What if I said to you, “He is as slow as a turtle,” and then a few minutes later added, “He’s moving at a snail’s pace.”  What would you say?  I’ll tell you what you would not say.
            You would not say, “Oh, he must have hard skin,” or, “He must be slimy.”  You would not look at me in exasperation and say, “Well which one is he?!  A snail or a turtle?”  Why is it then, that we do that to the Bible when the Holy Spirit uses figurative language? 
            Usually there is only one point to a figure, whether it is as small as a metaphor or as complex as a parable.  God can call the church a family, an army, a vineyard, a kingdom, and a bride.  There is a point of emphasis for each figure.  Most of us get that one, but then do crazy things with the parables, finding and binding points where there are none, or tying ourselves into knots trying to explain why both Jesus and the apostles’ teaching are called “the foundation.”  Bible study wouldn’t be nearly as difficult if we used the same common sense with it that we do with everyday language.  That’s why the Holy Spirit used common language—so we could understand
            Eph 6:16 says faith is a shield.  1 Thes 5:8 says faith is a breastplate.  Couldn’t Paul get it right?  Yes he could, and yes he did.  Faith is either one depending upon the point you are trying to make.
            The word for shield is used only that one time in the New Testament that I could find.  In its etymology, it originally referred to the stone that covered the door of a cave.  That immediately brings to mind the stones that covered both Jesus’ and Lazarus’s tomb-caves.  The door had to be heavy so a scavenging animal could not dislodge it.  It had to completely cover the opening so that after four days, as Martha reminded Jesus, the smell wouldn’t get out.
            The word was later used for a specific type of shield—a large rectangular shield that would completely cover the soldier just like that rock covered the cave door.  What did Paul say about the purpose of that shield?  “To quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.”  Did you get that?  It covers so well and is so heavy that none of those darts can get past it.  So whose fault is it when they do?  It’s ours because we stuck something out where it didn’t belong, or completely dropped the shield. 
            Now what about that breastplate in 1 Thes 5:8?  That word is thorax which is now our English word for “chest.”  No, it doesn’t cover the whole soldier like the shield, but it does cover all his vital organs, and it does another thing as well.  A thorax was a piece of armor with two parts, covering both the front and the back.  Faith is like that.  It will help you with the attacks you see coming—and sometimes you can see your problems rushing in head-on—but it will also protect you from surprise attacks from the rear.  Sometimes life deals you an unexpected blow—“didn’t see that one coming,” we often say--but your faith can protect you from even those sorts of things. 
            So is faith a shield or a breastplate?  Faith is both, depending upon the point you are trying to make.  The thing the two metaphors have in common is protection.  God has given us what we need to stay safe.  Don’t get so busy trying to explain things that shouldn’t need explaining that you forget to use it.
 
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:11-13
 
Dene Ward

Last week I gave you a list of conservative scholars that you could be relatively comfortable with.  I also mentioned a conservative scholar that you should just ignore, but didn't give his name.  If liberal scholars are dangerous because of their unbiblical beliefs, then so are conservative scholars who are inconsistent in their scholarship and offer nothing beyond what other, better, scholars have.  So let me give you an example.
            This particular scholar was, for a long time, the only one of "us" who had written a commentary series.  Preachers often carried his small set of books around with them from church to church and, I am told, one even kept it next to him on the front pew!  So let me give you an example of his "scholarship."  Let's look at Genesis 3: 16-19.
            To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen 3:16-19).
            In his comments this scholar completely ignores the fact that the Hebrew word for pain in verse 16 is the same Hebrew word used of the man's pain in verse 17 (both underlined above).  Regarding verse 16 he says that it is wrong to use any pain reducing medications, procedures, or methods during childbirth because God has "ordained" the woman to have pain in childbirth!  This would mean no injections, no epidurals, not even any Lamaze breathing techniques, mind you.  I hate to think what he would say about absolutely necessary Caesarean sections. 
            Now, remembering that the same word is used in verse 17, to be consistent, that would mean that men could not use weed killer, John Deere tractors, and certainly no air conditioned harvesters because men are ordained to have pain (blisters, sore backs, etc.), to sweat, and to bring forth thorns and thistles.  If not, why not?  It's the same Hebrew word in the same context. 
            Can I say about this commentary, in a borrowed phrase from someone else, "it is Zerr-ifically awful?"  Just because a man believes in God and believes that the Bible is the Word of God, does not mean he is a scholar worth your time.  Good scholars interpret consistently.  Perhaps he did not know it was the same Hebrew word, making the two judgments the two sides of the same coin, but if not, why call himself a scholar?  So check these men out, even if you know them personally, or think they are good guys.  Good guys, even good Christians, are not always good scholars.
 
Dene Ward

I often tell my classes, and I am sure I have said it here somewhere in all these years, that I do not use commentaries often, but when I do I try to use conservative scholars.  Perhaps I should define that a little better.
            In the first place, I am not talking about our brethren as we tend to define them, and so the terms "conservative" and "liberal" have nothing to do with that division we often speak about among us.  So what do I mean by liberal and conservative?  Simply this:  the conservative scholars are believers of some stripe who actually think the Bible is the Word of God.  You might wonder why a person who doesn't believe those things, the liberal scholars, would make his lifework a study of them.  All I can say is, perhaps they are studying them the same way we might study other ancient literature or even ancient mythology—it's strictly an academic interest.
            That does not mean that you don't have to worry about conservative scholars at all.  On the contrary, most of them are Calvinist to at least some degree.  However, I find it amusing that a man can accurately exegete (interpret) a passage, and then turn around and say it doesn't mean what it says—because, you see, if it did then that would make Calvinism wrong.  So you still must beware, but at least you are dealing with someone who is not an atheist.
            So, with a little help from some scholarly friends, here is a partial list of conservative scholars that you can count on to at least some degree.

            William Barnes
            Craig Blomberg
            C. Hassell Bullock
            F. F. Bruce
            D. A. Carson
            Adam Clarke
            Everett Ferguson
            Donald Guthrie
            Homer Hailey
            Victor Hamilton
            Matthew Henry
            Walter Kaiser
            Keil and Delitzsch
            Derek Kidner
            RCH Lenski
            H. C. Leupold
            Tremper Longman III
            J. W McGarvey
            Bruce Metzger
            Douglas Moo
            Leon Morris
            John Oswalt
            Martin Pickup
            Phil Roberts
            Bruce Waltke
            Gordon Wenham
            Edward Young

Understand, that is not a complete list by any means, but most of these people, and/or their works, are well-known in scholarly circles and you are reasonably safe with them, as long as you are careful to look for things like Calvinism and premillennialism which most or all believe in.
 
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world (1John 4:1).
 
Dene Ward
 

(This will make a lot of more sense to you if you go to http://flightpaths.weebly.com/2/post/2012/08/bussenwuddy.html, and read it first.)
            I told you awhile back about our first overnight with our grandson Silas.  It was fun, it was sweet, it was exhilarating, and it was a little frustrating at times when we weren’t sure what he wanted. 
            The “bussenwuddy” nearly got us.  Luckily I had cared enough to listen to the things he talked about to recognize “Buzz” and “Woody” from the Toy Story DVD.  Good thing I was the one listening.  Buzz and Woody could have been next door neighbors as far as Keith was concerned.  When you are profoundly deaf, you don’t casually pick up on bits and pieces of conversation or those things “everyone knows.”  You don’t immediately recognize normal words for all that.  No wonder he was lost.
            How well do you hear God?  Even if you recognize the words, do you know enough to make the correct associations and figure things out?  I know people do not know their Bible enough to be familiar with apocalyptic language when they turn the beautiful promises of the book of Revelation into some futuristic Armageddon between political nations (which, have you noticed, change with every generation’s “interpretation,” which ought to tell them something).  I know they don’t care enough to study carefully the entire communication God gave to us when they come up with ideas a real disciple can shoot holes through with half a dozen scriptures off the tip of his tongue.
            But how are we doing?  I hear more faulty exegesis from brethren these days than I do from my neighbors.  Taking things literally that are obviously hyperboles simply because they cannot comprehend a Lord who cared enough to come as one of us, speaking as one of us, including the use of hyperboles and humorous comparisons; refusing to see the obvious parallels between elements of the new covenant and those of the old because they have decided that “nailed to the cross” means don’t ever even look at the Old Testament again, much less study it; spending so much time fighting the heresies of mainstream denominationalism that they miss the important fundamentals of a sure hope and a grace beyond measure—these are just a few of the problems.
            What do you think of when you read “Christ in you, the hope of glory” Col 1:27?  Does the Shekinah even cross your mind, that physical manifestation of God’s glory that dwelt over the mercy seat?  Or is it just another “bussenwuddy” that eludes you, and robs you of a greater, more magnificent promise than you ever imagined?  I could go on.
            Knowing God’s word, not just superficially, but deeply, can lead to a greater understanding and a more heartfelt faith.  Facts may seem cold, but without them you are missing a lot.  You cannot make connections.  You cannot take your understanding to a deeper level.  You cannot see parallels and applications that will make your life more acceptable to your Father.
            Take the time to learn those facts.  How do you think you will ever come to a better knowledge of God if you don’t know what He said?  All it will be is a “bussenwuddy” on deaf ears.
 
For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:11-14
 
Dene Ward
 

The term “hermeneutics” comes from the god Hermes, the messenger and interpreter of Jupiter to man.  As such, it is a fitting word to describe the principles by which we interpret any piece of written material, especially the one from God.  The textbook I told you about yesterday gives a list called “Helps in Understanding the Bible.”  I think it is a remarkable list because we can all do these things.  It isn’t difficult.
            First, Professor Dungan says we should use plain old common sense.  I often find myself thinking that scholars try to muddy the waters just so they will be the only ones who really know what’s going on, but this one makes the specific point that the Bible was given to the common man to help him in his every day life, so it had to be practical.  Common sense in interpreting it is expected.
            Then he says something else you seldom see from a Biblical scholar these days, at least the ones on the Discovery and History channels—if you want to interpret the Bible correctly you must believe in its Divine inspiration.  I have often thought, “If you don’t, why bother?” and evidently the author agrees.
            He follows this with something that will be less popular—to interpret the scriptures you need “mental industry.”  By that he means the willingness to work at it, to expect something besides an easy-read comic book or pulp fiction.  Didn’t Jesus speak in parables for precisely that reason—so that the ones who cared enough to work at it would, and the rest, the unspiritual, would just ignore it?  You have to wonder about the sincerity of someone who always wants the easy way out.
            When I read the next one, I questioned him for the first time:  “spiritual purity.”  Not that I don’t believe we need to keep ourselves pure, but how can that help or hinder our understanding?  His reasoning reminded me of those same parables and the reason Jesus taught them.  “The gross mind will not apprehend the pure teaching of the Spirit of God.  Men may hear but not understand and in answer to the carnal wish, God may send a strong delusion, and the god of this world may blind the eyes of the unbelieving.”  That quote, alluding to Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians 2, makes excellent sense.  If I cannot understand the Bible, maybe it is because I don’t like what it says.  That passage should also scare me just a little.
            We are also told that we need a “correct translation.”  So many of these points build on one another.  If I want an easy read, I will probably wind up with an incorrect translation, and that desire for a no-work/easy-read probably says a lot about my lack of spirituality to begin with.
            Then he points out perhaps the most obvious thing:  if we want to understand the Bible, we should expect to understand it.  Would we ever read any other book expecting NOT to understand it?  In fact, I have put down books for that very reason—in trying to be “artistic” they have simply become incomprehensible.  The Biblical writers were not worried about “art.”  They all expected their readers to be better informed when they read their epistles.  “When you read this, you can perceive my understanding” Paul told the Ephesians (3:4).  The writer of my textbook says the Bible is “a sensible communication from God.”  To believe otherwise, turns God into a cruel and petty tyrant. 
            If you are having trouble figuring out what the Bible is all about, maybe you should check yourself against this list.  God wants a relationship with his children.  When my boys were young, they knew exactly what they could and could not get away with.  They knew exactly what was expected of them in any given situation.  They knew all of that was for their good, because we loved them more than our own lives.  Why would we ever think anything less of God?
 
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. John 8:42-43
 
Dene Ward

That was my reaction the first time I heard the word, “hermeneutics.”  Then Keith told me what it meant: rules of interpretation.  Immediately I was skeptical.  Just who determines these rules, especially when we are talking about interpreting the Bible?  So he bought me my own hermeneutics textbook entitled, appropriately enough, Hermeneutics, A Text-book, by D. R. Dungan.  For a textbook written by a professor it is one of the most practical books I have ever seen.  I was thrilled to discover that no one has determined the rules of hermeneutics.  The author simply sorted out and listed the rules we all follow every day without thinking about it.
            Last year I received a letter that told me I was to receive $700.  I could have approached that letter in many different ways.  I could have said, “This is a hoax,” and thrown it away.  I could have said, “This must be from a friend who knows we have a lot of medical bills,” and kept it, eagerly awaiting the gift.  I could have thought, “Keith must have applied for a loan,” and then sat down with the books and tried to figure out how we were going to repay it.
            So what did I do?  I looked at the return address—Internal Revenue Service.  I looked at the date—two weeks after I had mailed in our tax return.  I scoured the letter for clues about why I was to receive this money—I had made an error and they caught it.  Then, and only then, did I decide what to do about it.  Let them send me the extra money!
            I applied the principles of hermeneutics to that letter.  I asked myself, who is this from, when did they send it, why did they send it, and let that determine what it meant.  I do it every day.  So do you.  So does everyone else.  But for some reason people think you aren’t supposed to do that with the Bible.  They treat it like some big book of riddles that is impossible to figure out, or that each one of us can interpret to mean whatever we want.  Tell me, just how capricious do you think God is?  Will He say, “You have to please me to get to Heaven so here is an enigmatic book of rules.  Good luck figuring it out!” or will He give us a perfectly comprehensible guide for success?
            God is not willing that any should perish, Peter tells us.  He loved us enough to plan our salvation before he even made us, several writers say.  The Spirit, who knows the mind of God, inspired men to write the things we need to know so that we can say with full assurance, “I am saved.”  No one ever needs to wonder, or wish, or simply dream about having a relationship with their Creator.  It’s all down in black and white.  You can apply the same principles you apply every day of your life, and correctly interpret how to please God and receive the reward.  It may have been a mystery once, but now we know “whodunit” and why.
            Tomorrow we will talk a little more about how to interpret.
           
But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 1 Cor 2:9-12
 
Dene Ward

A long time ago, I invited a newcomer to our women’s Bible study and was shocked when she adamantly refused to come.  “I know what happens in those so-called classes,” she said.  “They gossip and try to run the church.”  I assured her that such was not the case in our class, but she soon left our congregation without ever giving us the opportunity to prove it. 
            That comment upset a lot of the women in that place, but you know, she had probably seen a class that did do those things.  I have heard of classes like that from others.  I have also visited in places where the cotton candy fluff being touted as serious Bible study was enough to turn me off as well.  Then I recently sat in a gathering of women where we were told that we probably had more interest in the teacher’s choice of makeup brand than in her qualifications to teach us.  Shame on us if that is true, and double shame for perpetuating it.
            Some shallow-minded women probably do sit on the pews in every meetinghouse—right beside men who spend more time talking sports, cars, and tools than they do Bible.  Trivial pursuit has nothing to do with gender; it is just that each gender considers the others’ more trivial than theirs.           Why we think that women are incapable of deep study and deep thought is a mystery.  I can bear witness to more deep discussions on a Tuesday morning than I have ever heard on Sundays or Wednesdays in a class dominated by male conversation.  It may be true that women are the practical ones who get things done, but that does not mean they cannot think!
            There have always been Marys, willing to sit at the Lord’s feet.  But just because Martha was busy serving—especially in John 12 where she was not chided by the Lord—does not mean she was not listening.  If women couldn’t cook supper and hear what was going on across the room at the same time, the family would fall apart.  At the death of her brother, Martha met Jesus with exactly the same words her sister did, Lord if you had been here, he would not have died, but she went on to add, and even now I  know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you, 11:21,22.  She then discussed the final resurrection with him.  Don’t tell me this woman was shallow because she knew how to cook.
            When Paul says to Timothy, From a babe you have known the sacred scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through Jesus Christ, 2 Tim 3:15, it wasn’t his Greek father who taught him that.  It was his mother and grandmother, and they taught him about Christ from the Old Testament in such a way that all of them could recognize him when he came along, something most of the scribes, priests, rabbis, and Pharisees, learned men that they were, could not do.
            In every place I have been, I have found a group of women who will spend hours studying the scriptures, who will dig deeply into subjects that confound even the great Biblical scholars.  They not only do it, they eat it up.  Once or twice, the growth of the women has finally inspired their men to study more, just so they wouldn’t be embarrassed.
            Today, ladies, I challenge you to study—to dig deeply into subjects you may have never even heard of.  Open your minds to ideas that may seem new and show God that you do care about Him and what He says, and not just the daily running of your homes.  If people think we cannot handle the depth, it is up to us to show them otherwise.  Don’t just get angry at the stereotypes, prove them false.
 
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.  And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-38.   

Dene Ward

Now that I have tried to encourage the late beginners, it’s time to work on the rest of us—the ones who have been there, claiming to lay hold on the hope of life eternal from childhood.
            I once had a 6 year old piano student who progressed faster than any other that age.  Her mother had limited her children to one extracurricular activity and this one chose piano.  Because she was limited in how thinly she spread herself by a wise parent who knew that even children can suffer from stress, she regularly practiced more than I asked of her and could pick up on concepts that often had older students completely stumped.  She had “trained her powers of discernment by constant practice.”  Is it any wonder that I was ready to put her in a competition her first year, instead of waiting a year as I usually did?  Is it any wonder that she won first place at her level at a state competition the first time she went?
            When I was a child, people in the church were known for their Bible knowledge.  What has happened to us?  People who have been Christians for thirty or forty years cannot find their way through the Old Testament.  They cannot quote standard proof-texts.  When they try to recall those basic old stories, Jacob winds up married to Rebekah and Isaac to Rachel; Moses builds the ark and Daniel gets tossed into the fiery furnace.  You hear them introducing the preacher as either the Pastor or THE Minister of the church, as if there were only supposed to be one person serving in God’s family.  Hosea’s warning rings frighteningly in my ears--My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, 4:6.
            When I was young, children actually came home from school every afternoon.  Families actually ate their evening meals together.  Television time and content was limited by parents who were home to supervise their children. 
            As we said last time, we apply the passage in Heb 5, what it takes to learn and grow, in every aspect of life BUT the one it was meant for.  We know what it takes to get a promotion at work, or to keep a job.  We know what it takes to pass a written driving test.  We know what we must do if we hope to learn anything new, whether a sport or art or subject we are interested in.  There is no excuse for not doing this with the subject we claim to be more important than any other in our lives.
            I find myself wondering what would happen if we made it a point to limit our children’s activities like the mother of my young student, so that there would be time for family Bible studies every night.  What if we turned that television off just one night a week, or turned it off one hour earlier every night so that we could study?  As a teacher, I can tell you what would happen.  We would KNOW God’s word, and with it in our hearts we could not help but BE better people.
           
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.  Psalm 119:10-16
 
Dene Ward

I taught piano from the time I was 16 years old, and earned a degree in music education (piano and vocal) with a stress on piano pedagogy.  It seemed the ideal way to help with our family income without leaving my children.  Indeed, my children were also my students, and any time I had to go out of town for a competition they went too.
            I had students ranging in ages from 4 to 80, and I usually found that the students on the extreme ends of that range were the ones who took most of my energy.  I once had a 70 year old from a town 30 miles distant.  He was a real joy because of his intense interest and zealous practice.  He studied his theory lessons so hard that he regularly came to his lesson with a list of questions that took nearly half his allotted time to answer. 
            Once, when we were studying chords, he despaired at ever being able to instantly play one from its symbol alone.  Memorizing the difference between an A7, Am7, Adim7, AMaj7, as well as the standard A, Am, A+, and Adim took him several minutes and a lot of concentration. 
            “You do it!” he once said in exasperation, pushing the theory book my way on the rack, and I calmly played them one after the other simply by reading the symbols.
            “How long till I can do that?” he grumbled.
            I reminded him that I have been at this since I was 7, and had four years of college theory under my belt, too.  It would be a shame if I couldn’t do it.
            That reminded me of Heb 5:12-14:   For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
            We apply that principle to life without thinking, as he did to his music lessons, but we want to make excuses when it comes to spiritual matters.  My student, because of his diligent practice and meditation on the theoretical aspects of music and harmony, had come a long way in a short time.  Though he might have been impatient with himself, when I asked him to go back to a piece he had struggled with the year before and he found it simple to play, he could recognize his growth and improvement.  He “trained himself with constant practice” and was ready for some pretty solid food in the way of piano compositions and music theory.
            It is easy to look down on yourself when all you see is your failings and others’ abilities.  If you became a Christian later in life, not having grown up with the Bible narratives taught in every children’s Bible class, not having heard sermon after sermon for years, it will be a struggle for you to catch up.  If you have simply sat on a pew handed down as if it were an inheritance, and only wakened to your commitment to the Lord as an adult, you might be behind, too. 
            There is a wealth of information in the scriptures, and as you get older, learning seems to take far more effort.  For me numbers especially become more and more confusing.  I remember passages because I memorized them as a child.  Start calling out numbers to me now and they will leave my mind immediately, or, if somehow remembered, will come out transposed. 
            Don’t give up—just practice more.  If a 70 year old man can learn chord symbols, if he can play thirteen major scales, and thirteen minors in all three variations, if he can become one of the best music students I ever had, you can certainly do the same for God.  And if you ever despair, take a look back a year or so ago.  Don’t you see the improvement?  Don’t you see the fruit of your effort?  You know more, you understand more, you can even answer questions you could not have comprehended when you first started.
            That is, you can, if you have been working at it.
 
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress, 1 Tim 4:15.
 
Dene Ward

Some time ago I watched as a congregation decided to de-emphasize the teaching of Bible facts and spend the vast majority of time on the "emotion" of religion.  The reasoning went like this—we have lost so many because all we teach is facts and we forgot to teach them to love God.  Hmmm.  I hope that I and many of my generation put the lie to that.  We were drilled on the facts, but we got the whole story every time, not just part of it so of course we learned to love God, and we also learned to obey Him because healthy fear was a part of that love just like it was when we thought about our parents.  The emphasis was always on God:  we learned facts because it was part of His Word and He expected us to know about Him and what He wanted from us.
            And that congregation I mentioned?  That shift in emphasis led to a whole generation that married Rebekah off to Abraham, propagated denominational errors (like the wise men at the birth of Jesus or the imputation of Christ's perfect life), had no knowledge of the need for Biblical authority, and thought any church would do if you were running late on Sunday morning.  And they lost just as many of the next generation as the method they were decrying did.
            God's Word is profound.  It is not a quick-read self-help book that can be taken up and put down at one's leisure, or just when a problem arises, and expect to get what God intended out of it.  And the only way to really understand those deep things is to know—wait for it!—FACTS!  The more you know, the more you understand, the more connections you see, the more amazement you feel and the more love and awe for your Creator you will have.  The facts beget the feelings, not the other way around.
            So yes, it is sometimes difficult to teach facts to children.  That is why I have come up with so many games to help them out.  You can check the gallery to see my David game and Prophets game.  I have another one about Moses leading the people through the wilderness to the Promised Land.  And then there are the memory verse relay races and the People, Places, or Things game.  All of these can be found in the archives under Bible Study.  Just keep scrolling down till you find them.  It will become obvious that I am neither creative nor an artist, but you don't need to be if the children are learning and enjoying it at the same time.  As they mature, the enjoyment will come from learning God's Word without fun and games.  Biblical discussions with knowledgeable people is its own source of pleasure.
            We have recently started a new game in the class I am now teaching, one a bit more sophisticated, for older students, say middle school and up.  You can use it for any list of people they are trying to memorize and learn about.  I have used it for the judges and recently, the apostles.
            First, you have to get those facts in their heads.  For example, I hand out a paper with the apostles' names in a list.  Then we go through it one by one, with the students adding all the names each apostle is known by.  Do your research and you will be surprised how many you find.  Peter is known by four names, Thaddeus, of all people, by three!  As they hear you say the names, then see them on the board, then feel their hands write the names on their papers, you are involving three of their five senses.  It is a principle of education—the more senses you involve, the easier it is to remember the facts. 
            Give them exactly one week to work on those names at home.  Then make up about 30 or 40 cards, depending on how many students you have.  You can use index cards, or index cards cut in half, or you can cut your own size cards out of card stock. Put the other names the apostles are known by on those cards—everything but the name we all call them, the standard list (Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Thomas, Matthew, Bartholomew, James the Less, Simon, Thaddeus, Judas—do not use these, unless one of them is also a lesser known name of an apostle, hint:  Simon, Judas).  You will want three or four copies of each card.
            At class, deal the cards 7 or 8 per student.  When you call out one of the standard names, they are to look in their hand to see if they have one of the other names for that apostle and hold it up.  They can only hold up one card.  For example, if they have both Simon and Cephas, and you call out Peter, they have to choose one of those cards.  If they hold up a correct card, you take it.  If they hold up an incorrect card, they keep it and draw another.  The first one to run out of cards is the winner.  At that point, everyone shows their leftover cards and you review exactly who they are.  I always tell the ones who did not "win" that it did not mean they did not know the right names because it also depends upon which ones I call out.  Obviously, you call out the ones with more names more often, but I also try to call out every apostle at least once before repeating any of them.
          The third week you can add the disambiguators like the names of parents, siblings, occupations, and hometowns or areas.  We really only know about 7 hometowns.  The rest we just know as Galileans.  This means you have to add more cards and you too, need to study more.
            And what will this teach the students besides just facts?  For one thing, it teaches them that learning is fun.  For another it helps them see these men as real people.  After all, they had parents, some of whom were also disciples.  They had brothers.  They had families to provide for. They had occupations which they left to follow Jesus, which meant this affected their families too.  1 Cor 9:5 tells us their wives followed them around as they preached.  Jesus became their lives, not just a hobby.   If there is anything we have trouble with today, it is realizing that Christianity must be your life, not just a Sunday morning tradition.
          After writing this, I realize how difficult it was to explain.  If you have questions, please include them below, or on the Facebook link, or even in an email from the Contact page.  We really need to get back to teaching facts if we ever hope to reach hearts.                 

Dene Ward