General Hermeneutical Thoughts

During this semester in school, I have been studying the topic of hermeneutics. A fancy word that basically means we are learning how to study the Bible well. It may seem at first glance to be a relatively non essential class. Some would even argue that the Holy Spirit helps you to understand when you read so why learn how to understand. But there was a thought in one of my textbooks that made an excellent point. The general idea was a challenge to truly study the Bible. If one only grabs from Scripture the lessons of a casual reading, there are numerous unintended consequences. The first is that you tend to read only those things that seem to make sense to you. Thus without more focused study, many passages that don't make sense at first glance will be neglected. Secondly then you will eventually begin to only see what you have already learned. If there is never education or study in certain areas of knowledge, you will only bring to the text what you already knew. Over time, this will render the Word quite shallow and repetitive. This is not the fault of the Bible but the failure of the reader to truly grasp what the Bible is. The third consequence is that in the interest of preserving interest, you are more likely to find "new" and "exciting" meanings to the text which are incorrect. The natural mind cannot understand the things of God and the natural (or non spiritually focused) mind will look for meanings based upon human comprehension.  I guess that what I realized upon reading these warnings was why many people struggle with or don't find purpose in daily reading of the Bible. Without real study, many things begin to look the same and the concept of lighthearted reading doesn't accomplish very much. The meaning of Scripture is forever bound first in what the Bible meant to the original reader. To get to the point of truly understanding Scripture, you must cross the cultural, philosophical and other barriers to place yourself in the place of the original reader. Crossing those barriers takes work and study and time. But it is that focus which opens the door to truly grasping and loving the Word of God. If you are interested in how to do this, I have a few good books which help you learn the steps toward understanding all of Scripture better.