Comments on: Mondays are for tired from travelling ramblings

By: gregarthur

gregarthur — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:39:09 +0000

Maggie….

Did I state or imply that there I am celebrating a tradition that emphasizes the word over the Spirit? I agree that if they are, they are certainly missing out.

What I would define as Biblical literacy is not just a familiarity or knowledge of scripture but an understanding of it that comes through transformation and a Spirit filled life.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:25:24 +0000

Yes, you are.

How could anybody have meaningful knowledge of God’s word without it being born out of experiencing the Holy Spirit?

Understanding Scripture comes when people have a genuine relationship with God. People need the indwelling Holy Spirit and a community of faith to grow in knowledge of the ways of God.

There certainly must be variables in “knowing” too. Someone could have basic knowledge of Scripture, but not a deeper understanding of God’s truth because of a lack of balance in their life of faith.

Perhaps those traditions that emphasize the word and have little knowing of the Holy Spirit are missing a great gift. The Holy Spirit is not just for some parts, but for all. Scripture says so. We as individuals and we as a community may be united but only through the Holy Spirit.

By: gregarthur

gregarthur — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:29:07 +0000

Yes they certainly do, but one doesn’t necessarily equal the other. I know in many traditions that emphasize the Word heavily, there is little actual knowledge or experience of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand in many of our more Spirit filled traditions Biblical illiteracy runs rampant. We need the Spirit to understand scripture, but we also need scripture to understand the Spirit.

True Biblical literacy comes when our spirits and our minds are unified in the pursuit of God. Of course it is a remnant of Greek philosophy that we think we can ever separate our spirit and our mind in the first place. Becoming disciples is a process of understanding the oneness of our being. We too often separate ourselves into different parts as if they aren’t connected. Now I am rambling..

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:22:31 +0000

People need the Holy Spirit to inspire them to gain understanding of Scripture.

By: gregarthur

gregarthur — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:02:25 +0000

I think we can promote Biblical literacy in a number of ways. Certainly our handling of scripture in worship is a big part of it. In our services we give people the scripture in the bulletin and display it on the screens. Of course the question is are we making scripture too accessible because then they don’t have to bring a Bible or use one to find the passages we are preaching on.

That is why I encourage people to open up a Bible when I preach, I at least want them to touch a Bible during worship, even if it isn’t theirs.

I also teach a lot about the structure, order, formation, and methodology of studying scripture in my classes.

I think that prayer is a big part of understanding scripture, especially through application, but being a good prayer does not necessarily make us Biblically literate.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:44:14 +0000

How about promoting the need for inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be in tandem with encouraging people to dive into the Bible. How about encouraging people to pray for being filled with the Holy Spirit?

Maybe if the leaders brought bibles to worship the people would follow along.

How come you ignored my comment to your slave post?

By: Shay

Shay — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:05:58 +0000

How are you going about promoting biblical literacy? How can we teach the importance of biblical literacy to a biblically illiterate congregation? Especially in a community that is so ingrained in their current values and practices (or lack there of).