk to that person. Find out what is really going on in his head. Find out what he has to say about the question you are discussing. Don’t assume that this person is liberal or conservative, backslidden or saved, just because of a feeling you get. If he really is off, it will be obvious in the conversation, but who knows, maybe, just maybe, you aren’t getting the message that the author intended.

And most importantly, as you read the Bible, get to know the Author. Talk to God and find out what He really meant by what is written in His word.

ninetyandnine.com

© 2008, Rachael Hartman

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Rachael Hartman is graduating this summer from Armstrong Atlantic State University, with her Bachelor's degree in Liberal Studies with a Minor in Writing. She attends her father's church New Life Sanctuary in Bloomingdale, GA. She enjoys making specialty coffee drinks and walking her dogs Charlie and Gretchen.