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Introduction:
Hermeneutics
Derek Poole
Comment
Alan Wilson
From
the Director
David Porter
What
is Hermeneutics?
Brendan W Devitt
The
Bible and the Church
Alwyn Thomson
Hear
the Word of the Lord
David Bruce
Patience:
An attribute of love
Graham Cheesman
The
Bible and Christ
Alwyn Thomson
Understanding
Scripture: Issues of Gender
Fran Porter
The
Bible and the Christian Life
Alwyn Thomson
Take
me to the Theatre
Steve Stockman
Anabaptist
Hermeneutics
Walter Klassen
Reading
the Bible Then and Now
Alwyn Thomson
Cross-Cultural
Communication
Alan Wilson
THE
HEART OF HERMENEUTICS IS THE HEART
How is your Flemish? A strange question you may think in the light of
the topic - hermeneutics. One word, which our English Language has adopted
from the Flemish language, is the word 'apartheid'. The word was the legal
term used when referring to a law, documented as an act, encouraging separation
by the coding of class, origin, colour of skin, religion or cultural background.
From 1948 until its collapse in the early nineties apartheid caused untold
suffering and oppression for the majority of coloured people in South
Africa.
However, one of the saddest things about apartheid is its roots. Apartheid was originally propagated by the Dutch Reformed Church, who believed that the body of Christ, though one family, should be ministered to in different churches. These reformed, evangelical Christians based their practice of apartheid on a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the word of God. Some people have a statistical approach to the Bible. They can make it say what they want it to say, and like the early Afrikaners, can even find justification for sectarian prejudice and tribal hatred.
Most of us who are reading this article would be quick to condemn apartheid and all it stands for. We would never misuse the word of God in such a way. Yet, if the truth was really known, we often apply the same principles of interpretation used by the early Dutch reformers, and still used by many modem cults. We often take verses out of context. We tend to ignore large portions of scriptures, and apply the text in ways the author never intended it to be applied. Often our misuse of the Bible has shattered the mirror of God's word, and we end up with a disfigured view of both ourselves and God. Sometimes we treat the Bible like a portion of fairy dust; we grasp some obscure promise and claim it, hoping ilwill make all our pain go away. But our pain does not go away, and we become confused and faithless.
The most important requirement for healthy hermeneutics is having the right heart. My problem with understanding and rightly applying it to my life is never an intellectual problem. Of course there are many things I do not understand, and there will be many times when my mind will be stretched. However, the real issue is what is in my heart. The early Dutch reformers came to the Bible with a heart full of pride and superiority, thus making it easy for them to do spiritual and intellectual somersaults and find justification for condoning apartheid.
The attitude of our hearts is the filter through which we process the word of God and its claim upon our lives. If we have hearts that are full of anger, pride, envy, selfishness, or any other sinful attitude, then we are going to interpret and apply it in the light of those attitudes. This will eventually lead us to use the word of God to control, damage and destroy others, and before we know it we will have developed our own mini apartheid system. We become exclusive, we withdraw from one another, we foster a self-righteous superiority, we judge people solely on external evidence. The heart of hermeneutics is the heart. We need to read the word of God with broken, contrite, submissive hearts, with no hidden agenda; the alternatives are too scary to imagine.
Alan Wilson - member of Milltown Baptist Church, Belfast. He has recently returned from a two-year spell with a Baptist Missions outreach team in Donegal.
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