you make a better door than a window

i've been thinking about something ever since i read Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. every single person has their own interpretation of the Bible...based on their opinions and experiences. if this is the case, then every time someone claims that they go to a church that "simply teaches the Bible"...well, they're wrong. they're all teaching some biased interpretation of the Bible and claiming that their interpretation is the right one. this led me to think about something else...

the Bible is living and active. it is to be experienced. if this is the case, then why do we not see the incredible impact of it? why are we dissecting it instead of experiencing it? why are we telling Jesus instead of helping people encounter Jesus themselves? are we devoted to words instead of message? Rob Bell said, "inspired words have a way of getting under our skin and taking on a life of their own. they work on us. we started out reading them, but they end up reading us. this is what happens when the Bible becomes living and active."

so...it dawned on me...i really believe the church has destroyed what God meant by "teaching" and "preaching." think about the rabbinical fashion in which Jesus taught...He sat down to teach and engaged people. asking questions and meeting them where they were at. maybe we need to stop lecturing people in churches and impressing on them one person's experience with Jesus or with Scripture, and instead give the Body the opportunity to interact with Jesus and the passage themselves, in community? what do you think that would look like?

2 Timothy 2:14 says, "warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value and only ruins those who listen."

1 Timothy 1:3-7 says, "...so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. these promote controversies rather than God's work--which is by faith. the goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. they want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm."

words do not transform lives. encountering Jesus does.

the closest thing to "Church" i have ever experienced has never taken place at an actual church. it's taken place in small rooms with people talking together, sharing together, thinking together, asking hard questions together, reading together, sharing dreams and struggles together, eating together, laughing together, being together...with Jesus. how hard is that? it's not. we've complicated one of the most beautifully simple things God's given us.

how many times have we taken notes in church, stuck them in our Bible and forgotten them? why? because truth is a Person...not facts. facts and interpretations do not invoke passion. we learn truth in relationship because Truth is a Person.

amazing to think that in the effort to inform people about Jesus, we may actually be getting in the way of them knowing Him.