Being a disciple of Christ is hard enough, especially when you live in a post-industrial world. After all, most of the people of the Western Hemisphere have one or two cars, have a roof over their head, and have jobs. Now, this does not take into effect the issue of the working poor as a social status, or that most people in America live off of twenty dollars a day (I believe that was the statistic though stats are not always as reliable as we would like them to be). Most Westerner's have their own cellphones, tv, cable/Netflix/Hulu, gaming consoles and a computer (or two). What am I trying to get at? Well, we have a pretty cushy life compared to those in places like Mid-Sahara Africa, a place where the men farm to support their families, their children die still at birth, the average male lives to about thirty (again, I do not remember the stat exactly), and they live off of less than three (American) dollars a day. For them, the struggle is very real. To be a Christian in most places in Northern Africa is very dangerous. They literally rely on their faith in God to support their families. While here, in 'Murica, we think that when our rights are attacked we are struggling in our faith. There is a Church on every corner, as well as a Walmart, Home Depot, CVS, and Walgreens. In other words, learning how to be a Christian, the way that the original audience and authors' of the Bible taught is very difficult. This is why hermeneutics (the way we interpret scripture) is very important.
James W. Sire, an editor for Inter Varsity Press, has written a book on how to properly read scripture without taking it out of context. This will be the first book on this review page. The book is called
Scripture Twisting: 20 Ways the Cults Misread the Bible. I do not want to get too far into this because that is what the first post will be on, an analysis of his book. Until then, may God bless you and keep you. Please leave any remarks in the comment section below. If you have questions, I would love to answer them for you. Please subscribe for more.
C. Bohall
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