5.02.2005
Even When I'm Right, I'm Wrong
Ever experience this? It's a daily occurrence for me. My relationship with D. is where it shows up the most. D. and I have had almost daily conflict over our belief and worldview differences, and it infuriates me because her views are often not founded in the teachings of Scripture. But because I am frustrated and not compassionate towards her, I end up saying the right things the wrong way -- with condescension, derision and sarcasm. Then she ends up feeling bad about herself, angry with me and discouraged from following the path that I desperately want to see her walk.
I also had another experience with this phenomenon during the first service at church yesterday, where a member of my recovery group announced to me that I had hurt his feelings with comments I made about his use of 'The Message', and the use by Christians of 'The Message' in general.
I am very passionate about preserving the purity of the Word, and I believe that I am totally right in questioning the wisdom of using a paraphrase of Scripture as a teaching and/or learning tool for the Christian life. There are sermons, books and commentaries available to all to enhance their process of learning Biblical truth, but they all assume a basic accountability to a credible translation of the Bible. Users of 'The Message' are reading someone's interpretation of a Scriptural passage, often without realizing how different it is from the standard, accepted translations. For example, the Beatitudes become virtually unrecognizable in the hands of 'The Message'.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."becomes
"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you."You might call me a traditionalist, or even a legalist, but I definitely think something is lost in this paraphrase. Yes, the essential intent appears to remain, but just the fact that the verse is transformed from the third person plural to the second person singular (or plural, but I think the natural tendency would be to think singular) is just plain bad hermeneutics.
However, this brother's feelings were hurt. He felt as if I had attacked him personally and demeaned his spirituality. Bad for him, bad for me. And so I need to seek his forgiveness. Not for having an informed opinion on the subject, but for creating a stumbling block in his relationship to God and myself.
This humility business is tough work, I'll tell ya. I've got a long way to go.
- posted by The Drake @ 8:53 AM
