My husband and I recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C. The picture above was taken at the WWII Memorial and shows 5 of the 56 pillars surrounding the memorial. While in D.C. we also visited the Holocaust Museum. The two are connected in what I believe to be the darkest part of our world history. This horrible war, with it's many atrocities, actually began on November 1, 1936 as Germany's Adolf Hitler and Italy's Benito Mussolini joined forces to establish their domination of the world. Twenty-four days later Imperial Japan joined them. Three governments united for what appeared to be a common cause.
For nine years war raged throughout all of Europe as Hitler and his partners invaded one country after another and millions died. Yet during those years something else extraordinary happened. Three other countries came together in unity as well, despite barriers of language, religion and life to overthrow an evil dictator. During those years they would be joined by other countries along the way.
When a common goal exists, mankind will overcome any and all obstacles to attain that goal. Last week I talked about what might happen if all Jews AND Christians were to get on the same page. Let me take that one step further.
We may jump on board with a calendar of events, but what about language? Could the number one reason we differ so much in theology be due to a language barrier? Christians and Jews disagree greatly on interpretation of Scripture, but so do most Christians. Don't think so? Why are there so many different denominations and even so many different interpretations within even one denomination? Have you ever given it a thought? Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodist, Baptist (heaven knows how many different types of Baptist there are), Church of Christ, Christian (Disciples of Christ), Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Non-Denominational, Apostolic. I could go on and on. Two different Baptist Churches can't even agree on many details, let alone all these different flavors of Christianity.
Why is there such a barrier? Christians DO NOT fully understand the language of the Bible. We are very smug and claim to understand, why we understand it better than the Jews! They didn't get it right in Jesus Day so we know they don't understand it now! Those Jews just missed the boat! How did they not understand that Jesus was the Messiah? We see it, clear as day AND we know exactly how to interpret all those 66 books as well, correct?
That's funny. Ask ten people within your own denomination this question, "What happens to the soul when we die?" Oh that's an easy one. We go to heaven or hell! Well, I asked that question in a Sunday School class one day and received about five different answers. Here they are: 1. Heaven or hell; 2. Soul sleep; 3. Purgatory; 4. Paradise or darkness; 5. Either Heaven (for a believer) or just cease to exist (for an unbeliever). Hmmm, all that in a Southern Baptist Church. To beat it all there were only about 8 people in the class and all of them age 30 and above.
As Christians we should strive to seek the truth of the Scripture, even when that truth defies the very doctrine we have been taught in the Church. One point in understanding Hebrew that is so often overlooked is a simple thing known as an idiom. I have written on this point before, but let me take you down that road for a moment.
An idiom is a commonly used expression that is never to be taken literally. In the USA we use idioms such as: Come hell or high water; She has a bun in the oven; It's raining cats and dogs. Judaism does the same. Some prime examples are:
Loved and hated - to love one more than the other (never literally taken as hated);
Abolish - to teach the Torah incorrectly;
Fulfill - to teach the Torah correctly;
Evil eye - stingy;
Good eye - generous;
The third day - used to denote something miraculous;
On that day - the future or the world to come;
Little one - unschooled inexperienced disciple;
Drinking wine - studying Torah;
Favorable year of the Lord - year of Jubilee;
Go up - elevate oneself spiritually;
Thorn - small pointed stroke that is part of a Hebrew letter or something that might be considered insignificant;
Twinkling of an eye - the haste with which the Hebrews left Egypt;
Under the Law - a Gentile who had gone through the conversion process to become a Jew (this included circumcision for males and also a ritual bath known as a mikvah or baptism);
In one's tent - deep study of Torah. (When speaking of Jacob it is said that he stayed in the tent. Christians have typically taught that Jacob was a Momma's boy, but this is far from the truth. He spent his time seeking God.)
Did you think you knew what these terms meant only to see that you may have been a little off base? As I researched this subject I looked at common English language idioms and their meanings. I came across a webpage that named over 600, only to find that a few of them were not defined the same way I use them. I wondered if this were pertinent to perhaps another area of the country from where I live. I fully understand the difference in areas with things such as a soft drink. In the south everything is a coke, while in other areas they are called pop or soda. So what if you were to ask Jews from various areas and they understood those idioms differently? How do we know the true meaning of them? In those instances we MUST go to the 1st century A.D. to find how the Jews in Jesus' day defined them.
If we could all get on the same page with idioms and their definitions, scripture might take on an entirely new meaning. Could it possibly be that denominational names would drop and we could all become The Church as we were meant to be?
Now that I have given you several to start, take these idioms and plug the definition into the scripture which uses them. I certainly hope you have a new perspective on that scripture afterwards. Until next week, Shalom!
When a common goal exists, mankind will overcome any and all obstacles to attain that goal. Last week I talked about what might happen if all Jews AND Christians were to get on the same page. Let me take that one step further.
We may jump on board with a calendar of events, but what about language? Could the number one reason we differ so much in theology be due to a language barrier? Christians and Jews disagree greatly on interpretation of Scripture, but so do most Christians. Don't think so? Why are there so many different denominations and even so many different interpretations within even one denomination? Have you ever given it a thought? Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodist, Baptist (heaven knows how many different types of Baptist there are), Church of Christ, Christian (Disciples of Christ), Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Non-Denominational, Apostolic. I could go on and on. Two different Baptist Churches can't even agree on many details, let alone all these different flavors of Christianity.
Why is there such a barrier? Christians DO NOT fully understand the language of the Bible. We are very smug and claim to understand, why we understand it better than the Jews! They didn't get it right in Jesus Day so we know they don't understand it now! Those Jews just missed the boat! How did they not understand that Jesus was the Messiah? We see it, clear as day AND we know exactly how to interpret all those 66 books as well, correct?
That's funny. Ask ten people within your own denomination this question, "What happens to the soul when we die?" Oh that's an easy one. We go to heaven or hell! Well, I asked that question in a Sunday School class one day and received about five different answers. Here they are: 1. Heaven or hell; 2. Soul sleep; 3. Purgatory; 4. Paradise or darkness; 5. Either Heaven (for a believer) or just cease to exist (for an unbeliever). Hmmm, all that in a Southern Baptist Church. To beat it all there were only about 8 people in the class and all of them age 30 and above.
As Christians we should strive to seek the truth of the Scripture, even when that truth defies the very doctrine we have been taught in the Church. One point in understanding Hebrew that is so often overlooked is a simple thing known as an idiom. I have written on this point before, but let me take you down that road for a moment.
An idiom is a commonly used expression that is never to be taken literally. In the USA we use idioms such as: Come hell or high water; She has a bun in the oven; It's raining cats and dogs. Judaism does the same. Some prime examples are:
Loved and hated - to love one more than the other (never literally taken as hated);
Abolish - to teach the Torah incorrectly;
Fulfill - to teach the Torah correctly;
Evil eye - stingy;
Good eye - generous;
The third day - used to denote something miraculous;
On that day - the future or the world to come;
Little one - unschooled inexperienced disciple;
Drinking wine - studying Torah;
Favorable year of the Lord - year of Jubilee;
Go up - elevate oneself spiritually;
Thorn - small pointed stroke that is part of a Hebrew letter or something that might be considered insignificant;
Twinkling of an eye - the haste with which the Hebrews left Egypt;
Under the Law - a Gentile who had gone through the conversion process to become a Jew (this included circumcision for males and also a ritual bath known as a mikvah or baptism);
In one's tent - deep study of Torah. (When speaking of Jacob it is said that he stayed in the tent. Christians have typically taught that Jacob was a Momma's boy, but this is far from the truth. He spent his time seeking God.)
Did you think you knew what these terms meant only to see that you may have been a little off base? As I researched this subject I looked at common English language idioms and their meanings. I came across a webpage that named over 600, only to find that a few of them were not defined the same way I use them. I wondered if this were pertinent to perhaps another area of the country from where I live. I fully understand the difference in areas with things such as a soft drink. In the south everything is a coke, while in other areas they are called pop or soda. So what if you were to ask Jews from various areas and they understood those idioms differently? How do we know the true meaning of them? In those instances we MUST go to the 1st century A.D. to find how the Jews in Jesus' day defined them.
If we could all get on the same page with idioms and their definitions, scripture might take on an entirely new meaning. Could it possibly be that denominational names would drop and we could all become The Church as we were meant to be?
Now that I have given you several to start, take these idioms and plug the definition into the scripture which uses them. I certainly hope you have a new perspective on that scripture afterwards. Until next week, Shalom!
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