Glasses

I have a couple of more observations on Einstein, but there is something that is burning that I need to share.

When we come to the Scripture, we are all wearing a pair of glasses (some of us literally).  Those glasses represent our World view and influence our understanding of what we encounter in the Word.  The lenses in those glasses are ground by our experiences; the messages we have heard from our parents, pastors, and teachers; the books we have read; and the previous studies we have done.  The relationship and interaction of those various influences is not linear, but they all contribute to the glasses we bring with us to the Text.

One of the challenges we have in Bible Study is to acknowledge that we are wearing those glasses in the first place.  We have to look beyond those glasses and work to see what the Text is saying rather than what we think it should say - well I guess we did not leave Einstein after all one of the quotes I listed was, "A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be."  That is what acknowledging the glasses is all about.

That is why I have suggested over and over again in this blog that we need to look at commentaries, study bibles, and other secondary helps, only after we have looked at the text for ourselves.  Why?  The author or authors have on their own glasses.  When you consult them before you look at the Text and wrestle with getting beyond your own pair, you are simply placing their glasses on top of yours.  All that does is distort the Text even more.