DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997           TAG: 9711270074

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E5   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: Issues of Faith 

SOURCE: Betsy Wright

                                            LENGTH:   92 lines

UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE: READERS HAVE LAST WORD

Following are more reader responses to Betsy Wright's recent series, ``Understanding the Bible.''

From the Rev. Kevin I. Wilson of Highland Baptist Church in Portsmouth: `` unpleasant at times. Discipline and correction generally are.

``I would like to inquire from the parents who may be reading this, however, if they allow their teenage children to `interpret' their curfews? Now I'm reasonably certain that the majority of youth at some point attempt this and we parents instantly know what is going on. It's not that they didn't understand what the parent said, they just didn't like what the parent said. Does the parent then modify and acquiesce to what the young person wanted or is the young person going to conform?

``It is that basic and simple (with) God's Word. ... If the Bible only `contains' the Word of God and no two people can agree on what those parts are, how can God hold you accountable? He can't, but He will. ... ''

From the Rev. Jack Austin of Virginia Beach: ``I have developed an acronym that many students have found to be a helpful tool for Bible study, according to the S.T.R.E.E.T. where one lives:

``S - the Scripture itself. How often we assume we know what a particular text says, but on examination, find we have added interpretation?

``T - Translation and Tradition. Every translation is an interpretation, often reflecting the tradition of the translator.

``R - Reason. What is the most reasonable understanding of the Scripture?

``E - Evidence. Applying other disciplines, such as archaeology, geology, astronomy, history, etc.

``E - Experience. What does God say to you, the reader, in this passage? Luther observed that the written word is not `God's Word' until God speaks through the word to the one listening for God.

``T - Theology, a God-word. How does the passage inform the reader about the nature and purpose of God?

``In teaching, in both college and church settings, the students quickly understand that a variety of understandings are possible, according to the `street' where you or I live.''

From Dick Daily of Virginia Beach: ``Your concluding statement (in the final series installment) was `the thing (God) wants most from us is faith.' From my own study of the Bible, it is easy to see how a reader can come to this conclusion. However, I think the thing God wants most from us is greatly understated by the single word `faith' and is best summed up in ... 1 Corinthians 13:13. Paul says, `And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love' ''

From Steve Summers of Chesapeake: `` ... It is when you state the Bible merely `contains the Word of God' that you falter in your logic. ... (The Bible) is the Word of God. ... (It is) not merely a vessel that contains the word. ...

``Through the real-life experiences of men and women in the Bible, God's story is told. Their world-views, agendas, intelligence, level of technology and social status make the story no less accurate or divine. They make it inspired! ... ''

From Rabbi Israel Zoberman of Congregation Beth Chaverim in Virginia Beach: ``The Hebrew Scriptures are to be viewed Jewishly in the context of later interpretation by the rabbis, which is a continuous process connecting the past, present and future. Thus Torah - in its connotation as `teaching' - is an open vessel responding to an ever-evolving reality.

``The biblical legacy is ultimately a record of the unique relationship between God and the people of Israel within the confines of human history. It addresses the complex nature of that bond, with its natural ups and downs. While both partners to the covenantal embrace never quite give up on one another, they are ever-challenged to regard mutual aspirations, needs and frustrations.

``(The Bible) includes fact and myth, memory and reconstruction, with various versions of events dwelling side-by-side, and all attesting to the truth that life consists of all those components. That, however, does not detract from our sacred attachment to an eternal book that, more than any other, has guided a humanity not always seriously receptive to its lessons. It only lends it more credibility.''

From Jim Grace of Virginia Beach: ``I suggest that the Bible is the result of three events. First and foremost, there is the miracle of God's intervention in human affairs down through history, (whereby) he left `fingerprints.' Next came mankind's realization that there were fingerprints and to whom those fingerprints belonged. Finally there was mankind's impassioned effort to document those fingerprints, which included the prayer and meditation process of determining which documents were divinely inspired.''

``This documentation effort set the stage for mankind to use the Bible as its guidebook to spiritual fulfillment through establishing personal relationships with the Almighty. ... ''

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