{"id":9432,"date":"2019-09-09T04:20:27","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T09:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=9432"},"modified":"2019-09-09T04:20:27","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T09:20:27","slug":"wikitheology-but-its-a-different-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=9432","title":{"rendered":"WikiTheology: But it\u2019s a different culture\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is an explanation of <\/span>WikiTheology<\/a>. For similar posts, see <\/span>why we have arms<\/a>, <\/span>why we don\u2019t eat snowy owls<\/a>, <\/span>why Hell might not be what you think<\/a>, <\/span>maybe Jesus just being overly dramatic<\/a><\/span>, and<\/span> <\/span>why your stomach still growls<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Question: The culture that Jesus lived in is so different than ours. How can we know that everything he said then is culturally relevant for today?<\/p>\n

Text where it stems from: The sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7)<\/p>\n

Me: Are there some commands that Jesus gave to his disciples that are not relevant for us? Yes! For example, he told the disciples to not go to certain cities. He told individuals to not tell others about him. He told people to pay their taxes to Cesar. He told his disciples to meet him in Galilee. None of those things are relevant to us. But does that mean that nothing is relevant for us? I think we would all say \u201cNo. There is much that is relevant for us!\u201d<\/p>\n

But how do we know the difference between what is relevant to us in the 21st century and what was only relevant to those standing beside Jesus in the 1st century, or even those who were listening to Moses in the 15th century before Christ, and what is relevant for us today? This question is part of what we call Hermeneutics, or \u201cthe discipline that studies theories of interpretation\u201d (Arthur G. Patzia and Anthony J. Petrotta, Pocket Dictionary of Biblical Studies (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002, 56).<\/p>\n

The Bible is a collection of 66 books written over the span of more than 1500 years by 40 authors. We also recognize that this collection we \u201cScripture\u201d is inspired by God, or given to us by God himself through human authors (2 Tim 3:16). We must take into account both the diversity and unity of authorship. Because of the nature of this revelation we must as well acknowledge its time-bound and timeless nature. This is distinct from other faiths such as Islam.<\/p>\n

Given the nature of the Bible, when we come to a certain text we must come to it as though we were three different audiences. We ask ourselves, \u201cHow would I have understood this if I were the original audience?\u201d Then we ask, \u201cWhat does this reveal in a timeless way about God and mankind throughout all history?\u201d And finally we can ask, \u201cHow does this apply to me as part of the present audience?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n[This mashup of the COMA questions and the Flow of Bible study did not originate with us. See One to One Bible Reading by Helm and also this post by Michael Patton<\/a>]\n

You may think, but that sounds like a lot of work! Yes. Yes it is. The Bible is a big book, and if we don\u2019t take our reading of it seriously we could arrive at the point of where we are sacrificing goats and chickens, or rejecting the whole book outright. For example, you may have heard statements such as, \u201cIf you are going to say that a certain sexual behavior is wrong, you can\u2019t eat pork either because Leviticus says you can\u2019t!\u201d Given what you have read, how would you respond?<\/p>\n

So, was the culture of Jesus different than ours? Certainly. Does this mean that nothing is relevant for us? Absolutely not. The words of Jesus, and all of Scripture as the revelation of God, are essential to our life and godliness (2 Peter 1), and although they are difficult to understand at times (2 Peter 3), they are the words of life (John 6).<\/p>\n

Si la cultura de Jes\u00fas fue tan diferente de la nuestra \u00bfc\u00f3mo sabemos que sus palabras son relevantes para nosotros?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00bfHay algunos mandatos que Jes\u00fas dio a sus disc\u00edpulos que no son relevantes para nosotros? \u00a1S\u00ed! Por ejemplo, dijo a sus disc\u00edpulos no ir a algunas ciudades. Dijo a algunos no hablar de \u00e9l a otros. Dijo que todos deben pagar sus impuestos al Cesar. Mand\u00f3 que sus disc\u00edpulos fuesen a Galilea para reunirse con \u00e9l. Ninguno de estos son \u201crelevantes\u201d para nosotros. \u00bfPero significa que no hay nada relevante para nosotros? Creo que todos de nosotros dir\u00edamos \u201cNo. Hay mucho que es relevante para nosotros.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pero nos lleva a otra pregunta. \u00bfC\u00f3mo sabemos la diferencia entre lo que es relevante para nosotros en el siglo XXI y lo que fue relevante solo para ellos de pie al lado de Jes\u00fas en el siglo I, o incluso a ellos escuchando a Moises en el siglo XV antes de Cristo? Esta pregunta es parte de lo que llamas Hermen\u00e9utica, o, \u201cla disciplina que estudia las teor\u00edas de interpretaci\u00f3n\u201d (Arthur G. Patzia and Anthony J. Petrotta, Pocket Dictionary of Biblical Studies (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002, 56).<\/p>\n

La Biblia es una colecci\u00f3n de 66 libros escritos durante m\u00e1s de 1500 a\u00f1os por 40 autores. Tambi\u00e9n sabemos que esta colecci\u00f3n que llamamos \u201cLas Escrituras\u201d es inspirada por Dios, dada por Dios mismo por medio de autores humanos (2 Timoteo 3:16). Tenemos que reconocer la diversidad y la unidad de la autor\u00eda. Por causa de la naturaleza de esta revelaci\u00f3n tambi\u00e9n tenemos que reconocer su naturaleza como eterna y, a la misma vez, temporal. Esta declaraci\u00f3n distingue Cristianismo de muchas religiones, como Islam.<\/p>\n

Dada la naturaleza de la Biblia, cuando leemos un texto tenemos que pensar como si fu\u00e9semos tres diferentes audiencias. Nos preguntamos, \u201c\u00bfC\u00f3mo lo hubiera entendido si yo hubiese sido la audiencia original?\u201d Despu\u00e9s, nos preguntamos, \u00bfQu\u00e9 nos revela, en su aspecto intemporal, de Dios y la humanidad a lo largo de la historia?\u201d Y finalmente, nos preguntamos, \u201c\u00bfC\u00f3mo se aplica a mi este pasaje, siendo yo como la audiencia presente?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n[Estas preguntas y “audiencias” no tienen su origin con nosotros. Puedes consultar “One to One Bible Reading” por Helm y tambi\u00e9n este blog<\/a>]\n

Probablemente piensas, \u201c\u00a1Me parece mucho trabajo!\u201d S\u00ed. Lo es. La Biblia es un libro grande e importante, y si no lo tomamos en serio, podr\u00edamos llegar a un momento en el que sacrificar\u00edamos cabras y gallinas, o rechazar\u00edamos el libro por completo.<\/p>\n

\u00bfHas escuchado declaraciones como, \u201cSi vas a decir que este tipo de acto sexual es malo, tampoco puedes comer jam\u00f3n porque Lev\u00edtico dice que no!\u201d Seg\u00fan lo que has le\u00eddo, \u00bfc\u00f3mo responder\u00edas?<\/p>\n

A ver, \u00bfla cultura de Jes\u00fas fue diferente que la nuestra? Claro. \u00bfSignifica que no hay nada relevante para nosotros? De ninguna manera. Las palabras de Jes\u00fas, y de todas las Escrituras como la revelaci\u00f3n de Dios, son esenciales para nuestra vida y piedad (2 Pedro 1), y aunque son dif\u00edciles de entender a veces (2 Pedro 3), son palabras de vida (Juan 6).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is an explanation of WikiTheology. For similar posts, see why we have arms, why we don\u2019t eat snowy owls, why Hell might not be what you think, maybe Jesus just being overly dramatic, and why your stomach still growls. Question: The culture that Jesus lived in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15,97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible","category-wikitheology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scquest.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_6652.jpg?fit=960%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34kFn-2s8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}