Hokay, so the other night I watched this movie that was SOOOOOOOOO confusing. It's called Snatch and honestly I have no idea what the movie was about. I was warned ahead of time that I would have difficulty understanding the movie, so I decided it was time to buck up and try extra hard. Five minutes after the movie started, my friend paused and said "Chessy, do you understand what's happening? " Um, NO! Was this some joke I wasn't in on? Surely this couldn't be the REAL movie he brought for us to watch. The actors were speaking some garbled form of gibberish that allegedly was English. My friend reassured me this was a solid movie that I would like, so I decided that maybe the issue was that I couldn't hear well enough. (After all I was positioned at least 20 feet away from the TV next to the running dishwasher and the rest of my friends were only 10 feet away.) I turned off the dishwasher and he turned up the volume. [5 min later]. "Chessy, do you understand what's happening? " Ugh, no! Still optimistic, my friends reasoned that I was simply sitting too far away to hear, so one guy offers up his prime seat, 5 feet away from the TV. I agree and sit in the leather love seat excited that there is still plenty of time left for me to understand and enjoy this movie. [5 min later]. All 4 guys watching the movie with me start cracking up over a certain scene and I remain silent. They ask me if I understand what was just said, and I give them the head nod, rationalizing to myself that it must have been a joke only guys would think is funny. [5 min later]. All four guys PLUS my one girl friend start laughing. BLAST! Okay, maybe I just can't focus because my blood sugar is low and my brain is fried from calculating the present value of bonds all day. Surely once I eat some apple crisp, I'll be recharged, and better able to discern the words coming out of the actors’ mouths. Post-apple crisp gorging, I regain my prime seat ready to show this movie who is boss. [5 min later]. I am still LOST and to top it off Brad Pitt just took his shirt off so focusing becomes even more difficult. I decide to swallow my pride and ask my friend to put on subtitles (I felt like this was on par with requesting bumper pads at a bowling alley or training wheels on a bicycle). We then try to put on subtitles as a few other guys admit that occasionally they can't understand what is being said. To our disappointment subtitles aren’t available because the movie is a pirated copy, bought in a sketchy alley in Thailand. FAIL . We decide to press on, with my one friend agreeing to pause every few minutes and explain to me what just happened.
The morale of this story is that on my own, my comprehension of Snatch was limited. I was only able to discern facts based on what I could see with my eyes (Benicio Del Toro is shot dead, briefcase gets stolen, dog steals diamond, etc). However, with the help of my friend serving as an interpreter/teacher, I was able to piece together the facts to understand the full story. Shortly after my experience, I realized this is exactly what it can be like when someone tries to read the Bible. Although the Bible, like Snatch, is available in English, it is extremely complex and often times very difficult to understand. However, with the help of someone else to interpret the Bible for us, we can enhance our overall understanding and experience. The parallel is as follows:
On your own, the Bible can come off as utter foolishness and thus be hard to understand
Experts are available to increase understanding of the Bible
So how on earth then can we increase our chances for comprehension of the Bible? Simple. find an expert who can interpret it for you! I would say God via the Holy Spirit is a great choice! Just as the Holy Spirit guided prophets to deliver the word of God (2 Peter 1:20-21) and guided the apostles in the writing of the New Testament, He also guides us in the understanding of Scripture.
You need access to the expert in order to get help understanding!
With the Bible, the expert (Holy Spirit) is accessible to anyone who has decided to start a personal relationship with Christ. We know this because the Bible clearly states that the Holy Spirit will physically come to live inside a person once he/she becomes a believer.(1 John 4:13-15)
To the Christians reading this…what if for your friends/co-workers, your life is the only Bible they will ever read? Knowing that they are only discerning information based on what they see, how would you change your behaviors and actions to ensure they get an accurate picture of the gospel?
To everyone else…please don’t let this discourage you from reading the Bible. During the first six months when I was first in a Bible study, I didn’t understand jack. At the time, I didn't have a relationship with Christ so my understanding of the Bible came from what I learned at church and what Christians in my small group taught me. Also, keep in mind that if you truly are wanting to seek God , you will find him (Jeremiah 29:13, Deuteronomy 4:29).
If ya don’t know, now ya know, hommie.
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