AN "EXPERT" WITH NO EXPERIENCE?!

"For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it."  (Hebrews 4:14 New King James Version)

This morning, I awoke at 3:50 a.m. to the sound of a secular overnight talk show host on a major 50,000 watt A.M. radio station.  I will admit I'm generally "not crazy about" the particular radio host who's on at that hour.   (The host's initials are "B.J.")  His personality, world-view, and philosophy of life could be described as pretty much exactly the opposite of mine.  Yet, I was very surprised at the topic:  "The Bible".  B.J.'s guest (by phone) was a brilliant British guy who has written a secular book about the Bible.  Factually, probably ninety percent of what the British guy had to say was correct, but he was not at all looking at the Bible from the point of view of faith in God and reverence toward God.   I found myself feeling both interested and empty as I listened, and that's a weird feeling, indeed!

About twenty minutes later, a suburban Boston priest who regularly calls this program was on the line.  The British guy was now gone, but the host was musing about all the questions he wished he'd had time to ask him about the Bible.  The priest proceeded to briefly touch on some of the B.J.'s questions and comments.  Now, the priest admittedly does come from a faith viewpoint, and I was more comfortable listening to him; but there was still the glaring feeling that something was just plain missing!   The host stated he'd like to spend a huge amount of time just reading the Bible verse by verse, and then immediately have a reference work to read which would explain the history, culture, literature, "relationship to science" and pretty much everything else you could think of relating to a Bible passage.  The priest kind of gave him a pleasant and cerebral "atta boy" and moved on.

I'm a big advocate of reading the Bible on a daily basis; and I'm a big advocate of making every effort to apply the Bible's teachings to real life.  Ironically, a little over a year ago, I was an in-studio guest at that very radio station, speaking to another of their hosts about that.   One might think I'd be delighted  with B.J.s desire to read through the Bible in a very scholarly, inquisitive, and "scientific" manner.  This may sound harsh, but that program this morning actually left me feeling sad and depressed!

Here's why:  While it's, of course, important to study the historical and cultural settings of passages you're reading and it's, of course, helpful to relate Biblical passages to other areas of life, the Bible is truly unique and it's God's Holy Word.  The men who spoke to B.J. this morning correctly stated that God did not dictate the Bible as a word-for-word manual for living.  Rather, God did use each writer's style, background, and personality.  And, the books of the Bible have very different purposes.  Leviticus has a very different purpose from Psalms, which has a very different purpose from the Gospel of John, which has a very different purpose from the Epistle to the Romans, which has a very different purpose from the Book of Revelation.  Yet, it's truly all a whole.   The Holy Spirit oversaw it's production and completion, and you'll never really "get" the Bible without the anointing and revelation of the Holy Spirit.

A person could have three Doctoral degrees, could be fluent in Biblical Greek and Hebrew, and could have scores of chapters of the Bible memorized; and yet really not know the God of the Bible!  There's a comedy film from the 1960s starring Rock Hudson entitled, "Man's Favorite Sport?".   In this film, Rock Hudson plays a fishing expert who has never been fishing in his entire life!  He has worked for years at a sporting goods store.  He listened to the advice of many experienced fisherman.  He came to know more about fishing than perhaps anyone on earth.  He wrote a best-selling book about fishing.  The funny part about the movie is that the man's boss enters him in a big fishing tournament at a lake resort.  The "experts" misadventures and buffoonery are hysterically funny.  That film makes a good point:  A person could be an "expert" with no experience!

As I wrote about B.J., he is nothing like me.  He'd probably "blow off" this piece if he ever read it.  My advice to him would be to indeed begin reading and studying the Bible, but far more importantly, to humbly ask God to speak to Him and reveal Himself to him, and to pray, "Lord, how can I know you?  Lord, what do you want me to do?"   Without that faith approach, I think he'd be better off studying something else- maybe motorcycles, another of his interests!