Being ‘Misunderstood’ [v265]

MARCH 2021

Successful communication takes place when the receiver correctly interprets the sender’s message. However, ‘MISUNDERSTANDING’ the message can lead to disastrous consequences!

 

Why do miscommunication and misunderstandings happen? Well, humans communicate with each other across time, space, and contexts. Those contexts are often thought of as the particular combinations of people comprising a communication situation.

When a statement or remark is quoted out of context, the circumstances in which it was said are not correctly reported, it makes it mean something different from the meaning that was intended.

[ VIDEO: “Who’s On First” – Abbott and Costello ]

 

Have you ever been misquoted? Has something you’ve said been taken out of context and used against you? It can be more than frustrating. When it happens, there is a burning desire to set the record straight, to justify and defend ourselves against false information that may paint us in a negative light.

These situations can start quite innocently. Imagine a loved one overhearing a conversation you are having with someone on the phone. Because they are only hearing one side of it, they don’t have the context of what is being said, or why. Assumptions can be made and inappropriate conclusions are drawn.

In today’s information age, the world is swarming with ‘Photoshopped’ pictures and edited sound bites, bits of information that can easily be misinterpreted and misused if taken out of their original context. We see this in political circles, where candidates may find their words being edited or used in a way to undermine their integrity, or to make them look foolish or extreme in their views.

 

So, the following are some examples of “contextomy,” the practice of misquoting someone by shortening the quotation or by leaving out surrounding words or sentences that would place the quotation in context.

 

FAMOUS QUOTES INCORRECTLY INTERPRETED
Whether it is a Facebook status or a bumper sticker, everyone loves a great quote. However, some of the most famous quotes in history, from Gandhi to Mark Twain, don’t say what you think they say.

Here are some famous misquotes, from the slightly altered to the completely changed.

“Curiosity killed the cat.”
The popular version is again abridged from a longer statement: “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.” The last half of the phrase drastically changes it—because the cats get to live now. So then, cat death = preventable.

“Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
This is a slight misquotation from one of Lord John Dalberg-Acton’s writings, a famous British historian from the nineteenth century. Lord Acton actually wrote: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But his next sentence is the more important exclamation point on the idea: “Great men are always bad men.”

“No rest for the wicked.”
This phrase is often used as a busy person excuse for staying up late, and it might be true, but the quote originated as a misquote from the Bible. Isaiah 15:21 reads: “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” The words “rest” and “peace” are related to each other, but the idea of sleep completely changes its meaning. It’s about finding solace, not a nap.

“Blood is thicker than water.”
This is one of many Bible verses that has been misadapted for common use, because the word “convenant” doesn’t roll off the tongue in everyday use. However, the real version completely changes the meaning. The quote comes from: “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” This actually means that blood shed in battle bonds soldiers more strongly than simple genetics. Although we commonly use it to suggest the strength of family ties, it doesn’t refer to family at all.

“Starve a cold, feed a fever.”
This is both a misquote and potentially bad medical advice. The quote dates back to around 1574, when writer John Withals claimed, “Fasting is a great remedie of fever.” However, the original version of the quote suggests the opposite: “If you starve a cold, you’ll have to feed a fever.”

“My country, right or wrong.”
This is one of those quotes used to justify war. However, the real version of the quote doesn’t tell us to go blindly into that good combat. Uttered by Carl Schurz in 1872, the real version is: “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”

“Now is the winter of our discontent.”
There’s a scene in “Reality Bites” where Ethan Hawke uses this quote for his answering machine, as an ironic statement on the existential darkness of his soul. However, the actual line from Shakespeare’s Richard III goes: “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York.” It doesn’t refer to darkness at all, but is meant to indicate that something good has happened.

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”
This is a misquote of Alexander Pope’s original statement, “A little learning is a dangerous thing.”

 

‘ASSUME’ YOU WILL BE MISUNDERSTOOD
Everyone hates to be misunderstood. In fact, it can be very frustrating when one can’t seem to get someone to understand what they are trying to say.

 

In spite of our best intentions, we have all been misunderstood. What we say sometimes is not what people hear.

You’ve probably heard this statement. “I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

 

You and I don’t communicate as well as we think we do. We don’t speak as clearly as we intend, and we don’t interpret the things other people say as well as we think we do, either.

When someone speaks, and we try to understand what they are saying, it often seems simple. It often feels like we are just retrieving the meanings of words from our mental dictionaries, paying attention to the order of the words and the sentence structure, and waiting for the meaning to leap off the ‘page’.

If speakers just meant what they said, said what they meant, and did this faithfully, they 100% of the time—as long as listeners pay attention—all would be well. BUT, that’s NEVER going to happen!

Unfortunately, this is not how communication happens in real-time in the real world. In real-time, people leave out important details. They go on ‘rabbit trails’. Their words are shrouded in vagueness. They use pronouns with unclear referents. They use words that have multiple meanings. They change subjects without warning. They rely on obscure assumptions. They imply things rather than stating them explicitly. Sometimes people don’t even trust their own intentions!

Sometimes listeners don’t listen carefully enough, and sometimes they make reasonable assumptions that turn out to be wrong.

 

So, someone says something, we hear it and make an initial ‘parsing’ of the words, terms, phrases, and clauses. However, the person almost never has enough information to determine the speaker’s meaning. They must treat the words, terms, phrases, clauses, and overall sentence structure as ‘clues’. They must combine those clues with other clues in order to try to infer the intended meaning.

It’s something like: text + context = meaning.

However, generally speaking, interpretation is not a linear process. Instead, when we interpret something, we must fiddle with various ‘factors’ until we find a coherent context—and a setting for any of the factors can make settings for any of the other factors more or less likely.

[ “Factors Governing Interpretation” – Jim Stone, Ph.D. ]

 

So, here is an example. If a friend says, “It is cold in here,” one’s initial interpretation might be that they are informing us about the temperature of the room. However, it is possible that one might also infer that they might be talking about the ‘temperature’ of the conversation (disinterested, cruel, or harsh).

The thing is, if one notices that they are shivering and that the window they are standing next to is open, one could probably more accurately infer that part of their meaning was not stated explicitly and they probably would like us to close the window!

 

Now, sometimes our default settings work well enough, and we arrive at a plausible interpretation with little to no noticeable effort. However, other times, even though we work at it, we fail to find a coherent interpretation. When this happens, if we have time and inclination, we might try to gather more clues by asking some clarifying questions.

 

The thing is, the wrong choice about word meanings can cause us to talk ‘past’ each other. The wrong background assumptions, or failing to take the context of the discussion into account, can cause us to miss the point.

Choosing values for word meanings, grammatical structure, speaker psychology, background assumptions, and intended implications are all essential for good interpretation. But it is also easy to ‘guess’ wrong.

 

If we want to reduce the extent to which we are part of the problem, here are some ‘rules of thumb’ that just may help:

– Assume ethical responsibility for your interpretation of the words
– Be skeptical about your ability to get an accurate reading on the first try
– Be skeptical about the ability of the person to communicate accurately on their first try
– Make a ‘charitable’ interpretation
– Consider the context
– Audit yourself for misinterpretation
– Ask clarifying questions
– Assume you will be misunderstood when responding
– Learn to predict the ways you might be misunderstood
– Prefacing your remarks with disclaimers, by adding a bit of clarification
– Be cautious with sarcasm and satire
– Know that you are NOT alone. Interpretation is a complex, non-linear process, and easy to get wrong.

Most of these rules of thumb are reminders to us all that we have misinterpreted others often in the past, and will likely continue to do so in the future. That said, with more practice, and the desire to understand everyone CAN DO even better in the future!

 

COMMUNICATION/PERCEPTION
In general, there are eight essential ‘components’ when we talk about the communication process. These are: Source, Message, Channel, Receiver, Decoding, Feedback, Environment, Context, and Interference.

Communication is a process that concerns an exchange of ideas and facts between two or more entities, to achieve a mutual idea, and to understand is to perceive, to interpret, and to relate our perception and interpretation to what we already know.

SOURCE:
The source is the one that is looking for information or to present information to another.

MESSAGE:
The message is the stimulus or meaning produced by the source for the receiver or audience. By choosing just the right order of the words brought together with grammar and organization with the writing style, punctuation, and the headings and formatting that they choose to convey the intended meaning. In addition, part of the message may be the environment or context they present it in, and the ‘noise’ that might make their message hard to understand.

CHANNEL:
The channel is the way in which a message or messages travel between source and receiver.

Spoken channels include face-to-face conversations, speeches, telephone conversations and voice mail messages, radio, public address systems, and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Written channels include letters, memorandums, purchase orders, invoices, newspaper and magazine articles, blogs, e-mail, text messages, tweets, TV, the Internet, and so forth.

RECEIVER:
The receiver receives the message from the source, analyzing and interpreting the message in ways both intended and unintended by the source.

As a receiver. one listens, visualizes, touches, smells, and/or tastes to try to understand the message.

DECODING:
The receiver has to extract the meaning from the symbols sent by the sender and understand completely what they need.

FEEDBACK:
When one responds to the source, intentionally or unintentionally, they are giving feedback. Feedback is composed of messages the receiver sends back to the source. Verbal or nonverbal, all these feedback signals allow the source to determine how well, how accurately (or how poorly and inaccurately) the message was received.

As the amount of feedback increases, the accuracy of communication also increases.

ENVIRONMENT:
The environment is the atmosphere, physical and psychological, where you send and receive messages.

The choice of the channel sometimes is influenced by the environment.

CONTEXT:
The context of the communication interaction involves the setting, scene, and expectations of the individuals involved.

A presentation or discussion does not take place as an isolated ‘event’. When one ‘meets’ to have a conversation, they come from somewhere—as did the ‘source’ person. The degree to which the environment is formal or informal depends on the contextual expectations for communication held by the participants.

Context is all about what people expect from each other, and we often create those expectations out of environmental ‘cues’.

INTERFERENCE:
Interference, also called noise, can come from any source. Interference is anything that blocks or changes the source’s intended meaning of the message.

Psychological noise is what happens when your thoughts occupy your attention while you are hearing, or reading, a message. This also can be any sort of interference that affects the message being sent, received, or understood. It can be as literal as static over a phone line or radio or as esoteric as misinterpreting a local custom.

 

After considering all these ‘components’, it is amazing that any of us understands anyone else! ;^D

 

HOW TO ‘AVOID’ BEING MISUNDERSTOOD
So, now we understand why there might be a disconnect between what one intends and how they are ‘coming across’. Here are suggestions to try to avoid misunderstandings, by closing any ‘gap’ between one’s intentions and their actual ‘impact’ on others.

– Be clear
– State your intentions
– Ask for the other person’s perspective first
– Seek to reconcile different perspectives

 

So, do you often feel as though, no matter how clearly you think you are communicating, your message is misinterpreted?

Author George Bernard Shaw put it this way: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” So, it there any ‘hope’?

 

Well, depending on the ‘filter’ that your listener is putting your message through, communicating effectively means not only taking responsibility for what you say but also for how you are being heard. Perhaps the most useful, simple way to determine other people’s listening filters is to understand the other person’s ‘driving’ needs.

Psychologist Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg said, “Behind every action, there is a hunger to meet needs.” He lists nine fundamental human needs (basic filters through which one is being heard): Affection; Creation; Recreation; Freedom; Identity; Understanding; Participation; Protection; and Subsistence.

So, with all the ‘complexity’ involved with proper communications, to make sure your true intention has been communicated, ask your listener to REPEAT BACK to you what they think they heard.

In most situations, however, we can’t be that sure how what we’re saying has been heard, so it’s always best to ask. It may sound exhausting but, if you don’t want to be known as bossy or hedonistic—to name just a couple of distinct possibilities—you need to check what they actually heard and how they interpreted it. Letting your listener know what is behind your action or request will make it less likely that they will layer their own (incorrect) interpretation.

Then, of course, one becomes a better listener by repeating back what they heard and asking the speaker if that’s what they meant.

 

Once you get the hang of taking responsibility for being understood, conversations tend to be more productive, efficient, and accurate.

So, by being aware that everyone (including you) is unconsciously listening through a powerfully distorting ‘filter’, you will be much better prepared to make certain you are not misunderstood within the ‘echo chamber’ of their needs.

 

The next thing to do is to understand that the words a person speaks—as well as all the other information in the situation—are like ‘clues’. We are trying to decode and unravel the ‘mystery’ of what their intentions are.

So, in a way, we are all like Sherlock Holmes. We’re looking at every ‘clue’ in order to understand someone’s intentions. However, often there are very few clues. We have the words people have said, and in physical instances, we also have their posture, gesture, facial expression, the rate, volume, and pitch of their speech, and the circumstances. We then have the context, what we know about what they know, what we know about they know I know, our past history, All these things are clues to what they might mean.

But, in the end, I have to make ‘inferences’. Even when we are like Sherlock Holmes—putting all the clues together and solving the mystery—the problem is that the clues are often incomplete, and therefore we can come to the wrong conclusion and still can misinterpret someone’s meaning.

So, we just have to come to the understanding that communication is ‘risky’ and one of those risks is that people will not solve the mystery of our intentions correctly because we haven’t given them enough clues.

So one way we can help people understand us—our intentions—and help them avoid misunderstanding our intentions is to TELL THEM ‘EXPLICITLY’ what we DO NOT MEAN. If we’re concerned that one particular meaning might be offensive to them and might cause them hurt, we can tell them explicitly that is not what we intended.

 

Another ‘issue’ is an understanding of the actual words. Without a common ‘definition’ of the words, just one word can change the whole meaning. So, checking a dictionary will enable a common understanding of the word, but perhaps not a true understanding of what it means in the text if it is taken out of context.

Words are joined together to form a sentence, representing a ‘train’ of thought. The sentence is also subject to having a wide understanding, based on intention, tone, style, clarity, and grammar which can be misunderstood if taken out of context or has an element of misunderstanding attached to it (intentionally or by mistake). A paragraph is constructed of one or more sentences, to generally group similar information, in order to present that information logically and clearly. The elements of misunderstanding within individual sentences of a paragraph may be explained satisfactorily by having the additional information within the paragraph.

Most of us read a text according to our knowledge of the language, the ‘world’ around us, our previous exposure to the subject matter, and other ‘experiential’ elements.

With the reading of the text using ‘deconstruction’ theory, the original meanings may be ‘rewritten’ and understood in a different way. Misunderstanding can take place due to complexity and lack of experience.

 

In general, it’s been said that there are seven barriers to great communications: Physical, Perceptual, Emotional, Cultural, Language, Gender, and Interpersonal Barriers.

[ For more details, view this article:
https://www.impactfactory.com/library/communication-skills-seven-barriers-great-communications ]

 

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION ‘LEADS’ TO UNDERSTANDING
So, to ‘combat’ these ‘barriers’—and compose and deliver an effective message—University of Wisconsin professor Scott M. Cutlip and Allen H. Center defined a set of principles of effective communication, known today as the “7 C’s of Communication” (which has been widely adopted, with slight variations).

COMPLETENESS
Effective communications are complete, i.e. the receiver gets all the information he needs to process the message and take action. A complete message reduces the need for follow-up questions and smoothens the communication process.

CONCISENESS
Conciseness is about keeping your message to a point. This is more about the content of your message rather than its length. Even a short memo can include irrelevant or redundant information. Conciseness helps the receiver focus on what’s important, speeds up the processing of information, and caters for improved understanding.

CONSIDERATION
Effective communication takes into account the receiver’s background and points of view. If your message hits a nerve or sounds as disrespectful, the emotional reaction of the receiver might affect the perception of your message. Also, tailoring your message to your audience—e.g. by using argumentations and examples which are relevant to their experience—makes it easier for them to process the contents.

CONCRETENESS
A concrete message is specific, tangible, vivid. It’s supported by facts and figures for enhanced credibility. It helps your audience gain an overview of the broader picture. Concreteness mitigates the risk of misunderstanding, fosters trust, and encourages constructive criticism.

COURTESY
Courtesy and consideration complement each other ineffective communications. Courtesy means respecting the receiver’s culture, values and beliefs – i.e. crafting a message that is genuinely polite and unbiased.

CLEARNESS
The clearer your message, the easier it gets for the receiver to decode it according to your original intent. While this sounds obvious, most communication pitfalls originate from lack of clarity. Want to deliver an effective message? Start with a clear communication goal and accurate thoughts. Clear communications build on exact terminology and concrete words, to reduce ambiguities and confusion in the communication process.

CORRECTNESS
Correct grammar and syntax vouch for increased effectiveness and credibility of your message. Formal errors might affect the clarity of your message, trigger ambiguity, and raise doubts. They might also have a negative impact on the overall perception of the message, which could be seen as sloppy or negligent.

 

Now, communication can take place through a variety of ‘avenues’. Even with an extensive selection of communication platforms, miscommunication can still occur, and disastrous effects can happen.

Again, context is the background, environment or ‘framework’ surrounding an event or occurrence. Context gives tasks and responsibilities meaning and serves as clarification. Without context, a mistake can occur during the communication process, which can leave consumers confused or upset at the end result.

Lack of context can be dangerous and lead to damaging business relationships both internally and externally.

 

Assumptions in business communication occur when various factors are thought to be true but are never confirmed. Making assumptions is commonplace. In some instances, like when it comes to what consumers want to taste, it is best not to assume.

 

Vagueness and ambiguity occur when a message is not fully delivered, the sender leaves out valuable information or the receiver fails to ask clarifying questions. Ambiguity and vagueness enhance the difficulty of a task, and they diminish the ability to make decisions and solve problems.

 

One of the leading causes of miscommunication in business can be attributed to ‘excess’ communication. When information is sent in multiple messages over a long period, or important information is buried in a long message, the ‘key’ take-aways can be easily missed. This can result in miscommunication later in the process, which can have a disastrous effect on a product or service. Studies have shown that companies can lose millions every year due to communication errors, and intangible impacts include a loss of focus, lack of innovation, and drop in morale.

 

Now, a larger type of miscommunication exists—one in which people are actually talking about the same things, but differ on what these things mean. Such misunderstanding derives from differing ‘mental models’.

Humans create ‘cultures’ (and ‘sub-cultures’) to make sense of reality, and they influence the way we look at things and the paradigms we live in. There is something called “Confirmation (and disconfirmation) Bias,” which is responsible for our tendency to only focus on and accept what concurs with our existing worldview.

There is also something called “The Backfire Effect,” which is an extreme form of the confirmation bias. It occurs when evidence that contradicts a person’s belief actually makes it stronger. This happens because many of our opinions are not based on reason, but on emotion.

 

HOW TO ‘AVOID’ MISUNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
Well, there is a methodology of interpretation that is VERY MUCH based on reason. It’s called “hermeneutics.”

 

Now, the ‘fancy’ term can be intimidating, but having a proper hermeneutic is ESSENTIAL to all forms of communication. the thing is, whether we know it or not, EVERYONE has one.

 

Now, for Christians, the goal is that one’s hermeneutic be BIBLICALLY ‘FAITHFUL’, and that one strives to apply it consistently without allowing any hermeneutical fallacies to corrupt their exegesis (understanding) of Scripture.

One’s hermeneutic should ‘emerge’ from Scripture and, reciprocally, helps them to interpret Scripture, thus informing all of their theology. All ‘true’ Christians affirm the authority of Scripture, although sometimes disagree in the interpretation of Scripture on account of their hermeneutical differences. Therefore, we do well to study hermeneutics and the fallacies that can affect our interpretation of Scripture.

 

Even though one confesses that the Bible is God’s Word, unless they read and interpret it properly, their confession is a mere ‘formality’. Sound biblical exegesis is essential if one is to hope to know and act upon biblical truth.

Sound interpretation has two elements: the technical and the personal. From the technical side, one must first read the Bible according to the grammar and lexicon of the day. It is not sufficient to know what words mean today; one must know what they meant in THAT DAY. Secondly, one must read the text in their literary and cultural ‘CONTEXTS’.

 

Technically, serious readers have a threefold question about bible interpretation: What did it mean; What does it mean; and How does it apply? Then, one must be concerned about when one should interpret a statement literally and when to interpret it figuratively. When must we obey a command literally and when must we not? One answers these questions by studying a passage in its ‘CULTURAL’ CONTEXT.

 

A second way to grasp the meaning and application of the Bible is by following the ‘progression’ of thought in a passage.

The personal angle explains why the Bible, unlike other books, tells us how to read it. Jesus says we MUST READ ‘HOLISTICALLY’.

 

These cases of misreading demonstrate that sound exegesis requires more than just proper methods. One cannot do justice to Scripture unless they realize, as St. Augustine said, that its final purpose is to increase “the twin love of God and neighbor.” Christians read Scripture well when they seek this for themselves to. So, may you so read the Bible and become “faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).

[ For more details on understanding how to read and interpret the Bible, read last month’s “Life’s Deep Thoughts” post:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/gaining-a-deep-understanding-v264/ ].

 

‘WORDS’ MEAN THINGS
In general, individual words have a range of meanings or overlapping meanings (a “semantic range”). When a word is used properly in a context, the speaker/listener usually knows intuitively what part of the range of meaning is being used.

Let me use modern English as an example. “Love” is an English word with quite a broad range of overlapping meanings, but once seen in context, the specific meaning is quite obvious. Hence, most understand the following sentence, even though love has five slightly different meanings: “I love God, my wife, my daughter, the Detroit Red Wings, and Chick-fil-A sandwiches.”

Here is another example. The noun “key” has several fairly defined meanings. One refers to a physical object (key in the door), another is a common metaphorical use (the key to victory), and another relates to music (the key of C). Rarely is one confused by these three options, although the depth of understanding of the more technical musical option would differ significantly between a concert pianist and me! [ I can maybe play “Chopsticks” ;^D ].

Therefore, a good word study will evaluate many contexts to determine the range of meanings and/or overlapping meanings available to the writer/speaker during a specific time period. This is the function of a DICTIONARY. A good interpreter then takes the available range of meanings for a word and applies this to the context to get the proper specific meaning of the word in that context.

 

For example, a pastor may explain that the Greek word for “power” in the New Testament is “dunamis” (or “dynamis”)—“dynamite” in English—however, this does not give the interpreter of the New Testament more insight into the meaning of dynamis in Scripture. In fact, one may WRONGLY assume that the “power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13) must be ‘explosive’ power like dynamite as opposed to ‘constant’ power like electrical power.

 

The thing is, a common word-study fallacy is to assume that the broad semantic range of a word is being used in every specific instance of that word. That is, the totality of the semantic range is illegitimately ‘transferred’, or to put it in laymen’s terms, the same writer does not always use the same word in the same way. At some level, this is usually obvious, but it is good to be reminded of it. So, a good word study will evaluate many contexts to determine the range of meanings available to the writer/speaker during a specific time period.

The Apostle Paul many times uses the word “flesh” (in the Greek, “sarx”) in a ‘negative’, sin-dominated manner (Galatians 5:17; Philippians 3:4). However, at other times, he uses flesh with a ‘neutral’ meaning as in “flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:50) or simply to refer to the whole physical body (2 Corinthians 7:5). So, the mistake is to assume that every time Paul uses flesh (sarx), he is using a negative term.

The New Testament writers have a wonderfully developed understanding of the Christian faith that includes the total trust of the Christian in the person and work of Christ. However, sometimes the apostles use faith in a more ‘truncated’ way to emphasize the set of doctrines about Christianity. For example in “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5) and “to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), this meaning of faith parallels well with our modern expression “the Christian faith.”

Of course, the Christian faith is much more than just a ‘set’ of Christian doctrines. So, the fallacy is to assume that everything the Bible says about the Christian faith is being equally emphasized every time the word faith is being used.

This is where the ‘illumination’ of the Spirit comes in—to aid the Christians to read and interpret the Bible increasingly well during maturity (which is different times for different people).

 

Let me give you a currently relevant example to illustrate historical context better. What if ten years ago I came up to you and asked, “So, are you and your family changing the type of light bulbs in your house so that you can go green?” Back then, it probably meant that you were going to change the light bulb to put in a green ‘colored’ one for the Notre Dame football game or for St. Patrick’s Day. However, today the idea of going green has everything to do with using products that are environmentally friendly such that they limit energy use, minimize waste, and encourage recycling, all the while seeking to save our natural resources (as much as is possible).

Therefore, the ‘term’ of “going green” is a relatively new idea, and the word green itself has a different set of connotations depending on its historical context. This is why one needs to be concerned about words taking on new meanings, or losing or become detached from their former meanings.

 

‘GRAMMAR’ IS IMPORTANT, TOO!
God’s Word comes to us in words. These words are ‘human’ words, chosen by particular human beings in particular circumstances to communicate a particular message. However, the words of Scripture are also ‘divine’ words—each one of them is “breathed out” by God (2 Timothy 3:16). Now, while the inspired quality of the words of Scripture means that they are utterly reliable and fully authoritative, it does not cancel the genuine human quality of those words. As ‘orthodox’ interpreters have long recognized, the words of Scripture function in many basic ways just like any words function, and understanding the Bible, then, means understanding the way words ‘work’.

The relationship of words is often called grammar or syntax. Grammar is crucial to rightly interpret any phrase. Consider these three phrases: “Go for thirty miles”; “Go for some bread”; and “Go for broke.” The preposition “for” establishes a grammatical relationship between the imperative verb “go” and the words that follow. This relationship is not the same in these three sentences, and we would badly mistake the meaning if we did not rightly identify the relationship in each case.

 

Readers of the Bible are confronted with the need to make good decisions about grammatical relationships on every page, and understanding and applying God’s Word well requires that one identify these relationships just as well.

In addition to that, readers of the English Bible need to remember, that the translators often have to make decisions about how to render a particular grammatical form in the original languages into English. Where that decision is a tough one, footnotes or marginal notes often provided. Comparing different English versions of the Bible can also help in identifying all kinds of issues that crop up.

 

Consider the sentence, “The ball hit the bat.” If you are a typical English-speaking person, you did not analyze this statement grammatically before you understood it. You did not say to yourself, “Now, because ‘ball’ comes before the verb, it must be the subject, and because bat comes after the verb, it must be the object.” Nor will you, if you are composing an English sentence, think in these grammatical ‘categories’. Indeed, most of us don’t even know the proper English grammatical categories. Yet, we are usually pretty successful in saying what we want to say and understanding what other people are saying.

The biblical authors were probably much like us. As they wrote, they were not explicitly thinking in grammatical categories, nor did their first readers use grammar consciously to understand what they were hearing or reading.

Modern interpreters of the Bible are separated from the language of the biblical authors by many centuries and none of us has the natural ‘affinity’ to the languages that the original native speakers would have had. So we use grammatical ‘categories’ to analyze the words of Scripture.

 

The point is, careful analysis of just what particular grammatical constructions are communicating is very important when interpreting Scripture. The particular words found in the construction will usually be especially important.

Consider, for instance, three different English “of” constructions: “this pencil of mine,” “this wife of mine,” and “this God of mine.” We might classify all three as “possessive,” but what a difference there is among the ways what I “possess”: a pencil, my wife, or my God!

 

The fallacy here, then, would be to ignore the larger linguistic ‘framework’ in which particular grammatical constructions are found. This linguistic framework creates certain expectations in how words will be related to one another. Grammar always functions within a larger context. As we come to particular grammatical constructions in our English Bibles, one will be better equipped to interpret them accurately the better one knows Scripture in general.

 

RULES OF ‘LOGIC’ MATTER, TOO!
A basic understanding of the rules of logic is crucial to sound hermeneutics. Logical fallacies, both formal and informal, are found in every field of study, and biblical exegesis is no exception. It then follows, that some common logical fallacies encountered in biblical studies are: False disjunctions; Appeals to selective evidence; Unwarranted associative jumps; Improperly handled syllogisms; False statements; and Non-sequiturs.

First, false disjunctions are made when an argument is presented in an either-or fashion (either a or b is true, but not both). However, there are times when the answer is “both/and” rather than “either/or.”

Secondly, appeals to selective evidence are numerous. By definition, we engage in this logical fallacy anytime we only refer to authorities or passages that agree with us on a given issue while failing to account for countervailing evidence or authorities. A specific example comes from the “name it and claim it” theology. In ‘circles’ that embrace this sort of thinking, it is common to cite Scripture passages that promise answers to prayer for “whatever you ask.”

Third, unwarranted associative jumps, are also ‘treacherous’ and lurk at every turn. Theologian D.A. Carson, in his excellent book “Exegetical Fallacies,” cites a classic example of the Apostle Paul’s statement in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” All things? Well, Carson points out that Paul’s statement cannot be legitimately extended to such things as jumping over the moon, integrating complex mathematical equations in one’s head, or turning sand into gold.

Forth, improperly handled syllogisms are very common as well. Based on syllogisms, while common and often having surface appeal, may turn out at closer scrutiny to be fallacious and unsustainable.

Fifth, false statements are also quite common, though perhaps this category would better be labeled “the use of faulty premises.” This fallacy may also be related to the just-mentioned faulty use of syllogisms. Remember, even if a syllogism is formally valid, as we have seen, the conclusion may still be false if one or both of the premises are faulty. An example of this is the common manner of citing Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” with vision being used to indicate a leader’s or group’s forward-looking plans, desires, and expectations instead of the PROPHETIC REVELATION that seems to be the proper interpretation. This is wisely brought out by the ESV translation: “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.”

Finally, many non-sequiturs (Latin for “does not [logically] follow”). Many examples could be given, but perhaps most common under this rubric are illegitimate arguments from silence. For example, consider the not uncommon assertion that the reason why Mark and John don’t mention the virgin birth is that they either didn’t know about it or, if they did, they didn’t believe in it. However, this clearly doesn’t follow logically and is both a non sequitur and an illegitimate argument from silence. What about another other reason, such as Mark’s desire for concision or John’s reference to Jesus’ eternal preexistence as the Son of God?

 

Hopefully, these examples highlight the importance of engaging in proper logical reasoning when interpreting Scripture. There is not space to address the numerous other fallacies here, such as those related to emotive appeals, cavalier dismissals, improper analogies, simplistic appeals to authority, fallacies based on equivocal argumentation, and the improper use of obviously and similar expressions. Suffice it to say that every ‘disciple’ who truly desires God’s approval in His handling of Scripture (2 Tim. 2:15) will do well to apply themselves earnestly to sound principles of logic and proper reasoning.

 

SEEK ‘CONTEXT’
Context is the set of circumstances, time, place, background, environment within which something takes place. Context determines the conditions and the meaning in which something is understood.

For example, suppose someone says, “I expect my trip to California will be easy.” A simple enough statement, but what about the context, the determining conditions?

If it is summer 2021 and the person resides in Detroit, we might assume the statement is for the most part true. The person can travel by car, airplane, or boat and is most likely going to have an ‘easy’ time of it.

Now suppose it is winter 1750 and the person resides in Michigan. The statement is no longer simple and is probably naïve even with the best wagon or coach available.

The statement remains exactly the same but the context changes, then so do the meaning and our ability to draw meaningful conclusions.

What the context does is set the statement into a very specific ‘reality’ and its meaning is determined according to that reality.

 

Data is rarely clear in a vacuum, and is rather influenced by other data surrounding it that gives you, the observer, a sense of perspective by which you can accurately determine meaning from what you are seeing.

As I mentioned, the term “contextomy” refers to the selective excerpting of words from their original linguistic context in a way that distorts the source’s intended meaning, a practice commonly referred to as “quoting out of context.” The problem here is not the removal of a quote from its original context per se (as all quotes are), but to the quoter’s decision to exclude from the excerpt certain nearby phrases or sentences (which become “context” by virtue of the exclusion) that serve to clarify the intentions behind the selected words. [ Like I showed previously with some of those famous quotations ].

Comparing this practice to surgical excision, journalist Milton Mayer was the one that coined the term “contextomy” to describe its use by Julius Streicher, editor of the infamous Nazi broadsheet Der Stürmer in Weimar-era Germany. To arouse anti-semitic sentiments among the weekly’s working-class Christian readership, Streicher regularly published truncated quotations from Talmudic texts that, in their shortened form, appeared to advocate greed, slavery, and ritualistic murder.

 

So, hopefully, I have helped you understand that context is VITALLY IMPORTANT. Without it, we immediately jump in our heads to what we want to say next, based on the very first few words we hear from the other person. Many people find themselves doing this far too frequently.

Most of us listen to someone with the intention of replying, and therefore as soon as we have a “reply” in mind, we stop listening and wait our turn to reply. No matter what remarkable new insights are uncovered in the subsequent words from the other person, it is likely that we now have a strong desire to share that initial thought we have about what to say back.

However, by using context, we can achieve so much more. If we truly understand the background of the other person, we can tailor the approach for each occasion. It’s been said that by gaining or having context it can be useful in so many scenarios:

– Giving advice
– Receiving advice
– Meeting a stranger
– Making friends
– Getting press
– Raising funding

 

So, how do we make sure that our messages are heard and interpreted correctly? Well, we need to put that communication ‘in context’. This is critical, because it tells the receiver, what importance to place on something, what assumptions to draw (or not) about what is being communicated, and most importantly, it puts meaning into the message. The best thing about context is that it deepens your understanding of the message so that ’TRUE’ DIALOGUE can take place.

The hardest thing about communicating effectively is knowing how to “set the context”. But how do you create context? Here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Think about the other person hearing what you have to say for the first time. If you were in their shoes, what would you need to know to be able to put the message into context? Is there some background information that’s important to convey? Would you want to know the history of how you arrived at a certain place? Try to anticipate how they might respond and frame your context to their needs.

2. Level the power dynamic. Remember that when you are communicating information without any context, it can feel like you know more than the other person. This creates a power imbalance that can put others on the defensive. To remove that feeling, be open! Let them know how you know the information, and share as many details as you can. That way, at the end of the day, you will both know all there is to know.

3. Answer the fear that might arise. Not being privy to important information creates fear. As people hear information without context, it can bring up fear around what else they might not know. Setting context removes the ambiguity and helps to allay any anxiety.

4. Proactively answer their questions. Communicating within context helps people to process the information faster and to make decisions quicker. Anticipate what the inevitable questions are going to be. Answer the question before it is even asked – when you provide context and provide holistic information by anticipating questions, you’re helping the receiver reach conclusions easily

So, context is a scheme of relations that alters the way we understand things. That set of relations can vary broadly and deeply expand out or it can be narrow and pointed making the latter much more easy to grasp and draw definitive conclusions from. So if you take something out of its scheme of relations you shift the base upon which you can draw conclusions.

 

‘MISUNDERSTANDING’ BIBLE PASSAGES
There is a ‘Social Media’ mindset in the reading and understanding of the Bible. We love the quick ‘soundbite’ or the one verse that proves our point. So we just spout off the one verse we know while ignoring the rest. In doing so we are ‘ripping’ the Bible out of context and causing a lot of ‘damage’ along the way.

 

The obvious danger of taking the Bible out of context is that we end up with the wrong message.

Often times when we take Scripture out of context we remove the “we” and insert “me.” We have made verses all about ourselves. We read the Bible as if it’s a personal letter addressed to us. The problem is the Bible IS NOT written ‘TO’ you, but ‘IS’ written ‘FOR’ you!

 

When we ignore the context we miss the original meaning. We read the Bible for what we can get out of it, and not what God wants for us. We need to pay attention to the ‘SURROUNDING’ verses and ‘WHO’ those verses were written to.

Our culture has made reading the Bible a very “I” centric thing today. BUT, much of the Bible is written with a “we” centric theme.

 

Misquoting the Bible is really quite simple. All you have to do is ignore the context of any given verse. “Bible scrabble” is how one pastor I heard describe it. Take a piece of a verse from here, a couple words from that verse over there, mash them together, and you have a ‘teaching’ that is “from the Bible.” However, it is as far from biblical as you can get. It’s been said that, “A Bible text without a context is a pretext for a prooftext.” Put another way, when a text is ‘divorced’ from its context, it is probably because a person is simply looking for a verse to reinforce what they already think. It is a ‘reversal’ of fit. Rather than having their mind shaped and reformed by the Scriptures, they would rather shape and form the Scriptures to fit their whims, and conform to human wisdom. It’s simple. When on misuses God’s Word they can make God say anything they please. The thing is, God will then probably sound A LOT like them!

I am convinced that the VAST majority of the Bible verses not need to be ‘interpreted’, they just need to be read ‘in context’. To be sure, there are confusing, mysterious parts of the Bible that have elicited many and varied interpretations. With such verses, multiple interpretations are unavoidable, and there are different perspectives to be considered. However, MOST passages are ‘crystal’ clear, when read in context!

When you pick up a newspaper, you intuitively know how to read it. You do not go to the comics section searching for weather forecasts. You do not look in the obituaries to try to find the score of last night’s ball game. The front-page headline story is likely going to be of a different flavor than the letters to the editor in the opinion section. So, without even thinking about it, you read the newspaper on its own terms, in its own context, and according to its various genres.

In many ways, the Bible is no different. It is a ‘library’ of understandable documents, made up of paragraphs, sentences, words, letters, grammar, syntax, verbs, subjects, objects, and prepositions that all work together to communicate something.

However, the ‘goal’ of reading and studying the Bible is much greater than delivering mere historical facts. It’s meant to ‘SAVE’ you from Hell, and guide you to eternal life in Heaven!

As I discussed in last month’s “Life’s Deep Thoughts” (https://markbesh.wordpress.com/gaining-a-deep-understanding-v264/), CONTEXT IS ‘KING’. In other words, the verses around the verse you are reading will tell you a lot about the verse you are reading. If you ignore the context you will likely end up with a ‘skewed’ view of what the Bible is saying. Like any book, you can make the Bible say anything you want if you ignore the context.

 

So, what can you do to stop taking the Bible out of context? Well, let me give you three things that might just help you.

– Look at the Surrounding Verses
If all you do is read serval verses before and several after you will have a better understanding of what the verse is talking about. Many people don’t do that and keep misusing a verse.

– Look at the ‘Who’
Remember the Bible WAS NOT written ‘TO’ you. But the Bible was written ‘FOR’ you. The Bible was written to specific people that lived in a different culture at a different time, but has a ‘relatable’ message for us today.

– Look at the Larger Narrative
You take the specific passage you are reading and see how that passage fits within the narrative of the ‘ENTIRE’ book or the Bible.

 

In 1551, French printer Robert Stephanus added verse numbers to the chapter divisions inserted in Scripture in the 13th century. This, of course, made navigating the text much easier, but it also caused a problem, too.

The numbering of individual sentences (or even phrases, sometimes), tempts readers to take the text as a collection of discrete statements having meaning and application in isolation from the larger work. Ergo, “How does this verse apply to my life?”

But God DID NOT give the Bible as a collection of ‘aphorisms’—short, pithy, helpful statements—to be applied piecemeal to our lives. He gave historical accounts, descriptions of events, biographies, poems, sermons, letters, and the like, to be parts connected to the meaning of the whole Bible.

Meaning flows from the larger ‘unit’ to the smaller ‘unit’. The sentence helps us understand the meaning of an individual word in the sentence. The paragraph helps us understand what the sentence means. The chapter helps us understand the paragraph’s role in the larger narrative, and the genre and historical context help us understand the book.

Proper understanding of the whole, therefore, is key to understanding the meaning of—and the proper application of—the parts. We cannot simply isolate a sentence or two and ask, “How can I apply this one verse to my life?” Instead, we have to follow the flow of thought to know how the broader passage speaks to the particulars of our individual experience.

 

Application comes not from discreet sentences, but from the passage’s narrative flow of thought or its logical flow of thought—both more obvious when the numbers don’t get in the way. The Red Sea narrative, then, has plenty of relevance for believers even if individual verses can’t be applied in isolation from the context.

So, to avoid this problem when gleaning instruction from the text, IGNORE the chapter and verse divisions and focus on the bigger picture. The numbers aren’t inspired, anyway, and they sometimes get in the way of the God-given flow.

 

Again, in most cases, God DID NOT give verses of the Bible as discrete, individual pieces of information which on their own—isolated from the larger narrative—are to meant be applied piecemeal to our lives. INSTEAD, there is a ‘flow’ of thought tied to—and therefore critical to—the meaning of each part of the broader passage is key to accurately determine how the text’s particulars apply to our individual lives. That includes not just the paragraph, the chapter, or even an entire book, but sometimes also involves where the writing is positioned in the flow of the biblical storyline—as God’s promises and purposes are worked out through Israel, and later through the church.

 

[ FYI: For new believers, “The Story” is a version that takes out all the verse numbers and chapter divisions, was carefully excerpted and placed into chronological order, all to make it read closer to the original. For more mature readers, the are “Reader’s Bibles” available, which also remove all the verse numbers and ‘sections’, and include all of the Scriptural text. Links to purchase these books are in the “Resources” section below ].

 

If you miss this you’ll LIKELY miss the meaning—and if you miss the meaning, you’ll miss what God is actually saying in the text! If you miss that, well, you’ve missed everything. Worse, you might be doing yourself and others harm by passing on as God’s lesson something He had NOTHING to do with! Mishandled and used inappropriately, the Bible can turn into a ‘dangerous’ book!

 

Adolf Hitler, for example, was widely known to take the words of Jesus out of context and use them for propaganda purposes. In 1922, in a speech in Munich, Germany, Hitler hijacked the words of Jesus for his own agenda as he sought to eradicate the Jews. Hitler referenced times when Jesus rebuked the corrupt spiritual leadership of His day, such as when He cleared the Temple by force after the chief priests and others in charge made it into a marketplace for thieves, thereby corrupting the Passover feast.

The horror of reading how Hitler twisted Jesus’ words and actions is immeasurable. The following is an excerpt of his speech:

“My feelings as a Christian point me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them… In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and of adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison!”

Hitler took words that Jesus had directed toward a select group of wicked men in His day, and with one broad stroke, j painted an entire people group with the same brush, hanging the label POISON on all of them.

I realize this is an extreme example, but it shows how much damage can be done when the Bible is taken out of context and presented as what God has said. Yet even on a much smaller scale, well-intentioned Christians have misquoted the Bible and misunderstood its meaning, leaving behind a trail of confusion and faulty decisions pertaining to God’s will for one’s life. Many a theological heresy has resulted from the misuse or misinterpretation of Scripture, and this can happen no matter how noble the intentions of its interpreters.

 

God promises His Word will not return void, that is, it will succeed in the matter for which He sent it (Is. 55:11). If you use God’s words in a way other than what God intended, though, it will do you no good. Your efforts will return void. Instead, follow the flow and you’ll be much less likely to miss the powerful things God is saying to you personally in His Word!

 

SO, the following are a couple dozen verses that are constantly taken out of context, and then MISUSED. I will present—with the help of many ‘reliable’ Reformed theologians—how the verse is MISUNDERSTOOD, then how it is typically MISUSED. Then I will present the widely accepted interpretation.

 

May the Holy Spirit be ‘with’ you when you are considering these following ‘presentations’!

 

EXODUS 21:23-25
“But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

When someone feels wronged or has been hurt, there is often a temptation to retaliate in some way instead of deciding to forgive or “turn the other check,” as Jesus taught. Often-times an “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is used to justify a retaliation. It is a common phrase that is selectively Quoted out of context, and it was even misunderstood and misused in Jesus’ day.

Many people feel that it serves as a ‘license’ for someone to do equal harm to someone else who has harmed them. For example, if you hit my arm, I’ll hit your arm. If you dent my car, I’ll break your windshield. Even if the initial harm done was by accident, some individuals feel perfectly justified in settling the score, so to speak, and may appeal to this verse for justification.

However, to understand God’s true intention when He commanded “eye for eye,” we need to go back to the original context. Here we find the laws that God gave to Moses as a means of governing the nation of Israel upon their freedom and release from the hand of the pharaoh in Egypt.

Within the pages of these laws, God defines different crimes and commands particular punishments. Yet knowing the sin nature of human beings, God also sought to protect individuals from excessive punishment when such justice was to be delivered. Putting it into today’s terms, God was concerned that the punishment must fit the crime.

For example, it would be an abuse of justice if someone was given twenty years in prison for going ten miles over the speed limit. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Therefore, in order to avoid this type of injustice, God made it dear that the punishment could never exceed the damage done, and thus the phrase “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” [ Exodus 21:24-25 ].

 

So, when we come to the New Testament, Jesus addresses this principle and affirms its legitimacy as a means to limiting punishment, but he was also concerned about the similar kind of misuse of this verse that is still happening today. It was never meant to be a so-called proof text to legitimize personal vengeance within interpersonal relationships. This verse was primarily meant to guide the judges and the courts.

In an effort to correct the misuse of the verse, Jesus sets forth a significant new way of thinking and relating anyone who is tempted to use this as grounds for personal retaliation:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you” [ Matthew 5:38-42 ].

 

In essence, Jesus is encouraging the offended party to back down when wronged and is even suggesting that he or she give up their “right to resist or fight back when offended.” In other words, leave the justice to the courts, and in the context of the personal relationship, be willing to forgive and turn the other cheek. In fact, Jesus is suggesting that even in the face of being wronged a person should seek to respond with a gracious, benevolent generosity: “If he takes your tunic, let him have your cloak as well” [ Matthew 5:40 ].

So, if someone insults you, not only should you not insult them back, you should seek to reply with uncharacteristic kindness. Such is the manner of love that should be a trait of those who follow Christ. It is nothing short of an imitation of the Savior, who loved us “even while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8).

The Apostle Paul further capitulated and summarized this teaching by Christ when he instructed the church in Rome in a similar fashion:

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[a] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” [ Romans 12:19-21].

 

This, then, rightly sheds light on the biblical teaching, concerning retaliation. As Christians, whenever we are wronged, we should allow for the courts to do their job, and with respect to the personal aspects of it, we should seek to respond in a ‘CHRISTLIKE’ manner!

 

1 SAMUEL 17:50
“So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.”

So what does it mean? An all too common interpretation begins with this question: What are the ‘Goliaths’ in your life? What arc the big, giant, scary things that are holding you back or pushing down upon you? Whatever they are, you must not be scared, for God is with you. So choose your smooth stones and attack the giants in your life. Is your Goliath financial trouble? Then perhaps your smooth stone is a financial advisor. Is your Goliath low self-esteem? Then maybe your smooth stone is surrounding yourself with people who will encourage you and lift you up. Is your Goliath a struggle to believe the promises of God? Then your smooth stone is to believe harder—have more reckless, relentless faith.

Notice how we are no longer talking, about a real, historical Goliath who was ruled by a real, historical smooth stone by a real, historical person named David. We have substituted them for something else. This son of interpretation is called ‘ALLEGORIZING’ the text—looking for metaphorical meaning in every single element of any given text.

Allegorizing a biblical text is not always wrong. Our Lord Jesus does this very thing when he tells a parable and then interprets it for the disciples (i.e., Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23; 13:24-30, 36-43). However, it IS NOT the way to deal with ‘historical’ narratives, such as David and Goliath. Yet, the ‘narcigete’ (“narcissistic eisegesis”) in all of us loves to do it, to go to work finding where we can fit ourselves into a text. It is interesting that with David and Goliath, you hardly ever hear the narcigete identify himself with the terrified, faithless Israelites. No, for the narcigete, we are always most like David, the unlikely hero.

But what if the story of David and Goliath is not about you or me? What if—like the rest of Scripture—it is about Jesus!

 

The overarching context in which we need to understand the story of David and Goliath is that of God’s kingship over His people,

This story is not a program given to us to show us how we can overcome any given “Goliath” through the “smooth stones” of faith, resilience, or anything else that depends upon us. David’s skirmish with Goliath is just one part of a much bigger, grander story of God establishing His gracious reign and rule despite the sin of His chosen people. God’s mercy and grace come to us, not In great power and might, but in lowly humility.

This truth can be seen only when we stop “narcigeting” the biblical text, when we stop searching for how we are to be the hero in the story. Instead, we search for Christ. We strive to see what God is up to. When we do that, we see that he is faithful to keep his gracious promises for all people, including you and me.

 

1 KINGS 19:11-13
“And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

It is the idea that God ‘speaks’ to every single person on the planet in completely different ways—that God gives individual, unique, immediate revelation to people through prophecy, visions, dreams, circumstances, intuitions, feelings, and extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit. God ‘winks’, if you will.

When it comes to our daily lives, the idea that God speaks uniquely and individually to each of us may seem innocent and harmless. But it is precisely that very foundation upon which all false teaching is built—the idea that God has something ‘new’ to say that He has not spoken to anyone else on earth.

So the nagging question for us becomes, “Is Gods revealed and written Word sufficient!’”

I’m sure all of us have seen YouTube videos of “prophets” who give their viewers God’s “word for the week” that He has revealed to them. “This week’s ‘word’ is… “_________” (fill in the blank). From this single word the “prophet” will spin a false teaching about how you are supposed to be looking for God to manifest Himself in your life this week in new and different ways. All you have to do is ‘tune in’ to the right divine frequency so you can recognize God when He speaks. So, the viewer is sent on a wild-goose chase to find meaning in nearly every interaction or thought they have throughout the week. It would be a shame if the Creator of the universe was trying to talk to you but you missed out because you were not paying attention!

No matter what ‘form’ it takes, it is always based upon the same premise: God’s revealed and written Word is not sufficient, and we require something more from God to know what He’s up to. Unfortunately, to look for God in places he has not promised to be found leaves the seeker utterly uncertain and ultimately without true comfort—which is really the thing that makes a person go looking for God in the first place. So, where do we find such comfort? How do we respond when someone comes to us claiming to have received a word from the Lord?

Well, Scripture has plenty to say about this, so let’s stick to it.

One common objection I had heard relative to this is as follows: “If God spoke directly to his prophets in the Old Testament, then why can’t he speak (he same way to us?” On the surface, it’s a fair question. However, there are two things wrong with it, First, NOWHERE in the Bible does God ever promise to communicate to you and me in the same way He communicated to His prophets!

Secondly, now that Jesus has come and sent His apostles to record in the Bible the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3), we no longer need God to ‘reveal’ new things to us. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son” [ Hebrews 1:1-2 ].

So, if you think God ‘might’ be speaking to you some new revelation that you cannot find in the Bible, perhaps a useful litmus test is this: is it possible that what you are hearing/sensing/feeling could be Satan masquerading as an angel of light in order to deceive you? If there is the smallest, remotest, tiniest, most infinitesimal possibility that the answer is yes, then there is absolutely no reason to think that God is the one speaking. In such instances, we MUST return once again, to God’s certain and unchanging Word, the Bible.

 

JEREMIAH 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

WOW! What a powerful message and a phenomenal promise! What’s not to like about it? Prosperity, protection, and a hope for a great future! These are all things that any Christian would want to see become a reality in their life. It seems to echo the American Dream, with God’s endorsement behind it.

Comforting words, to be sure. But what does Jeremiah mean? Some have taken this verse and applied it to themselves and others in an unqualified way. “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” they say. “He has mapped out the course of your life, and you only have to be obedient to Him to ‘step into’ His blessing.”

Some go further and say that this verse promises earthly prosperity. Health and wealth are the lot of Christians. We are not to settle for second best, for we are children of the King. In this view, suffering and deprivation signal a lack of faith.

HOWEVER, there’s just one problem—these words of God ARE NOT addressing us, and it IS NOT meant as a blanket promise of worldly blessing.

 

Jeremiah 29:11 contains a precious promise held dear by Christians the world over. It is also likely one of the MOST MISAPPLIED verses in all of Scripture. In this verse, Jeremiah affirms that God is in control, and moreover, He has good things in store.

 

The context is that the southern kingdom of Judah suffered the covenant curse of expulsion from the Promised Land for its continued unfaithfulness to the Lord (Deuteronomy 28:36; 2 Chronicles 36:15–21). The people hearing that letter weren’t even of the generation that would receive the things it promised! So what we have is this:

– It is a proclamation
– Given to a specific nation
– In a particular situation
– Which prophesied the restoration
– Of a future generation

 

However, even in the midst of this prophecy of punishment, there was a sliver of hope: the exile would be long, but it would not be permanent. God purposed to chasten His people, but He would not destroy them utterly. He would in fact bring them back to their land—after seventy years (v. 11).

Moreover, the Lord promised to bless the people during their exile. This promised blessing is the subject matter of chapter 29, which conveys the contents of a letter that the prophet sent to the people in exile (29:1). God encourages the people to build houses, to marry and give their children in marriage, to plant vineyards, and to “seek the welfare of the city” (vv. 5-7). These blessings are a reversal or suspension of the covenant curses in Deuteronomy 28:30-34.

God promised that, after a time, He would bring them back (Jeremiah 29:10). THIS IS the context for the verse. God was not done with His covenant people. He assured them that He was near and able to restore them.

One CANNOT apply this verse directly to themselves. It WAS NOT originally written to us—it was written to a particular group of people living in a particular place at a particular time.

 

So while it’s true that we see the charitable character of God, we should by NO MEANS take it as some kind of personal promise that God is going to deliver me from my trials, and bestow on me, prosperity.

Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow after him (Luke 9-23). That doesn’t sound very prosperous, does it? The Scriptures tell us that everyone who desires to live a life of godliness will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). That doesn’t quite sound so harmless, does it?

Indeed, God does have a plan to ‘prosper’ the believer—they are described in Scripture as “heirs of the King” (Titus 3:7)! Truly, we are ALREADY richly blessed beyond imagination. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). The believer can be confident that their names are logged for eternity—those who will be saved in Jesus have been written in His book from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).

The believer’s ‘inheritance’ will not be received in this life, but in the next. Jesus instructed us to lay up our treasures in Heaven, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” [ Matthew 6:21 ].

If one makes the mistake of redefining the phrase “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” with our own preconceived notion of what that ought to look like for our lives today in the material sense, then we’ve overlooked and ‘hijacked’ the context to suit our own human needs and desires.

Now, this does not negate the fact that God might choose to bless us with a great-paying job, a beautiful family, and a healthy life on account of His grace. But the bottom line is we should never expect those things to happen or seek to appeal to the promise of Jeremiah 29:11-13 in order to substantiate our expectations. We have no right to hold God hostage to a promise that we have misunderstood,

 

Now, does that mean that this verse has no application for Christians? Well, no, but it is ‘INDIRECT’.

The Apostle Paul says of Jesus Christ that, “all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Jesus is the true ‘Israel’, the inheritor of all the promises made to the old covenant people, the righteous remnant (Psalm 2:7; Acts 2:16-21; 15:16-17; and Galatians 3:16). Ultimately, the promise of blessing during and after exile in was made ‘to’ Jesus, and it was fulfilled in His earthly sojourn and His restoration to His heavenly dwelling—that is, His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Christians inherit that promise, too, by virtue of our being ‘united’ to Jesus by faith. He has suffered the covenant curse and fulfilled the law of obedience on our behalf, and ALL THAT is His becomes the believer’s according to the grace of God (Ephesians 1:11-14).

So, while the believer will likewise suffer during their earthly sojourn, they are blessed through the work of the Holy Spirit, and they will be raised with Jesus and enjoy unspeakable blessings in the presence of our Lord—in Heaven. This is ultimately what is meant by God’s promise of “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope,” and it is SO MUCH BETTER than any promise of ‘worldly’ prosperity!

 

So then, is there anything from this prophecy that I could still apply to my life today? Yes. Though it is true that the promise of a “future hope” did not guarantee blessing in the short-term sense, it nevertheless still has practical application for them and for me in the ultimate, eternal sense.

The richest and greatest fulfillment of this prophecy is to be realized in a spiritual way. This promise ought to bring a great sense of joy to the believer who longs for the “future hope” of experiencing eternal life with God, a restoration that will be experienced in the fullest sense. It is there where we will experience prosperity and protection in abundance, as we are “gathered back” to Him.

My immediate “American Dream” could not be substantiated by these verses.

Without a doubt, a future “heavenly hope” exists for those who have placed their faith and trust in Christ alone for their salvation. This, to me, is the best application of these verses tor one who lives by faith today.

 

2 CHRONICLES 7:14
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

This passage of Scripture is chronically misused because little attention is paid to its historical and cultural context and is often used today in prayer meetings (especially during the annual National Day of Prayer). It is a verse that makes a dramatic promise, and many who love the Lord and love their country have placed their hopes in it.

On the surface, it seems to be an ideal verse to claim for believers who long to see righteousness, truth, and blessing fall upon their country. But is it legitimate to use it this way?

Well, in context, the promise that the Lord gives is specifically to the king and these people in that time and that place. It IS NOT meant to be a general promise that is given to any other nation on the face of the earth. No other nation would ever claim to be “God s people,” and no other nation today has a temple where the living God dwells.

Furthermore, notice that God assumes that Israel will sin, for He proclaims that there will be times of drought and famine (where He sends locusts to devour the land and plagues or diseases to inflict the people livestock, all as an act of judgment for their sin).

So, it is then that the Lord will do an amazing thing in response. Not only will he forgive them for their sin, but he will restore the physical land that was decimated by the physical acts of judgment (drought, locusts, and pestilence). In other words, He will restore the land so that there will be crops and a harvest that will nourish and supply the needs of His people. Again, this particular healing is not necessarily spiritual in nature, but is physical and pertains to the land itself.

My hope is that now you can see how this Scripture verse has been ‘plucked’ from its context and misused. Though the spiritual principles of humility, repentance, prayer, forgiveness, and healing are still relevant for us today, the binding promise of this passage was for another people in another time and another place. It IS NOT a promise for any other nation besides the nation of Israel, those who could rightly be called “God’s people.”

Furthermore, the healing that is promised is specifically a healing of a physical land, and therefore we can’t hijack the idea of healing, generalize it, and apply it as a promise of spiritual revival for any nation where Christians reside. That would be a misuse of the text.

Even so, let me be clear. I am in no way saying that Christians should refuse to pray for their country or their leaders. That would be an act of disobedience (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

Our world is a ‘fallen’ world, and it does not seem to be getting any better. It will one day pass away. But Christians, take heart in the fact that this world is not our home—Heaven is. And one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Until that time comes, we should walk faithfully, proclaim the gospel, pray for our country and its leaders, and rejoice in the freedoms that we have the privilege of enjoying.

But we must not mistake the country we live in now for the kingdom of God, even if it is the greatest country on earth, founded on biblical principles, a country still worth living and dying for.

SO, claiming 2 Chronicles 7:14 as the verse that invokes God s promise and guarantees for this to happen in the exact same way it did to ancient Israel IS NOT an appropriate application!

 

PSALM 23:4
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Again, we must consider the context of this verse’s underlying motivation. As Pastor Matt Chandler said, “God’s motivation behind His shepherding for you, His provision for you, His love for you, His passion about you—really the motive in all of that isn’t that you’re great. It’s that He’s great! The motivation is His glory, His name, His renown.”

Everything we read in this psalm must be with the understanding that God does all things for His great name. In verse 4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and YOIU’ staff, they comfort me.” Why does He do that? For His great name.

This is not just common to the psalms, it’s in all of Scripture. Because of this, the skeptic will call God arrogant. But who should God ultimately be for if He’s not for Himself? Should God be for our glory more than His own? See, that’s already OUR problem. We want to be glorified and exalted over God (just as Satan wanted). That’s the motivation behind our sin! (the reason Satan was ‘thrown out’ go Heaven!).

So, are you awed by God for all of his love, grace, and faithfulness, but also his anger, wrath, and judgment? Or have you selected the parts of God that you like and rejected the parts that you don’t? If so, you worship a god of your own design, and that’s no god at all. Your piecemeal god can neither love you nor save you!

Yes, God loves his ‘children’! He is merciful and gracious toward them. Through His Son, Jesus, He has forgiven them of their transgressions and cleansed us of all unrighteousness!

But, ultimately, as one lifts up their worship, they understand that it is not them that God glorifies in. He does all things for HIS name’s sake. HOWEVER, the believer gets to share in His glory when they praise His Name!

 

PROVERBS 3:5
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Trusting in the Lord with all our heart means that our understanding of God needs to be more than just intellectual. Right down to our very ‘core’, down to our soul and innermost being, with everything we are, we’re to be fully transformed by Jesus. He will provide for our every need even intellectually and spiritually.

The Apostle Paul desired this for the church in Colossae because he didn’t want them to be swept away by foolish worldly arguments that only ‘sounded’ plausible.

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority” [ Colossians 2:8-10 ].

 

So when you read, “lean not on your own understanding,” you do not lean on YOUR understanding at all. You rely ENTIRELY upon God and His wisdom, with all your heart, and HE WILL make your paths straight—straight to Him!

So, how does one not lean on their own understanding when that’s pretty much everyone’s default mode of thinking? How does one acknowledge Him in all their ways? Well, by storing up in our hearts the treasure of God’s Word (the Bible). The more of God’s Word one devotes themselves to, the more it will come out of you. You’ll find it’s barely your words you’re speaking or thinking with anymore. You’re filled with God’s word, the Bible.

So, don’t be wise in your own eyes. Turn from evil. Pursue the righteousness of God that is found only in Jesus. We have such a treasure in God’s Word. How wonderful a treasure it is. Use it well!

 

PROVERBS 23:7a
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

This is, in fact, how some people understand the workings of the Christian life. I have heard some call it “Tinkerbell theology.” Think happy thoughts and you will ‘soar’. Some people subscribe to a mild version of this that simply consists of trying to have a positive outlook on life. However, others—such as those involved in the Word-Faith movement (or “Word of Faith”)—believe themselves to be basically little ‘gods’ who, by speaking words, can actually change reality itself, creating calamity or advantage for themselves.

The idea is simple. Your words ‘create’ reality. Therefore, if you want a good and prosperous reality, then you must think and speak good and prosperous words. In addition, you must avoid negative and hindering words because what you speak may actually come to pass.

It is usually quoted from the King James Version, it is taken out of context, and only the first half of the verse is usually quoted, taking it out of context!

With that single verse many Christians of at least two generations have been taught that if they can name it, they can claim it; if they can blab it, they can grab it; if they on reckon it, they can beckon it. Health, wealth, and prosperity are all theirs for the taking, as long as they think and speak the right words.

Proverbs is perhaps the clearest example of wisdom literature in the Bible. As one reads through Proverbs, the nuggets of wisdom are sometimes only one verse long. Sometimes one struggles to see how one verse connects to the previous one and the one that follows it—and that’s okay. It is how all proverbs work. They are meant to be read and reread to ‘tease’ out their meaning.

So, with that overarching context of the book in mind, consider Proverbs 23:7a in its ‘immediate’ context. First, the verse begins with the word “for.” This means that it is in the ‘middle’ of a thought. Something has been said previously and now this verse is going to further explain it. Secondly, the verse contains the pronoun “he.” Never once do the Word-Faith teachers go back and talk about who the “he” is. They simply generalize the pronoun as if it refers to all people: “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Unfortunately, that IS NOT what the text says.

When we hear this verse quoted all by itself, we should immediately ask at least two questions. First, what is it explaining since it begins with “for,” and secondly, who is the “he” in this verse? The thing is, those questions is pretty easy. Simply back up a single verse. Here are verses 6 and 7 in their entirety, this time from the English Standard Version: “Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you.”

Apparently, Proverbs 23:7 is explaining to us why it is not wise to eat a stingy man’s bread. I will admit that this verse is not the dearest one in the Bible, but it seems to be saying that if a stingy man appears to be buttering you up with good food and drink, do not think too much of it. He may seem quite giving but the whole time he is taking ‘inventory’ of every bite you take and resenting you for it. His true character is not seen in how generous he seems but rather in his heart.

So, this verse certainly has NOTHING to say about how to overcome suffering or hardship (as the Word-Faith teachers would have us believe). They attempt to use this verse to bring comfort to the person struggling with low income, poor health, or any number of maladies. Not only does this text give NO ‘INSTRUCTION’ in such things, but to claim that it does only heaps up more uncertainty and despair upon the one who is already suffering

The most extreme Word-Faith teachers will claim that it is possible to overcome terminal cancer by simply declaring victory over your disease. They will claim that if you want a specific job or promotion, then you need to wake up every morning and start claiming that job for yourself “in the name of Jesus.” (I have always been curious why some of these teachers wear glasses. If I had such powers as they claim to have, perfect vision would be one of my first divine declarations.)

But what happens when your cancer does not go away? What happens when someone else gets the new job that you had claimed as your own? Also, why focus on such insignificant things? Why not ‘go big’ and declare immortality over your life so that you will never die? Some have indeed tried that very thing. You can probably go visit their graves and see how well it worked.

In a well-intentioned attempt to liberate suffering people from their hardships, the Word-Faith movement only places people in MORE ‘bondage’ with the way they IMPROPERLY interpret this verse!

 

MATTHEW 7:1
“Judge not, that you be not judged.”

While this verse is the most well-known in Matthew 7 (part of Jesus’ most important ‘sermon’, the “Sermon on the Mount”), as I have been mentioning, we would do well to keep reading to see what Jesus is teaching.

This verse IS NOT saying that we shouldn’t judge at all, it’s saying that we are not to judge ‘HYPOCRITICALLY’. It’s saying that when you call a person out for their sin, you better not be guilty of the same sin yourself, because you will also be judged for it: “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” So not only will a person be judged in the same say, but the harshness by which they judge will be counted against them as well! The verse is ‘calling’ us to righteousness so that when we judge the way we ought, we’re able to judge with right judgment.

Then, the next verse says that one needs to first take the “log” out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the “speck” out of your brother’s eye. In this way, Jesus is actually telling us that we ARE TO JUDGE! It’s an important responsibility we see given throughout Scripture:

“Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” [ Proverbs 31:9 ].

“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” [ Isaiah 1:17 ].

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” [ John 7:24 ].

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” [ 2 Timothy 3:16 ].

“He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound[g] doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” [ Titus 1:9 ].

 

Let’s be clear here. Jesus is not suggesting that we have no right to make moral judgments about human behavior, and he is certainly not suggesting we have no right to hold others accountable. He doesn’t condemn mutual accountability and moral responsibility and the need to address sin in the church—he addresses hypocrisy.

But it makes little sense to approach a Christian brother or sister about their specific sin (even if you should rightly do so) if you are committing the very same sin and are unwilling, address it or break free from it.

What this means is that the greater judgment is reserved for the one who has purposefully overlooked his own mammoth sin while pointing out the smaller sins of others. Jesus emphatically says this must change.

 

Those who mishandle this verse often use it as a ‘shield’ for sin, a barrier to keep others at bay, allowing them to justify living as they please without any regard for moral boundaries or accountability. Their objections sound like this: “Aren’t we all sinners? What gives us the right to make moral judgments about someone else? Isn’t that God’s job?”

However, when we take a closer look at the context of Matthew 7 and the teachings of the rest of Scripture, it is clear that this verse cannot be used to substantiate unrestrained moral freedom, autonomy, and independence. Again, this was not Jesus’ intent. He was not advocating a hands-off approach to moral accountability, refusing to allow anyone to make moral judgments in any sense.

Quite the opposite, Jesus was explicitly rebuking the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who were quick to see the sins of others but were blind and unwilling to hold themselves accountable to the same standard they were imposing on everyone else.

 

The truth of the manner is we should all be grieved about sin in our lives, and when we see is, we should address it, confessing it and forsaking it out of reverence for God. It is only when we are consistently doing this ourselves that we arc qualified and able to address the sins in the lives of our brothers and sisters in the church, which we must do as well.

The Bible makes it clear that it is our duty to spur one another on to live lives that please God. First, our lives should give evidence that we have truly repented of our sin and received Christ by faith. Then from time to time, as necessary, we are also called to mutually correct, rebuke, and encourage another in love.

 

Therefore, Jesus does not forbid all moral judgment or accountability. Rather, he forbids harsh, prideful, and hypocritical judgment that condemns others outright without first evaluating one s own spiritual condition and commitment to forsake sin.

More than that, it sheds light on the state of our culture, a culture that seeks to avoid accountability and responsibility for personal actions. A ‘lost’ sinner won’t know what they are to repent of unless they are told, so it is NECESSARY for us to judge so that we can help a person become aware of their sin and their need for a Savior. BUT, the believer MUST be a person who is above reproach in their conduct regarding the ‘issue’ at hand before they start to judge!

 

MATTHEW 18:20
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Perhaps you’ve been to a prayer gathering, a youth gathering, a church service, or even a Christian concert, and have heard someone get up and pray this verse. Well, this verse is not exactly a prayer. I think most churches (or believers) would quit using the verse to promote their prayer services if they understood the context. In context, this is all about “Church Discipline.” It’s about restoring back to the path of discipleship an offending brother or sister, and the reference goes back to the Law of Moses.

In ancient Israel, charging a person with a crime required testimony agreed upon by two or three witnesses: “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established” [ Deuteronomy 19:15 ]. Jesus brought that aspect of the law into disciplinary matters within the ‘body’ of His Church.

 

So then, is God really ‘with’ us even though I can’t see Him? Well, of course, the believer is told that God is a “spirit” and that He is invisible. The Bible also teaches that He is “omnipresent.” In other words, God (in His entire being) is present everywhere within His creation, yet is fully distinct from it. He is not limited by space and time. King David believed that God was everywhere at all times, and that he couldn’t escape his presence:

“Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.”
[ Psalm 139:7-10 ]

 

However, this is not the only way the Bible speaks of God’s presence. Perhaps the most dramatic way God reveals His presence is in the person of Jesus Christ.

In a much different way, we also know the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) has chosen to reside in the ‘hearts’ of those who trust in Jesus for their salvation. This ‘indwelling’ of the Holy Spirit allows the believer to ‘experience’ God in a very real and personal way. He not only lives ‘with’ us, but He also lives ‘within’ us.

 

This is a great promise, to be sure. Jesus communicates to us that when the Church has gathered, they can rest assured that He is spiritually present with them. But the question is this: In the context of Matthew 18, for what purpose is the church gathering? Is it for prayer? For worship? For fellowship? It might surprise you to realize that it is for NONE of the above.

Now, let’ me be fair here. Certainly, when Christians gather for prayer, worship, fellowship, or even evangelism, they can take courage and have confidence in the promise of Jesus that He will always be ‘with’ them, even “to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). So in general, we have every reason to believe that He is with us in an individual sense as well as in a corporate sense.

BUT, the passage in Matthew 18 has a specific ‘nuance’ to it. It IS NOT talking about prayer meetings, about worship, or even about generic Christian fellowship either. Jesus is talking about CHURCH ‘DISCIPLINE’. Jesus is instructing the disciples on how they and all who will follow Him should handle situations of interpersonal sin and conflict.

 

Therefore, the themes that are present in this context are forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation with a brother or sister who has sinned against you or who has gone astray. Jesus lists several practical steps that should be taken to reconcile or restore a broken relationship, a relationship breached or shattered because of sin. The first step is a private one:

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother” [ Matthew 18:15 ].

Essentially, Jesus is teaching that interpersonal sin and conflict should not be ignored or dismissed, because Christians, in general, should be committed to maintaining healthy, wholesome, and fully reconciled relationships.

So, why is this? Well, because ‘unrepentant’ sin is a SERIOUS MATTER for the one who is refusing to acknowledge and turn from it. Furthermore, it is at this level that the broadest possible efforts can be made to attempt to reach out to someone who has gone astray. Here is where everyone who has a relationship with the unrepentant can reach out to them in an attempt to win them back. This is where the Church truly embraces what it means to be a forgiven and forgiving community.

It goes on to say that if the person does not repent, the Church would have no choice but to formally ‘remove’ them from the fellowship. This doesn’t mean that everyone who remains in the church is perfect. We’re all sinners. That’s not the issue. The issue is about the one who ‘hardens their heart’ toward their sin and refuses to acknowledge and turn from it. When that happens, the Church is obligated by none other than Jesus Himself to dismiss them from the recognized community of faith. This is a somber and humble, but necessary step.

 

All this to say, as Christians, our goal should be never to ‘give up’ on someone. So even if the Church has to ‘exclude’ someone from the fellowship, they should still be attempting to reach out to that person—treating them like any other unbeliever—and win them to the Lord.

Jesus is saying that whenever the Church is pursuing and is involved in a reconciliation process with someone who has refused to repent, they can rest assured that God’s blessing is with them in their efforts. In other words, as the Church renders judicial decisions on matters of right and wrong that are based on the truth of God’s Word, they can be confident that they are doing the right thing and that Jesus Himself is right there ‘with’ them, spiritually present in their midst.

After all, Jesus is ALL ABOUT ‘reconciliation’, and He is the One who has commanded the Church (believers) to be ‘agents’ of reconciliation as well. The ‘body’ of the Church is acting on God’s behalf, and therefore has divine sanction as it seeks unity and asks for God’s blessing in something that is surely difficult.

 

This, then, is the ‘true’ meaning and context for the phrase “where two or three are gathered.” It is all about God’s presence in judicial matters of reconciliation. This is why it is critical for every Christian to come to a biblical understanding of church discipline. The reason we discipline is not so we can be holier than thou. It’s not so we can say, “Hey, we finally got that sinner out of here and now we can be awesome!” We discipline for the same reason God does—because we love.

As mentioned earlier, God Himself disciplines us because he loves us as his children. If he did not discipline us, we would be illegitimate children and not the children of God (see Hebrews 12:3-11). To not discipline is what is truly unloving. In fact, it’s downright hateful (Proverbs 13:24). It is the fool who despises wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7). This would apply to not just being disciplined, but also issuing discipline.

Together, let us come to a full understanding of what the Bible has to say about reproof and training in righteousness. This will help us make these kinds of difficult disciplinary decisions with the mind of Christ as Jesus taught us.

 

MATTHEW 19:26
“But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Even though this verse is used in a variety of situations, this single sentence was originally spoken by Jesus in a VERY ‘SPECIFIC’ context. As disappointing as it is for one’s ego, that context had nothing to do with one’s dreams, passions, or aspirations. It has EVERYTHING to do with our ‘SALVATION’.

 

In the previous chapter, we witnessed Jesus exposing the spiritual blindness of a man who would seek to justify himself before God by his works. “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus, through the interchange he has with the man, teaches that it is quite difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, it is easier to stuff a six-foot beast of burden through the minuscule eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter Heaven (hyperbole). If you keep reading, you get to see the disciples’ response—which would probably be the response of us all. Amazed at this difficult teaching, they ask, “Then who can be saved?”

This question must set the context for us when we read Jesus’ reply. To use grammatical terminology, this question concerning salvation is the ‘antecedent’ to which Jesus refers to when He says, “With man this is impossible.” Salvation, according to Jesus, is IMPOSSIBLE for humans to acquire by their own ‘WORKS’.

 

However, Jesus doesn’t stop there. He places one’s salvation at the TOP of His ‘priority list’. It is the reason for which He came Mark 10:45; Luke 5:31-32; and John 3:16). Saving you and all of creation from sin, death, and the Devil is the pinnacle of Jesus’ ‘mission’.

When we understand that Jesus is not the chairman of the booster club that supports our great ideas, but He is our “Savior,” what is impossible for you is a pure joy for Him (Hebrews 12:1-2) and the “perfecter of our faith.” Jesus has performed the humanly impossible feat of saving you from death and Hell through His death and resurrection for all of your sin.

 

MATTHEW 25:40
“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

According to some, this verse is saying that we should be doing acts of kindness for our “neighbors.” Now, in general, the believer SHOULD care for those ‘outside’ the Church, BUT, in context, this verse is specifically talking about those who are among the ‘FAMILY’ of God: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” [ Galatians 6:10 ].

The part that is most often misquoted—even by believers on the ‘outreach’ committee—“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me” [ Matthew 25:35-36 ]. HOWEVER, as I have been trying to ‘burn’ into your consciousness, one must consider the context in which the verse ‘resides’, which usually ‘answers’ any questions.

When you connect this verse with the two preceding parables (The “Ten Virgins” and “The Talents”), it makes the focus and intent of this verse very clear.

The “brothers” that Jesus speaks of are not the generic “brotherhood of mankind” No, He had taught elsewhere that His brothers were those who did the will of His Father in Heaven (Matthew 12:46-50). They were “believers,” members of the Church and ’of’ the faith—fellow Christians.

 

In addition to that, it is saying that the disciples would suffer hunger, thirst, nakedness, danger, sword, imprisonment, and death for proclaiming the Gospel, and those are the very maladies that would be taken care of by other believers so that the Word of God would continue to go forth.

 

This IS NOT a generic teaching about how believers are to be Jesus’ social justice warriors. It also is CERTAINLY NOT a text to be used by the marginalized to show how they deserve special treatment from Christians. This text HAS TO DO WITH joyfully receiving the Word of God spoken through His believers, and for them to use their time and resources to make sure that proclamation continues to go forth by caring for those who proclaim it.

The Apostle Paul said it best: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” [ Romans 10:14-15 ].

Jesus did not just talk about meeting every physical need but meeting every ‘spiritual’ one with the Gospel! We are to serve, “For the sake of the faith of God’s elect” [ Titus 1:1 ]. Disciples show their devotion to Jesus by how they care for His ‘flock’ and preach His Gospel.

 

JOHN 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Do you remember diagramming sentences when you were in grade school? The teacher would ask, “Who is the subject of that sentence?” Well, in this instance, the subject is actually God the Father. Jesus was sent by Him to die—to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10)—because God really loves us!

A lot of people are ‘fans’ of this verse, but ARE NOT such fans of the verse that comes at the end of this chapter: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” [ John 3:36 ]. Nobody likes to talk about the ‘WRATH’ of God, and that ALL are ‘under’ it because of our sins.

It’s not merely enough that you know that Jesus died for your sins. You must ‘FOLLOW’ Him! Believing in Jesus means more than simply acknowledging that He is the Son of God (The thing is, even the demons do that – Mark 5:7).

 

So, no other verse in the Bible so succinctly summarizes God’s relationship with humanity and the way of salvation. Some consider this verse to be the “theme verse” for the entire Bible. It tells us of the love God has for us and the extent of that love—so great that He sacrificed His only Son on our behalf. It teaches us that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, will be ‘SAVED’. It also gives EVERYONE the glorious hope of eternal life in Heaven through the love of God and the death of Jesus!

 

So then, WHY did Jesus say this? Well, He was responding to Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin (the ruling body of the Jews) about how a person is born again and given eternal life.

As Jesus talked with Nicodemus, He said, “‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ’You must be born again”’” [ John 3:3-7 ].

The phrase “born again” literally means “born from above.” Nicodemus had a real need. He needed a change of his heart—a spiritual transformation. New birth, being born again, is an act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the person who believes (2 Corinthians 5:17; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1-4, 18). John 1:12, 13 indicates that being “born again” also carries the idea of “becoming children of God” through trust in the name of Jesus.

The question then logically of course is, “Why does a person need to be born again?” The Apostle Paul said, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). To the Romans, he wrote, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sinners are spiritually “dead,” and when an unbeliever receives spiritual life through their faith in Jesus, the Bible likens that to a “rebirth”—and ONLY those who are born again have their sins forgiven and have a relationship with God.

So, how does that come to be? Well, the Apostle Paul helps us here again: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” [ Ephesians 2:8-9 ]. When one is “SAVED,” they have been “spiritually renewed,” and are now a ‘child’ of God. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come!” [ 2 Corinthians 5:17 ].

 

SO, if you have NEVER trusted in Jesus as your Savior, this might be why you are reading this right now! Will you consider ‘asking’ the Holy Spirit to ‘speak’ to your ‘heart’? “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” [ John 1:12-13 ].

 

If you desire to become “born again,” just ‘talk’ to God as you would any other person. Be ‘brutally’ honest with Him. Repent of your sins and ask Him to make you one of His ‘children’. If you need some help about what you might want to say, there is a “Reconciliation Prayer” just below.

 

JOHN 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

The prosperity preacher promises a great job, a beautiful house, flawless health, a luxury car, the latest fashion, a perfect spouse, obedient children, fame and friends, with a salary to pay for it all (and extra to put sway for an early retirement). After all, it seems to have worked for him. So why not us, too?

Well, of course, when people aren’t experiencing the same sort of “blessed” success that the televangelist promises, the reason given is that they have not exhibited enough faith and devotion. They have not given enough money. They have not given until it hurts, and so God refuses to bless them. Hogwash!

These verses, while rightly beloved and cherished, are often considered apart from their context. While of great comfort to the believer, when Jesus first spoke these words He used them to level ‘JUDGEMENT’ upon the religious leaders of the day. (Again, in context, the interchange begins all the way back in John 9).

Jesus grants sight to a man born blind (John 9:1-7) and it causes quite a stir in the community. So they take the man to the Pharisees. It turns out that the healing occurred on a Sabbath day (on which work was prohibited), and so the Pharisees conclude that Jesus is not ‘from’ God. If He were, He would not have broken God’s law by working on the Sabbath. The Pharisees offer their people a different kind of religion than the one Jesus is teaching about: a religion of works rather than a religion of mercy and grace.

Out of godly motivation to keep God’s commandments, they constructed a ‘fence’ around the law made up of their own commandments, and then acted as if, by keeping their made-up rules, people could successfully keep God’s law and be saved.

Well, Jesus then responds by teaching ‘against’ those who would enter the sheepfold apart from the ‘door’. He says that only through Him and His work can anyone enter into salvation. He is the “Good Shepherd,” as opposed to all the ones that have come before Him: “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep” [ John 10:11 ].

 

Jesus did not die so that we would have a plethora of ‘temporal’ blessings. Jesus died to ‘take our place’ under the wrath of the one, true, righteous, and almighty God. Jesus’ death atones for all of our sins, for which we all deserve Hell and damnation! BUT, because of Jesus, we have ‘real’ everlasting life—even when our ‘temporal’ (here on earth) well-being does not seem so great.

SO, when you consider all that Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplish for us, the ‘heretical’ televangelist promising health and wealth is exposed for the shallow and empty ‘NONSENSE’ that it is! Such preaching robs Jesus of what He REALLY did for us, and trades it for the cheap ‘wares’ of the here and now.

 

Again, there IS NOT one place in the Bible that says anything about Jesus dying so that you can be physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally healthy. The “abundant life” mentioned in this verse is ‘PRIMARILY’ about the eternal life in Heaven. In all things, it is for the glory of God, NOT the glory of ourselves!

 

JOHN 14:13-14
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Does this mean that asking “in Jesus’ name” gives the prayer an extra ‘boost’ of sorts, somehow increasing the chances of that prayer will be heard and answered? Is it like a magical ‘formula’ that guarantees we will receive whatever we ask, no matter what, as long as it is prayed this way? Well, NO, these are some common misconceptions.

To be sure, if the believer does things in a manner that is consistent with who Jesus is, what He taught, and all that He stands for (His kingdom purposes)—in accordance with God’s will—then yes, the prayer will probably be answered.

 

So it is safe to say that praying “in his name” is not a mere mechanical phrase we can invoke simply to make sure that any and all requests we make are heard by God. It does not have anything to do with giving our prayers an extra ‘power’ so that they find additional favor with God. Neither is it a wild card that can be played so that we forward a personal agenda and ‘force God’s hand’ on anything that is not part of His plan.

Again, in context, backing up just on verse Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” [ John 14:12 ].

First off, Jesus is talking about the works that HE DOES—essentially spreading the ‘good news’ that He is the Savior of the world. SO. if you do THAT, He WILL answer ANY prayer related to that!

Then Jesus talks about “greater works.” This is concerning the number of ‘physical’ miracles performed by Jesus when He was on the earth, and that those will PALE in comparison to the number of ‘spiritual’ miracles that will take place when both Jews and Gentiles are ‘saved’ and along with the Holy Spirit’s power, will result in many more converts than were seen during Jesus’ earthly ministry. In this sense, the good news of the Gospel will be MUCH MORE widespread than in Jesus’ time.

 

ROMANS 8:28
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”

This verse has been used to say that whenever God closes a ‘door’, He opens a ‘window’. That when tough things are happening to you right now and they might seem rotten, miserable, and unjustified, God will doing something ‘good’ with it. People say that God wouldn’t allow it to happen if it wasn’t for something good. You might not understand it now, but your current circumstance is making way for something better—because God promised!

It is one of those verses that well-meaning Christians use as if it fixes everything. But saying those words ‘flippantly’ to a suffering person, without understanding and proclaiming their context, is one of the most unhelpful things a person can do!

 

Just before this verse, the Apostle Paul is describing a “future glory.” He paints a picture of the whole creation creaking and groaning under the weight of sin and sin’s consequences. Ever since the ‘Fall’ of our first parents in the Garden, the entire cosmos has been held in bondage to decay, suffering, and death. But the groaning is not like that of old age. This groaning is not unto death. Rather, it is like the groaning of a woman in labor. It is painful, to be sure, but the labors of childbirth will give way to something glorious: new life! When the child is finally held in the cradle of another mother’s arms, the pains of labor lose their sharpness, for suffering has given way to life (John 16:21).

So, out of all of our sufferings will come ‘good’—eternal good—an everlasting purpose, and a promise made by Jesus. All of this is why Paul can say that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). It is not because suffering is no big deal, but because Jesus has dealt with our suffering on the ‘Cross’, good things will happen, eventually.

Yet until that day comes, we have to rely upon the Holy Spirit in all of our day-to-day weaknesses. During, times when we don’t know how to pray about a situation, we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to help and intercede for us. But even though we don’t always know how to interpret our day-to-day struggles or even know how to pray about things due to our human limitations and weaknesses, there is something that we do know.

 

The Apostle Paul says this is a promise for Christians only. It is for those who love God, or saving it another way from God s angle, those who are called (to salvation) according to His purpose.

Now, just after this verse—again considering the context—the “good” that is being talked about in this verse is explained in the next verse: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” It’s being ‘CONFORMED’ into the ‘likeness’ of Jesus! This means that we as Christians have to ‘trash’ our superficial fleshly definition of what’s good—as defined in modern-day terms—and trade it in for a theologically robust definition of good. It’s not a new job, happier days, vindication, better health, or abundant wealth. It’s being like Jesus. God works in all things to shape His ‘children’ into the “image” of his Son. It’s all about one’s “sanctification.” It’s simply growing in the holiness and righteousness of God.

 

In addition to this, when Paul says that, “for those who love God all things work together for good,” he IS NOT saying that it is your love for God that determines how your life will unfold. He is not giving reasons why this or that suffering is happening to you or anyone else. He is trying to give comfort and hope by saying that, ULTIMATELY, God will make all of this suffering, right again, and He has given a glimpse of that by how Jesus rose from the dead to new ‘life—as will all of His ‘children’ do in the future! (Just remember ALL the sufferings the Apostle Paul went through during his life).

Let us also remember something else the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians: “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” [ Romans 3:3-5 ].

In this sense, “all things” that happen in the Christian life are designed for this purpose—the ultimate good of bringing glory to God, of advancing His Kingdom purposes, and making us more holy, filling us with love, bringing about humility, developing our patience, cultivating our trust in God (the list could go on and on). God is using these circumstances (“all things”) to grow us spiritually and make us more like Him until the day He calls us ‘home’ to Heaven or He returns to this earth, whichever comes first (the day we are “glorified” – see verse 30).

Essentially then, God is weaving the great triumphs and terrible tragedies all together for His sovereign purposes in the world, which include ‘changing’ the believer. The most dramatic example of this is found at the Cross of Jesus. Here is where Satan, thought he had won, but God had purposely woven together the actions of sinful men into something that was for our greater good (our salvation!).

 

So this is the mystery. Bad things happen, but God works it for good. He already had a plan that Jesus would go to the Cross, and evil men put Him there. BUT, this was His sovereign purpose, so that we, the ones who are “called according to his purpose,” might receive the ultimate good that came even of the height of human evil.

[ FYI: A real-life example of the is was depicted in the movie “End of the Spear,” where sometimes the greatest tragedy can be the catalyst for the most resilient hope. The link to the official trailer is in the “Articles” section below ].

 

So, even if great suffering and tragedy comes to your ‘door’, please know that as a believer in Jesus, God is orchestrating something for His and your ‘good’! Then, as He ‘weaves’ His plan, the believer can rejoice in knowing that His plan is tailor-made for each of them as He seeks to make them more like His Son. Life for the believer may not always feel safe, but it is good (both in this life and in the life to come). There is no greater security than knowing this!

 

1 CORINTHIANS 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

It is somehow meant to be a comforting statement. The greeting card sentiment tries to make sense of the hardship and suffering that living in a sinful world brings. It’s a comment that’s meant to be a word of encouragement, but somehow that doesn’t always lighten the ‘load’.

Notice that whatever this verse is saying it IS NOT speaking to the person enduring suffering. Rather, it is speaking specifically to Christians experiencing ‘TEMPTATION’.

 

Again, reading in context, the real ‘intent’ starts back in verse ten. It is not suffering, in general, that is under discussion. It is specifically the temptation to deny the one true God by worshiping a multitude of false ones. No one, says Paul, is immune to that temptation—not even God’s chosen people. (Paul says as much when he recounts some of Israel’s sad history in verses 1-10).

This text IS NOT about God having faith in His people to be able to handle anything He might throw their way. This text IS about God’s people having FAITH IN HIM, especially when the temptations to do otherwise are great. The good news is that, while the temptations are great, God’s mercy is greater. He is faithful and will provide the means of escape when we are tempted to disbelieve His Word and His promises.

Notice how this shifts the burden of handling temptation. Instead of relying upon our own efforts and willpower overcome temptation, the believer can instead turn to God, who has proved Himself faithful time and again. Instead of God having faith in us, we trust ‘in’ Him to keep us in the one true faith, realizing that our very life, breath, and sustaining power comes only from God all the time. Jesus clearly emphasized this when He said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” [ John 15:5 ].

 

Temptation is a universal experience, and know that it is not wrong to be tempted, it’s wrong when one gives into it. Taking cues from Jesus’ own temptations in the wilderness, our best weapon against temptation is none other than the Word of God itself, or as Paul calls it, “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). Each time Satan went after Jesus and attacked Him head-on Jesus remembered and recited a verse and with that weapon resisted the onslaught and sharp ‘arrows’ of the Adversary.

So, when it comes to life’s hardships and difficulties, the believer should be prepared to receive MORE than they can handle so that they can learn to rely on God and not themselves. Looking to and leaning on God is the answer. He is faithful to help His ‘children’.

 

1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-7
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

People love this text of the Bible, even if they are not Christians. This is the go-to text for so many weddings. It extols love above all things, and does so in masterful and beautiful prose. It is so pithy and beautiful that many ‘cross-stitch’ it and hang it in our kitchens.

The problem is that this verse IS NOT about marriage at all. The wedding is not what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he penned these incredible words by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This text applies to husbands and wives only insofar as they are also ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ ‘in’ Christ.

The love that Paul speaks of here is of a different son than the popular, vague, ‘gushy’ notions of love in our culture. Paul is writing here as a ‘pastor’ to the Corinthian church, which was rife with division.

 

The entire context of 1 Corinthians does not allow us to ‘pluck’ chapter 13 out and read it on our sentimental terms. Far from being a nice feel-good poem about how great love is, it is, in fact, an ADMONITION to those who are failing to live as they ought. Paul is not praising them, but ‘CHASTISING’ them!

The Corinthian church was a mess. There were divisions over which teacher they thought was better (chapter 1). They desired the knowledge of the world instead of the wisdom of God (chapters 2-4). One of its members was boasting about having slept with his step’ mother (chapter 5). Some of the members were suing one another over minor things that should have been resolved among Christian brethren (chapter 6). There were factions and separations by class, abusing the Lord’s Supper, and some of them were getting sick and dying because of it (chapter 11). Women were altering their appearances so they could have the roles that men had. Then there were arguments regarding “spiritual gifts” (chapters 12-14). All of these were partly attributable to a lack of love and patience.

An insistence on one’s own schedule is selfish, and it is opposed to godly love. Patient endurance and long-suffering are hallmarks of a loving character. Love melts away the impatience and frustration that so often hamper one’s dealings with others. When the object of one’s love fails or disappoints in some way, what is the proper response? According to 1 Corinthians 13:4, the loving response is patience.

 

So, the Apostle Paul is exhorting these beloved ’sheep’ of the Shepherd (Jesus), to love one another. He wants them to see that every member of the body needs every other member.

 

1 CORINTHIANS 13:13
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

So, before the Apostle Paul transitions back into the topic of spiritual gifts, the chapter concludes with this verse. All three of these virtues are ‘gifts’ from God.

Even a ‘worldly’ heart will think of love as being the greatest thing, but such an earthly notion of love is often that romantic, non-offensive kind. Yet, we read in Scripture that God, who IS love, disciplines His ‘children’ because He loves them (see Hebrews 12:3-11). If He didn’t discipline us—just like any human parent (Proverbs 23:13-14)—then He wouldn’t ‘REALLY’ love them.

 

Back in verse 8, it says that, “Love never fails” (or “Love never ends”). This is because God is eternal, so love will also be eternal, and will never ‘end’.

Scripture reveals God’s eternal love for us, a love that never fails. God chose us (John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4-5), died for us (Romans 5:8), and will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5). In fact, nothing at all can separate us from God’s eternal love: “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).

The Greek word translated “fails” is related to a verb meaning “to fall.” By saying, “Love never fails,” the Bible means that God’s type of love will not fall or falter. It is constant forever. As God says in Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

The truth that love never fails is emphasized in some classical literature, too. During the famous balcony scene of the play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo begins to pledge his love for Juliet with these words: “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear / That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops.” However, Juliet cuts him off: “O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, / That monthly changes in her circled orb, / Lest that thy love prove likewise variable” (II:ii). Juliet had it right. Love should not wax and wane; it should be steady and constant, a perpetual ‘light’ in a dark world.

There is nothing mercurial about love. It is not based on whims, feelings, or passing fancies. Love is rock-solid, intent on benefitting the one loved, regardless of the cost. God’s love never fails, and it never ends.

So, the Apostle Paul is instructing the true disciple to be willing to ‘call’ others to repentance, both the believer who goes astray and the unbeliever who is lost. If we follow the description of love given in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we can do this gently and without quarreling. The Apostle Paul loved a church enough to call them to repentance and it saved them. Let us able to understand love the same way.

 

PHILIPPIANS 4:13
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

I’m sure you have seen this ‘motivational saying’ on many a weight-room wall. A poster sporting a person with toned biceps, triceps, calves, quads, and abs—with weights and lifting equipment enhancing the background. There is nothing like the ‘strength’ of Jesus to help you endure the burn while you strive for that perfect, beach-worthy body.

I’m also sure you have seen it printed on countless greeting cards displaying a mountainous backdrop as a backpacker looks across the rugged landscape that they are determined to conquer.

I’ve even heard some medal-winning Olympians respond to the question, “What are you feeling right now?” with this verse.

OR, should a bank robber rightfully tell himself, “I can do alt things through Christ who gives me strength” the moment he grabs that stack of money? Well, of course that’s just silly, but it does reflect how some people handle this Scripture verse. Certainly the idea of being able to do “all things” needs to be qualified.

 

To be sure, living by faith is not always easy, but it is what God requires of the believer. He NEVER promised us an ‘easy’ life! Furthermore, He doesn’t want us to be too ‘comfortable’ here on earth, either (There is so much more to look forward to in the future life to come!).

So the bottom line is that we have to trust God, knowing that He has promised to meet our needs (Matthew 6:25-34). Anything less than that is dishonoring to Him, because it is not His will that our hearts be in turmoil or gripped with worry.
Although Paul reminds the Philippians that God always provides for His people—and even uses their gifts to Paul as an example—he also lets them in on a little secret, a pearl of wisdom we often overtook. It is God’s gift of ‘CONTENTMENT’—learning to be content no matter the circumstances—that should be the norm for every believer. No matter what your situation is in life, learn to be content—whether well fed or hungry, rich or poor—and one’s ability to be content in the midst of human struggles is due to the one poignant truth of they can do everything through God who gives them strength.

 

So the real context for this verse is Paul saying, “I have learned to be content in any and every situation because God is the One who is giving me the spiritual strength to be content.” God had given him the power not to worry.

So, this verse is not so much about having the strength to stand up and sing a solo in church. It’s also not really about who has the strength to play to the best of their abilities in a sporting contest, or the strength to lift a bag of salt (and it certainly isn’t about having the courage and strength to rob a bank!)

 

This verse is about having the strength to be content when we are facing those moments in life when physical resources arc minimal. This is about having faith in the God who provides—the God who is sovereignty in control over every circumstance in life, the God who sees and knows our needs and has promised to meet them in Christ!

Please understand that even Paul the apostle had to learn this. For example, Paul told the Corinthian church about a time when he was pleading with God to remove something from his life (“a thorn”) that was causing him to be incredibly weak. It was perhaps a physical struggle of some kind, but we don’t know for sure (“a messenger of Satan to buffet me”). Either way, something was causing him pain, and he desired relief. But God chose not to change his circumstance. Instead, he gave Paul strength to face his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

This perfectly illustrates the truth Paul was also trying to teach the Philippians: God provides the strength and power to be content when life is not ideal; he gives us the necessary grace to persevere and overcome. Furthermore, there was something about being weak that gave God’s power an opportunity to be put on display, and in the end, this brought glory to God. And since this was Paul’s ultimate goal anyway (to showcase God and bring Him glory), he took delight in the grace of God that gave him the spiritual strength to be content.

If you spend more time fearing the wind and the waves instead of keeping your eyes on Christ, you are bound to find yourself sinking fast with a faltering faith (Matthew 14:22-31).

 

Again within its context, the Apostle Paul is also talking about suffering for the ‘sake’ of the Gospel. Paul, along with the rest of the apostles, had been given an incredible ‘responsibility’ and privilege: they were entrusted with the ONLY message in the universe that gives true ‘life’. But such a charge to proclaim the pure Gospel would also bring with it ‘HARDSHIP’ (Acts 9:16).

Consider what Paul says just before this verse: “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity” [ Philippians 4:10 ]. Paul is thankful for the Christians at Philippi because they have revived their concern for him. They have supported him in his ministry, and for that, he is very thankful. But, he is also quick to add that, even if they had not contributed to support his needs—even if he were starving and at the lowest point regarding his physical needs—he would still rejoice and be content. Why? Well, because Jesus is his ‘strength’ in proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel, and so he can endure all things—even the most difficult suffering (which was horrendous).

 

So in context, Paul knew what it was like to have plenty and what it was like to be in want. Whether it was in times of abundance or in need, Paul was still able to serve God and others, and obey the call to preach Christ. The reason was that Paul’s strength, his willingness to endure even persecution for the cause of the Gospel, didn’t come from himself, but it came from God.

When Paul wrote, you “can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” he was saying that whether things were really good or really bad, it was through the power of Jesus that he had the ability to stay focused on the mission at hand and remain strong in the faith.

So, if a believer is presenting the Gospel to people, they can be assured that God will give them strength through it, especially when the people might be hostile or even violent (Acts 21:27-36).

Also, the thing is, it’s more likely God will give you more than you can handle. Again, throughout the Apostle Paul’s ministry, he was ridiculed, threatened, beaten, and imprisoned multiple times, stoned almost to death, ship-wrecked three times, snake-bit, beaten with whips, and arrested. Yet, in every circumstance, Paul found an ability to preach the Gospel even in the face of severe persecution.

 

SO, quoting this verse IS NOT going to help you win a marathon as if tapping into some supernatural strength in the universe. But it WILL encourage—and provide—the strength to endure any circumstance for the ‘cause’ of Christ!

 

So yes, this is a very powerful verse, especially when it is rightly understood and rightly applied. Remember that you can be content and find the physical strength to endure all things, because it is Christ who strengthens you. And when we are content to rely upon him, he is truly glorified, because His strength is on display.

 

1 TIMOTHY 6:10
“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Thanks to the King James translators, we have come to believe that the “love of money” is the cause of every kind of evil in the world. HOWEVER, in the Greek, there is an “article” in there that is translated “kinds” in other Scripture verses. So, the love of money IS NOT the root of all evil, but it is at the ‘root’ of a “lot of different kinds” of evils.

 

The Apostle Paul doesn’t denounce money in general per se, but instead, he warns us about “the love of money.” There is a significant difference here. Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that it is wrong to possess money or that it is wrong to have large quantities of it. Being rich is not a sin.

However, the Bible does warn us about the many stresses, pressures, and temptations that come with having lots of money, and it instructs us to be responsible, generous, and benevolent, especially to those in need. Furthermore, Jesus taught in one of His parables that our possessions (or money) should not possess us (or be our master) in such a way that we become ‘consumed’ by them and serve them above God, since “You cannot serve God and money” [ Matthew 6:24 ].

Now, notice that Paul is talking about the desire to get rich (which many false teachers have) and how easy it is to fall into temptation. This desire or craving for wealth often leads people to embrace senseless and harmful desires that end up ruining lives. In fact, Paul says it because of this craving that, “many have wandered away from the faith” (the Christian life with all of its spiritual pursuits). As a result, many are self-inflicted with unnecessary hardships or “griefs.”

But Paul is not saying that any and all desire is bad, or that all desires lead one’s life into ruin, but “many” desires do. So, there is a principle here that is working its way through the text. It is not ‘all’ desires, but ‘many’ desires. It is not aII money per se, but “the love of money.” It is not all evil, but “many kinds” of evils.

Therefore, the better translation that accurately captures the original Greek in its context is this: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (ESV).

This changes the overall picture then. Money itself is not evil, and all the evil that exists is not to be completely tied to money (or even the love of money), though to be fair, much of it can be.

No matter if it is greed, lust, lies, or any list of vices one might come up with, the sins of humanity are rooted in the cravings of the sinful ‘flesh’ and the pursuit of one’s own glory (in opposition to the glory of God). Though there is such a thing as a healthy self-interest (like self-preservation and the stewardship of one’s body), humanity has tragically fallen into a twisted love of self, with an insatiable appetite to please the fallen sin ‘nature’ to one degree or another.

So, it is no surprise to hear Jesus saying that the essence of discipleship is that each man should “deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me [Jesus]” (Matthew 16:24). This seems to put things back into their proper order, where obeying God and turning away from the fleshly desire to be your own God is the name of the game.

So it is the “love of money”—rooted in humanity’s pursuit of wickedness—that is the problem! Those who are greedy for material gain will plunge themselves into ruin and destruction. Their love of money will cause them to wander away from the faith and into even more pangs, meaning that money won’t satisfy but only cause them to long for more.

 

JAMES 5:15
“And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

Let’s be VERY careful of telling someone that their loved one is still sick or may have died because they did not have enough faith to make the healing happen. We don’t have God’s perspective on that, and besides, how is that helpful during someone’s time of grief?

Even someone with a mature, spiritually rich faith who prays steadfastly does not have the power to usurp the sovereign will of God. If it is His will not to heal or to call a Christian home to Heaven, the Apostle Paul aptly said that “the latter is far better” (Philippians 1:23).

 

Again, the Apostle Paul pleaded with God to take away a “thorn” in his flesh that had become a bother to his ministry. Nevertheless, God basically said, “No, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is being made perfect in you and is on display in the midst of your weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

There are times when it is not God’s will to physically heal in certain situations, and on those occasions, we have to trust Him and His goodness while relying on the sufficiency of His grace to ‘carry’ us. The deciding factor is whether or not our request is in keeping with God’s will (1 John 5:14-15).

 

Therefore, the more likely interpretation of what James is promising here is nothing less than a ‘SPIRITUAL’ restoration and healing. There are two different Greek words that James uses in the text that is translated into the word “sick.” Looking elsewhere in the New Testament, these words can also communicate the idea of someone who is ‘emotionally’ weary or ‘spiritually’ weak due to persecution or suffering.

The thing is, a soon as James mentions the prayer of faith that will make the sick person well, he continues by saying, “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” Surely then, he is talking about a promise of ‘spiritual’ restoration and healing that comes as a result of confession and faith-filled prayer. That’s why James continues with: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” [ James 5:16 ].

 

So the only kind of healing that is absolutely guaranteed in this life is the spiritual healing and restoration that comes as a result of repentance and faith. God PROMISES to restore those who put their faith in His Son, Jesus, and to make them ‘whole’ again. Sin has acted as a barrier, and may have even caused us to be physically weak (1 Corinthians 11:29-30). But spiritual healing comes to those who confess, repent, and turn from sin.

As Peter said in one of his ‘sermons’, we should “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” [ Acts 3:19 ].

So even though ‘physical’ healing IS NOT ‘guaranteed’ in THIS life, ‘spiritual’ healing and restoration IS guaranteed for those who repent of their sins and seek the Lord in faith.

Now, to be fair, God may in fact choose to physically heal someone who prays in faith for healing, but as noted earlier, that one will be answered according to God’s sovereign will. Even if God chooses not to physically heal, the believer knows that their ULTIMATE physical healing WILL HAPPEN when they ‘inherit’ it in the age to come!

 

So if we merge all this together, to pray in the name of the Lord is to recognize that he is sovereign in the matter, and that he will answer our prayers in ways that bring him the most glory. He may choose to heal someone in this life or he may not, and in some instances, this may have nothing to do with the amount of faith and prayer that is being exercised on the part of the believer.

 

[ FYI: Evangelical Christian Joni Eareckson Tada (lifetime quadriplegic) answered the question: “If I Have Enough Faith Will God Heal Me?”:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv_EEGnvees ].

 

1 JOHN 4:18
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.”

Well, unless you write a reply really small, you may want to use two sticky-notes for this verse, because the verse is actually longer than the twelve words it is usually quoted as. The whole verse goes like this: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

So, that changes the perception altogether, doesn’t it? In reading the whole verse, it actually explains itself: “fear has to do with punishment.” We are not talking about God loving you no matter who doesn’t (There are verses that talk about that, and this isn’t one of them). Specifically, this verse is talking about God’s perfect love ‘protecting’ the believer from His ‘WRATH’!

As I have been saying, quoting verse fragments, no matter how thoughtful they may sound, is no way to develop an understanding of God’s Word. It’s downright ignorant and propagates uncertainty, doubt, and fear, which are not of God.

So then, why did God say this? Well, He wanted the Church to BELIEVE—with tremendous confidence—that they had been delivered from His wrath, and that they had been given the ‘gift’ of eternal life with Him in Heaven!

 

REVELATION 3:20
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

I’ve got to believe you’ve seen the picture, right? Jesus is standing outside the door, knocking softly and patiently, just waiting for that person to open the door so He can come in and “eat” (’save’) them. He is such a polite guest. He’s not ‘pushy’. He doesn’t force Himself in, and He waits for us to make the decision to welcome Him into our ‘hearts’.

The thing is, you may have even heard a preacher use this verse the same way: “Right now, Jesus is standing outside the door of your heart, and He’s knocking. He’s calling your name. The Bible says if anyone hears His voice and opens their hearts to Him, He will come in and fellowship with them. Won’t you let Him in today?”

This verse is most often used to exhort unbelievers to place their trust in Jesus by exercising THEIR will. Jesus so desperately wants to come and dwelt within their heart, but He is powerless. Or, if He is not powerless, He is at least a gentleman who forces Himself on nobody. In either case, it is up to the unbeliever to yield to Him, to unlock the door of their ‘heart’ and open it up to Him. Only then will they possess all that Jesus wants to give to them.

The overarching problem with the popular reading of the text is that it ignores what the Scriptures teach concerning the will of the unconverted person: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” [ Ephesians 2:1-3 ].

They wanted nothing to do with God or His promises. On the contrary, they were running in the opposite ‘direction’!

 

Paul, in no uncertain terms, states that all people—with NO exceptions—are by nature children of God’s wrath. These three verses alone should be enough to keep Christians from exhorting unbelievers to exercise their will to make a decision for Jesus. These verses teach us that not only do unbelievers not want to believe in Jesus, they CAN’T!

After reminding them of what they used to be, Paul does not continue by saying, “But when you made a decision for Jesus…” No, we were the ones doing the deeds that lead to destruction. But God is the one doing everything that leads to salvation, and he does it all ‘THROUGH’ Jesus. Paul says explicitly that none of this is our doing (Ephesians 2:8). That is a good thing, because if it were our own doing, we would steal the glory from God and boast about our salvation as if it were a good work that we had performed. Rather, Paul reminds us that the good works we do perform are only the result of having BEEN ‘saved’ BY Jesus. So, even if we performed ‘good works’, we cannot take credit for them, since God is the One who prepared them for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

 

This verse must be read in this broader context, lest we make Scripture ‘fight’ against itself just to satisfy our human reason.

First off, when we hear Jesus saying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” whatever He IS saying, he is NOT saying it to unbelievers, but to Christians.

Then, going back to the few beginning paragraphs I started this section with, BOTH of the interpretations are WRONG! That is NOT the context! Jesus was addressing the Church in Laodicea, whom He was rebuking for their ‘COMPLACENT’ FAITH. “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” [ Revelation 3:3 ].

Pretty harsh, right? Well, this is yet another example of rebuke being issued in love. Jesus said, “Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” [ Revelation 3:19 ]. Notice that this is the verse right before He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” This is not the picture of Jesus knocking on the door of an unbeliever’s ‘heart’ asking them to invite Him in. The IS Jesus calling a ‘wayward’ church to REPENTANCE!

In the Church, Jesus is not a ‘guest’. He is the ‘MASTER’ of the House. So, when the Master comes back (remember, this is the book of Revelation, and this is talking about the return of Christ here), He expects to find alert and working servants—not lazy, complacent free-loaders acting like they own the place!

 

So, what is the evidence of GENUINE ‘conversion’ in a person’s life? It IS NOT that that they one time ‘prayed a prayer’ to ask Jesus to come into their ‘heart’. It’s CONTINUED ‘fellowship’ with God which Jesus promised for all His followers. THAT’S what one should understand when Jesus says that He will “come in and dine” with a person.

So, elsewhere in the Bible, it tells us what we REALLY NEED to be doing. WE are the ones that should be doing the ‘knocking’: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” [ Matthew 7:7-8 ].

So then, at the end of Jesus ‘address’ to the Laodiceans, He said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” One should be praying for the Holt Spirit’s wisdom and guidance to bring one to a proper understanding.

Proverbs emphasizes this by saying, “Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth” [ Proverbs 4:5 ]. James then says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to alt without reproach, and it will be given him” [ James 1:5 ].

 

This verse is ALL ABOUT rebuking the Church—in love—for their complacent faith and ‘CALLING’ THEM BACK to repentance!

 

MISUNDERSTANDINGS HAVE ‘CONSEQUENCES’!
As I have hopefully have shown—several times throughout this post—mistranslations are the source behind many misunderstandings. To show how misunderstandings can have ‘dire’ consequences, here are a couple of examples.

The Moses is a sculpture that was created by the well-known artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. The statue can be found in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. Although extremely detailed and impressive beyond compare, as all of Michelangelo’s works were, the statue appears to simply be Moses seated with a serious assertiveness. The crucial part of the statue comes from two subtle details included on Moses’s head. The detail that Michelangelo included was a pair of horns, and it’s these horns that have been the cause of much debate over and how Moses is depicted. The inclusion of horns comes from a description of Moses’ face in the Latin Vulgate translation of a passage in Exodus where Moses returns to the people after his second meeting with God in which he receives the Ten Commandments. The word used to describe the face of Moses was the Hebrew word “לַהַט” unfortunately this word can be read as either horn or glow, depending on how the word is dotted. It’s possible that the original translation was right, but I like to believe that after an encounter with God over the Ten Commandments, Moses was glowing, not wearing horns. Regrettably, this mistranslation didn’t only lead to the inspiration behind one of Michelangelo’s best statues, but also lead to many centuries of “horned Jew” illustrations.

As another example of consequences in regard to misunderstandings, a Norwegian student, staying in Copenhagen, had to make a trip to the emergency room, after he was smashed over the head with a glass during a bar fight. In the emergency room, the student tried to explain to the medical staff that he suffered from “hemophilia,” a condition that impairs one’s body to control blood clotting. Now, this seems like a reasonable thing to tell a doctor if you are bleeding profusely from your head, but the student was sent home after being told he was just fine. You may be scratching your head wondering why this happened, and I’m sure he was, too. What happened was that the physician thought the student was saying he was a “homofil,” meaning that he was gay. Naturally, the physician told him that nothing was wrong, and he didn’t need any medical treatment. However, due to the small language barrier separating Norway and Denmark, the physician had misunderstood what he had said, and due to the same language barrier, the student thought he was being helped for his actual condition and went home. He was found dead two days later.

 

‘EXEGESIS’ ALSO HAS CONSEQUENCES
Since the dawn of Western philosophy, we have witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly of the axiom, “Ideas have consequences.” From the influence of John Locke upon the founders of America, to the disastrous results of the influence of Karl Marx in Communist Russia and Friedrich Nietzsche in Hitler’s Germany, it can be successfully argued that ideas DO have consequences. Yet, not only do ideas have consequences, but so does exegesis—the critical and proper interpretation of biblical Scripture.

The danger of erroneous interpretation of Scripture is not new in our day. The Apostle Paul instructed his young ‘apprentice’ Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” [ 2 Tim. 2:15 ]. So, Paul is saying that there is a right way and a wrong way to ‘handle’ the Word of God. Unfortunately, our era continues to be littered with those who may find themselves ashamed because they have mishandled the Word of Truth.

Take, for example, what Jesus said to His disciples (when He was telling them of what He wanted them to do after He left the earth—the “Great Commission”): “And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover” [ Mark 16:17-18 ].

Although the authenticity of this passage is debated, some have taken these words and used them to justify the practice of literally handling deadly snakes in the midst of the congregation as a demonstration of faithfulness. Tragically, many have died from snake bites as a result. Exegesis HAS consequences!

 

Consider another well-known text of Scripture that, when mishandled and misapplied, has led to tragic results as well: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” [ James 5:14-15 ].

The encouragement to call for the elders to pray for the sick has led some to misunderstand James as prohibiting the use of doctors or medicinal practices. Unfortunately, I have known families who have needlessly lost loved ones to sickness and diseases that were easily curable if only they had enlisted the help of a physician or used proven medical practices. Alas, erroneously interpreting and wrongly applying this text led them to believe that to call for such help would be disobedient to God. Again, exegesis has consequences!

 

Now, while misinterpreting Scripture can unnecessarily prolong sickness and even result in physical death, the GREATEST ‘DANGER’ is in what it can do to the soul. Through wrongful exegesis, people can and have been led to ‘ETERNAL’ DEATH!

However, just as bad exegesis has eternally condemning consequences, faithful exegesis has ETERNALLY ‘REWARDING’ consequences. Second Timothy 2:15 encourages us that those who rightly handle the Word of Truth do not need to be ashamed before God. They will not shrink back when presenting their labors to God!

 

This whole post has been trying to ‘encourage’—and in some ways instruct—to seek to ‘handle’ God’s Word with integrity and to be open to accountability before God and all those who hear (2 Corinthians 4:2). A ‘true’ disciple MUST NOT be a peddler or corrupter of God’s Word (2 Corinthians 2:17). Rather, they MUST—to the best of their ability—to preach the Gospel and faith in Jesus. The believer also MUST remember that their exegesis HAS ‘CONSEQUENCES’!

 

Reformed theologian R.C. Sproul Jr. [ son of noted Reformed theologian and founder of Ligonier Ministries, Robert Charles (R.C.) Sproul ] explained this well: “Good exegesis will tell us that bad conclusions do not burst forth de novo from bad exegesis. It is valuable, important, even potent for us to have a good grasp of sound hermeneutical principles, to be on our guard against bad hermeneutical principles. We are easily led astray, and sound hermeneutics are like bread crumbs leading us back to the straight-and-narrow path.”

 

‘HANDLE’ WITH CARE
This whole post has been dedicated to presenting the idea that it is REALLY IMPORTANT to use Scripture accurately, since common mistakes lead to ‘minor’ misunderstandings, and ‘major’ misconstruing can become DISASTROUS consequences—eternal ‘damnation’!

 

I have tried to explore the many important principles to keep and the mistakes to avoid in order to interpret and apply the Bible properly. With respect to mistakes, often-times a mere partial or surface reading may be insufficient, and isolating a certain passage without reading the fuller context can result in a major misreading of the text. As I tried to show, this easily explains how a passage like “eye for eye” was even misused in Jesus’ day.

Furthermore, it is important to use Scripture to interpret Scripture. God’s Word never contradicts itself because God never contradicts Himself. God is not the author of confusion, so if an interpretation doesn’t match what is theologically taught elsewhere, one can know it HAS NOT been interpreted correctly.

One must also resist the temptation to make a passage “work” how we want it to work or “make it say” what we want it to say. Many have fallen ‘prey’ to this temptation and, as such, have read into Scripture what they want to see.

You may recall this is what Hitler did when he ‘hijacked’ the words of Jesus in order to condemn all Jews. He ripped Jesus’ words of condemnation toward the hypocrisy and poison of the Pharisees out of its context, and then misapplied them to the entire Jewish people in a sweeping fashion—simply because that was what Hitler ‘wanted’ them to say. This approach does not seek to ‘draw out’ the meaning of a text but rather to ‘put in’ the meaning that someone desires it to have.

 

I have also shown the ‘dangers’ that come from misquoting a text (e.g. “Money is the root of all evil”), what someone adds in, or in this case, leaves out, when quoting a passage of Scripture is profoundly significant. This type of Scripture ‘twisting’, if you remember, is how the serpent (Satan) in the book of Genesis deceived Adam and Eve.

Finally, hopefully, I have encouraged you to be EXTRA CAREFUL of inadequate understandings and implications of the Gospel that are read back into certain passages. The Gospel never promised we would always be in good health, financially wealthy, and prosperous in this life. It doesn’t promise blessing as is often defined by us in human terms or according to what we think is “good” for us now. So “plans to prosper you” (in a material sense) or to “make the sick person well” (in a physical sense) may be plans that aren’t fully realized until the life to come.

 

The Bible aims to teach us about God, ourselves, and about His wonderful plan of salvation for humankind. God uses His Word to transform and change us. It is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). It shapes our minds, changes our hearts, and causes us to grow. Understanding and applying its timeless principles are part of what it means to be a person of faith and a follower of Jesus. HOWEVER, no believer can do this successfully unless they rely on the Holy Spirit to aid them in interpretation and application. For it is the Spirit’s unique role to lead us and “guide [us] into all the truth” (John 16:13).

One’s humble dependency upon the Holy Spirit for understanding and illumination is an essential component to faithful living as a disciple. For the Holy Spirit, who lives ‘in’ the believer, is the same Spirit who ‘inspired’ every word of Scripture. So, as one forsakes their sin, surrenders their hearts, and is filled with the Spirit, the believer will become increasingly saturated, equipped, and made wise with God’s truth (2 Timothy 3:15).

Jesus said, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” [ John 8:31-32 ].

 

This then is God’s will for the believer that they rely upon the indwelling Holy Spirit and seek the Lord in prayer for assistance in interpreting and applying His Word. Furthermore, the believer’s ongoing fellowship with other faithful believers—who are regularly reading, studying, and applying the Scriptures along with us—is also essential. For Scripture is best understood, interpreted, and applied in the context of the Spirit-filled community of faith where sound interpretive methods are utilized.

 

WRAP UP
Why do miscommunication and misunderstandings happen? Well, humans communicate with each other across time, space, and contexts, and those contexts are often thought of as the particular combinations of people comprising a communication situation.

When a statement or remark is quoted out of context, the circumstances in which it was said are not correctly reported, it makes it mean something different from the meaning that was intended.

 

In today’s information age, the world is swarming with ‘Photoshopped’ pictures and edited sound bites, bits of information that can easily be misinterpreted and misused if taken out of their original context. We see this in political circles, where candidates may find their words being edited or used in a way to undermine their integrity, or to make them look foolish or extreme in their views.

 

However, one could argue that misquotes, false information, and misinterpretations have been around since the appearance of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It was there that Satan sought to undermine God’s Word. And the strategy and tactics he used are still perpetuated, at many different levels, by people today.

Then the crafty serpent took things a step further. He intentionally misquoted God: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the Garden’?” The serpent took God’s original command, that they were not to eat of a particular tree in the Garden, and expanded it to sound like a prohibition against eating from any tree in the Garden. So the very first question in the entire Bible is nothing less than a misquotation of God’s Word.

But to Eve’s credit, she corrected the serpent by stating that they could eat from ALL the trees of the Garden EXCEPT for the one in the middle (presumably the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”).

But that was not the ultimate source of Eve’s undoing (or Adam’s). A stronger, more lethal attack was about to be launched as Satan sarcastically questioned the legitimacy and goodness behind moral restrictions and boundaries on human behavior:

“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” [ Genesis 3:4-5 ].

It’s as if Satan were asking, “What’s with the rules? Why have boundaries? Weren’t you made to be free? Can’t you see that God is afraid you will end up being equal with Him?” The seeds of doubt that would lead to death were sown in front of her. The ‘trap’ was set.

The serpent’s tactic was nothing less than a direct assault die! Your eyes will be opened! “You will be like God!” An outright lie from the “father of lies” (John 8:44).

 

At the heart of all human sinfulness is lawlessness and the prideful appeal to be our own ‘god’. To determine our own destiny. To have our own way. To throw off restrictions and doubt the integrity of God’s goodness. To doubt the trustworthiness of His Word. All any of us need to do in order to start down that ‘path’ is to give Scripture a new context, twist its meaning, or interpret it in a way that appeals to the supremacy and glory of man.

The serpent successfully taught Adam and Eve the ‘dance’ of disobedience, and it delivered them over to death—both physically and spiritually.

 

One must realize that misquoting and misusing God’s Word has been one of Satan’s key strategies and tactics in his attempts to undermine the rightful reign and authority of God in the world. In fact, this is how Satan led humanity down the ‘path’ of destruction.

[ For more details about the possible ‘path to destruction’ (Hell), and how one might just be on it, view this previous “Life’s Deep Thoughts” post:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/two-choices-one-way-v254/ ].

 

When human beings fall into this temptation today by their own misuse or manipulation of Scripture, they only perpetuate the lies that can lead others astray. Therefore, it is all the more important that one investigates and rightly “divide the word of truth” in its proper context with as much precision accuracy as possible.

 

Later on in the Bible story, in trying to get Jesus to sin in the wilderness, Satan told Him” “[God] will command His angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone” [ Matthew 4:6 ]. This is a quote from Psalm 91:11-12. Intriguingly, the next verse in Psalm 91 says, “You will trample the great lion and the serpent” [ Psalm 91:13 ]. The lion and the serpent are two images used in Scripture to refer to the Devil (1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9). Jesus countered the Devil’s misuse of Scripture by quoting Scripture ‘ACCURATELY’, thus effectively ‘trampling’ His enemy.

 

Every believer has a ‘target’ on their back—put there by Satan—to them the MISUNDERSTAND what God has said in His Word. They must, just like Jesus did in the wilderness, counter any MISUSE of God’s Word by properly interpreting Scripture.

 

The believer should remember that, “all Scripture is God-breathed,” or ‘inspired’ by the Holy Spirit, and as such it is without error and never contradicts itself (because God never contradicts himself). Therefore, it is always wise to interpret a given passage of Scripture by comparing it with the principles and teachings found elsewhere in Scripture. This provides a healthy ‘check and balance’ and helps avoid misinterpretations, logical inconsistencies, and inappropriate applications.

One final thought. In addition to reading Scripture carefully in context—looking for words, phrases, and ideas before and after the text to help you better understand what the author is truly saying—when someone quotes Scripture, make sure they are quoting it accurately. As one of the examples I previously used, the word “love” can have a completely different meaning depending on its context.

As I watched the Presidential campaigns last year (and the political messaging today), I always wonder if I am hearing the whole story or a sound bite taken out of context and strategically edited to ‘push’ an agenda. Inasmuch as this is done in politics, it is also done in religious circles (even by well-meaning people). We would do well then to heed the words that Paul gave to Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” [ 2 Timothy 2:15 ].

 

Again, when one takes Scripture out of context and tries to use the Bible they see fit, they can easily set themselves up for defeat. In fact, they can become so disillusioned with God that they practically ‘shipwreck’ their faith because God’s not meeting their expectations. They say, “God said He would do this, and He is not doing it!” The next thing you know, they begin to doubt the Bible’s integrity and ultimately God’s ability to do what He DOES promise!

 

While I have used a variety of approaches to discuss the various Bible verses in this post, I really have not said anything that has not been said before by others you just might have not been introduced to. I’m not trying to break any new ‘ground’ here. My intent is basic but at the same time large: To offer a sound perspective of each verse, in context, and encourage you to delve deeper into God’s Word for all of its truths.

 

In the movie “Princess Bride,” the great swordsman Inigo Montoya and Vizzini are being followed by the Dread Pirate climbing the rope they are climbing up going up a cliff. After they all get up to the top, Vizzini cuts the rope, and to his amazement, the Dread Pirate does not fall and Vizzini exclaims, “Inconceivable!” Inigo responds, “I do not think it means what you think it means.” (essentially calling out Vizzini’s incorrect usage of that word).

[ VIDEO: “Princess Bride” – Inigo Montoya ]

 

Being misunderstood in a ‘human’ relationship can end up in losing money, a job, a position, or a marriage. HOWEVER, misunderstanding your ‘divine’ relationship with God can end up in LOSING YOUR ’SOUL’ and going to HELL FOR ‘ETERNITY’! THAT’S why it’s SO IMPORTANT not to ‘MISUNDERSTAND’ Bible verses!!!

I pray you take this TO ‘HEART’!

 

[ Excerpts by: Joel Gascoigne; Wikipedia; Bruce Lambert; Jim Sniechowski; Greg Koukl; Jim Stone; Nick Sanchez; Remy Blumenfeld; Bruce Lambert; Stefan Nicholson; Alessandra Martelli; Daniel m. Doriani; Robert J. Cara; Douglas J. Moo; Andreas J. KöstenBerger; Jeffery Curtis Poor; Kevin D. Gardner; Got Questions; Anthony Carter; Tim Gustafson; Eric Garner; Richard Nordquist; ]

 

>>> SUMMARIZATION OF POST <<<

Successful communication takes place when the receiver correctly interprets the sender’s message. However, ‘MISUNDERSTANDING’ the message can lead to disastrous consequences!

Why do miscommunication and misunderstandings happen? Well, humans communicate with each other across time, space, and contexts. Those contexts are often thought of as the particular combinations of people comprising a communication situation.

When a statement or remark is quoted out of context, the circumstances in which it was said are not correctly reported, it makes it mean something different from the meaning that was intended.

[ VIDEO: “Who’s On First” – Abbott and Costello ]

So, the following are some examples of “contextomy,” the practice of misquoting someone by shortening the quotation or by leaving out surrounding words or sentences that would place the quotation in context.

FAMOUS QUOTES INCORRECTLY INTERPRETED
Whether it is a Facebook status or a bumper sticker, everyone loves a great quote. However, some of the most famous quotes in history, from Gandhi to Mark Twain, don’t say what you think they say.

Here are some famous misquotes, from the slightly altered to the completely changed.

‘ASSUME’ YOU WILL BE MISUNDERSTOOD
Everyone hates to be misunderstood. In fact, it can be very frustrating when one can’t seem to get someone to understand what they are trying to say.

In spite of our best intentions, we have all been misunderstood. What we say sometimes is not what people hear.

You’ve probably heard this statement. “I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

[ “Factors Governing Interpretation” – Jim Stone, Ph.D. ]

So, here is an example. If a friend says, “It is cold in here,” one’s initial interpretation might be that they are informing us about the temperature of the room. However, it is possible that one might also infer that they might be talking about the ‘temperature’ of the conversation (disinterested, cruel, or harsh).

The thing is, if one notices that they are shivering and that the window they are standing next to is open, one could probably more accurately infer that part of their meaning was not stated explicitly and they probably would like us to close the window!

COMMUNICATION/PERCEPTION
In general, there are eight essential ‘components’ when we talk about the communication process. These are: Source, Message, Channel, Receiver, Decoding, Feedback, Environment, Context, and Interference.

Communication is a process that concerns an exchange of ideas and facts between two or more entities, to achieve a mutual idea, and to understand is to perceive, to interpret, and to relate our perception and interpretation to what we already know.

HOW TO ‘AVOID’ BEING MISUNDERSTOOD
So, now we understand why there might be a disconnect between what one intends and how they are ‘coming across’. Here are suggestions to try to avoid misunderstandings, by closing any ‘gap’ between one’s intentions and their actual ‘impact’ on others.

– Be clear
– State your intentions
– Ask for the other person’s perspective first
– Seek to reconcile different perspectives

So, do you often feel as though, no matter how clearly you think you are communicating, your message is misinterpreted?

Author George Bernard Shaw put it this way: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” So, it there any ‘hope’?

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION ‘LEADS’ TO UNDERSTANDING
So, to ‘combat’ these ‘barriers’—and compose and deliver an effective message—University of Wisconsin professor Scott M. Cutlip and Allen H. Center defined a set of principles of effective communication, known today as the “7 C’s of Communication” (which has been widely adopted, with slight variations).

Completeness; Conciseness; Consideration; Concreteness; Courtesy; Clearness; Correctness.

HOW TO ‘AVOID’ MISUNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
Well, there is a methodology of interpretation that is VERY MUCH based on reason. It’s called “hermeneutics.”

Now, the ‘fancy’ term can be intimidating, but having a proper hermeneutic is ESSENTIAL to all forms of communication. the thing is, whether we know it or not, EVERYONE has one.

Now, for Christians, the goal is that one’s hermeneutic be BIBLICALLY ‘FAITHFUL’, and that one strives to apply it consistently without allowing any hermeneutical fallacies to corrupt their exegesis (understanding) of Scripture.

One’s hermeneutic should ‘emerge’ from Scripture and, reciprocally, helps them to interpret Scripture, thus informing all of their theology. All ‘true’ Christians affirm the authority of Scripture, although sometimes disagree in the interpretation of Scripture on account of their hermeneutical differences. Therefore, we do well to study hermeneutics and the fallacies that can affect our interpretation of Scripture.

‘WORDS’ MEAN THINGS
In general, individual words have a range of meanings or overlapping meanings (a “semantic range”). When a word is used properly in a context, the speaker/listener usually knows intuitively what part of the range of meaning is being used.

‘GRAMMAR’ IS IMPORTANT, TOO!
God’s Word comes to us in words. These words are ‘human’ words, chosen by particular human beings in particular circumstances to communicate a particular message. However, the words of Scripture are also ‘divine’ words—each one of them is “breathed out” by God (2 Timothy 3:16). Now, while the inspired quality of the words of Scripture means that they are utterly reliable and fully authoritative, it does not cancel the genuine human quality of those words. As ‘orthodox’ interpreters have long recognized, the words of Scripture function in many basic ways just like any words function, and understanding the Bible, then, means understanding the way words ‘work’.

RULES OF ‘LOGIC’ MATTER, TOO!
A basic understanding of the rules of logic is crucial to sound hermeneutics. Logical fallacies, both formal and informal, are found in every field of study, and biblical exegesis is no exception. It then follows, that some common logical fallacies encountered in biblical studies are: False disjunctions; Appeals to selective evidence; Unwarranted associative jumps; Improperly handled syllogisms; False statements; and Non-sequiturs.

SEEK ‘CONTEXT’
Context is the set of circumstances, time, place, background, environment within which something takes place. Context determines the conditions and the meaning in which something is understood.

‘MISUNDERSTANDING’ BIBLE PASSAGES
There is a ‘Social Media’ mindset in the reading and understanding of the Bible. We love the quick ‘soundbite’ or the one verse that proves our point. So we just spout off the one verse we know while ignoring the rest. In doing so we are ‘ripping’ the Bible out of context and causing a lot of ‘damage’ along the way.

The obvious danger of taking the Bible out of context is that we end up with the wrong message.

Often times when we take Scripture out of context we remove the “we” and insert “me.” We have made verses all about ourselves. We read the Bible as if it’s a personal letter addressed to us. The problem is the Bible IS NOT written ‘TO’ you, but ‘IS’ written ‘FOR’ you!

EXODUS 21:23-25
1 SAMUEL 17:50
1 KINGS 19:11-13
JEREMIAH 29:11
2 CHRONICLES 7:14
PSALM 23:4
PROVERBS 3:5
PROVERBS 23:7a
MATTHEW 7:1
MATTHEW 18:20
MATTHEW 19:26
MATTHEW 25:40
JOHN 3:16
JOHN 10:10
JOHN 14:13-14
ROMANS 8:28
1 CORINTHIANS 10:13
1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-7
1 CORINTHIANS 13:13
PHILIPPIANS 4:13
1 TIMOTHY 6:10
JAMES 5:15
1 JOHN 4:18
REVELATION 3:20

MISUNDERSTANDINGS HAVE ‘CONSEQUENCES’!
As I have hopefully have shown—several times throughout this post—mistranslations are the source behind many misunderstandings. To show how misunderstandings can have ‘dire’ consequences, here are a couple of examples.

‘EXEGESIS’ ALSO HAS CONSEQUENCES
Since the dawn of Western philosophy, we have witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly of the axiom, “Ideas have consequences.” From the influence of John Locke upon the founders of America, to the disastrous results of the influence of Karl Marx in Communist Russia and Friedrich Nietzsche in Hitler’s Germany, it can be successfully argued that ideas DO have consequences. Yet, not only do ideas have consequences, but so does exegesis—the critical and proper interpretation of biblical Scripture.

The danger of erroneous interpretation of Scripture is not new in our day. The Apostle Paul instructed his young ‘apprentice’ Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” [ 2 Tim. 2:15 ]. So, Paul is saying that there is a right way and a wrong way to ‘handle’ the Word of God. Unfortunately, our era continues to be littered with those who may find themselves ashamed because they have mishandled the Word of Truth.

‘HANDLE’ WITH CARE
This whole post has been dedicated to presenting the idea that it is REALLY IMPORTANT to use Scripture accurately, since common mistakes lead to ‘minor’ misunderstandings, and ‘major’ misconstruing can become DISASTROUS consequences—eternal ‘damnation’!

WRAP UP
Why do miscommunication and misunderstandings happen? Well, humans communicate with each other across time, space, and contexts, and those contexts are often thought of as the particular combinations of people comprising a communication situation.

When a statement or remark is quoted out of context, the circumstances in which it was said are not correctly reported, it makes it mean something different from the meaning that was intended.

In today’s information age, the world is swarming with ‘Photoshopped’ pictures and edited sound bites, bits of information that can easily be misinterpreted and misused if taken out of their original context. We see this in political circles, where candidates may find their words being edited or used in a way to undermine their integrity, or to make them look foolish or extreme in their views.

However, one could argue that misquotes, false information, and misinterpretations have been around since the appearance of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It was there that Satan sought to undermine God’s Word. And the strategy and tactics he used are still perpetuated, at many different levels, by people today.

[ VIDEO: “Princess Bride” – Inigo Montoya ]

Being misunderstood in a ‘human’ relationship can end up in losing money, a job, a position, or a marriage. HOWEVER, misunderstanding your ‘divine’ relationship with God can end up in LOSING YOUR ’SOUL’ and going to HELL FOR ‘ETERNITY’! THAT’S why it’s SO IMPORTANT not to ‘MISUNDERSTAND’ Bible verses!!!

I pray you take this TO ‘HEART’!

>>> END OF SUMMARIZATION <<<

 

RELATED POSTS:

“Gaining A Deep ‘Understanding’”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/gaining-a-deep-understanding-v264/

“Learning To ‘T.R.U.S.T.’”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/learning-to-t-r-u-s-t-v263/

“Persistently ‘P.U.S.H.’”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/persistently-p-u-s-h-v261/

“Love ‘Letter’”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/love-letter-v258/

“Are You ‘Blind’?”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/are-you-blind-v252/

“April ‘Fools’?”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/april-fools-v230/

“Missing The ‘Mark’”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/missing-the-mark-v222/

“‘Who’ Can You Trust?”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/who-can-you-trust-v194/

“‘Trusted’ Prophecies”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/trusted-prophecies-v167

“The ‘BIG Story’”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/the-big-story-v143

“Can We ‘Trust’ Feelings?”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/jan-09-v119/

“God Didn’t ‘Say’ That”:
https://markbesh.wordpress.com/jun-06-v88/

 

‘PRAYER’ OF REPENTANCE
In the Bible, there is a parable that Jesus told about a Pharisee and a tax collector praying in the Temple. He notes that the tax collector didn’t even dare to lift his eyes toward Heaven as he prayed. Instead he “beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner’”—and Jesus said that the tax collector “went home justified,” he had been “born again” and ‘reconciled’ by God. (Luke 18:9-14).

If you are ‘sensing’ something like that right now, let me strongly encourage you to HUMBLE YOURSELF, CRY OUT to God, and PLEAD for Him to mercifully ‘SAVE’ YOU! None of us have a ‘claim’ on our salvation, nor do we have any ‘works’ that would cause us to deserve it or earn it—it is purely a gift of Divine grace—and all any of us can do is ask. So, CONFESS YOUR SINS and acknowledge to God that you have no hope for Heaven apart from what He provides through Jesus.

There is no ‘formula’ or certain words for this. So just talk to God, in your own words—He knows your ‘heart’. If you are genuinely sincere, and God does respond to your plea, one will usually have a sense of joy and peace.

Jesus said, “He that comes to Me, I will not cast out” [ John 6:37 ].

[ FYI: This is a great sermon on the “Call to Repentance” by John MacArthur from his book “The Gospel According to Jesus”: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-22/the-call-to-repentance
(Transcript: http://www.spiritedesign.com/TheCallToRepentance-JohnMacArthur(Jul-27-2019).pdf) ].

[ NOTE: If you have ‘tasted the kindness of the Lord’, please e-mail me—I would love to CELEBRATE with you, and help you get started on your ‘journey’ with Jesus! ].

 

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RESOURCES:

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“What? Did You Really Say What I Think I Heard?”
By: Sharon Drew Morgen

Most of us believe we hear others accurately, and if there is a misunderstanding it’s most likely not our fault. But sometimes our brains unintentionally cause us to mishear and misinterpret, assume and bias.

What? Did You Really Say What I Think I Heard? uses humor, funny stories and the latest research in neuroscience and communication to address the gap between what’s been said and what’s been heard – why it’s happening and how to fix it. What? is a provocative, original book that not only breaks down the elements that cause us to misinterpret what we hear, but provides a hands-on guide that teaches us how to correct the problems as they occur. A book for business folks and teachers, doctors and coaches, spouses and musicians – anyone who needs to accurately hear what others intend to convey.

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“The Bible Handbook of Difficult Verses: A Complete Guide to Answering the Tough Questions”
By: Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell

Josh and Sean McDowell, masters of practical Christian apologetics, team up in this trustworthy resource that helps readers understand and gain assurance about difficult Bible verses and passages.

The McDowells’ way of boiling down topics and explaining them clearly helps dispel questions that can confuse people about Christianity or frustrate them in their spiritual growth. Readers will appreciate features such as

– a simple, easy-to-access format
– straightforward explanations in non-theological language
– a summary of key principles of interpretation to help them learn and grow

This is a resource readers will turn to for help in everyday life―one that will help them gain confidence in all of Scripture. Excellent for individuals, churches, and church leaders, as well as personal and pastoral libraries.

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“The Most Misused Verses in the Bible, Surprising Ways God’s Word Is Misunderstood”
By: Eric J. Bargerhuff

A surprising number of well-known Bible verses are commonly misused and misunderstood. Whether intentionally or not, people take important verses out of context, and pastor and Bible scholar Eric J. Bargerhuff has seen the effects: confusion, faulty decisions, sin being dismissed, and more. With a deft touch, he helps readers understand and apply sound principles of interpretation and application of twenty familiar verses. This concise high-interest approach appeals to the curious as well as readers concerned about incorrect theology.

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“Misquoted: Rethinking Commonly Misused Bible Verses”
By: Dan Suelzle

God’s Word or Motivational Mantra?

Does it ever feel as though Bible verses have been repeated so often they have lost their meaning? Like a game of Bible Mad Libs where bits and pieces of Scripture are pulled and patched together to fit a fill-in-the-blank narrative that strays from what God really said.

Misquoted dives into the most commonly misused verses from the Bible—verses that are well worth reclaiming because of the significant impact they can have on your life. You will discover that Scripture, when you consider the context…

is not all about us, but Christ for us and the forgiveness of our sins
is an ever-flowing fountain of true hope and lasting comfort
is not all that mysterious, but when properly understood, has real life-changing power
From God’s great love to his plan and purpose for you, this book will shine new light on the most misused scriptures, placing each verse back into the context it was written so that you can experience the fullness of all the great truths God offers for your comfort, encouragement, and spiritual growth.

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“Commonly Misunderstood Verses of the Bible: What They Really Mean”
By: Robert E. Van Voorst

Do believe that God wants you to be financially prosperous (Joshua 1:8)? Do you think that Christians must “forgive and forget” (Jeremiah 31:34)? Do you suppose that everything will work for your good (Romans 8:28), or wonder if God will ever give you more than you can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13)? If you do, best-selling author Robert Van Voorst will help you to reexamine these verses, and many others, to see what they really mean.
This book treats twenty-four of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. Each is given concise but careful treatment, including an explanation of how they are misunderstood, what their meaning is, and what this meaning says to us today. Each chapter has questions for reflection and discussion.
Written especially for use in church classes and Bible study groups, but also suitable for individual reading, this book will stimulate your growth in the Christian faith and give you more confidence in understanding the Bible and applying it to your life.

“If you teach the Bible, preach regularly, or are a student of the Bible with a growing desire to know it better, this is a must-have. Commonly Misunderstood Verses of the Bible corrects the false interpretations we often uncritically accept about many biblical verses and concepts. It is another sterling example of the first-rate scholarship Robert Van Voorst makes accessible to the life of the Church.”
–Brand W. Eaton, United Methodist pastor, Board Certified Chaplain

“With exegetical skill, clear prose, and pastoral warmth, Van Voorst looks at two dozen such passages. Just skim through the table of contents, and you will not be able to put down this book without reading a chapter! Van Voorst will make you think carefully about how to handle the Scripture.”
–Robert L. Plummer, Founder and Host, http://www.DailyDoseOfGreek.com

“Robert Van Voorst has created an indispensable resource for both clergy and laity. He delightfully combines astute biblical insights with contemporary illustrations as he provocatively, yet graciously, overturns many of our long-held misunderstandings of key Bible verses. I have read similarly-themed works; this is by far my favorite. I look forward to using this wonderfully readable book as the foundation for an upcoming small-group Bible study.”
–Lou Kaloger, Pastor, Tampa Covenant Church

Robert E. Van Voorst served for twelve years as a parish pastor in New York, and then as a professor of religion in Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He is now a professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, and he teaches the Bible regularly in churches. He is the author of eleven books, including six widely used textbooks on the New Testament, Christian history, and world religions.

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“Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses: Clear Explanations for the Difficult Passages”
By: Ron Rhodes

The instruction and wonder of the Bible can be clouded when readers are uncertain about the meaning of some verses. Bible scholar and popular author Ron Rhodes (more than 1 million copies in combined sales) draws on his many years of studying and teaching Scripture to empower readers with knowledge, background, and truth. With clear and helpful explanations, Rhodes:

identifies the most troublesome verses
reveals important principles to help interpret them
addresses the stumbling blocks from Genesis to Revelation
helps readers become familiar with God’s message
clarifies the different literary genres of the Bible
Whether read to satisfy curiosity, pursue deeper Bible study, or prepare for discussions with non-believers, this practical resource will open up the promises and meaning of God’s Word and gives readers confidence in all of Scripture.

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“Word of Faith Preachers: How Misinterpretation of Scripture Might Lead You Astray”
By: Joeseph T. Bachota Jr.

Have you ever wondered about the correctness of the messages and teachings of preachers behind the pulpits and on TV today? Who holds them accountable for explanations and outlines of the truth? Who questions them or anything they say? With sound biblical exegesis, this book challenges you to keep an open mind and determine for yourself what is true or false. As an ordained Word of Faith preacher, Joe Bachota has firsthand knowledge of the doctrines being preached.

Word of Faith Preachers isn’t meant to be an exhaustive discussion of every doctrinal position taken by the movement. Instead, it explores a few of the major heresies the Word of Faith churches are teaching, with the goal of preventing you from being led astray if you are exposed to them. Even though Bachota once believed, preached, and taught most of these doctrines, the Lord has led him in another direction, opening his eyes to the heresies contained in some of the Word of Faith doctrine. Hopefully, this book will lead you in the same way and enable you to come to the same conclusion he did: the teachings of many churches today, particularly Word of Faith churches, are completely out of touch with sound biblical doctrine.

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“Out of Context: How to Avoid Misinterpreting the Bible”
By: Richard L. Schultz

Although 92% of American households own at least one Bible, their use of the Bible varies significantly. Only 59% of Americans read the Bible at least occasionally, and an even smaller percentage go beyond merely reading the Bible and actually study it. It is no wonder that even those who say they read the Scriptures often don’t understand them.

Veteran Bible professor Richard L. Schultz believes the misinterpretation and misapplication of biblical texts amounts to a crisis of “interpretive malpractice.” In Out of Context he seeks to explain how biblical interpretation goes wrong and how to get it right. He introduces readers to the important concepts of context, word meaning, genre, and the differences between the world of the Bible and our own. Readers who delve into the fascinating world of biblical interpretation found in this book will find their Scripture reading enhanced and be enlightened by Schultz’s powerful and ultimately positive message.

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“Misunderstood Texts of the Bible: Verses and Teachings of the New Testament Clarified and Explained”
By: Sir Robert Anderson

Sir Robert Anderson uses his investigative gifts to uncover and explain several of the most misunderstood verses in the Biblical New Testament. By employing a close and detailed reading of the holy text in its proper context, Anderson is able to clarify and expound upon the true meanings expressed. Several of the New Testament Gospel teachings are often misconstrued or oversimplified; their overall meaning, or simply the depth of the passages, are neglected. The author could not stand for such deficient scholarship of the Bible, and so published this informed commentary. Several of the passages isolated concern comments made by Biblical figures such as the Apostles John, Matthew and Paul. How their words are misread, downplayed or simply ignored in the schema of the New Testament lore is first identified, then dismissed by the author. Often, Anderson cites other passages in the Old and New Testament books which carry relevance or support the truth of the verse concerned.

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“My Favorite Verses (not) In The Bible: Choosing Truth Over Popular Traditions”
By: Jordan Orick

This book is a “grace bomb” serving to obliterate several extremely prevalent legalistic and destructive doctrines in the Body of Christ today. Jesus promised that if we knew the truth it would make us free. Sadly, many Christians are anything but free in their relationship with God and life as a whole. Very often, before we can construct correct beliefs we first must deconstruct some incorrect beliefs. This book will do just that! It will not only systematically tear down some of the walls of bondage built up in the minds of Christians all over the world but it will also reconstruct strongly fortified walls of truth! This book will relate to Christians of all backgrounds, spiritual levels, and walks of life! So buckle up! Jesus promised that the truth would make us free but He didn’t say that it wouldn’t be a bumpy ride!

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“Abusing Scripture: The Consequences of Misreading the Bible”
By: Manfred Brauch

Virtually all Christians recognize the centrality of the Bible to their faith. Yet many Christians misquote and misapply Scripture regularly. Often those who are most passionate about the authority of the Bible are at the greatest loss when it comes to understanding its message clearly and applying it faithfully. Professor Manfred Brauch believes this kind of mistaken interpretation and application of Scripture is a detriment to the integrity of our Christian witness and contributes to profound misunderstandings in Christian belief and practice.

In this practical book written with the non-specialist in mind, Manfred Brauch identifies and corrects a number of basic errors that interpret and apply biblical texts in ways that distort their meaning and message. Chapters explore issues of context, genre, consistency, author intent and other important considerations, addressing not just the act of interpretation, but also the attitudes behind the ways we choose to apply Scripture.

Whether you lead a Bible study or small group, are a pastor or Sunday school teacher, are engaged in biblical study at a college or seminary, or are just an everyday Christian who wants to understand how to interpret God’s Word well and recognize good interpretation (or the lack therof) when you encounter it, this important book will be an invaluable guide.

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“40 of the Most Popular Bible Verses and What They Really Mean”
By Gabriel Hughes

Most of the Bible verses and stories we think we know… we don’t! Even in our churches, some of the most quoted Scripture passages have been taken so out of context for so long, we’re no longer paying attention to what they really mean.

Pastor Gabriel Hughes highlights 40 popular (and often misused) Bible verses in their proper context so that the reader might learn to rightly handle the word of truth. The chapters are short, to the point, and easy to grasp. Featuring hundreds of Scripture references, and recommendations toward other teachers and study materials. Enjoy this book for personal growth or as part of a group Bible study!

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“Never Read a Bible Verse”
By: Greg Koukl

If there was one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one single skill I could impart, one useful tip I could leave that would serve you well the rest of your life, what would it be? What is the single most important practical skill I’ve ever learned as a Christian?

Here it is: Never read a Bible verse. That’s right, never read a Bible verse. Instead, always read a paragraph at least.

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“101 Important Words of the Bible: And the Unforgettable Story They Tell”
By Len Woods

The Bible can be daunting. It’s long. And the language can be complicated, the meaning obscure. You want to read it more but . . . you just don’t.

Len Woods is going to throw open the shutters, let in some light, and offer to take you on a different kind of journey. Starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation, he’ll help you see the astonishing beauty, power, and relevance of 101 words that are vital to God’s great story. While informative, this book is structured like and reads more like a devotional than an academic textbook.

As he explores words like exile, hope, and beloved, Woods provides:
• a definition for each word
• a verse where the word is used
• an explanation of what it means in the context of Scripture
• a look at why the word matters in the great story of the Bible
• a challenge for weaving the word into your own life story
• book club and small group discussion questions

Your story will be richer, and the Bible clearer, in just 101 words.

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“The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People”
By: Max Lucado and Randy Frazee

“The greatest story ever told” is more than just a cliché.

God goes to great lengths to rescue lost and hurting people. That is what The Story is all about: the story of the Bible, God’s great love affair with humanity. Condensed into 31 accessible chapters, The Story sweeps you into the unfolding progression of Bible characters and events from Genesis to Revelation. Using the world’s most popular modern-English Bible, the New International Version, it allows the stories, poems, and teachings of the Bible to read like a novel. Like any good story, The Story is filled with intrigue, drama, conflict, romance, and redemption – and this story’s true!

The Story features a foreword by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee. This book tells the grandest, most compelling story of all time: the story of a true God who loves his children, who established for them a way of salvation and provided a route to eternity. Each story in these 31 chapters reveals the God of grace – the God who speaks; the God who acts; the God who listens; the God whose love for his people culminated in his sacrifice of Jesus, his only Son, to atone for the sins of humanity.

Features:
– Selections from text of the accurate, readable, and clear New International Version (NIV)
– Events, characters, and teachings of the Bible are arranged chronologically
– Short transitions between each chapter to connect the reader to the continuing story
– Timelines of Bible events

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“ESV Reader’s Bible”

The ESV Reader’s Bible was created for those who want to read the books of Scripture precisely as they were originally written. Verse numbers, section headings, and translation footnotes are helpful navigational and interpretive tools, but they are also relatively recent conventions. In the Reader’s Bible they have been removed from the Bible text, and the result is a new kind of Bible-reading experience in a volume that presents Scripture as one extended storyline.

On the top of each page a verse range is included for navigation. Other features include a single-column text setting, readable type, and a book-like format. The Reader’s Bible is a simple but elegant edition, and is perfect for devotional reading or extended Bible reading that focuses on the overarching narrative of the Bible.

Features:

– Size: 5.25” x 7.75”
– 9-point Lexicon type
– 1,840 pages
– Black letter text
– Single-column, paragraph format
– No verse numbers or footnotes
– Illustrated maps
– Two ribbon markers
– Smyth-sewn binding
– Packaging: clamshell box (TruTone), permanent slipcase (cloth over board)

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“Holy Bible, NASB 1995 (Without Chapter or Verse Numbers)”
By: The Lockman Foundation

This NASB 1995 Kindle edition does not include CHAPTER OR VERSE NUMBERS. Another Kindle edition is available that includes them. In this special edition of the NASB, chapter and verse numbers have been removed from the text. These features were not part of the original Biblical text as it was written. Removing them allows the reader to read the text without them to eliminate any distraction that they may cause.

The NASB is a smooth reading Bible translation with accuracy you can trust. Originally produced in 1971 and updated in 1995, the NASB is widely embraced and trusted as a literal English translation. The NASB provides superior accuracy with clarity and readability to inspire greater understanding.

The NASB has been produced with the conviction that the words of Scripture, as originally penned in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, were inspired by God. The NASB is a precise translation that you can read with confidence as you conduct a personal journey through God’s Word.

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“THE SEARCH FOR MEANING” WEBSITE

This site presents discussions on the 12 most commonly asked questions about the Christian faith.

The 12 discussions are accessed by the “tabs” at the bottom of the page. The tabs are numbered 1-12. Roll your mouse over them and you will see the question displayed at the right. Click on the number to select that question.

Within each question (i.e. tabs 1-12), there are subtopics (or dialogues) to select that appear as smaller tabs underneath the numbered tabs. Roll your mouse over them and the title of these topics is also displayed to the right. Click on the open rectangle to select that dialogue.

For each question (1-12), a link to related resources and an optional flowchart is provided. To access this material, click on the respective words, “Related Resources” or “Options Flowchart.”

To play a more detailed discussion of the subject, between two people, select the desired dialogue and click on “Play Audio Dialogue.”

In the upper right-hand corner of the page, there is an icon that looks like binoculars looking at a question mark. Click on this icon to return to the homepage.

In the upper right-hand corner of a “Related Resources” page, there is an icon that looks like some books. Click on this icon to get to an “overview” page that has links to all of the resources for all of the questions. There also are additional “appendices” for most of the questions.

In the upper right-hand corner of a “Flowchart” page, there is an icon that looks like an Org chart. Click on this icon to get to an “overview” page that has links to all of the flowcharts.

http://4vis.com/sfm/sfm_pres/sp_q1_d1_1of10.html

[ Content by: Bill Kraftson and Lamar Smith; Website by Mark Besh ]

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“FRUITS OF THE BEATITUDES” WEB SITE
(The ATTITUDES of Jesus that produce the CHARACTER of Jesus)

CLICK ON THE LINK to view:
http://fruitsofthebeatitudes.org/

FACEBOOK PAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/FruitsOfTheBeatitudes/

[ Mark Besh ]

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[ P.S.: If you would like to investigate further how reading the Bible will help you to grow closer to God in the here and now, visit the following link:
http://www.4vis.com/sfm/sfm_pres/sp_q12_d1_1of10.html ].

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ARTICLES:

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“Misheard Lyrics”

One thing’s for certain, you will never hear these songs in the same way again! Do you have any other misheard lyrics to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!

[ Peter Kay: The Tour That Didn’t Tour Tour ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7my5baoCVv8

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“When You Misinterpret An Instant Message”

What do those instant messages with smiley faces mean? Here’s one way to interpret them.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9d10OIXkdM

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“Bohemian Rhapsody – Misheard Lyrics & Music”

Brilliant comic Rainer Hersch’s hilarious take on the words and music of the classic Queen hit.

[ Rainer Hersch ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmXn6lk5nWM

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“‘O Fortuna’ Sung with Misheard Lyrics”

[ NMKO ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQEfxhvAy0c

[ FYI: Video with the correct lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QPU1VpPn2s ]

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“THE MOST FAMOUS EXAMPLES OF MISINTERPRETATION”

LOST IN TRANSLATION – THE MOST FAMOUS EXAMPLES OF MISINTERPRETATION

One of the most important aspects of business, politics – in fact life in general – is effective communication. Of course this can be difficult when dealing with someone who doesn’t speak your language, which is where professional and experienced translation agencies like Take Note Ltd come in.

However, history is littered with examples of people and organisations who have failed to secure the services of translators who understand completely the nuances of a certain language perfectly. Here are some of the most famous examples.

JIMMY CARTER PROPOSITIONS POLAND
You know that moment on a first date when someone gets a bit ahead of themselves and it’s all very awkward?

On a state trip to Poland in 1977, US President Jimmy Carter explained how he wanted to learn more about the Polish people’s desires for the future, both politically and economically. Unfortunately Carter’s Polish translator, a freelance linguist named Steven Seymour, translated it into words that suggested he wanted to understand their carnal desires.

If that wasn’t enough, Seymour also translated Carter talking about returning back to America into him saying that he had abandoned America. Compounding the problem, Seymour also used numerous Russian words – a major folly in a nation who were largely anti-Russia.

FREUDIAN SLIP?
When it comes to marketing, the nature of your catchphrase or slogan can be key to getting across your core brand values. However, if you operate within a global marketplace like banking group HSBC does, you need to be sure that your catchphrase is translated appropriately.

In 2009 HSBC had to spend $10 million on a rebranding campaign after their slogan “Assume Nothing” was translated as “Do Nothing” in several countries.

ROLE REVERSAL
Sometimes mistranslations can cause more than just embarrassment, but have a permanent impact on the very culture of a nation.

Back in the 1950s, chocolate companies began encouraging couples in Japan to start celebrating Valentine’s Day, but a mistranslation from one company made it seem like the idea was for women to give chocolates to men! This practice is continued to this day, with men doing the same for their partners on March 14.

WE COME IN PEACE
The idea of ‘Martians’, or that Mars at some time or another harboured life is a common theme throughout science fiction, and it was all down to Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli.

In 1877 Schiaparelli discovered ‘canali’, or canals on Mars’ surface. Of course canals are a manmade phenomenon, so was this proof that a civilisation once existed on Mars? It is an idea that has inspired countless works of fiction, except that it is all based on a mistranslation. ‘Canali’ doesn’t actually mean ‘canals’ at all, but ‘channels’ or ‘trenches’ – completely naturally occurring terrain.

MISTRANSLATION LEADS TO THE DEATH OF ABOUT… OH, 250,000 PEOPLE
The debate over whether the USA was right to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki often centres on the argument that countless soldiers would have lost their lives in a conflict with the seemingly un-surrendering Japan.

Even when the US issued the Potsdam Declaration – demanding total surrender else complete destruction – the Japanese government were unwavering. At least, that’s what the Americans thought.

Following persistent pressure for a response to the Potsdam Declaration, Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki called a news conference in which he effectively told the reports “No comment. We’re still thinking about it.” However the word he used for ‘no comment’ was ‘mokusatsu’, which can also mean “we’re ignoring in contempt.”

Had Suzuki made himself that little bit clearer, one of history’s darkest moments may never have happened.

[ John Rooney ]

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“5 Causes of Miscommunication”

Miscommunication can cost companies millions of dollars per year. A survey of 400 companies cited an average loss per company of $62.4 million a year due to communication blunders. These errors can happen across many fields, but this article will focus on examples of miscommunication in business.

In today’s evolving global business climate, proper communication between companies, clients and consumers is paramount. Failure to communicate in even the smallest of ways can lead to huge delays in project deadlines, tense business relationships and lost profits. Being able to adequately understand, avoid and remedy miscommunications in a business setting could save a business from all these headaches.

Modern day business communication can take place through a variety of avenues, including over e-mails, through social media and in meetings over the phone or in person. Even with an extensive selection of communication platforms, miscommunication can still occur. This article will explore some of the more common causes of miscommunication in business and the disastrous effects they can have.

1. Lack of Context
In a business setting, context is the background, environment or framework surrounding an event or occurrence. Context gives tasks and responsibilities meaning and serves as clarification. When a report needs to be disseminated, context for that task would include which report, where it needs to be sent and by when, as well as who is tasked with sending it. Without context, a mistake can occur during the communication process, which can leave consumers confused or upset at the end result.

One example of a lack of context in communication came from Yellow Pages, the company that publishes telephone directories. In a 2015 marketing campaign, more than 250 billboards across Canada advertised the use of their app to find “the best cup of coffee” or “fast fashion” in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, one ad erroneously promoted the Korean dish Bibimbap using an image of noodles instead of rice. Photos of the ad were shared across social media, and Yellow Pages quietly issued an apology on social media in response. Soon after, the entire marketing campaign was terminated.

Lack of context can be dangerous and lead to damaging business relationships both internally and externally. In addition, failure to account for context diminishes brand trust, which is how people perceive a brand’s products or services. In this case, the ad designer’s lack of cultural context led to a damaging moment for Yellow Pages. To prevent this cause of miscommunication, all those involved on a project should be given ample time to ask questions and review their work. Consider involving a subject matter expert to ensure the project will come across effectively.

2. Assumptions
Assumptions in business communication occur when various factors are thought to be true but are never confirmed, which can take place at any stage of the product life cycle. Making assumptions is commonplace in business for strategy and decision-making, but those are typically standardized. In some instances, like when it comes to what consumers want to taste, it’s best not to assume.

In the early 1990s, the beverage industry was focused on developing clean and natural products. Pepsi tried to take advantage of this fad by releasing Crystal Pepsi, a clear and caffeine-free version of the traditional drink. Initially, the novelty of the drink reaped a profit, but the success was short-lived; consumers avoided Crystal Pepsi in part because it didn’t have the traditional Pepsi flavor. Less than two years after appearing on shelves across the nation, Crystal Pepsi was retired from production.

Crystal Pepsi’s manufacturers warned then-COO David Novak about the possibility of the drink’s failure, and he admitted he ignored their advice. Pepsi’s erroneous assumptions about consumer interest paired with a lack of research or factual evidence resulted in the loss of millions of dollars. To avoid a fate like Crystal Pepsi, business leaders should listen to their team’s input and perform market research to back up their assumptions before moving forward with a product or decision.

3. Vagueness or Ambiguity
Vagueness and ambiguity occur when a message is not fully delivered, the sender leaves out valuable information or the receiver fails to ask clarifying questions. Ambiguity and vagueness enhance the difficulty of a task, and they diminish the ability to make decisions and solve problems. Not being able to solve the problems of customers can have a costly impact on a business.

According to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, as early as 2004, certain General Motors employees were aware of ignition switch defects that could result in airbags failing to deploy and vehicles stalling. However, the ignition switch problem was labeled “customer convenience” on internal documents, so the issue was not fully addressed. Committees tasked with reviewing it interpreted the vague “customer convenience” as a simple issue and not a dangerous defect. In 2014, GM announced a recall for 2.7 million cars, and three years later, GM agreed to pay $120 million to settle claims in relation to the flaw.

GM’s lack of clarity led numerous people to overlook a serious problem. Ultimately, this miscommunication cost the company millions and, more importantly, the trust of consumers. For businesses looking to avoid vagueness, they should be upfront in both internal and external communications, clearly identify problems and use specific, concrete language.

4. Excess Communication
One of the leading causes of miscommunication in business can be attributed to excess communication. When information is sent in multiple messages over a long period, or important information is buried in a long message, the key take-aways can be easily missed. This can result in miscommunication later in the process, which can have a disastrous effect on a product or service.

Multiple researchers on information overload have estimated that excess information could cost the U.S. economy anywhere from $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual value. A study of office workers in Ottawa, Canada found that they often experienced miscommunication with their bosses through e-mail. E-mails are usually the culprit of overcommunicating because they’re easily composed and sent. The frequent miscommunication for the Canada employees necessitated follow-up e-mails and conversations that forced timelines on projects to slow.

The poor communication in the Canadian offices could have been avoided if the e-mails were were edited to contain only relevant information formatted in an easy-to-read layout.

5. Wrong Medium for Audience
Because business communication takes place on a variety of avenues, it’s crucial to select the correct channel for both the audience and message.

In internal e-mails sent to employees, Neal L. Patterson, the CEO for Cerner Corporation, allegedly unleashed a diatribe, “berating employees for not caring” about the organization. It’s reported he threatened layoffs, hiring freezes and even shutting down the employee gym. The e-mails were reportedly only intended for the company’s 400 or so managers, but they made their way to all 3,100 employees. After the e-mails leaked to the public, the company’s $1.5 billion stock market valuation fell 22 percent in three days.

Patterson later said his e-mails were only intended to fire up his managers to work harder but that he wished he hadn’t sent them. Though his goal may have been to boost productivity, Patterson’s exaggerated requests created an “atmosphere of fear” in the company. In hindsight, it may have been better to hold a conference call with managers or meet with them in person to more clearly express his desires.

Miscommunication is Costly
From missing context to using the wrong medium, these causes of miscommunication in business can lead to disastrous outcomes, not only in regards to the bottom line but also internal morale. Studies have shown that companies can lose millions every year due to communication errors, and intangible impacts include a loss of focus, lack of innovation and drop in morale.

[ Alvernia University ]

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8 Causes of Miscommunication and Misunderstanding
Ever since our ancestors uttered their first grunts, miscommunication has been a part of our daily lives.

A customer misreads a policy; a colleague misinterprets a to-do; a couple clashes over a misunderstanding of who was supposed to pick up the kid.

One would have thought that miscommunication would drop with the advancement of technology. Alas, this hasn’t been the case. We’re more connected than ever, yet we seem to stray only further from mutual understanding.

The first step is to understand where things are going wrong. Here are eight common causes of miscommunication and misunderstanding.

1Implicit vs explicit communication
Sometimes we mean exactly what we say. “Hand me a cookie, please.” But sometimes our explicit message doesn’t fully concur with our intention. “Could you pass me that cookie?” “Yes, I could,” my sister replies, as she grabs and eats it herself.

The iceberg of communication
Simple messages can be stuffed with implicitness. “Enjoy that cookie” could be a neutral message. But I could also say it in a way that makes my sister feel guilty, or makes her wonder whether this particular cookie has a special ingredient she didn’t know about.

Miscommunication often stems from a misalignment of explicit and implicit meaning between the sender and receiver. Some people are straightforward; others expect you to read between the lines.

Phrasing your messages in an explicit manner prevents miscommunication. This is especially recommended in high-stake circumstances or when you don’t know the other person well. If you’re a service rep dealing with a new customer, for example, you’d better err on the side of explicitness.

There’s a tension between politeness and directness here. To make questions or commands more polite, we wrap them in indirectness. “Give me your phone number” , turns into, “would you mind giving me your phone number?” .

You couldn’t skip this process entirely, but it helps to be aware of its implications.

2Written vs verbal
The carrier of the message, or the channel, is another common cause of miscommunication. Verbal channels like phone or voice mail are better carriers for implicit meaning, while written channels like email or live chat are better for explicit communication.

There’s an infinite number of ways to pronounce the word “no.” In written communication the interpretation is fully left to the receiver, making miscommunication easier.

The major communication channels compared.
The advantages of written communication, then, are its search- and storability. You rely less on the focus and working memory of your listener, as he can simply read back on what’s been said.

So writing is prone to implicit, and voice prone to explicit miscommunication.

Emoji are one tool to limit the risk of missing the mark when writing. Emily Triplett Lentz from Help Scout wrote a post about how emoji and exclamation marks can make your emails more friendly.

3Competitive conversation forms
Many of our conversations take on counterproductive forms in which each side is merely out to seek status. In “12 Rules for Life” , Jordan B. Peterson discusses a few of such forms he encountered in his career as a psychologist and which you’ll be sure to recognize.

The stronger story. One person tells a good story. Instead of simply appreciating it, the other person only tries to top it. If the original storyteller returns the favor, such dialogues can quickly spin out of control to increasingly improbable storylines.

Waiting to make your point. Instead of listening fully to what the other person is saying, you’re just thinking about how you can jump in to make your own point.

Victory for the point of view. Most discussions develop into this one. Instead of discussing to learn something new, people discuss with the sole purpose of claiming victory of the other person’s point of view.

The downside of conversational forms like these ones is that they prevent us from getting closer to understanding . If your ego is invested in your argument, you’re not able to change your mind without losing your face.

4Negativity bias
This is our mind’s tendency to interpret ambiguity as negative.

When you walk into a dark room, you don’t imagine bumping into a pot of gold; you imagine a killer clown lurking under the bed.

The negativity bias is a major cause of miscommunication as well. With multiple possible interpretations, we orient towards the negative. Your boyfriend’s “seen” your last message but hasn’t replied yet? Probably he’s too busy cheating on you.

The negativity bias is especially pervasive in written channels because the receiver has to do the implicit interpretation. In his tips on working remotely – which often involves heavy reliance on chat – Gregory Ciotti recommends to always assume miscommunication over malice .

When you’re the sender, keep the negativity bias in mind and include a positive emoji in messages that could be interpreted the wrong way. For more tips on how to conquer the negativity bias, take a look at our video below.

5Poor listening skills
In his Ted talk, Julian Treasure argues that we’re rapidly losing our listening skills. Our apps have thrown us in a constant state of distraction; our headphones lock us in a private bubble.

Indeed, plenty of today’s miscommunication can be blamed on the receiver’s inability to focus. If you want to sharpen your listening skills, Treasure offers a few exercises:

6Poor speaking skills
Similarly, oftentimes miscommunication can be blamed on poor speaking skills. Some people express themselves so incoherently that they’re near impossible to follow.

One powerful communication tip is to speak with structure – for example by using a what – so what – now what approach. Start talking about the what. Then about why it’s relevant. Then what the next steps should be.

That’s Timoor. He’s a big basketball fan like you. Let me introduce you to him.

In another talk, Julian Treasure shares some tips on how to speak so others will want to listen:

Also check out his book, “How to be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening” .

7Misaligned lingo
Another common cause of miscommunication. To increase efficiency, people within a close group develop their own ways of speaking–through jargon, acronyms, buzzwords, etc.

Chat with jargon.
“Legalese” is another culprit. It’s the formal and technical language that often makes government documents sound overly complex, forcing people into hiring lawyers for their legal issues.

These verbal phenomena aren’t problematic as long as you stay within your circle. When interacting with outsiders, however, you’ll need to adjust.

8Mental models
The above causes of miscommunication are about an actual misinterpretation of the explicit/implicit meaning of the message. But a larger type of miscommunication exists – one in which people are actually talking about the same things, but differ on what these things mean .

Such misunderstanding derives from differing mental models.

It’d be nice if we’d all see the world the same way. But we don’t. In “What? Did you really say what I think I heard?” , Sharon Morgen explains that our brains delete, misconstrue and misinterpret according to filters–biases, triggers, assumptions, beliefs, habits and mental models.

There’s actually an ongoing epistemological debate between intelligent people over whether objective reality even exists. We won’t reach a conclusion here, but that fact alone underlines the weight of mental models.

7 Discussion Techniques to Get Closer to Truth and Understanding
It’s difficult to have a fruitful discussion. One that changes minds, instead of hardening them.

Read more
A few types of mental models and reinforcing mental biases only add to the miscommunication of our world:

(Sub-)Cultures . Humans create cultures to make sense of reality. Everyone is part of various cultures and subcultures, all influencing the way we look at things and the paradigms we live in.

The world in its diversity.
Someone with a socialist mindset may have a more pessimistic view regarding the intentions of businesses than someone with a belief in the market’s invisible hand.

What’s more, what sounds nice in one language sounds rude in another. The standard speaking style in Spanish, for example, is more direct than English. “Give me the key” sounds bossy in English without a “please” accompanying it, but in Spanish “dame la llave” is perfectly polite.

Déformation Professionnell. Or as Mark Twain put it: “If your only tool is a hammer, all your problems will be nails.” Most of us are specialists, with our areas of expertise based on our studies or job description.

Each specialism functions as a lens through which we interpret the world–whether that’s economics, sociology or feminism. That makes it hard to talk about issues from the same perspective.

The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations (…) generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become.

Adam Smith
A hammer and a screwdriver will have a hard time arguing over how to open a wine bottle. For more understanding, we need Swiss army knives.

Confirmation & disconfirmation bias. This bias is responsible for our tendency to only focus on and accept what concurs with our existing worldview.

We’re especially likely to accept a statement as true when it’s wrapped in a nice, emotion-loaded story that concurs with our worldview – a phenomenon called story bias .

As brilliantly illustrated by The Oatmeal , the Backfire Effect is an extreme form of the confirmation bias. It occurs when evidence that contradicts a person’s belief actually makes it stronger . This happens because many of our opinions aren’t based on reason, but on emotion.

Tribalism. The internet has made slipping into groupthink easier than ever. We only interact with the news and online friends that share our opinions. Digital echo chambers provide the space to air your opinions and find instant reinforcement, feeding a trend of modern tribalism.

Mixed in with the negativity effect, people from one tribe assume only negative intent from people from the other tribe. Instead of reacting on what people are actually saying, they engage in a sort of mental telepathy and respond on what they think they are really after.

Looking for better customer relationships?
Test Userlike for free and chat with your customers on your website, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram.

Read more
Say Bob makes a stand against immigration based on various, non-racial arguments. This topic is so toxic due to the absence of daylight between the different tribes that people from the other side will inevitable assume that Bob’s real reasons are, in fact, racist.

And they might be, of course. But assuming that they are only ensures an ever growing distance.

The fixes to differing mental models are less straightforward, but here is a start:

Awareness. When you encounter someone with strongly differing opinions than you, try to objectively uncover the areas in which your mental models differ, and where they overlap.

Frame it as a cooperation. Most discussions spin towards the question of who is right , instead of what’s the truth . Reframe the discussion as a mutually benefitting clash of minds that will get both of you closer to the truth.

Talk in terms of the other person. As Olga Khazan from The Atlantic suggests in the video below, we often try to convince people with arguments that appeal to our values, not theirs.

Steel-manning. This communication technique is the opposite of straw-manning , the practice of summarizing the argument of your opponent in a way that makes it look worse. With steel-manning you summarize the other person’s argument as favorable as possible – perhaps more favorable than your conversation partner did.

[Steelmanning] makes us better rationalists, better arguers, and better people.
Chana Messinger

Expand your mental models. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s business partner, consciously expanded the number of mental models during his lifetime – from accounting, architecture, biology, economics, to philosophy, physics and more. Expanding your mental models will allow you to reason about issues from multiple angles.

Mental Models are how Charlie refers to the key ideas in each discipline. Each idea is a concept (or model) about how the world really works that can be used to understand and solve real problems and predict real outcomes.
Andrew McVagh

We can’t all be like Charlie. But we can dedicate some time to study different paradigms, to become more like Swiss army knives.

Leave your intellectual comfort zone. It doesn’t feel nice to encounter information that clashes with your worldview. Feel the urge to reject this cognitive dissonance, accept the discomfort and move forward.

Be aware of common logical fallacies. Everyone falls for them, all the time. If you care about getting closer to the truth, study common logical fallacies that often manifest in discussions – like the “false cause,” “appeal to emotion” and “tu quoque.”

Stop identifying with your ideas. We’re inclined to see our ideas as an extension of ourselves. If our ideas are criticized, we defend them with passion. This makes it hard to let go, hard to learn. Detach yourself from your ideas.

Not taking ideas personally is made easier by the meta-belief that holding certain beliefs does not make you a better person.
Peter Boghossian

Give people time. Even if you don’t identify with your ideas anymore, others will. So don’t expect to change their minds in a day. Allow time for ideas to settle in and for people to discover the logic in an argument.

Article: https://www.userlike.com/en/blog/causes-of-miscommunication

[ Pascal ]

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“Don’t Underestimate the Effects of Poor Communication”

Although available communication tools abound, using them effectively remains a challenge.

The workplace is increasingly connected, with 24/7 email, instant messaging and phone calls pulling employees into work matters both during and after business hours. But that doesn’t necessarily mean employees are better connected to each other. Often, all that information can become white noise.

The study “Communication Barriers in the Modern Workplace,” conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Lucidchart, has taken stock of communication in the workplace today, and the results suggest leaders have some work to do.

Also read: How to use technology in your internal communications strategy

The State of (Mis)Communication

EIU’s study of 403 executives, managers and staff at U.S. companies found that, across the board, employees believe miscommunication is contributing to their stress, failure to complete projects and loss of sales. “This is not just an unpleasantry. This is really affecting the performance of the company,” said Nathan Rawlins, chief marketing officer at Lucid Software, makers of Lucidchart.

Rawlins emphasized, “Employers just don’t even understand that this is a challenge. We talk about things like diversity and as part of that conversation don’t talk about the fact there are diverse ways of communicating.”

Miscommunication takes on many forms. According to the study, different communication styles, unclear responsibilities and time pressures are the three most frequently cited causes of poor communication. Focusing on communication styles, employees’ struggles to connect often result in unclear expectations that are amplified under pressure.

Employees believe miscommunication is contributing to their stress, failure to complete projects and loss of sales.

The data show that miscommunication is more severe across generational divides. “Nearly a third of millennials and Gen Xers said that they have used instant messaging every day in the past year to communicate with colleagues or clients,” Rawlins said. Only 12 percent of baby boomers reported a similar trend. This leaves part of the workforce with one less way to connect with one another, reducing the likelihood of effective message delivery.

Hierarchy impacts communication as well. Leaders have a hard time making direct contact with their frontline employees, for example. Those serving as bridges between higher-ups and nonsupervisory employees, the middle managers, tend to face the most communication trouble, having to navigate different goals and desires from above and below. “They tend to get caught in the middle of conflicting communication preferences,” Rawlins said.

Loss of morale, stress and frustration abound when employees can’t connect. That’s a burden employees may carry home with them, affecting their home life and future work performance.

The report found that in addition to its effect on productivity, miscommunication also has a heavy emotional impact on employees. Loss of morale, stress and frustration abound when employees can’t connect. That’s a burden employees may carry home with them, affecting their home life and future work performance.

Employees reported that too many unproductive meetings, tight deadlines and waiting for others to pass along information in order to continue working were the top three most stressful situations.

Also read: When Your Workday Is Interrupted, and Interrupted Again and Again

“These inconsistencies in the pattern of how managers who lead are communicating is leading to challenges,” said Philipp Schramm, chief financial officer and vice president of human resources and communications at Webasto Roof Systems Americas. “People are worried, rumors start and that’s a major problem.”

Technological Impact

Surprisingly, the study found a discrepancy between the tools employees know are effective and the ones they continue to use. For example, only 22 percent of employees reported they have meetings every day despite their reported effectiveness. Also, 60 percent of employees said they use email every day, but only 40 percent said it’s very effective at sharing information.

Many reported that technology is actually hurting communication as it has drastically cut down on direct communication, allowing employees to default to tools like email rather than phone calls and meetings. As a result, employees no longer have access to nonverbal cues like tone of voice, gestures and visuals to help them understand messages.

Sixty-five percent of employees reported that face-to-face meetings were very effective for sharing information, making them the most effective method the study examined. That number didn’t change across generations. That means employees may feel they’re missing out on important information, even if fewer meetings and phone calls reduce wasted time and interruptions to their workflow.

However, tools utilizing technology like video conferencing, slide presentations and even conference calls can reestablish some of the elements of visual and face-to-face communication that employees are looking for. For international businesses, digital conferencing has already become an essential element of the workday, and it may become increasingly important to connect with remote workers.

“These are all forms of communication,” Schramm said. “To say that one form of communication is best I think would be the wrong approach to it. It depends on the situation.”

To say that one form of communication is best I think would be the wrong approach to it. It depends on the situation.”

— Philipp Schramm, chief financial officer and vice president of human resources and communications at Webasto Roof Systems Americas

How Can Training Help?

While it may not be possible to completely change one’s communication style, the No. 1 cause of miscommunication found by the EIU, it is possible to become more aware of others’ communication styles through training. However, employees may be missing out on the right kind of training.

Schramm stated that some organizations don’t see communication as a topic where training is essential. “They say, ‘Why do you spend time on communication? We all learn how to communicate. We all learn how to speak.’ ” He emphasized that existing communication training programs tend to focus more on presentation than on communication. This makes them ineffective.

“In the end, it’s not about presenting yourself in an organization; it’s about how we interact with each other,” Schramm said.

One study found that even short communication training sessions for doctors improved patient satisfaction, as well as reduced burnout for participants. Communication training helped doctors better connect to those they serve, and the same can apply to other organizations.

Sixty-two percent of respondents to the EIU study said they believed firmwide training to improve communication would have a significant impact. Additionally, 57 percent of responders reported they enjoyed working with people who have different communication styles. They just need the training to understand how to better communicate among them.

“I think that’s absolutely critical, that we help people understand that not everyone communicates the same way they do,” Rawlins said.

Communication training is more than just increasing written communication skills. It should include training on verbal communication and basic training on the use of new communication tools. As the generational divide between millennials and boomers emphasizes, for example, training on the uses of instant messaging could expand use of the technology and increase efficacy.

More important, communication training should include opportunities to practice in realistic situations. “We think that this is a great opportunity for workshops and practice sessions where people can try different ways of communicating than they’re probably most familiar with,” Rawlins said.

Schramm echoed this point. “Put more emphasis actually on the doing. Don’t put too much emphasis on learning the theory behind,” he said.

Schramm’s team at Webasto has already overhauled the company’s communication training program with great success. “With putting a lot of effort on fairness and proper communication within the organization we have improved in just 15 months from the worst company McKinsey has seen to the second-best category,” Schramm said. And that overhaul has had an impact on the personal lives of employees who reported they are communicating better outside the office, as well.

What’s Next?

Overcoming communication problems needs to be a team effort. Schramm stated that it is the job of leaders to guide teams toward the right tools. “I think that’s the kind of understanding a leader has to get: what tool, what way of communication to use for what situation without losing your authenticity,” he said.

With the help of training, perhaps all employees can gain that level of understanding. Rawlins said, “One of the key skills is recognition of the type of communication patterns that are most common with the people you are working with.” Across the board, individuals should strive to better understand the communication methods that work best for their teams. Learning leaders can facilitate this process by ensuring all team members have the vocabulary to do so.

The workplace is only going to continue to change. That means additional stress on employees and a greater variety of tools available to employers. But by improving how they communicate now, teams at all levels can be ready to navigate what’s to come.

“As we understand this data, as we take a step back and think about communication, we can actually affect the bottom line,” Rawlins said. “We can help people be more effective, help them to be less stressed at work, focus on the things that matter most and ultimately improve the way that the business operates.”

[ Mariel Tishma ]

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“Misunderstanding”

2014 TV Series

[ Peanuts ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaaWgXJJjLg

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“Social Media Mishaps – 3 Steps to Take When Misunderstood”

This week I posted a brief comment on a doctor friend’s social page. It was a quick thought that, when taken out of context, came across the wrong way. He got sore and emailed me about it. I was upset because my relationship with him means a lot to me. It was one of my social media mishaps.

It was a misunderstanding. I emailed to explain what I meant and where I was going with my question. We caught up by phone. We’re good. 4 years of regular engagement and connection don’t fall apart over something like this.

If this hasn’t happened to you, it will. Because things move quickly in the stream. Short-form dialog is ripe for wild interpretation.

The more you do, the more you’ll fail. And the more you say, the greater the odds that you’ll come off the wrong way when viewed through someone else’s lens. Every communication tool has its weakness. We all need to accept and understand the shortcomings of these platforms and have simple mechanisms in place for righting the ship when it tips a bit.

In cases like this

1. Don’t be defensive. Recognize that perception trumps reality and what you intended to say always falls a far second to what it sounds like.

2. Apologize and explain yourself.

3. Then move about your business. This is a two-way street and your relationship will depend upon the other person seeing the mishap. If they can’t see it and your intent was really not maligned, then it’s someone you need not engage with.

There are lots of excuses for avoiding public dialog. But for me the opportunities of connection have always outweighed the risk of social media mishaps.

[ Bryan Vartabedian ]

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“How miscommunication happens (and how to avoid it)”

Have you ever talked with a friend about a problem, only to realize that he just doesn’t seem to grasp why the issue is so important to you? Have you ever presented an idea to a group, and it’s met with utter confusion? What’s going on here? Katherine Hampsten describes why miscommunication occurs so frequently, and how we can minimize frustration while expressing ourselves better.

[ Katherine Hampsten ]

Illustration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCfzeONu3Mo

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“Out Of Context Quotes”

‘Nothing ever has anything to do with real life.’

‘Scallops wait for no man.’

‘In my world, ALL hats are made of balloon animals.’

‘To be fair, most people can’t use their butts to pull things out of the oven.’

‘Croutons have no sense of humor.’

‘But what if the Queen stops by and I’ve got my face in a bowl of melted butter?!’

‘I don’t think anyone would be opposed to fudge expansion.’

‘Olive oil tends to give me amnesia.’

‘It just explains why they lost track of their pants when they went to the other side of Mars.’

‘Even brain surgery is easier when you’re a professional chef!’

‘Did you go to the JubJub School of Laying Down?’

‘This horned helmet just SCREAMS ‘skilled electrician’!’

‘T-Rex will never know the joy of putting olives on the end of his claws.’

‘Since the angels got out of the bathroom they’ve been very crunchy.’

‘Everything with you revolves around opposable thumbs.’

‘My call of the wild went to voice mail.’

‘Your office space is NOT Feng Shui if none of your pens have caps!’

‘Fish Licking is frowned upon, especially in New England.’

‘S’Moria – where the Dwarves toast marshmallows.’

‘Marble rye isn’t like celery in a tree!’

‘H.R. Stuff ‘N Junk is H.R. Puff ‘N Stuff’s bad boy cousin that hangs out with Oscar the Grouch.’

‘It’s not even 8am and you’ve already ruined teleportation for everyone.’

‘If they wanted us to use good grammar, they should have made it more easier.’

‘Can you really bake snow?’ – ‘You can if it’s made of marbles!’

‘I’m going to change my name to REDACTED.’

‘Are you ordering bacteria from the internet again?’

‘As long as they don’t hit me with the love fern, I’ll be alright.’

‘He’s not really an actor – he just plays one on tv!’

‘Thank goodness there’s an alternate heat source for you and we don’t have to wait for the repairman to decompose.’

‘Nazi-Zombies. They’re like an evil Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.’

‘You should stop getting all of your ideas off the Beef Jerky Hotline.’

‘Root Beer’s KIND of a fruit… like purple!’

‘At least the Children of the Corn are gluten free!’

‘Death by Slinky… it could happen!’

‘A toaster’s just a vacuum with a phone attached, right?’

‘I’m not sure what Batman would be, as a sandwich.’

‘My llama’s name is Juan and he doesn’t smoke.’

‘You’re the one who wanted the new hybrid technology; so we got a chicken-powered refrigerator!’

‘I hate things that are not consistent.’ – ‘Me neither.’

‘We were toasting to doggie dentures?’

‘You don’t want tacos in your sound hole.’

‘You’re like the Yoko Ono of dog food.’

‘A wizard never butters himself. He only butters precisely what he means to.’

‘I think a baconated beverage would just end up being hot ham water.’

‘It’s like listening to a potato chip from inside the bag!’

‘No banjos til you drink your tequila!’

‘Starting to think toast is a self-replicating virus.’

‘You know what they say: deck in, frog out!’

‘If I was a ghost I would definitely comment on people’s towels.’

‘I realize everything.’

‘Oven windows are the greatest inventions since quiche. And vice versa.’

‘If you are doomed to die, you don’t get any cheese.’

‘Finally! A yoga-safe hearing aid!’

‘Audioly… it’s like ravioli only you put it in your ear.’

‘I’ve heard of bathtub gin but never bathtub broccoli.’

‘I think the Higgs boson particles in the wireless router were getting a little red in the face.’

‘Rice and beans are like matter and anti-matter in the same dish.’

‘If you think getting the orange powder from Cheetos on your fingers is bad, wait until you see what time dilation does.’

‘So, when you eat a black hole, you should start at the center, and not at the event horizon.’

‘I literally haven’t looked up the definition of hyperbole in, like, a million years.’

‘It was disconcerting. One of those moments where you walk into the room, see a cow in your bathtub, and think, “Right. So there’s that.” and walk back out.’

‘You know waffles bring out the pirate in me!’

‘It’s hard to breathe in infrared.’

‘You really don’t want a remote control with a digestive system.’

‘You know what item I refuse to touch? Bathroom spoons.’

‘There’s very little textile work in database design, although I can almost guarantee you that the reverse is not true.’

‘If there is one thing you can say about Isaac Newton, it’s that he was made of meat. ‘

‘If you can’t do the math, then you shouldn’t buy the robot.’

‘That’s how they used to measure time, in number of unicorns.’

‘You say you worked on Wall Street, but you didn’t know about the tacos?’

‘How many organic marshmallow farmers do you think there are in the world?’

‘With friends like these, who needs mixed metaphors.’

‘There’s no such thing as a circle, ever! ‘

‘If you drink reverse polarity water, do you fart a tachyon pulse?’

‘Maybe you need a special brand of wood glue for Calculus?’

‘Right now my internet connection is breaking up due to fish.’

‘Rap doesn’t have many tuba solos.’

‘Yes, yes. We all wanted our ears to be a magical source of money.’

‘How often do you banjoodle, in a formal atmosphere anyway?’

‘Is that like some sort of weird hamburglar laundry droid?’

‘Goosing moths is like goosing butterflies, but you do it at night.’

‘In the future, you get immediate answers to your hypothetical questions.’

‘All of these bombs have penguin detectors in them.’

‘It’s getting later earlier now.’

‘I love a man with connections in the industrial pudding business.’

‘Do you think they are trying to contact the old Egyptian gods with laundry?’

‘I’ve always wanted a friend that was part swimming pool.’

‘I’m fairly sure the toucan-Krugerrand ratio hovers pretty close to one-to-one.’

‘At this point you’re afraid of slippery wolves, if anything.’

‘Well, I don’t think she had superpowers, she was just wearing sequins.’

‘I am the Les Nessman of Middle Earth.’

‘Duck bombs don’t intimidate carnivorous deer.’

‘Pillows never plead their own case.’

‘Nothing says flavor like conforming to the shapes of something else.’

‘The more puppets you use to describe beer yeast, the more I pay attention.’

‘Dried flowers don’t have much of a shelf life, like Zombies.’

‘What we need is a stealth grill so those Air Force guys don’t show up at the house looking for food.’

‘That’s the kind of thing you buy off the back of a truck, after someone unplugs the freezer overnight at the shark mart.’

‘You’re full of death mints today.’

‘I’m not letting you in the door unless you’ve fermented a shark.’

‘For my birthday, you can paint me a bouquet of quantum singularities.’

‘No nose picking trees please.’

‘Octofrogs have excellent oversight.’

‘There are worse things you could have in your head than bunnymen.’

‘It’s not easy to press a pleasure yacht between the pages of a book.’

‘Remember those six months when I was cool? I used to watch Grease all the time.’

‘I always eat slower than me.’

‘I just wanted to curl up in bed with my book, my cat, and my pizza.’

‘If you add okra to a primordial stock you get primordial ooze.’

‘When you play with fire, there’s a 50/50 chance something will go
wrong, and nine times out of ten it does.’

‘There are rivets involved, so people get confused.’

‘The next time you find a whistle, give me some warning so I can put on a helmet.’

‘Who needs plastic surgery when you have crayons!’

‘Many of the world’s greatest foods come in pie form; like pie!’

‘Sometimes when you lose chipmunks they show up in your shoes.’

‘You named your stomach Tony Robbins?’

‘Digital wine tastes pretty good!’

‘On the way back we had flash flood warnings, so we went to the snake farm.’

‘It’s even worse when people self-congratulate other people.’

‘I don’t use chemical fertilizers on my florescent cravat.’

‘Llamas and turkeys are complimentary in the Chinese Zodiac.’

‘What does dogs eating bones have to do with refining quartz?’

‘What kind of man pronounces his own name!’

‘I hear there was once a vicious backwater trade for oblong reptiles.’

‘I didn’t know that Double Negative Day was not NOT the day after
Doughnut Day.’

‘You forget how big dolphins are, until one is operating on your spine.’

‘Glass shards are a poor substitute for meatballs.’

‘My buddy hurt his knee; they want to put a cadaver in his leg.’

‘Everyone feels a bit more relaxed when there’s some wicker around.”

‘The squirrel root of evil is EvilEvil.’

‘God is like a toaster; he pops up every so often.’

‘Nothing says Hawaii like Canada.’

‘I don’t think you can send SMS from a granola bar.’

‘Are you seeing chickens in dust or omens in chickens?’

‘Bananas were a staple of the Irish in biblical times.’

‘Weebles MUST sleep standing up, unless you’re going to stick them
upside down in an egg carton!’

‘Nothing to see without ears?!’

‘Just to set the record straight, I’m not inclined towards, nor
interested in, scratching the neighbors.’

‘I am not even aware that I’m dead, and neither will you.’

‘It’s like an ice cream dispenser in the shape of a grocery store.’

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“Illustration of the Misunderstanding of the Word “Condescending”

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Art Appreciation – Contextual Information

Specific to artwork, context consists of all of the things about the artwork that might have influenced the artwork or the maker (artist) but which are not actually part of the artwork. Contextual information can deepen and/or improve our understanding of an artwork. With some additional contextual information about the time, the culture, and the maker/artist of an artwork, we can become more informed. All artworks exist in a context—more accurately, all artworks exist in multiple contexts.

Historical context
Time is the most basic and first context we consider. When we say, “When in time?” the question is also related to where in time.

Artist Context
Though this kind of context is often ignored in more recent trends of visual research, the context for the artist or creator includes:

Their culture (where they grew up; family values; etc.).
Their place; geography (e.g., city, rural, home, traveling).
Their personal perspective or “worldview,” aspects unique to their identity.
Viewing context
Context also has to do with the viewing experience.The context of display or where we encounter an image or artwork is crucial to the meanings it accrues (Rose 127). Consider, how is the experience viewing a masterwork, like a painting by Caravaggio, hanging in a museum versus seeing a digital representation of the same painting on a personal computer in one’s home– different? You go to a museum specifically with the intention to view artwork. Are their specific social practices you engage in a museum that impact your experience? For example, we typically comport ourselves quietly in a museum, looking intently as we move from one artwork to the next. Presumably, this social practice is intended to encourage contemplation.There are also texts on the walls of museums like an artwork’s title, and sometimes captions. Reading these may direct our experience of the artwork. Being in front of the actual work, rather than a copy, imbues the work with certain aura as the object the artist actually touched and created. At home, we are in a more casual setting without specific conventions of behavior. Though we are looking at the same artwork, we know we are looking at a copy. The context of where and how an image or artwork is received can impact what affect it has on us.

WORKS CITED
Rose, Gillian. Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching Visual Materials. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2012. Print.

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The effects of visual context and individual differences on perception and evaluation of modern art and graffiti art

Highlights
• Artworks with two styles (modern art and graffiti art)
• Presented in two contexts (museum and street)
• Modern art: Ratings were higher in museum than in street contexts.
• Viewing times were longer in museum than in street contexts.
• Interaction of context and interest in graffiti for ratings and fixation number

Abstract
Traditionally, artworks are seen as autonomous objects that stand (or should stand) on their own. However, at least since the emergence of Conceptual Art in the 1920s and Pop Art in the 1960s, art lacks any distinctive perceptual features that define it as such. Art, therefore, cannot be defined without reference to its context. Some studies have shown that context affects the evaluation of artworks, and that specific contexts (street for graffiti art, museum for modern art) elicit specific effects (Gartus & Leder, 2014). However, it is yet unclear how context changes perception and appreciation processes. In our study we measured eye-movements while participants (64 psychology undergraduates, 48% women) perceived and evaluated beauty, interest, emotional valence, as well as perceived style for modern art and graffiti art embedded into either museum or street contexts. For modern art, beauty and interest ratings were higher in a museum than in a street context, but context made no difference for the ratings of graffiti art. Importantly, we also found an interaction of context and individual interest in graffiti for beauty and interest ratings, as well as for number of fixations. Analyses of eye-movements also revealed that viewing times were in general significantly longer in museum than in street contexts. We conclude that context can have an important influence on aesthetic appreciation. However, some effects depend also on the style of the artworks and the individual art interests of the viewers.

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A context effect is an aspect of cognitive psychology that describes the influence of environmental factors on one’s perception of a stimulus. The impact of context effects is considered to be part of top-down design. The concept is supported by the theoretical approach to perception known as constructive perception. Context effects can impact our daily lives in many ways such as word recognition, learning abilities, memory, and object recognition. It can have an extensive effect on marketing and consumer decisions. For example, research has shown that the comfort level of the floor that shoppers are standing on while reviewing products can affect their assessments of product’s quality, leading to higher assessments if the floor is comfortable and lower ratings if it is uncomfortable. Because of effects such as this, context effects are currently studied predominantly in marketing.

[ Illustration: “THE CAT” is a classic example of context effect. We have little trouble reading “H” and “A” in their appropriate contexts, even though they take on the same form in each word. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context_effect#/media/File:TheCat.png)

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“What is QUOTING OUT OF CONTEXT? What does QUOTING OUT OF CONTEXT mean?”

Quoting out of context (sometimes referred to as contextomy or quote mining) is an informal fallacy and a type of false attribution in which a passage is removed from its surrounding matter in such a way as to distort its intended meaning. Contextomies may be both intentional, as well as accidental if someone misunderstands the meaning and omits something essential to clarifying it, thinking it to be non-essential.

Arguments based on this fallacy typically take two forms:

1. As a straw man argument, it involves quoting an opponent out of context in order to misrepresent their position (typically to make it seem more simplistic or extreme) in order to make it easier to refute. It is common in politics.

2. As an appeal to authority, it involves quoting an authority on the subject out of context, in order to misrepresent that authority as supporting some position.

Contextomy refers to the selective excerpting of words from their original linguistic context in a way that distorts the source’s intended meaning, a practice commonly referred to as “quoting out of context”. The problem here is not the removal of a quote from its original context per se (as all quotes are), but to the quoter’s decision to exclude from the excerpt certain nearby phrases or sentences (which become “context” by virtue of the exclusion) that serve to clarify the intentions behind the selected words. Comparing this practice to surgical excision, journalist Milton Mayer coined the term “contextomy” to describe its use by Julius Streicher, editor of the infamous Nazi broadsheet Der Stürmer in Weimar-era Germany. To arouse anti-semitic sentiments among the weekly’s working class Christian readership, Streicher regularly published truncated quotations from Talmudic texts that, in their shortened form, appear to advocate greed, slavery, and ritualistic murder. Although rarely employed to this malicious extreme, contextomy is a common method of misrepresentation in contemporary mass media, and studies have demonstrated that the effects of this misrepresentation can linger even after the audience is exposed to the original, in context, quote.

One of the most familiar examples of contextomy is the ubiquitous “review blurb” in advertising. The lure of media exposure associated with being “blurbed” by a major studio may encourage some critics to write positive reviews of mediocre movies. However, even when a review is negative overall, studios have few reservations about excerpting it in a way that misrepresents the critic’s opinion.

For example, the ad copy for New Line Cinema’s 1995 thriller Se7en attributed to Owen Gleiberman, a critic for Entertainment Weekly, used the comment “a small masterpiece.” Gleiberman actually gave Se7en a B- overall and only praised the opening credits so grandiosely: “The credit sequence, with its jumpy frames and near-subliminal flashes of psychoparaphernalia, is a small masterpiece of dementia.” Similarly, United Artists contextomized critic Kenneth Turan’s review of their flop Hoodlum, including just one word from it — “irresistible” — in the film’s ad copy: “Even Laurence Fishburne’s incendiary performance can’t ignite Hoodlum, a would-be gangster epic that generates less heat than a nickel cigar. Fishburne’s ‘Bumpy’ is fierce, magnetic, irresistible even… But even this actor can only do so much.” As a result of these abuses, some critics now deliberately avoid colorful language in their reviews. In 2010, the pop culture magazine Vanity Fair reported that it had been the victims of “reckless blurbing” after the television show Lost had taken a review fragment of “the most confusing, asinine, ridiculous —yet somehow addictively awesome — television show of all time” and only quoted “the most addictively awesome television show of all time” in its promotional material….

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VeOxrGDTX8

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“How The World Butchered Benjamin Franklin’s Quote On Liberty Vs. Security”

One of America’s favorite liberal phrases has been sent through the political spin machine and polished into a Frankenstein of sorts, thus rendering it inaccurate and far from its original intention. You might have heard that American founding father Benjamin Franklin said something like “Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither.”

The quote has been the siren song of anti-war protesters and, most recently, the banner for mass online protests against the NSA’s surveillance program. For instance, here was Reddit’s front page two days ago, when it officially joined the fight against Internet and phone spying.

As the Brookings Institute’s Benjamin Wittes observes, “Very few people who quote these words, however, have any idea where they come from or what Franklin was really saying when he wrote them.”

Despite its many (many) variations, this is the actual quote:

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

According to Wittes, the words appear in a letter widely presumed to be written by Franklin in 1755 on behalf of the Pennsylvania Assembly to the colonial governor. “The letter was a salvo in a power struggle between the governor and the assembly over funding for security on the frontier, one in which the assembly wished to tax the lands of the Penn family,” he explains.

The letter wasn’t about liberty but about taxes and the ability to “raise money for defense against French and Indian attacks. The governor kept vetoing the assembly’s efforts at the behest of the family, which had appointed him.”

Indeed, if you look at the text surrounding the famous quote, it’s pretty clearly about money: “Our assemblies have of late had so many supply bill, and of such different kinds, rejected, on various pretences,” wrote Franklin.

There’s not much on liberty, as we understand the concept, in the entire letter.

How Did It Get Butchered? To Google Ngram!

Thanks to the magic of Google’s Ngram viewer, we can get a historical peek at how it got molded for PR purposes. Google’s Ngram scans historical texts and lets users see how words change over time.

Screen Shot 2014-02-13 at 12.16.50 PM

Screen Shot 2014-02-13 at 12.25.20 PM

As we can see from the two chart above, Franklin’s quote didn’t mean much for 150 years after it was uttered, then had a solid and steady uptick around the later half of the 20th century, when fear of big brother began to mount (the top chart represents the frequency of the quote in books from 1750-present, the bottom from 1950-present).

In the few 19th-century books the quote does appear in, it doesn’t appear to be taken out of context, such as in the 1865 epic retelling of “The Life Of Joseph Warren,” where it is quoted in full with delicious servings of context.

But 19th-century authors weren’t always so committed to fidelity of the quote itself. In 1851, in a History of All Nations, the author wrote it in more of the modern form, “they who can give up liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

It wasn’t until the turn of the century did the butchering for ideological purposes begin. For instance, it was taken out of context in a book that is one of the closest things libertarians have to a bible, Frederick Hyak’s Road To Serfdom (1944), where Franklin’s quote concludes a chapter on the magnificence of the free market.

The banner anti-security quotes continue throughout the century in government reports on limited government and early apocalyptic warnings about the security state.

Misquoting folks isn’t new. It arises from the need to push an idea rather than investigate truth; it’s no shocker, then, that campaigns and ideological works have been the culprits of butchering Franklin’s words.

There’s even an academic term for the strategy, explains Matthew McGlone of the University of Texas at Austin — “contextomy.”

“‘Contextomy’ refers to the selective excerpting of words from their original linguistic context in a way that distorts the source’s intended meaning, a practice commonly referred to as ‘quoting out of context’. Contextomy is employed in contemporary mass media to promote products, defame public figures and misappropriate rhetoric. A contextomized quotation not only prompts audiences to form a false impression of the source’s intentions, but can contaminate subsequent interpretation of the quote when it is restored to its original context. …”

That’s about right.

[ Gregory Ferenstein ]

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Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter explains how people misuse her father’s words

“If you’re going to use his words, try to find the context of those words that he used them in,” Bernice King told Jimmy Fallon.
June 5, 2020, 11:06 AM EDT / Source: TODAY
By Drew Weisholtz
As nationwide protests over racial injustice continue in the wake of George Floyd’s death, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter says some of her father’s frequently revisited words about race and civil rights are sometimes misunderstood.

Bernice King, who is CEO of The King Center in Atlanta, told Jimmy Fallon on Thursday’s “Tonight Show” that people might be missing the messages behind his famous quotations.

“In ’68 my father was one of the most hated men in America, and now he’s one of the most loved men in the world,” she said. “So much so that people do take liberties and kind of take different quotes to fit their situation, and nothing is more frustrating for me than that.”

King says she urges others repeating his words to find the proper context he used them in.

“For instance, when he talked about riots being the language of the unheard, he was not justifying and saying that he endorsed riots,” he said. “He was explaining where the riots are coming from.”

King, who was 5 when her father was assassinated, also pointed to another she says is often misunderstood, this famous line from his “I Have a Dream” speech: “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

“People are always saying Dr. King was for a colorblind America,” she said, “and nothing cold be further from the truth.

Al Roker talks about the issue with raising kids to be ‘colorblind’
JUNE 2, 202009:09
“He was basically explaining that, no, there’s a beauty in who I am as a black person, but I should not be judged by those standards. It’s not that you don’t see my race. You see my race, you acknowledge my race and you accept everything I bring along with that.”

King said she hopes the conversation about race doesn’t slow down and asked for help in achieving equality.

“We want to continue to keep people aware and conscious and working towards the solution,” she said. “We’ve got to uproot white supremacy and racism in our society once and for all. We’re here now. We can’t go back. I’m asking all of my white brothers and sisters to do the anti-racism work. It’s essential. And it’s nothing to be scared of.”

Bernice King talks about George Floyd: ‘A real family is behind this tragedy’
JUNE 5, 202005:11
In an appearance Friday on TODAY, King said her father would still be fighting for his cause in the same manner now.

“I think the same message that he gave us in the latter part of his life, that (in) America, we still have a choice today between nonviolent coexistence and violent co-annihilation,” she said. “That choice is reflected in whether or not we choose to reorder some of our priorities and have a revolution of values in this country.”

[ Drew Weisholtz ]

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“The 7 Cs of Communication”

Find out more about the 7 Cs of Communication, by reading our article at http://www.mindtools.com/7cs

We can spend almost our entire day communicating. There’s the face-to-face conversations, our emails, phone messages, skype… the list goes on.

So, it stand to reason that improving how we can communicate can result in a a huge productivity boost.

This is why the 7 Cs of Communication are helpful. The 7 Cs provide a checklist for making sure that your meetings, emails, conference calls, reports, and presentations are well constructed and clear.

According to the 7 Cs, communications need to be Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete, and Courteous.

In this video, we look at the 7 Cs of Communication in more detail, and demonstrate both good and bad examples for each.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4OmXaihEp0&t=5s

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“The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words”

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” – Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

It may be inconceivable for you to misuse a word, but a quick look around online reveals plenty of people doing it. And it’s all too easy when we hear or see others use words incorrectly and parrot them without knowing they’re wrong.

We know by now that great copy and content often purposefully break the rules of grammar. It’s only when you break the rules by mistake that you look silly.

So, let’s take a look at 27 commonly misused words. Some are common mistakes that can cost you when trying to keep a reader’s attention. Others are more obscure and just interesting to know.

Adverse / Averse
Adverse means unfavorable. Averse means reluctant.

Afterwards
Afterwards is wrong in American English. It’s afterward.

Complement / Compliment
I see this one all the time. Complement is something that adds to or supplements something else. Compliment is something nice someone says about you.

Criteria
Criteria is plural, and the singular form is criterion. If someone tells you they have only one criteria, you can quickly interject and offer that it be that they get a clue.

Farther / Further
Farther is talking about a physical distance.

“Move farther away from those people, Daddy!”

Further is talking about an extension of time or degree.

“Take your business further by reading Copyblogger.”

Fewer / Less
If you can count it, use fewer. If you can’t, use less.

“James has less incentive to do what I say.”

“Tony has fewer subscribers since he stopped blogging.”

Historic / Historical
Historic means an important event. Historical means something that happened in the past.

Hopefully
This word is used incorrectly so much (including by me), it may be too late. But let’s make you smarter anyway.

The old-school rule is you use hopefully only if you’re describing the way someone spoke, appeared, or acted.

Smart: I hope she says yes.
Wrong: Hopefully, she says yes.
Wrong: Hopefully, the weather will be good.
Smart: It is hoped that the weather cooperates.
Smart: She eyed the engagement ring hopefully.
Imply / Infer
Imply means to suggest indirectly (you’re sending a subtle message). To infer is to come to a conclusion based on information (you’re interpreting a message).

Insure / Ensure
Insure is correct only when you call up Geico or State Farm for coverage. Ensure means to guarantee, and that’s most often what you’re trying to say, right?

Irregardless
Irregardless may now be grudgingly considered a word, but it’s a stupid word that makes you sound … well, not so smart. Use regardless or irrespective instead.

Literally
“I’m literally starving to death.”

No, odds are, you’re not.

Literally means exactly what you say is accurate, no metaphors or analogies. Everything else is figurative (relative, a figure of speech).

Premier / Premiere
Premier is the first and best in status or importance, or a prime minister. Premiere is the opening night of Star Wars 15: Disney Wants More Money.

Principal / Principle
Principal when used as a noun means the top dog; as an adjective, it means the most important of any set. Principle is a noun meaning a fundamental truth, a law, a rule that always applies, or a code of conduct.

Then / Than
Use then when referring to points in time (“I did this, then I did that”). Use than when comparing (“I’m better than that”).

Unique
Unique means (literally) one of a kind. Saying something is very unique is wack. It’s either a purple cow or it isn’t.

Who / Whom
This one is a lost cause, but let’s go down swinging. The way to deal with the who versus whom quandary is a simple substitution method.

First, a refresher on subjects and objects.

Subjects do the action:

“He/she/we like(s) to rock the house.”

Objects receive the action:

“The rock star sneered at him/her/us.”

Use who for subjects and whom for objects.

Subjects:

Who wrote this blog post?
Who is speaking at the conference?
Who is going to clean up this mess?
Objects:

Whom are you going to write about?
Whom did he blame for his Google Slap?
Whom did he bait for the clicks?
Truth is, whom just doesn’t sound right in many situations where it’s correct, especially in the US. You now know the rule … feel free to break it.

P.S. If you haven’t seen The Princess Bride because you think it must suck based on the title, don’t let that stop you. It’s laugh-out-loud funny and has more great lines than I can come up with angles to write about … so far.

[ Brian Clark ]

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“You’re Not Going To Believe What I’m About To Tell You”

The “Backfire Effect”

[ The Oatmeal ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_aTN3yKOkY

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How to avoid the ‘backfire effect’ when handling objections”

Even when you offer a superior product, better service, or lower price than your competitors, mishandling objections can ruin your best deals at the eleventh hour.
Salespeople often rely on persuasion tactics when dealing with objections, negotiating on price, service, and timeframe, and presenting information and facts about why they offer the best solution to the buyer’s problem.

But facts and figures won’t always convince customers that your product is the better one—and sometimes they even make the situation worse, souring the deal and leaving you high and dry.

The danger of coming on too strong.
Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes for a moment.

Let’s say you’re evaluating two digital marketing agencies to potentially hire for your company. You’re in contact with sales reps from both agencies to discuss their final proposals, but you need to go run some numbers and get buy-in from your leadership team before you can make a decision.

The salesperson from the first agency gets defensive. There’s an edge to their tone when you tell them you need a bit more time to decide. Maybe they’re a bit confrontational, challenging you head-on, giving you facts about their ROI and why their solution is better than the competition, and explaining why they’re absolutely in your budget.

You feel yourself get defensive in turn. You had a good rapport going with that salesperson, but it’s quickly evaporating. Your current solution is fine, you made a good decision when you implemented it, and the first agency’s solution doesn’t seem like the right choice after all.

However, the salesperson from the second agency stays curious and relaxed when you explain that you’re still weighing your options, and remains just as friendly and helpful as before. They have an honest chat with you about your budget, business problems, and how their service fits into your business. They take the time to dig deeper and fully understand what’s going on before talking over some different pricing options and payment plans for you to consider.

You appreciate the second salesperson’s candor, and how they focused on advising, not selling. With their suggestions in hand, you go run your numbers and make your decision.

Obviously, the first salesperson didn’t handle your objections as well as the second one did, even if they ended up giving you the same information.

So, why did you react differently to them?

Welcome to the “backfire effect.”
When our deeply held beliefs are challenged with contradictory facts, we tend to double down on those beliefs and defend them even more, instead of changing our minds. This is a cognitive bias called the backfire effect—and it’s not isolated to your yearly political debate with your Uncle Ron over Thanksgiving dinner.

It happens regularly in sales, when we encounter objections from our prospects and start spewing more facts to counter them, only to find our customers completely unmoved by our technical superiority, better customer service, or other unique value proposition.

That isn’t to say that social proof and facts aren’t an important part of the sales process. They definitely are. But facts alone don’t persuade customers.

It all comes down to how we process information.
As human beings, our brains love consistency. We want to stay consistent with our self image, and we prioritize information that is consistent with our current beliefs. In fact, we love consistency so much, it’s one of Robert Cialdini’s principles of persuasion.

The backfire effect helps us stay consistent with our previous beliefs and patterns by strengthening those beliefs when they’re threatened—which creates a unique challenge for salespeople when overcoming objections.

Getting a customer to switch from a competitor’s solution to yours can inadvertently trigger the backfire effect. While you might be talking about your superior solution, what your customer is hearing is that they’re wrong. If they believe their existing solution is good, they’ll double down on that belief and resist all attempts to be persuaded otherwise.

Four ways to overcome the backfire effect
When we know what our customers believe, we can present information in a way that lets them stay consistent to their beliefs. This helps you avoid the backfire effect, while addressing their concerns in a productive way.

Here are four steps you can take to counter the backfire effect in your next sale:

Get the whole picture. Sales leader Anthony Iannarino said it best: “Your prospective clients aren’t objecting—they are trying to express a real concern.” Objections don’t mean you haven’t done your job well, just that your customer has unexpressed concerns that need to be dealt with, and you need to make a better effort towards identifying them. Remember: “No” is not the end—it’s a chance to dig deeper and really understand your customer’s beliefs.
Be empathetic. Once you know what your customer believes, be empathetic. Figure out their primary concern about your solution and speak to that concern. That’s what’s holding them back.
Give your prospect an out. Acknowledge that their prior decision or belief was the right one given what they knew then, but now that the situation has shifted, it’s okay for them to shift too.
Be willing to kill the deal. Yes, we want to hit quota and get that sale. But focusing on closing over addressing concerns in a thoughtful, non-challenging way can trigger the backfire effect and torpedo any chances of making the sale. Instead, go in with the mindset that you’re looking for an ideal fit, and be willing to walk away if you’re not a fit for the customer, or your customer isn’t a good fit for your company.

[ Kat Denan ]

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“9 Reasons Why People Misunderstand You – And What To Do About It”

Do you often feel as though, no matter how clearly you think you’re communicating, your needs and motives get misinterpreted? This is because everyone in your life is listening to you through a powerful filter (the filter of their own needs) which transmutes what they hear.

George Bernard Shaw put it like this: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

If you could see that everyone in your life was wearing tinted sunglasses, you wouldn’t expect them to see that the white shirt you’re wearing is in fact white. Your mother, in her rose-tinted shades, might see your shirt as pink. Your dad’s mirrored aviators could easily pick up the sun’s orange glow and to your boss, in his bronzed ray-bans, your white shirt would seem cream.

Powerful Filters Colour Our Listening

When we communicate verbally with diverse people we’re often surprised that, somehow they didn’t hear what we thought we’d said. However, they are listening to us through filters which are more powerful than any sunglasses.

Depending on the filter of your listener, your simplest request, such as “Would you be able to draft a new version of this report?” could be heard as “They’re too lazy to draft it themselves” “They’re power-crazy – and out to show me who’s boss;” Or “They’re scared and need my help.”

Communicating effectively means not only taking responsibility for what you say but also for how you are being heard. Perhaps the most useful, simple way to determine other people’s listening filters is to understand the other person’s driving needs.

Behind every action, there is a hunger to meet needs.

—Marshall Rosenberg

Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. (1934 – 2015) worked worldwide as a peacemaker before founding the Center for Nonviolent Communication. The NVC process he pioneered supports partnership and resolves conflict within people, in relationships, and in society

Our Fundamental Human Needs Determine What We Hear

Rosenberg lists 9 fundamental human needs. Think of these as 9 basic filters through which you’re being heard.

Affection Creation Recreation

Freedom Identity Understanding

Participation Protection Subsistence

When you communicate something simple to a colleague, such as ‘I’ll be leaving work early today,’ they could hear it in one of many different ways, depending on what motivates them.

If they’re listening through ‘understanding’ they could hear that you’re leaving early as a cue that you are experiencing problems at home (even though you didn’t mention this.)

If their filter is ‘creation’, they may intuit that you need to quit work for a class or workshop (even though you didn’t say anything about this.)

If they’re driven by ‘identity,’ they may assume you are telling them of your early departure as a way of flexing your seniority (even though you didn’t discuss this either.)

So, the same simple statement (‘I’ll be leaving work early today,’) could be heard as ‘she has personal problems,’ ‘she’s doing a creative workshop’ or ‘she thinks she’s more important than everyone else,’ depending on the filter of the person you’re talking to.

Speak Into Your Colleague’s Listening

Since other people’s perceptions of you can become your reputation very quickly, you may want to take responsibility not only for how you communicate but also for how what you say is perceived by your listener.

Once you get to know someone well, it’s sometimes possible to correctly guess what filter they’re most likely to be listening through. If, for instance, you know your colleague has a chip on their shoulder and often feels ‘less than’ you can make a point of tailoring your request accordingly and say something like ‘I just wanted to give you the heads up that I need to try and get away early today, if that’s OK with you?’ This is called speaking into someone else’s listening.

Ask Your Listener To Repeat Back To You What They Think They Heard

In most situations, however, we can’t be that sure how what we’re saying has been heard, so it’s always best to ask. It may sound exhausting – pointless, even. But, if you want to make sure your true intention has been communicated and that you don’t get known as selfish, needy, bossy or hedonistic (to name just four distinct possibilities) you need to check what they actually heard and how they interpreted it.

Make Sure You’re Being Heard Correctly

Your communication and the chance of you being understood will only improve if you also clearly explain your own motivation. Letting your listener know what is behind your action or request will make it less likely that they will layer their own (incorrect) interpretation. If your request (to leave work early) is driven by subsistence, you could add: …. ‘the childminder started early today and I really want to avoid having to pay her double time after 5pm.’ Alternatively, if you’re simply motivated by freedom, make it clear by adding …’ being able to leave early from time to time is one of the things I love about this job, don’t you?’

Become A Better Listener By Repeating Back What You Heard and Asking The Speaker If That’s What They Meant.

Once you get the hang of taking responsibility for being understood, you can also flip your newly acquired listening skills so that instead of projecting what you think someone has said, you pro-actively check in with them.

Simply by being aware that everyone (including you) is unconsciously listening through a powerfully distorting filter, you will be much better prepared to make certain you are not misunderstood within the echo chamber of their needs.

[ Remy Blumenfeld ]

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“HOW TO AVOID MISUNDERSTANDING: USE ABE LINCOLN’S FOOLPROOF STRATEGY!”

Communication can be hazardous, and one of the main hazards is that we will be misunderstood.

Sometimes the misunderstandings are bad, the kind that ruin our relationships or careers.

You say something to a friend. It seems perfectly clear that you were joking.

But maybe you wrote it in an email, and there were not enough context for them to realize you were not being serious.

Or you have to give written instructions to a colleague about an important task. You think the instructions are unambiguous, but they misunderstand and screw up a task for a big client.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way to avoid these situations?

There is! And it comes from an unlikely source. Abraham Lincoln.

One of the great dangers of communication is that people can misunderstand our intentions. We say one thing, we mean one thing, and people make something else of it. People make a completely different interpretation. They misinterpret our intention.

This can result in all sorts of trouble.

Old Abe did not have email, but he wrote a lot of letters and telegrams to cranky, oversensitive, narcissistic generals who were always on the verge of getting their gigantic egos bruised. So he developed a technique that would allow him to avoid the worst misunderstandings. He told people what he did NOT mean.

Misunderstanding – Cracking the Code

Communication is difficult and challenging. One of the reasons it’s difficult and challenging is that we can’t always make ourselves perfectly understood.

A lot of times we say something and we intend to mean something, and the people who we’re talking to appear to hear something different. They draw different inferences than the ones we want them to. They come to different conclusions than the one we want them to. And it can create all sorts of difficulties when people do not understand our intended meaning.

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It is really difficult to avoid this, because the whole goal of communication is to convey to another person our intentions, intended meaning, and the goal of the person listening is to understand the speaker’s intentions.

But intentions are largely hidden, right? They’re thoughts, and they’re private. And we can try to make them public, but we almost never make them completely explicit. We say a bunch of things to try to clarify our intentions, but mostly communication is inferential. I’ve talked about this in the blog at great length.

People have the wrong idea about communication. They think it’s like understanding a code, decoding a coded message. But it’s really much more like solving a mystery. The idea is that the words a person speaks, as well as all the other information in the situation, are like clues. What we’re trying to do is decode, understand, and unravel the mystery of what their intentions are.

We’re like Sherlock Holmes. We’re looking at every clue in order to understand someone’s intentions. Often there are very few clues. We have the words people said, and we also have their posture, gesture, facial expression, the circumstances, the context, what I know about what they know, what I know about they know I know, our past history, the rate, volume and pitch of their speech, etc. All these things are clues to what they might mean.

But in the end I have to make inferences. I’m like Sherlock Holmes, putting all the clues together and solving the mystery. But the problem is that the clues are often incomplete, and therefore we can come to the wrong conclusion. We can misinterpret someone’s meaning.

Tell Them What You DON’T Mean

Abraham Lincoln had a great strategy for avoiding this kind of misunderstanding. It’s simple to use and we can all use it. I have 10 examples of Abraham Lincoln using this strategy, and it is simple:

Tell them what you don’t mean.

Abraham Lincoln was almost always writing letters or telegrams to the generals in the field or to the public or Congress. He knew that the written word was without all the other non-verbal clues, like posture, gesture, facial expression, pitch, rate, volume. And he knew he was likely to be misinterpreted if he wasn’t careful.

He was especially concerned about certain misinterpretations, ways where it might be tempting to misunderstand him. He also wanted to avoid some particular misunderstandings that would be very damaging to his relationships.

The way that he solved this was to tell people what he did not mean. He would explicitly say things like, “I do not intend… do not misunderstand me… let there be no misapprehension.”

I want to give you examples of how he would do this. By using this strategy, he would clarify his intention, especially by saying what he did not mean. If people were likely to come to some wrong conclusion, he would just go on the record and say,

“Don’t come to that conclusion. That’s the wrong conclusion.”

Let’s see a couple of examples. We’ll refer to the screen now. I’ve got some PowerPoint slides to show you this.

Example #1

The first one is from when he’s on his way to Washington. After he’s been elected president, and he’s giving a bunch of speeches. He can’t stop at every town to give a speech or he’ll never get to Washington. So he has to decline some offers.

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.39.40 PM.png
This is when he’s declining an offer to give a speech.

“I mean no discourtesy to you…” – he’s disclaiming.

“By my actions, don’t interpret this as discourtesy. I intend discourtesy to no one.” Okay. So he’s clarifying his intentions explicitly.

“I wish you to understand that though I am unwilling to go upon this platform, you are not at liberty to draw inferences concerning any other platform with which my name has been or is connected.” So he says, “You’re not at liberty to draw inferences.” Lincoln knows that communication is inferential. And he’s telling them, “Don’t draw any inferences. Those are the wrong inferences. I am not allowing you to draw those inferences.” Of course he can’t actually stop people, but he can discourage them from drawing the wrong inferences.

Example #2

Here’s another one.

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.39.54 PM.png
Here he’s writing to one of his generals. And he was often angry at his generals because they poorly served him. Lincoln often had to write them and criticize them. They were very egotistical, these generals, and always getting their feelings hurt. So he would always have to be cautious about their feelings.

He scolds one of these generals, but he says, “Don’t take this as a reflection on your efficiency or patriotism. On the contrary. What I really mean is we have the fullest confidence in your ability to perform any duty required of you.”

Example #3

This letter Lincoln was sending to General Fremont, who was one of his most frustrating generals. He was a famous explorer of the West of the Grand Canyon, but a very bad general.

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.40.10 PM.png
“This letter is written in a spirit of caution and not of censure.” So here he’s explicitly saying what the meaning is supposed to be. I’m cautioning you, General Fremont. If you do this again, I’m going to fire you.

“…and not of censure.” I’m not censuring you. To be censured is to be officially scolded and reprimanded.

Example #4

To the People of Maryland, Lincoln writes,

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.40.18 PM.png
“To guard against misapprehension…” – he knows it’s possible that this message is going to be misunderstood, or to use a fancy word, it’s going to be misapprehended. He’s made a proclamation, and it’s probably beautifully written because he was a beautiful writer, but he wants to make sure it’s not misunderstood.

Example #5

The next one he is writing to Buell, one of his other frustrating generals.

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.40.25 PM.png
Lincoln was the president of the United States. So anything coming from his mouth, as commander in chief, could be construed as an official order. He was concerned that some of the things he said as suggestions, or just as points of discussion, might be interpreted as orders by his generals. And he was eager to avoid that misunderstanding.

So he would often say something like this. “I do not intend…” I searched for the phrase “I do not intend” and he says it multiple times in his collected papers.

Example #6

Here he writes to another one of his generals.

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.40.34 PM.png
This is an inquiry, not an order. So he’s reminding the reader, what is the nature of this letter? Actually, what speech act is being performed? He’s clarifying that “this is an inquiry, not an order,” guarding against the danger of it being misinterpreted.

He says, “Have you sent anything to meet him at Martinsburg?” He’s afraid the general will hear that as an order. But he says, “This is an inquiry, not an order.”

Example #7

Again to Fremont, who just won’t listen when Lincoln talks to him.

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.40.43 PM.png
He begins this letter in the most direct way. You can use this exact phrase. He knew Fremont was an egomaniac and was likely to feel criticized, and would start whining that Lincoln was criticizing him. So he says, “Don’t misunderstand me. I do not say you’ve not done all you could. I assume you’ve done all you could and run into difficulty.”

Example #8

Here’s another one where he uses a similar explicit phrase. This letter is to another one of his generals.

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.41.12 PM.png
He says, “I am anxious that you shall not misunderstand me.” So he uses this phrase over and over and over again. He’s constantly aware of the risk of misunderstanding and seeking to avoid it. “I’m anxious that you not misunderstand me.” Another phrase which we could use. It’s a little formal, but it’s great.

“In no case have I intended to censure you or question your ability.” See, over and over again, Lincoln’s generals whine like little children, and their feelings are hurt very easily. Their egos are wounded very easily. He constantly has to guard against their egos being wounded.

“I have intended, in no case have I intended to censure you.” He’s telling them what he does not mean. “Or to question your ability.” I’m not questioning your ability.

“In Colonel Haggard’s case I meant no more than…” again clarifying what he does not mean.

Example #9

Here he’s writing to the secretary of Navy.

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.41.32 PM.png
He uses this over and over again. “My dear sir, it is not intended to be insinuated that you have been remiss in the performance of your arduous and responsible duties.” So he knows that there might be some insinuation, right? Some implication, some indirect suggestion that this officer had been remiss in his duties. But Lincoln is eager to say, no, no, no, that’s not what I mean.

“I take pleasure in informing your department, which I take pleasure in affirming has in your hands been conducted with admirable success.” So he tells him what he does mean. “I really admire you.”

Example #10

He says to Rosecrans:

Screen Shot 2020-12-29 at 7.41.42 PM.png
“Do not misunderstand.” He uses that phrase again. You could use that in your own writing. “Do not misunderstand.” You can be writing a difficult email or a difficult memo or letter, or you could just be face-to-face with someone and say, “Please don’t misunderstand me.”

Then you have to tell them what you didn’t mean and what you did mean. “I am not casting blame upon you.” Almost all of these letters to these egomaniacal generals are trying to relieve them of the feeling that they’re being blamed. “I am not casting blame upon you. I rather think by great exertion, you can get to East Tennessee,” etc.

Then he says again, “I make no order in the case – that I leave to general Halleck and yourself.”

Summary

Those were 10 examples of Lincoln saying what he does not mean.

Communication is risky. One of those risks is that people will not solve the mystery of our intentions correctly because we haven’t given them enough clues.

So one way we can help people understand us, our intentions, and help them avoid misunderstanding our intentions is to tell them explicitly what we do not mean. If we’re concerned that one particular meaning might be offensive to them and might cause them hurt, we can tell them explicitly that is not what we intended.

I think it’s a great strategy. I think along with Mark Twain and William Shakespeare, I think Abraham Lincoln is the greatest communicator in the English language. We have so much to learn from him.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh9wiQKRSfU

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“Help! I was taken out of context !?!?”

Almost every other day, you hear from a politician, a celebrity, a sports athlete, and everyone on social media saying “they were taken out of context.” It is typically related to past interviews, tweets, posts, and yes, even articles.

The definition of “to take things out of context” is:

If a statement or remark is quoted out of context, the circumstances in which it was said are not correctly reported, so that it seems to mean something different from the meaning that was intended. The consequences of someone “taking something out of context” can be career-ending, temporary, or long term damage to their image or brand, to many others. It may also poorly reflect on a government institution or company.

There are plenty of examples of words that have resulted in a person’s downfall, but for this post, I wanted to illustrate a less “extreme” example, from a saying you have likely heard, which was taken out of context.

Nice guys finish last.

Leo Durocher
Leo’s misquoted words soon became a credo for over-aggressive coaches and guys with no romantic game everywhere.

You might be asking. Where are you going with this article, Mike?

When it comes to being “taken out of context,” this relates to the translation industry in so many ways. If you do not have “context” in the translation process, you risk a poor or damaging customer experience, such as:

Decreased translation quality
Offensive or demeaning “missteps” in the translation
A poor customer experience
Costly public relations nightmares.
Confusing content and negative product feedback
Increased support costs due to a poor understanding of documentation
For marketing, sales, localization, development, and support teams, “context” is a critical component in the translation and localization process. It can be the crucial difference between a good translation and a GREAT translation or even a completely incorrect “contextual” translation.

During translation, the core components to a high quality finished product are:

Using translation memory (TM ) – A database of previously paid for translations utilized for content reuse and cost savings.
Providing a termbase (or glossary). A list of terms or phrases that have been translated and reviewed for quality. Typically includes product names, descriptions, key phrases, SEO, etc.
Defining a style guide. A reference guide for a linguist that can help them translate in a company’s voice and adhere to their brand.
What is commonly missed in every translation process: CONTEXT
Technology has come a long way in the translation industry, using translation management systems, computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, and integrations to automate the people, processes, and technology. All these solutions automate translation memory usage, automate the termbase (glossary) application, provide automated quality checks, and usually provide a linguistic quality evaluation (LQE) tool to provide constructive feedback to linguists. These features are quite normal for most translation management systems or CAT tools out there.

I’ve been presenting demonstrations and providing translation solutions for over four years now at Lingotek and what is the question I’m asked at every customer meeting?

Does your solution provide context?
Why does this question commonly come up?

Why isn’t “context” used in every translation process?

It comes down to technology. It’s not very easy for most translation providers to automate, generate, and effectively deliver context to a translator, reviewer, or an “in-country” customer review team.

There is a substantial amount of technology to automate the translation process, but in most cases, they are still “translating” in a black box. The only context linguists have is within the text itself. They see the prior sentence, the next sentence, the preceding section, the next section. No images, site information, or previews of their translation within the finalized document.

The one thing that has impressed me the most about our technology at Lingotek is that when it comes to technology and technology-enabled language services, we strive to make sure context is of the highest quality no matter where it originates. We know and understand how context is so crucial to the translation process and require our language services to use context as part of every phase of the translation workflow. We even allow (and encourage) our customers to be included as part of the translation process as final reviewers with context.

The following are areas we excel at when it comes to context:

Content Management Systems
Digital Asset Management (DAM) platforms
Help Center Technologies
Indesign Files
Video Captioning
Software UI
But Not All Context is the Same
Whenever we build a new connector, we attempt to include robust context solutions to ensure that you are not “just getting a screenshot” as other solutions may provide. We want to make sure you don’t have to “refresh” your context view to see translation updates while you type, as other solutions may provide.

We always attempt to provide two main features in all of our context solutions:

Source Reference – Our context solutions are always architected to connect back to the source to display all references as part of the translation process (user interface, graphics, other dynamic content, etc).

In-Context Translation – No refresh! You see your written translation in real-time. It’s dynamic, not static.

Here are some context examples below.

Drupal CMS Example
The following screenshot shows how the Lingotek Workbench displays context within the Lingotek Workbench. A WYSIWYG experience provides real-time updates that happen when you edit the final translation in the workbench. All of your quality components are in one view (Translation Memory, Glossary, and Context).

screenshot of Lingotek’s in-context translation editor
Do you have dual monitors????

You can pop-out your context viewer to run your context view on another screen side by side with the Lingotek Workbench.

Are you kidding me, Mike? No, I am not… (see below)

dual-monitor screenshot of Lingotek’s in-context translation editor
Adobe Experience Manager Example
The connection back to Adobe Experience Manager makes sure you will not miss out on content fragments and other assets that are part of the context of your translation.

screenshot of Lingotek’s in-context translation editor for adobe experience manager
WordPress Example
Context allows you to make updates to SEO and Glossary terms within the workbench with more accuracy.

screenshot of Lingotek’s in-context translation editor for WordPress
ZenDesk Example
Reduce your support calls by providing technically accurate knowledge base translations. You can provide Linguist Quality feedback in real-time to the translator to correct common issues.

screenshot of Lingotek’s in-context translation editor for ZenDesk
Adobe Indesign Example
We support complete InDesign pre-flight packages (with fonts and links). This provides a near-perfect rendering of the translated InDesign document. Lingotek is the only platform that incorporates an InDesign server in our SaaS infrastructure to make this happen. Concerned about file size? We allow a file size upload limit of 8 Gigabytes, which is one of the largest in the industry.

screenshot of Lingotek’s in-context translation editor for adobe indesign
Video Captioning Example
Lingotek allows you to store and directly upload video files to Lingotek with the accompanying subtitle file. This provides real-time context and audio to linguists to optimize your translation quality. The video player automatically starts and stops audio/video between segments based on timestamps. Real-time editing allows you to shorten translations if needed.

screenshot of Lingotek’s in-context translation editor for video captioning
Software Localization UI Example
A challenging problem with software translations and Linguistic QA is that translators and reviewers only have short strings or screenshots to work with and – in complex applications – little context. They can’t see how a particular string is being used within the native app, which can drastically affect their word choice.

With Lingoport’s InContext Translation & QA, translators just have to click on a word to see where it appears in the interface of that particular product. This helps translators produce far more accurate translations saving time and correction cycles. Context helps your translators deliver accuracy. No proxies, javascript snippets, or changes to your software.

screenshot of Lingotek’s in-context translation editor for software localization UI
To Summarize
There are parallels between being “taken out of context” in your written or spoken word and not using “context” in your localization and globalization strategy. Both scenarios have unfavorable results, and you want to make sure your linguistic resources have the “complete context” within the translation workflow.

If you are struggling with quality due to the lack of context in your translation process or you want to #LoveYourTMS, feel free to reach out to me to know more about Lingotek.

[ Mike Hurst ]

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“Social Media Mishaps – 3 Steps to Take When Misunderstood”

This week I posted a brief comment on a doctor friend’s social page. It was a quick thought that, when taken out of context, came across the wrong way. He got sore and emailed me about it. I was upset because my relationship with him means a lot to me. It was one of my social media mishaps.

It was a misunderstanding. I emailed to explain what I meant and where I was going with my question. We caught up by phone. We’re good. 4 years of regular engagement and connection don’t fall apart over something like this.

If this hasn’t happened to you, it will. Because things move quickly in the stream. Short-form dialog is ripe for wild interpretation.

The more you do, the more you’ll fail. And the more you say, the greater the odds that you’ll come off the wrong way when viewed through someone else’s lens. Every communication tool has its weakness. We all need to accept and understand the shortcomings of these platforms and have simple mechanisms in place for righting the ship when it tips a bit.

In cases like this

1. Don’t be defensive. Recognize that perception trumps reality and what you intended to say always falls a far second to what it sounds like.

2. Apologize and explain yourself.

3. Then move about your business. This is a two-way street and your relationship will depend upon the other person seeing the mishap. If they can’t see it and your intent was really not maligned, then it’s someone you need not engage with.

There are lots of excuses for avoiding public dialog. But for me the opportunities of connection have always outweighed the risk of social media mishaps.

If you like this you might be interested in Rhode Island Doctors: Don’t be Misunderstood.

[ BRYAN VARTABEDIAN ]

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Speaking Clearly using the Awareness Wheel

Psychologists have studied what effective communication looks like for married couples for decades. After uncovering what factors contribute to effective communication, some clever people have combined these ideas into a simple model that we share here. This model is known as the Awareness Wheel and Listening Cycle. Communication skills can improve all kinds of relationships. We hope you find this short tutorial useful and even purchase the book if you would like to learn more.

Before we explain Awareness Wheel and Listening Cycle communication, here are some simple ground rules for communication in general:

Rules for the both of you:

The speaker has the floor. Don’t cut off the speaker or finish his or her sentences.
Share the floor (take turns)
No problem solving
Speaker:

Say “I” statement, Speak for self
Share your feelings without putting down your friend
Be specific and brief about your perceptions and feelings (2 – 3 sentences)
Stop and allow your listener to paraphrase (if the paraphrase is not accurate, politely restate what was not heard the way you intended it.)
Listener:

Choose a “Caring Connection” emotional brain state. You won’t be able to listen effectively if you are in a protective emotional state like “Anger”, “Fear” or “Panic”. See the Feeling Words List
Say “You” statements providing a summary of what you heard the speaker say. (The speaker gets the focus)
Don’t rebut (refute by evidence or argument) but instead paraphrase what the speaker said. Focus on the speaker’s message (Don’t offer your thoughts yet. Wait until you have the floor.)
Invite the speaker to correct saying “Is that right?” or add more saying “Tell me more.”
Below is the Awareness Wheel Diagram as presented by:

Miller, Sherod, Phyllis Miller, Elam W. Nunnally, and Daniel B. Wackman. Talking and Listening Together: Couple Communication I. Littleton, Colo.: Interpersonal Communication Programs, 1991. Print.

The Awareness Wheel Diagram
(https://dundeecounselling.com/awareness-wheel/)

Awareness Wheel:
The Speaker (from above) will be most complete in his description of an issue if he explains his full awareness. Starting from Sensory Data, the speaker can move clockwise around the circle to avoid confusion about how he stands on any issue.
When speaking, talk through your Awareness wheel using the first person, “I” statements.

Sensory data
Information gathered using your senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch
External data: The data you gather from other people.

Verbal, but mostly nonverbal, behaviors: facial expressions, gestures, movement, posture, scent, tones, words

Intuitive sensations: memories, associations, insights, hunches, dreams, intuitions

Bodily sensations: goose bumps, a chill, fatigue, stomach tightness, headache

Thoughts
The meanings you make out of the sensory data you receive – eg. beliefs, interpretations, expectations
Words that signal thinking processes: assumptions, benefits, conclusions, evaluations, guesses, reasons, ideas, impressions, judgments, metaphors, needs, objections, opinions, predictions, principles, values. NB: Influence of Family of Origin, cultural, societal & gender ‘norms’

Feelings
Your responses to your interpretation of thoughts, sensory data & wants in a situation. You can use the brain state feeling word list to describe what you’re feeling
Wants
Your desires for yourself and for others, short or long term, general or specific
Includes: aspirations, dreams, drives, goals, hopes, intentions, longings, objectives

Actions
What you say and do in response to sensory data, thoughts, feelings and wants – relates to past, present, and future.
Actions result from how you process sensory data, thoughts, feelings, and wants

Activities, agreements, commands, commitments, contracts, promises, words

[ Dundee Counselling ]

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“The Most Misunderstood Parable (Luke 10:30–37)”

Parables are familiar to many people, but not always correctly understood. One such parable is the one to which I draw your attention this morning. Open your Bible to Luke 10, verse 30, and the very familiar parable of the Good Samaritan, the Good Samaritan. Very familiar to Christians and non-Christians alike. In fact, we all know what it means when you call someone a “Good Samaritan.” That’s a compliment. That generally means that someone shows kindness, mercy, compassion, care to some other person in need, and that’s good. That’s virtuous. God is honored by that. But that being said, the parable of the Good Samaritan is largely misunderstood.

People are familiar with the story, but not so familiar with the point of the story, and to some degree, we expect that because the truth of our Lord’s parable teaching is hidden. If you go back to chapter 10, verse 21, Jesus says to His followers: “At this very time, He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I praise you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.’”

And then in verse 23, “Turning to the disciples He said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see, the things which you see and didn’t see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.’” And then He goes into an occasion in which He teaches this familiar parable.

Parables are really the most direct connection with our Lord revealing truth to His disciples and hiding it from His rejecters. This parable, therefore, will be misunderstood by non-believers. It will be flattened out into a simple story of showing kindness. We kind of expect that. For believers, it should be clearly understood. We have ears to hear and eyes to see, but we do need a little help along the way, I think. For example, if you go back in church history, you get some very bizarre interpretations of this story in allegorical form. [more…]

[ John MacArthur ]

Sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXmKQ52ByUM

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“A Good Lesson from a Bad Example (Luke 16:1–13)”

Let me encourage you to come to Luke 16. There are about 40 parables that our Lord gave, and nobody else in the New Testament gave any parables, so all the parables were given by our Lord. As we know, they were designed to hide the truth from unbelievers, but to reveal it to believers, those who have ears to hear. Parables were, in a sense, a judgment, a confirmation of rejection. At the same time, they were light to those who had the ears to hear. We find that this particular parable is designed to help believers, as they all are. At the end of the day, they are only going to help believers because only believers really understand them.

But this, in particular, is designed to speak to the sons of light. That would be all of those who are part of the kingdom of God. It is a parable that has to do with money, and that’s not odd because about one out of three parables will have something to do with money. That’s just the way life is. Somebody said if you live 80 years, you’ll spend 50 of those 80 years thinking about money one way or another.

Our Lord gets it. He understands that life in the world is dependent upon a form of exchange, and we live and breathe and move with those exchanges. So here is a story about money. It’s a really shocking story because the characters in this story are to one degree or another relatively bad. One of them is very bad. The rest are complicit with his evil. Even the guy who is supposed to be the hero in this story is really flawed because he commends this bad man and the people who were complicit in the badness.

All of this strangely becomes an illustration of how we should live, we as believers, God’s people. So let’s get the story in mind starting in verse 1 Luke 16. [more…]

[ John MacArthur ]

Sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAA2ay96Wk

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“Does Scripture Really Say That? A Critical Appraisal of “Gentle and Lowly”

Where do you look for enduring comfort and security?

The past twelve months have been a stark reminder that there is none to be found in this world. We’ve seen firsthand that nothing can guarantee our financial stability or physical health. In fact, the only constants seem to be chaos and corruption, as we languish under leaders that alternate between ineptitude and outright evil. It’s clear that we need a source of hope from outside this hopeless world.

In that same span of time, a book purportedly offering true comfort and security has taken the Christian world by storm. Dane Ortlund’s Gentle and Lowly has enjoyed immense popularity and near-universal praise. It was named The Gospel Coalition’s “Popular Theology” book of the year, the “Accessible Theology” book of the year by WORLD Magazine, and the ACBC Biblical Counseling book of the year. It was the consensus pick across most year-end lists. This runaway bestseller dominates study groups, Christian book clubs, and personal reading plans throughout the church. It’s possible—perhaps even likely—that you received a copy as a gift this past Christmas. A few people whose opinions we value highly (and generally agree with) have strongly recommended the book and given it five-star reviews. But we think it deserves a little more critical scrutiny.

Ortlund’s title and thesis flow out of Christ’s words in Matthew 11:29, “For I am gentle and lowly in heart” (ESV). Those words become the lens through which the reader is invited to examine the character and nature of the Savior. As Ortlund puts it, “If Jesus hosted his own personal website, the most prominent line of the ‘About Me’ dropdown would read: GENTLE AND LOWLY IN HEART” (p. 21).

For Ortlund, the word “heart” in Jesus’ invitation definitively proves that Christ was identifying lowly gentleness as the singularly defining attribute and the very essence of His character. This is the only place in all of Scripture, he says, “where Jesus tells us about his own heart” (p. 17). Ortlund repeats his central argument for emphasis: Matthew 11:28–30 is “the one place in the Bible where the Son of God pulls back the veil and lets us peer way down into the core of who he is” (p. 18). And what do we find there? According to the author, “Gentleness is who he is” (p. 21).

But does Ortlund’s thesis really yield an accurate understanding of the character and disposition of Christ? Are “gentle and lowly” categorically more definitive of the eternal character of Christ than His fierce contempt for the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, or His threat to wage war against the church at Pergamum? Are the words of Matthew 11:29 truly more authoritative and illustrative of the divine perspective on sin and sinners than, say, Matthew 10:34 (“I did not come to bring peace, but a sword”) or Luke 12:49 (“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!”)?

To be fair, Ortlund begins with a nod of recognition that Jesus did indeed have a “harsher side” (p. 28). That’s a fact that would be hard to deny or explain away, since Jesus’ public ministry began (John 2:13–17) and ended (Matthew 21:12–13) with His overturning the tables of the money changers and driving out the animal merchants from the Temple grounds—both times while Passover crowds were at their peak.

Furthermore, Jesus’ public conflicts with the Pharisees are a persistent theme throughout all four gospels. For all the examples we have of Jesus’ tender dealings with needy, sick, and penitent people, there are just as many (possibly even more) words in the New Testament devoted to His public controversies and angry diatribes against the hypocrisy and false teaching of the Jewish leaders. In fact, every public encounter Jesus had with the Pharisees was antagonistic—and often it was Jesus who purposely provoked the argument.

Ortlund does spend a few pages dealing with Christ’s righteous indignation, midway through the book. He surveys a famous essay by B. B. Warfield, “On the Emotional Life of Our Lord,” in which Warfield gives good and helpful insight on the necessary connection between Christ’s compassion and His anger (pp. 105–111). Warfield’s complete essay is well worth reading. It is a careful but compact (and masterful) study of how God incarnate manifested the full range of human emotions in irreproachable holiness and perfect equilibrium.

But Gentle and Lowly is neither as thorough nor as balanced as Warfield’s essay—especially where it deals with the not-so-gentle aspects of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The Warfield essay devotes a major section (4200-plus words) to Christ’s anger. Ortlund’s entire book spends about half that many words on the subject. Warfield is careful, of course, not to read features of Christ’s human emotions back into his understanding of the eternal, immutable attributes of God. Ortlund seems to have no compunction about doing that—even insinuating that God is beset with internal conflicts or divine angst. (Hold that thought—we’ll come back to it.) Ortlund also does not seem to be striving for the balance Warfield defended. In fact, he more or less acknowledges that balance is not his aim. He writes, “If there appears to be some sense of disproportion in the Bible’s portrait of Christ, then let us be accordingly disproportionate. Better to be biblical than artificially ‘balanced’” (p. 29).

Fair enough. As noted, however, Ortlund fails to acknowledge how much space the gospels devote to Jesus’ endless public battles with the Pharisees, His occasionally stern rebukes of the disciples, and His dire prophetic warnings—not to mention His harsh words to some of the churches in Revelation 2–3. Christ in real life was far from the placid, avuncular portrait Ortlund wants to paint. But for some reason, Ortlund seems convinced that most evangelicals in the current generation have a perception of Christ’s character that isn’t mild enough—as if too much fear of the Lord is what has made postmodern evangelicalism so dysfunctional. One gets the distinct impression that Ortlund wants to tame the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

The fact is, neither tenderness nor severity completely defines Christ’s character. Holiness is His most prominent and all-consuming attribute as God incarnate. It is the sum of all His perfections, encompassing both His compassion for sinners and His fierce hatred of sin. When we contemplate the character of Christ, though He is fully and truly human, we cannot lose sight of His deity. He is, after all, fully and truly God, with all the perfections of the divine character. And yes, it is gloriously true that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16)—“merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth” (Psalm 86:15). But it is also a cardinal truth, reiterated often by precept and example throughout Scripture, that “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29; Numbers 11:1; Deuteronomy 4:24; Psalm 97:3).

Ortlund’s approach to understanding Christ’s character is like watching an IMAX screen through a jeweler’s loupe. God certainly never gives any indication that His people should be possessed of such doctrinal myopia. When God met Moses at the burning bush and told him His name, He simply said, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). When He later gave an abridged rundown of His attributes and characteristics to Moses, He accented both His tender, compassionate willingness to forgive and His unyielding commitment to perfect justice: “The Lord God [is] compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:6–7). God’s Word instructs us to worship Him in the fullness of His attributes—not merely through the prism of one or two favorites.

To deal with God’s attributes as discrete, rival components of a complicated character is to contradict the doctrine of divine simplicity. God is indivisible and irreducible. He is not made up of parts; He is not the complex product of His attributes (part love, part peace, part wrath, etc.). Rather, God is His attributes, in all their fullness and at all times. And the disparate aspects of divine holiness are not at odds with one another.

Yet Ortlund seems to pit God’s compassion against His wrath in a way that implies a conflict in the mind or the will of God. Regarding God’s judgment on Israel, he writes, “Something recoils within him in sending that affliction. . . . He is—if I can put it this way without questioning his divine perfections—conflicted within himself when he sends affliction into our lives. . . . But his deepest heart is their merciful restoration” (p. 138).

Unfortunately, there is no way to do justice to God’s perfection if you imagine that He is “conflicted within himself.” Such a view of God is a clear denial of the classic doctrine of divine impassability (more on this below). It also contradicts the apostle’s statement in 2 Timothy 2:13: “He cannot deny Himself.” Conflicted within Himself? In all candor, that sounds blasphemous. Surely Ortlund has a higher view of God than that.

Summing up this supposedly conflicted nature of God, Ortlund writes, “Mercy is natural to him. Punishment is unnatural” (p. 140). Ortlund sees God’s peaceful forbearance as that which “pours out of him most naturally” (p. 29), and this lopsided emphasis prompts several questions the author never attempts to answer. For example, when Jesus answers His critics harshly in texts like Luke 13:15 or Matthew 22:18; or when He delivers an angry jeremiad like Matthew 23—what are we to think? Were those confrontations somehow unnatural or un-Christlike?

Ortlund also makes far too much of anthropomorphic language. Regarding a passage from Hosea, he writes, “We are given a rare glimpse into the very center of who God is, and we see and feel the deeply affectional convulsing within the very being of God. His heart is inflamed with pity and compassion for his people” (p. 73). It’s hard to believe Ortlund really means what he’s saying here. “Convulsing,” by definition, lacks self-control. Certainly such uncontrolled emotions are not characteristic of the immutable God of the Bible, nor would they be a source of comfort and security to His people.

As noted earlier, this view of God as internally conflicted is a wholesale denial of the doctrine of divine impassibility. The Westminster Confession of Faith describes God’s fundamental nature as “without body, parts, or passions.” He cannot be affected from outside Himself—He cannot be influenced or pained by external forces. The Puritans were rightly careful and precise so as not to attribute to the divine nature things only fitting for human nature. Although men are often ruled by their passions, God is not.

It’s worth noting that Ortlund frequently quotes from the Puritans and other beloved theologians—not only Warfield, but also Jonathan Edwards, John Owen, and Thomas Goodwin. While his interest in these voices from church history is commendable, he quotes selectively and thus gives a skewed impression of what these authors believed. Goodwin, for example, was a delegate to the Westminster Assembly and helped draft the Confession of Faith, which unequivocally affirms divine impassibility. It’s hard to imagine that Thomas Goodwin would approve of the self-conflicted image of the Almighty that Ortlund’s thesis results in.

Ortlund has a habit of reaching beyond the confines of Scripture to illustrate his points, and this leads him to settle for several weak metaphors. He leans heavily on some of the empty, therapeutic jargon that dominates postmodern evangelical culture. He asserts, for example, that “God is opening up to us his deepest heart” (p. 150)—as though God has layers that need to be peeled back. Let’s be clear: He doesn’t. All of God is God, and nothing in Him is “deeper” or more fundamental than the rest of Him. Such sloppiness carelessly blurs the lines between Christ’s divine and human natures—lines that past generations of the church fought to protect—and ascribes to the Father characteristics that are not properly true of Him. This kind of imprecision is unhelpful and unhealthy.

Nowhere is the danger of his imprecision more evident than in Ortlund’s discussion of the gospel. He writes, “Here is the promise of the gospel and the message of the whole Bible: In Jesus Christ, we are given a friend who will always enjoy rather than refuse our presence” (p. 115). Elsewhere he argues, “If the actions of Jesus are reflective of who he most deeply is, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it is the very fallenness which he came to undo that is most irresistibly attractive to him” (p. 30). You read that right—Ortlund says your sin is what makes you most attractive to your holy Savior. Put another way, “It is not our loveliness that wins his love. It is our unloveliness” (p. 75).

The man-centeredness of Ortlund’s gospel is exposed early on. “The minimum bar to be enfolded into the embrace of Jesus is simply: open yourself up to him. It is all he needs” (p. 20). That’s a far cry from the biblical call to repent and believe, and it woefully undercuts the true majesty of God’s work in salvation—that “God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4–5). There’s no hint of God’s gracious provision through the work of imputation, by which “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). In fact, there isn’t much attention paid at all to the eternal implications of our salvation—Ortlund’s focus is on Christ’s compassion and care for us here and now.

We shouldn’t be surprised by the imbalance. Evangelicalism has lost all appetite for a full-orbed, biblical view of God. For at least one hundred years, compromising evangelicals have been attacking classic theism, while simultaneously trying to weaponize the terminology of charity, meekness, and humility in order to intimidate into silence any fellow evangelicals who speak out with clarity and passion about the dangers of Pharisees and wolves. Your antennae should go up when someone suggests that Jesus’ firm opposition against hypocrites and false teachers isn’t really as much an expression of His true heart as the grace He extends to repentant sinners. Imagine how shocked and unprepared they will be when He finally appears with a sword in His mouth to smite the nations.

That’s why it’s hard to buy Ortlund’s suggestion that most people today have a view of Christ that gives lopsided weight to the severity of His hatred for sin. The state of the church suggests just the opposite. One of the besetting sins of both secular culture and the evangelical community is the presumption that God is basically an invisible friend with superpowers—that He is not really a consuming fire after all, and it’s not really such a fearful thing to fall into His hands. In that sense, Ortlund’s book is overcorrecting for a fault that simply does not exist among Western evangelicals in any significant measure.

Then why is this book so popular? For one thing, the human heart almost always prefers hearing things that are lovely and agreeable, rather than being challenged with hard truths. “Speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions” (Isaiah 30:10). Self-satisfied people cannot endure sound words; they insist on having their ears tickled (2 Timothy 4:3). And several generations of seeker-sensitive ministry philosophy have more or less legitimized (and even canonized) the notion among evangelicals that truth is supposed to be always mild and benign. Anything that sounds harsh or demanding is supposed to be toned down. People love to have that opinion reinforced.

Also, the events of the last several months have undoubtedly driven many in the church to seek the kind of comfort that Gentle and Lowly offers. It should not surprise us that the book’s popularity has exploded in the same time that countless Christians have been separated from their churches, out from under the consistent teaching of God’s Word and its sharpening, discerning influence. The hardships, uncertainties, and fears produced by these events has multiplied exponentially the number of beleaguered people who desperately crave rest, who are crying for their burdens to be lightened, and who wish to be liberated from their yokes of bondage.

And despite the deficiencies and dangers we have highlighted, Gentle and Lowly does have some perceptive observations and profitable words of encouragement for souls who are weary and heavily laden. The book is by no means utterly devoid of interesting and edifying thoughts. There are even moments of sublime insight. For example, chapter 16 is a fascinating study in which Ortlund draws many parallels between Moses at Sinai and the events surrounding Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand. There’s an excellent discussion of Calvin’s comments on Isaiah 55:8 that corrects a common misunderstanding of that text—and reveals an aspect of Calvin’s theology that too many contemporary Calvinists miss (pp. 158–159).

Genuine highlights such as those—as well as Ortlund’s frequent quotations from Puritan authors—no doubt explain why the book has received endorsements from generally trustworthy reviewers. And if Ortlund’s use of Puritan literature whets the appetites of his readers to dig more deeply into the model of biblical exposition bequeathed to us by the English Reformers, that will certainly be a good thing.

The truth is, the best the book has to offer largely comes from the other authors Ortlund quotes. Without doubt, he is an engaging writer, but he lacks the depth and precision of the men on whose shoulders he’s attempting to stand. (For more on that, we recommend this helpful review by Jeremy Walker.) Those godly men wrote in an era when the goal was not merely to clear the bar of orthodoxy, but to continually elevate the church’s biblical discourse and doctrinal precision—particularly when it came to the person and work of Christ. The church today desperately needs to set similar priorities. Our advice to readers looking for a study of Christ’s tender compassion is to go straight to Thomas Goodwin’s The Heart of Christ or Richard Sibbes’s The Bruised Reed.

Why would we publish a mostly negative review of a popular book that other discriminating reviewers have praised—a book that is likely to introduce new readers to the Puritans? Because at the end of the day, the book’s problems outweigh its benefits. The imbalanced view of Christ’s human character would be trouble enough. But Ortlund’s view of the divine character is the deal breaker—God as internally conflicted, moved by complex passions. Again, that idea is a dangerous and significant departure from classic theism.

It’s a good reminder that God’s people always need to be Bereans, carefully evaluating everything by the standard of His Word. True biblical discernment is in short supply. Even those who have been well trained occasionally and inexplicably pull the goalie. And in trying times—perhaps especially then—believers need to faithfully guard their hearts and cling to the enduring truth of God’s Word. We cannot settle for less.

That leads to the other reason for this post. Put simply, we can sympathize with the desire for some comfort and encouragement in these dark days. But rather than picking for scraps, we want to point you to thoroughly biblical resources that will deepen your knowledge of God’s Word and strengthen your love for Him. We want you to know the lasting hope, encouragement, and security that come from God’s testimony of Himself—from Scripture alone.

To that end, we’re going to spend the next several weeks looking at Christ’s intercessory work on our behalf, God’s pursuit of His elect, and the nature of His saving love. Join us on the blog for this deep dive into Divine Compassion.

[ Jeremiah Johnson ]

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“What causes the Bible to often be misunderstood?”

Skeptics and even some Christians often have issues with some certain parts of Scripture. How can Christians become better at understanding challenging parts of the Bible?

[ Glenn Paauw ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUvMJwcxoyE

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“John 3:16 – What the most popular Bible verse REALLY means”

What John 3 16 really means, may surprise you. John 3:16​ is the most popular Bible verse. It begins with the well know phrase about Jesus, ” For God so loved the world,” but knowing what John 3 verse 16 means is not so common. In fact the John 3 16 meaning may surprise many who have memorized it. In this short John 3 16 sermon / John 3 16 Bible study, Pastor Nelson answers the questions: Why is John 3 16 so popular? What is the meaning of world in John 16? What does, for God so loved the world mean? What is the meaning of John 3 16? Those questions, along with a lot more information about Jesus Christ is offed this short John 3.16 video offered to explain John 3 16, and at the same time answer the question of, what is the Gospel of Jesus.

[ Bible Munch ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVs-inNAL54

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“The Most Distorted Verse?”

From the sermon: “The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up” given by Dr. R.C. Sproul at St. Andrews in Sanford, FL

[ RC Sproul ]

Sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85OsiQL6xd0

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“Problem Bible Verses: Context & Interpretation”

SHOW 6 of 7: Justin Peters & Costi Hinn (Benny Hinn’s Nephew who LEFT the Prosperity Gospel) on: Problem Bible Verses— Scriptures that are often Twisted, Misinterpreted, and taken out of its proper Context. It is not that False Teachers never refer to the Bible– they do! The problem is that they Twist Scripture & take Bible Verses out of their proper Context and thereby distort their meaning. In this program Costi Hinn and Justin Peters discuss Bible Verses that are commonly misused by: Word of Faith / NAR [New Apostolic Reformation] preachers such as ISAIAH 53:4-5, “By His stripes we are healed,” and JOHN 14:11​-12, “Greater works than these,” etc. that would SEEM to support that it is ALWAYS God’s Will to be healed AND that we as believers should regularly be performing incredible Miracles. Costi and Justin will show, HOWEVER, that these verses have been TWISTED to mean something they simply do NOT mean, and then they will discuss the TRUE meaning of these verses. When we know God’s Word rightly, we will know HIM rightly.

[ Costi Hinn & Justin Peters ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg3wsRTigbg

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“What are the 5 Most Misunderstood Bible Verses?

[ Alisa Childers with Clark Bates ]

Teaching – Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBBmne4l4Mg
Teaching – Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sfrfZmPq5I
Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XMyI48Beyk
Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTtZVOrlvc8

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“Matthew 7:1-6 : Judging Others”

What does it mean when the Bible says, “Judge not, lest you be judged”? Todd Wagner answers this question while teaching through Matthew 7:1-6—easily one of the most misinterpreted passages in the Bible—as we continue our series, Summer on the Mount.

[ Todd Wagner ]

Sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy1fCoZ5g6U

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“Forget this rule and you will forever misinterpret Scripture”

[ Todd Friel ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkNPin_gF9c

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“How to Misinterpret the Bible”

We all know we can misread, misunderstand, and misapply the Bible. But how do we know when we do? In this lab, John Piper explains the objective standard we can use to test our interpretations.

[ John Piper ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97E8PM_Pti4

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“What is the meaning of 2 Chronicles 7:14?”

What does 2 Chronicles 7:14​ mean in context? Taking II Chronicles 7:14​ out of context is far too common. Understanding 2 Chronicles 7:14​ and the healing for the nation that some preach claiming 2 Chronicles 7:14​, these things can only be done understanding and studying 2 Chronicles 7:14​ in context. In this video, Pastor Nelson with Bible Munch answers the question, “What is the meaning of 2 Chronicles 7:14​?”.

[ GotQuestions ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1rJkM9zkUk

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Words out of Context Maintain Harmful Misunderstandings

One of the core ways for misunderstanding to build up is by receiving incomplete information about something someone else has said. I believe this is a big part of the distrust between the Abrahamic faiths, and indeed, many of our broader misunderstandings today. For example, the media can emphasize one particular phrase a person says, and build a completely different story based on that statement than what was intended.

In some cases, we simply lack the information to understand what a person is saying. Consider some of Jesus’ phrases, which sound familiar to the Western mind, but perhaps we have not fully understood. It is cases like these where studying the text through the Eastern lens reveals perspective we have not seen before.

Did Jesus Really Say, “I Come to Bring a Sword”?

“Do not suppose I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” At first blush, this verse seems to be in total contradiction to all the of Jesus’ teachings. How could the man who taught us to “turn the other cheek” and “love our enemies” by claiming that he came to bring a sword? In fact, this verse has even been used by some to justify violence against “non-believers.”

The truer meaning here is not sword, but division. This is more accurately rendered in the common English translations of the corresponding passage in Luke: “Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? I say to you no, but divisions.”

The teachings of Jesus were so revolutionary and contrary to the political, social and religious order of the day that when people followed them, divisions among families, friends and institutions inevitably ensued. Dr. Lamsa comments that the Eastern idiomatic aspect of these verses were not known by the Greeks. Jesus never suggested that his followers ought to “take up the sword,” but rather that following him would inevitably cause “divisions” and persecutions-as history has in fact shown to be the case.

[The Aramaic example is excerpted from Appendix 3 of A Deadly Misunderstanding.]

If we realize we can misunderstand our own text without careful study and prayer for God to reveal the truth to us, how much more might we misunderstand a related but unique text of a neighboring faith?

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“The Most MISUNDERSTOOD Verse in the Bible is, “For I Know the Plans I Have For You…” (Jer. 29:11)”

Have you ever quoted Jeremiah 29:11 which says, “For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future?” Well, I’ve got news for you. Many people love to quote this verse but don’t really understand what that verse actually means within its original context. In this video I’m going to take a detailed look at this verse so that when we quote, “For I know the plans I have for you” we will understand exactly what it means and how it may apply to our life.

[ Allen Parr ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1h1uCpW7kg

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“THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD PARABLE EVER…EXPLAINED! | The Parable of the Dishonest Manager”

Most of Jesus’ parables are relatively easy to understand. But, the parable of the unjust steward has baffled theologians for centuries. Is Jesus commending dishonesty in this parable? In this video we will explore the meaning of this parable and how it applies to us.

[ Allen Parr ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk5CoZ6QXWk

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“5 BIBLE VERSES MANY CHARISMATICS, WORD OF FAITH AND PENTECOSTALS TAKE OUT OF CONTEXT!”

Many Charismatics and Pentecostals take verses out of context and if you’re not careful, they will have you living confused as a Christian. I made this video for a few reasons. First, I want you to be aware of these false teachings when you hear them. Second, I want this to be a lesson for us all in basic Bible interpretation. Taking verses out of context is one of the quickest ways you can be confused about Bible doctrine. Be sure to test everything you hear in the proper context.

[ Allen Parr ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebRbkYSeKBs

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“Top 5 Verses Christians Take Out of Context”

Have you ever heard someone quote a scripture and you wonder, “is that what that scripture really means?” Today we are going to talk about the importance of CONTEXT!

Hey what’s up everyone my name is Allen Parr and here on the BEAT we release a new video every Tuesday and so today we are talking about scriptures that Christians commonly take out of context and I want to give you my top 5.

1. “Judge not, or you will be judged”
a. This verse is often used to suggest that people don’t have the right to judge other people. You may hear someone say, “you can’t judge me, the Bible says you can’t judge…”
b. BUT, if you look at the context more carefully Jesus is NOT prohibiting all judgment but rather He is saying that before you judge someone else take some time to look at yourself first so that you will be able to see clearly enough to administer a proper judgment on something.
2. “Consider it all joy when you experience various trials”
a. This verse is often used to somehow suggest that when we experience hard times the Christian response is to ignore our human emotions and rejoice and thank God for your trial.
b. But when we look at the context it’s not saying that we should rejoice when negative things happen to us but rather we rejoice in what the trial produces in our lives which is the ability to persevere and to make us a complete well-balanced Christian.
3. “Where two or three are gathered together in your name there I will be in the midst”
a. This verse is usually quoted when no one shows up for prayer meeting to encourage the saints to pray anyway OR if we are going through a difficult time and we have 2 or 3 people praying for us…
i. First problem is that if you’re a Christian Jesus is with you all the time whether you’re by yourself or in groups of two or three
ii. Second problem is that the context is talking about how to resolve conflict in the church between two people and if there are at least two to three credible witnesses in agreement then Jesus says I will be in the midst of that conflict resolution.
4. “Speak those things that are not as though they are” – this verse has been misused by so many people to suggest that if we have enough faith we have the ability to create our own destiny simply by speaking things into existence.
a. The problem with this one is if you read the passage carefully it clearly says that that God is the only one that is able to call something into existence that is not.
b. You and I cannot twist God’s hand and force Him to do something outside of His will simply by speaking it because that puts us in the position of God and God in the position of a servant.
5. By His stripes we are healed – Now people have used this verse when they are praying over someone who I sick suggesting that through Jesus’ death on the cross (i.e. His “stripes”) we are healed of any sickness and disease. The problem with this is…
a. If you trace the Hebrew word for heal throughout the entire book of Isaiah you’ll see that every time it is used to refer to God spiritually healing a nation of people who have backslidden and He is healing them of their spiritual sickness.
b. We know it’s not talking about sickness because in the NT Peter quoted this same verse and the context clearly proves that the idea of being healed is spiritual and not physical.
c. Peter used this same verse in the NT and helps us understand the meaning of the original text to refer to a spiritual healing and not a physical one.

My hope and goal with this video is that we would all be much more careful when speaking for God and make sure that we are quoting scriptures in the right context and not just saying things that we’ve heard other people say or even your pastor say or the common Christian cliché. Remember that when you take the text out of CONtext, you get CONNED every time!

[ Allen Parr ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZPBKUYRvM

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“Never Read a Bible Verse!”

Greg Koukl tells people to never read a Bible verse!

[ Greg Koukl ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpuUId7VU1U

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“Never Read a Bible Verse”

People can get into all sorts of trouble if they only read a Bible verse. Why? It’s because you can make a Bible verse say anything you want it to. There are countless examples of Bible verses being taken out of context. The solution to this problem is to read every Bible verse in its proper context: the paragraph it’s in, the chapter it’s in, and the book of the Bible it’s in. When you do that, you will have a much better chance of interpreting the Bible correctly.

[ Scott Creps ]

Video: hhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yUL9TDD4_g&t=2s

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“A Look at 10 (or so) Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses”

Most people are familiar with John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It’s the go-to verse for budding evangelists, the bottom rim of In–N-Out cups, and Tim Tebow’s face. But not every verse can be plucked from the Bible to stand well (and be properly understood) on its own.

In a five-part series, philosopher-theologian Kenneth Samples, physicist and long-time student of the Scripture Dave Rogstad, and Theology Mom Krista Bontrager take a look at a “Top 10 (or so) Misunderstood Bible Verses.”

Part 1 begins with general principles to keep in mind when interpreting Scripture:

Understand the author’s intent. “Meaning is grounded in the author’s intent.” So before asking what the verse means to us, consider first what the verse meant to the person who wrote it and the person(s) to whom it was written (or spoken). Consider the historical and cultural context.

Consider the literary genre. Just like we wouldn’t read a comic book in the same way we would an academic paper, it’s important to read Bible books and verse according to their genre.

Think about the overall context. Take a look at the surrounding verses or paragraphs. Pulling an excerpt may not be sufficient to understanding a verse’s significance.

Reflect on the universal and personal application. Only after we have a firm understanding of the author’s intent, literary genre, and overall context can we begin to reflect on the universal and personal application.

With these principles in mind, Samples, Rogstad, and Bontrager dive into the list of misunderstood verses. Here, I offer a synopsis of the podcast series and, hopefully, some food for thought.

Part 2

Thou shalt not kill Exodus 20:13 (KJV)

Other translations read “You shall not murder.” The distinction, as Samples explains, is that killing is to take the life of a human being whereas murder is the intentional taking of a life without just cause, particularly out of malicious motive.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

There are two common misunderstandings of this verse. First, that it’s a guarantee of prosperity. Second, that it applies to the reader’s land (for example, those in the US cite this verse for the National Day of Prayer). Yet the context indicates that the Lord is talking about Israel. The team suggests that if there is a general principle, it’s about God’s people. “It has nothing to do with our nation as a whole,” Bontrager explains, “because we [do not live] in a theocracy.”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

This is a powerful verse, no doubt, that’s often used at Christian graduation ceremonies. But “it has to be understood within a broad biblical context,” Bontrager says. It’s a promise to Israel that they will be able to return to the land, the team explains. It’s not a guarantee that modern Christians won’t suffer.

Part 3

I said, “You are ‘gods’; you are all sons of the Most High. Psalm 82:6

Some might take this verse to mean there are other gods. Compare this verse to what Jesus says in John 10:34–36 and it becomes clear this isn’t the case. The team explains that “gods” is instead referring to those who receive the law.

My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. Proverbs 3:1–2

It’s generally true that following God’s commands will lead to a longer, more peaceful, and therefore more prosperous life. This verse is not a guarantee of such blessings.

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

This verse might serve as motivation for parents to teach their children “the way they should go” (a good thing). But, again, it’s not a guarantee. The team stresses that it’s important to differentiate between a promise (guarantee) and a proverb (general principle).

Part 4

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. Matthew 7:1

Can a person do as they please without being judged by other Christians? No. Elsewhere in the Bible Paul judges false teachers. Yet it doesn’t mean we judge self-righteously or hypocritically, but in a consistently biblical manner. Plus, the verses that follow clarify that judgment begins with one’s self.

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. Mark 16:17–18

Many scholars believe the Gospel of Mark originally ended at verse 8. With this in mind, the team takes the position that there’s no foundation to believe in those practices because they’re not in the original. They add, however, that this verse doesn’t mean every Christian will do these things, but there certainly was that kind of activity in the early church—casting out of demons, speaking in other languages, handling of snakes (e.g., Paul on the Island of Malta). Not that anyone should seek to engage in these activities, but they did occur.

Part 5

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. 1 John 2:27a

People often cite this verse as support for their decision to not attend church. But the team explains that this verse is about the issue of the anti-Christ. John is warning the church to make sure their doctrine and their belief about Jesus is correct so as not to be fooled by some “new” (distorted) teaching. According to Bontrager, “To say ‘I just need the Holy Spirit’ is a gross misinterpretation of the text.”

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with this person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20

This message of repentance and restoration is directed to the seven churches of Asia Minor. To cite it for evangelistic purposes is using “good doctrine from the wrong passage.”

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isa 9:6

The verse seems to anticipate the coming of Christ. So why would the Son be called Father? Rogstad suggests this verse indicates Christ’s origins are from eternity. Jesus refers to this verse in John 14:9: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Before plucking out a verse—be it for evangelism, a Bible study, or face paint for the big game—these basic principles will go a long way toward helping readers go from “passive reading to active learning.”

[ Reasons To Believe ]

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“MISUNDERSTOOD DOCTRINES”

Indifference to Doctrine
BURK PARSONS – CORAM DEO

Sola Scriptura
CHAD VAN DIXHOORN

Limited Atonement
JONATHAN GIBSON

Predestination and Human Actions
JAMES N. ANDERSON

Paedobaptism
GUY M. RICHARD

Ministerial and Declarative Authority
JON D. PAYNE

Church Membership
ROLAND BARNES

The Intermediate State
KIM RIDDLEBARGER

Cessationism
ROBERT ROTHWELL

A Heavenly Vision
STAFFORD CARSON – HEART AFLAME

Rearing Your Children for Success
MICHAEL E. OSBORNE – FOR THE CHURCH

Living Out a Healthy Fear of the Lord
ANDREW M. DAVIS – CITY ON A HILL

Intersectionality and the Church
ROSARIA BUTTERFIELD – LAST THINGS

Recommended Books on Misunderstood Doctrines: https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2020/04/recommended-books-on-misunderstood-doctrines/

[ Tabletalk Magazine – April 2020 ]

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“Inigo Montoya Series”

hello ladies and gentlemen my name is
justin peters i hope that you and your
family are doing well today
and i want to thank you very much for
watching this video

the purpose of this short video is just
to let you know about a new series
that i will begin on my youtube channel
entitled
the inigo montoya series

the princess bride i would have to say
is probably my favorite movie
of all time i just love this movie it is
immensely
quotable full of memorable one-liners
and probably the most well-known line
from the movie is that one by enigo
montoya

and as you might imagine the
direction i’m going with this
is i’m going to take some very well
known and very
often quoted passages of scripture
verses of scripture rather
but verses that are almost almost always
misinterpreted because they have been
taken out of their context
and you can take any number of verses of
scripture
lift them out of their context and you
can make the bible say
just about whatever you want it to say
and so we’re going to look at these
verses
we are going to look at the common
misinterpretation of these verses but
then we will
employ sound hermeneutical principles
and we will see what these verses
really mean so i just want to let you
know about this
i’m looking forward to it and i’m hoping
lord willing
the first one will drop this next week
so just be on the lookout for that
i promise i will not kill you until you
reach the top
that’s very comforting but i’m afraid
you’ll just have to wait
i hit with and i will continue with
other material as well
on my youtube channel so i hope that
this will be
a good resource for you and a little fun
as well
bye bye bye have fun storming the castle
think it alright it would take a miracle
bye
[Music]
all right dear friends thank you very
much until our next time together may
the grace of our lord jesus christ
the love of god and the fellowship of
his holy spirit
be with you all
you

[ Justin Peters ]

Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYKrB6fWKjQ

“My Sheep Hear My Voice”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrC2VoozQl0&list=PLSNbxfUibb_fGIsMWl83oAPf_Ri59SCrx&index=1

“Where Two or Three Are Gathered Together”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75aigrD4MtQ&list=PLSNbxfUibb_fGIsMWl83oAPf_Ri59SCrx&index=2

“Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Your Anger”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-LmtloUX1c&list=PLSNbxfUibb_fGIsMWl83oAPf_Ri59SCrx&index=3

“Tongues of Angels”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ohUPvUDXU&list=PLSNbxfUibb_fGIsMWl83oAPf_Ri59SCrx&index=5

“The Still Small Voice”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z32AIGDBq4&list=PLSNbxfUibb_fGIsMWl83oAPf_Ri59SCrx&index=6

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“3 Common Misunderstandings About Hell, the Devil, and the Afterlife”

If you grew up in the Evangelical church in the ’80s and ’90s like me, there’s a good chance you got your theology of hell from scare films, traveling church dramas, and pop culture. I sure did. Here are 3 ideas I had about hell that I learned were not biblical.

[ Alisa Childers ]

Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u52gLQIHOFI

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“End of the Spear” (Movie)
Is it possible to forgive those who have taken from you what you most love? Can a people controlled by violence and murder be transformed? Based on the true story of five missionaries killed at the hands of the world’s most violent tribe, End of the Spear proves that sometimes the greatest tragedy can be the catalyst for the most resilient hope.

From director Jim Hanon and producer Mart Green, this feature film offers a fresh, sometimes raw, cinematic journey deep into the Amazon jungle and even deeper into the human condition. It weaves together the story of a bereaved son and the tribal leader who murdered this young boy’s father. As their lives intersect three decades later, painful revelations force a life-or-death decision. The choices made will heal profound wounds; transform destructive practices, and bring hope for a new life to many.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_RFrmFgyg

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SONGS:

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“Misunderstanding”

There must be some misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake
I waited in the rain for hours
And you were late

Now it’s not like me to say the right thing
But you could’ve called to let me know
I checked your number twice, don’t understand it
So I went home

Well I’d been waiting for this weekend
I thought that maybe we could see a show
Never dreamed I’d have this feeling
Oh but seeing you is believing
That’s why I don’t know why
You didn’t show up that night

There must be some misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake
I was waiting in the rain for hours
And you were late

Since then I’ve been running around trying to find you
I went to the places that we always go
I rang your HOUSE but got no answer
Jumped in my car, I went round there
Still don’t believe it
He was just leaving

There must be some misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake…

[ Genesis – “Duke” album ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_L-S-0Gc4I

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“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”

Baby, can you understand me now?
Sometimes I get a little mad
Don’t you know, no one alive can always be an angel
When things go wrong, I seem to go bad

I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood

Yeah, baby, sometimes I’m so carefree
With a joy that’s hard to hide
Yeah, and other times it seems that
All I ever have is worry
And then you’re bound to see my other side

Oh, I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood

Well If I get edgy, I want you to know
I never mean to take it out on you
Life has its problems, I get more than my share
But there’s one thing that I would never do

Oh, I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood

Well If I get edgy, I want you to know
I never mean to take it out on you
Life has its problems, I get more than my share
But there’s one thing that I would never do
‘Cause I love you
Oh

Oh, now don’t you know I’m human
I got my faults just like anyone
And sometimes I lie awake, alone, regretting
Some foolish thing, some sinful thing I’ve done

I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
I said, I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
Oh, I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood

[ The Animals – “Animal Tracks” album ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw7RTUEZMyg

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“Misunderstood”

Under the surface
we’re all the same
searching for purpose
running from shame

I’m sorry I’m not all the things that you want
all the things that you thought
I should be
I guess I’m not like you
not something you’re used to
maybe something brand new
you’ve never seen

Wish I could read your mind
come on, let me inside
I’ll never waste your time
misunderstood
wish you could somehow see
that I would always be
all that you want from me

I got you letter
tell me who’s to blame
do you feel better
causing me pain
so much pain

I’m sorry I’m not all the things that you want
all the things that you thought
I should be
I guess I’m not like you
not something you’re used to
maybe something brand new
you’ve never seen

Wish I could read your mind
come on, let me inside
I’ll never waste your time
misunderstood
wish you could somehow see
that I would always be
all that you want from me
misunderstood

It’s my time
it’s my turn
and I’m ready
but I need to make this on my own
you’re not right
I’m not wrong
so just let me go

I’m sorry I’m not all the things that you want
all the things that you thought
I should be

Wish I could read your mind
come on, let me inside
I’ll never waste your time
misunderstood
wish you could somehow see
that I would always be
all that you want from me
misunderstood

You gotta let it
you, you gotta let it go
you gotta let it
you, you gotta let it go
you, you gotta let it go
you gotta let it go

[ AJ Michalka – From “Grace Unplugged” soundtrack ]

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVqEZh1ohQ

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APOLOGETIX SONGS

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“Apologetics”
(Parody of “Come and Get It” performed by Badfinger)

If you wanted serious apologetics
Mm mm mm mm mm — take a Bible class
If you wanted plain advice – I can give it
But it’s in a parody so it may get laughs
Did I hear you say that I must be a quack
Will you walk away from the truth if it’s funny?
If you wanted lyrics with college credits
Then you’d better hurry off and go to class

If you wanted lyrics with homiletics
Mm mm mm mm mm – baby, mine have that
If you wanted edified – I can dig it
Then you needn’t worry ’cause we’ll stay on track
Did my lyrics stray from the trusty old path
Will you walk away from the truth if it’s funny?
Sorry!
If you wanted serious apologetics
Then you’d better hurry off and go to class
You’d better hurry off and go to class

Ooh ooh ooh ooh – truth can be funny
Sorry!
If you wanted serious apologetics
Then we’d better hurry up and close this fast
You’d better hurry ’cause we’re closin’ fast
You’d better hurry ’cause we’re closin’ fast

[ ApologetiX – “Alien Invasion” album ]

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“Come Out and Pray”
(Parody of “Come Out and Play” by The Offspring)

And students, the thing to remember about church and state … (You gotta keep ‘em separated!)
Don’t try to pray in the classroom
You can’t be spreading your faith
They turn our class into an atheist vacuum
While they’re separating church from the state
They can’t stand God, so they took Him out
Started back in ’62 and look at us now
They warn that government and God just don’t mix
You’re gonna have to stop, have to stop, have to stop, have to stop Hey! Are you talkin’ ‘bout your faith?
Take him out! (You gotta keep ‘em separated)
Hey! Are you mixin’ church and state?
Take him out! (You gotta keep ‘em separated)
Hey! Don’t you see the rise
In murder, rape, teenage pregnancies and suicides?
Hey! Come out and pray!
Now it’s sex, drugs and violence – the American way
Crumble the morals and the government fails
Once God’s ousted, it’s a matter of fate
We’re goin’ down the same path as others before
Everyone from Sodom to the USSR
They never ever see it till it’s finally too late
You better find your own hope, find your own hope, find your own Faith – Man, is this what’s left for me? Where to now?
(You gotta keep ‘em educated)
Hey! When they all grow up to be – criminals
(You gotta keep incarcerated)
Hey! I hope you don’t mind
Murder, rape, teenage pregnancies and suicides
Hey! Come out and pray!
The moral is the same ‘cause it’s happened before
Turn to Second Chronicles and turn to the Lord
In 7, verse 14, He says, “If My people pray …”
They’re gonna finally know hope
Finally know hope, finally know hope, finally know
Hey! Man, there’s nothin’ to believe – where to know?
(You gotta keep ‘em motivated)
Hey! And the kids grow up to be animals!
(You gotta keep ‘em all sedated)
Hey! I hope you don’t mind
Murder, rape, teenage pregnancies and suicides
Hey! Come out and pray

[ ApologetiX – “Ticked” album ]

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“The Devil Went Down to Jordan”
(Parody of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by Charlie Daniels)

The devil went down to the Jordan
He was lookin’ for a show to steal
He was in a bind ‘cause Jesus came to find
The people willing to make it real
And he came upon the Son of Man
Saw He had no vittles and was prayin’ to God
Then the devil jumped upon the chance to tempt Him
Said “Boy, let me tell ya, it’s hot!”
“I guess you didn’t know it but I’m a vittle craver too
“And kid I’m scared this desert air might get the best of you “Now you ain’t been eatin’ your vittles boy
“But, kid, your dinner is due
“So if you’re really God’s son, then turn these stones
To bread and I’ll butter it for you.”
The Lord said, “I am hungry, but that would be a sin
“Cause it ain’t by bread man’s gonna be fed
“But by the Word God’s given him.”
John the Baptist washed the Lord and there’s where it all starts Cause Jesus left the Jordan and the devil hit Him hard
And if He wins we get to walk on Heaven’s streets of gold
But if He sins, the devil gets your soul
The devil took Him up in space and said, “Christ, start to throw “Yourself off of this temple top as I’m watchin’ from below “Cause I’m sure You know that God will bring
“All His angels to assist
“And then men would believe that You’re Him
“If they saw You did something like this”
When the devil finished, Jesus said
“Well, you’re temptin’ God, old son
And it’s written down in that book right there
That thing shouldn’t ever be done”
Shout from the mountain what God’s done
The devil ain’t a match for the rising Son
You can never tempt God, did you not know
Man, he doesn’t live by bread alone
The devil finally said, “Jesus, if You’ll just worship me
Then I’ll give you gold that glitters
All these crowns, and all You see”
Jesus said, “Devil, just turn on back
Cause I’m never gonna buy your scam
I love God too much, I’m gonna resist
I’d suggest you’d better scram!”
And we say
CHORUS

[ ApologetiX – “Grace Period” album ]

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“I Found the Answer There”
(Parody of “I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles)

Want to read more!
Well, see, in Acts 17
The dudes were known as Bereans
And they read the Book
Each day when Paul was there
Now all of them are our brothers
‘Cause they saw the answer there
Well, 1 Pete, 3:15
Tells me – we should be
Ready for the ones
That call on us to share
Why we have plans for forever
‘Cause we saw the answer there
Well, you start that book
With a heart that looks
And an open-ended mind
Well, we can’t prove what’s right
If we don’t know what’s inside
So before too long we all should learn the Word
Now is your chance to discover
How I saw the answer there
LEAD
REPEAT THIRD VERSE

[ ApologetiX – “Isn’t, Wasn’t, Ain’t” album ]

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“(Check Out) the Book”
(Parody of “The Look” by performed by Roxette)

1-2-3-4

God provides a plan – givin’ life forever
He rejuvenates man – many won’t consider
They just like to blame God — check out the Book

Skeptics they abound – just haven’t got enough of
Those who did read it around – can’t get past the cover
Hey, brother, here’s a wild thought: check out the Book

Check out the Book (Check out the Book)
Check out the Book (Check out the Book)
How can the world complain the Bible’s words aren’t true?
Their heavy thinkers never do have proof for you
But I go, la la la la … Check out the Book!

Bible, it supplies – naked truth to people
If you love to get wise – baby, don’t be headstrong
Check it like a math book – check out the Book

Read it to the end – you get life in Heaven
If you hear His command – and love Him with devotion
This is just a wasteland — check out the Book!

Check out the Book (Check out the Book)
Check out the Book (Check out the Book)
How can the world complain the Bible’s words aren’t true?
Their heavy thinkers never do have proof for you
But I go, la la la la … Check out the Book!

Oww!!!
LEAD

Would you like a plan — givin’ life forever?
It’s the truth and not a scam — and everyone’s a winner
They just have to namedrop — check out the Book
And we go

Na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Check out the Book!

Check out the Book (Check out the Book)
Check out the Book (Check out the Book)
How can the world complain the Bible’s words aren’t true?
Their heavy thinkers never do have proof for you
But I go, la la la la … Check out the Book!

How can the world complain it’s not true?
Their heaviest thinkers never do have proof for you
But I go, la la la la …

Na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Check out the Book!
And we go
Na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Check out the Book!
Check out the book, amigos!
Na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Check out the Book!
Check out the book, amigos!
Na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Check out the Book!!!
Check out the Book!!!

[ ApologetiX – “Radical History Tour” album ]

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“Little-Read Bible Book”
(Parody of “Lil’ Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs)

Who’s that I see not doin’ any good?
Why it’s a little-read Bible book!
Hey there, little-read Bible book, you sure have been forsook You’re never read, so big bad wolves can roam. Literally! Little-read Bible book, I don’t think many people look
So we’re walkin’ in and making ourselves at home
Owwr! What big lies we have!
We come as spies disguised as lambs
But if they’d read just an open page
I think they all could spot the wolves far away
What truth Scripture has! It’s sure to warn if someone’s bad So before they understand God’s grace
I think I ought to lock you up in a safe
I’m gonna keep my sheep suit on
And I’ll assure them nothing’s wrong
And you can get dusty and they all can leave you alone Owwr! Little-read Bible book, I’d like to quote you, yes I would But first I’ll change me a thing or two on my own
Owwr! What if these parts I add
A word or two, nothing big
Little-read Bible book – even bad news can seem good
I’ll try a little cyanide, just enough to slide on by
Maybe they’ll swallow things I say
Before they get to that odd taste
Little-read Bible book, I’m sure their goose is cooked
They never read in the big black book at all
Owwr! That’s too bad – Baaad

[ ApologetiX – “Adam Up” album ]

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“Nicky”
(Parody of “Mickey” by Toni Basil)

Oh, Nicky, you’re so blind – Open wide your soul and mind, hey, Nicky, hey, Nicky Oh, Nicky, you’re so blind – Open wide your soul and mind, hey, Nicky, hey, Nicky Oh, Nicky, you’re so blind – Open wide your soul and mind, hey, Nicky

Hey, Nicky – you come around at night and ask about the Law You like to talk to Christ ‘cause you think He comes from God Why can’t you see the light so you can teach them all, Nicky? The wind blows where it wills and no one sees it blow
The same with those He fills – they believe, they just know Every night you still leave with heart of stone, Nicky

O, Nicky, what a pity, you don’t understand
Salvation’s kind of hard when you ain’t been born again
No, Nicky, there’s some things you can’t do as a man
But God likes you, Nicky
He’ll help you through, Nicky, through, Nicky, open your heart, Nicky

Hey, Nicky – now when you take these Bible truths Then you’re gonna know
Every time you do you’ll get a little more shown There’s nothing to confuse – so don’t play dumb, Nicky So come on now, Nicodemus, anybody can
Any man or woman who believes is born again
The breeze in the trees still leaves its evidence, Nicky

O, Nicky, what a pity, you don’t understand
Salvation’s kind of hard when you ain’t been born again
No, Nicky, there’s some things you can’t do as a man
But God likes you, Nicky
He’ll help you through, Nicky, through, Nicky, open your heart, Nicky
REPEAT OPENING CHANT

O, Nicky, what a pity, you don’t understand
Salvation’s kind of hard when you ain’t been born again
No, Nicky, there’s some things you can’t do as a man
But God likes you, Nicky
He’ll help you through, Nicky, through, Nicky, open your heart, Nicky O, Nicky, John 3:3 through 21 expands
You take this all to heart and you’ll take the Promised Land
O, Nicky, 7:50 there in John again
We find out you, Nicky
Still want the truth, Nicky, truth, Nicky, open your heart, Nicky
Oh, Nicky, John 19 verse 39 I scanned
You play a vital part in the Savior’s burial plan
Oh, Nicky, when it’s finished then you’ll understand
What God must do, Nicky
He loves you, too, Nicky, too, Nicky, open your heart, Nicky

[ ApologetiX – “You Can’t Say Euphrates WIthout the 80’s” album ]

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“No Chain”
(Parody of “No Rain” by Blind Melon)

All I can say is that my Bible’s pretty plain
It’s not that difficult to understand
And I’ve read it through and I think you should read it, too But teachers at the school say it’s not safe, it’s not safe Don’t care what anyone may say to me
I’m gonna read it anyway
I know they’d like to get my teeth extracted
So I can’t say what I have to say
And I don’t understand why the people say
That I’m not separating church and state
When all that I do is read a book that says to me
To forgive my enemies and pray that they get saved
Get saved, get saved
Paul writes to me; he says in Second Timothy
You know the Gospel still gets through even if I’m in chains It’s not chained, it’s not chained
I just want someone to explain to me
Why can’t I read it anyplace?
You know I’d like to use my free speech rights today
So let me say what I have to say

[ ApologetiX – “Ticked” album ]

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“Read Ephesians”
(Parody of “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith)

Read Ephesians, Read Ephesians
Talk about things I know God prepares
Spiritual things that your body wears
Call ‘em by name, but I gotta make clear
You can’t stand baby if you leave ‘em in here
One piece of the armor is a plate of righteousness
It’s a get-up that goes up on top of your chest
And your Gospel shoes, these are real good tires
And the belt of truth to get your pants up higher
Read Ephesians, Read Ephesians
You put on the salvation helmet to start
But the devil overtook you with his little cruel darts
Your shield of faith keeps them from goin’ inside
They can’t touch you if you have it on tight
Stand then firm ‘cause when Satan attacks
I think you better pray, did ya think about that
The Word of God’s somethin’ that’s a sword on your hand And He wants you to know it and to read and understand Read Ephesians, Read Ephesians

[ ApologetiX – “The Boys Aren’t Backin’ Down” album ]

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“Second Glance”
(Parody of “Second Chance” by Shinedown)

My Bible’s open wide
By the way, I made it through today
I read the words inside
By the way, I believe in all they say
I heard some hasty comments you made
So why’d you call me dumb and insane? Even to mention it you get so weird Something is the matter here
Tell my brothers about my Father
I’ve done the best I can
To make them read the lines
That saved my life
I hope they understand
I’m not crazy I’m just saved
Sometimes the Bible needs a second glance See I tried once before this
And got afraid of what it had to say
This time I went and told the Lord
I’m gettin’ close
So show me Lord the way
I did some crazy stuff in between
I tried to stall by runnin’ away
But even then, man, it was soon crystal clear I’m gonna lose my status here
CHORUS

[ ApologetiX – “Soundproof” album ]

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“Stay in the Light”
(Parody of “Stayin’ Alive” by The Bee Gees)

Well you can tell by the way I used to walk I was once a man with no time for God Knew about the risen Lord
But didn’t check Him out till I got bored And then I saw the light; I got saved
I used to look for other ways
But given time, I’d understand
I knew the Bible had the plan
Whether you’re in trouble or livin’ in a bubble You stay in the light, say in the light
Even when you’re shaken you’re never God-forsaken Just stay in the light, stay in the light
Ah, ah, ah, ah stay in the light, stay in the light
Ah, ah, ah, ah stay in the light
Well, the Bible was divinely inspired
And if you can’t believe it, you need to try
Got the things of Heaven all can use
And a plan for man where you just can’t lose
You now, it’s all right, it’s O.K.
He’ll let you be your stubborn way
But Jesus Christ is comin’, man
I know your times are in His hands
Whether you’re in trouble or livin’ in a bubble
You stay in the light, say in the light
Even when you’re shaken you’ll never fall to Satan CHORUS
I’m gonna show ya Psalm hundred-nineteen
The Bible is your lamp
I’m gonna show ya the Bible is your lamp
So stay in the light!
Well you can tell by the way I used to walk
I was once a man with no time for God
And you may doubt that it’s for sure
But I’m a Christian now since I’m reborn
And now, it’s all right, it’s O.K.
And you may look for other ways
You need the light to understand
So use your Bible as your lamp
Whether you’re in trouble or livin’ in a bubble
You stay in the light, say in the light
Even when you’re shaken Ephesians 5 verse 8 says CHORUS
I’m gonna show ya Psalm hundred-nineteen
The Bible is your lamp
I’m gonna show ya the Bible is your lamp
So stay in the light!

[ ApologetiX – “Keep the Change” album ]

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“Message In The Bible”
(Parody of “Message in a Bottle” by the Police )

Oh! There’s a vast array of idle philosophies, oh
They want to know the way, but no one’s here but Me, though
More holiness than any man could bear
Yes, you see the door to follow through is narrow

I’ll send My S-o-n to the world
I’ll send My S-o-n to the world
I hope that someone gets My
I hope that some will get My
I know that some will get My
Message in the Bible, yeah
Message in the Bible, yeah

The years have passed since I wrote My quotes
I sent them notice right from the start
The Holy Ghost can teach them the rest, though
Let Him in your life, illuminate your heart

I’ll send My S-o-n to the world
I’ll send My S-o-n to the world
I hope that someone gets My
I hope that some will get My
I know that some will get My
Message in the Bible, yeah
Message in the Bible, yeah
Ohhhhh, message in the Bible, yeah
Message in the Bible, yeah

Wrote down these warnings – they don’t believe in My Law
100 million Bibles tossed out and ignored
Seems a lot of folks are reading it, though
And it will not pass away – look there for some hope

I’ll send My S-o-n to the world
I’ll send My S-o-n to the world
I hope that someone gets My
I hope that some will get My
I know that some will get My
Message in the Bible, yeah
Message in the Bible, whoa
Message in the Bible, whoa
Message in the Bible, yeah
Sending down My S-o-n
Sending down My S-o-n
I’m sending down My S-o-n
I’m sending down My S-o-n
I’m sending down My S-o-n
I’m sending down My S-o-n
Sending down My S-o-n
Sending down My S-o-n

[ ApologetiX – “Only a Glorified Cover Band” album ]

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*****************************
*****************************

DEEP THOUGHTS:

*****************************
*****************************

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
[ Stephen R Covey ]

“Texting is a brilliant way to miscommunicate how you feel, and misinterpret what other people mean.”
[ Unknown author ]

“Being misunderstood by people whose opinions you value is absolutely the most painful.”
[ Gloria Steinem ]

“I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood.”
[ Clarence Darrow ]

“The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.”
[ Jean Cocteau ]

“Anyone who agrees to be interviewed must decide where to draw the line between what is public and what is private. But the line can shift, depending on who is asking the questions. What puts someone on guard isn’t necessarily the fear of being ‘found out.’ It sometimes is just the fear of being misunderstood.”
[ Terry Gross ]

“A writer who is in a hurry to be understood today or tomorrow runs the danger of being misunderstood the day after tomorrow.”
[ Johann Georg Hamann ]

“The worst distance between two people is misunderstanding”
[ Unknown author ]

“I am responsible for what I say not for what you understand.”
[ Bruno Claudino ]

“Before you assume, try asking.”
[ Unknown author ]

“Ideas are not dangerous. It is the deliberate or accidental misinterpretation and misapplication of them that makes them unstable and a starting point for morally-questionable behaviour.”
[ Stewart Stafford ]

“Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?”
[ Shannon L. Alder ]

“Writers strive to create definitive statements but forget that their work is often viewed through the cracked spectacles of perception. Others can take what is written, twist it to their own agenda and present it back to the author as fact, contrary to the original intention.”
[ Stewart Stafford ]

“People understand me so poorly that they don’t even understand my complaint about them not understanding me.”
[ Søren Kierkegaard ]

“I’m a misunderstood genius.”
“What’s misunderstood?”
“Nobody thinks I’m a genius.”
[ Bill Watterson ]

“Communication is the one class no one graduates from. Even the wisest man’s words will be misinterpreted by a fool.”
[ Shannon L. Alder ]

“The two most misunderstood words: Love and Happiness”
[ Robert Celner ]

“Misunderstood! It is a right fool’s word. Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”
[ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

“‘Contextomy’ refers to the selective excerpting of words from their original linguistic context in a way that distorts the source’s intended meaning, a practice commonly referred to as ‘quoting out of context’. Contextomy is employed in contemporary mass media to promote products, defame public figures and misappropriate rhetoric. A contextomized quotation not only prompts audiences to form a false impression of the source’s intentions, but can contaminate subsequent interpretation of the quote when it is restored to its original context. …”
[ Matthew McGlone ]

—————————

RELATED SCRIPTURE VERSES:

Ephesians 4:1-32
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, …

1 Peter 3:7
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Acts 20:35
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Romans 2:1-29
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. …

James 3:1
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

1 Timothy 1:10
The sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

Mark 10:1
And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

Matthew 5:1-48
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. …

1 Timothy 3:8
Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

1 Timothy 1:1-20
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. …

Romans 1:29
They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,

Luke 23:43
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

1 Timothy 1:9-10
Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,

Romans 1:26-27
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Acts 1:18-19
(Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

John 20:17
Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Luke 16:9
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Deuteronomy 22:13
“If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her

Hebrews 13:7
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

2 Timothy 4:5
As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Ephesians 4:11
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

1 Corinthians 6:9
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

Romans 16:1
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae,

Romans 1:1-32
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, …

Acts 20:29
I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

Acts 20:1-38
After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, …

Acts 6:1
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Acts 6:1-15
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. …

Acts 2:1
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

John 20:19
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

John 4:24
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 3:1-36
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. …

John 1:38
Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

Matthew 27:5
And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Matthew 23:8-10
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:1-28
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed. When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. …

Matthew 10:6
But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 16:48-49
As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Jeremiah 50:38
A drought against her waters, that they may be dried up! For it is a land of images, and they are mad over idols.

Isaiah 40:22
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

Ecclesiastes 10:1-20
Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest. There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: …

Ecclesiastes 5:1-20
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. …

Psalm 93:1-5
The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty! Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.

Joshua 10:13
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.

Deuteronomy 25:11
“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts,

Deuteronomy 22:1-30
“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again. “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. …

Leviticus 20:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes
If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

Leviticus 18:22
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 18:6
“None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord.

Leviticus 18:1-30
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord. …

Genesis 38:9-10
But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.

Genesis 19:1-38
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” …

Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Genesis 1:1-2:25
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. …

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“A quick summary of the Christian “Gospel”:
JESUS’ PROPITIATION made our SINS FORGIVEN and IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS to us so that we have GOD’S ACCEPTANCE into His Heaven and receive ETERNAL LIFE.”
[ Mark Besh ]

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Hope you enjoyed some of these insights—share them with your friends and colleagues—so we can have a larger ’pool’ to receive from, and more to share with! Also, remember to include your name as the “source,” if some of this wisdom is of your doing—I would like to give credit where credit is due!

 

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FOCUS VERSES:

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“But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
[ Exodus 21:23-25 ]

“So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.”
[ 1 Samuel 17:50 ]

“And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
[ 1 Kings 19:11-13 ]

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
[ Jeremiah 29:11 ]

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
[ 2 Chronicles 7:14 ]

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
[ Psalm 23:4 ]

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
[ Proverbs 3:5 ]

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
[ Proverbs 23:7a ]

“Judge not, that you be not judged.”
[ Matthew 7:1 ]

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
[ Matthew 18:20 ]

“But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
[ Matthew 19:26 ]

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
[ Matthew 25:40 ]

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
[ John 3:16 ]

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
[ John 10:10 ]

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
[ John14:13-14 ]

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
[ Romans 8:28 ]

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
[ 1 Corinthians 10:13 ]

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
[ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ]

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
[ 1 Corinthians 13:13 ]

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
[ Philippians 4:13 ]

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
[ 1 Timothy 6:10 ]

“And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
[ James 5:15 ]

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.”
[ 1 John 4:18 ]

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
[ Revelation 3:20 ]

Mark

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If you have a ‘neat’ story or some thoughts about an issue or current event that you would like me to try to respond to, I would be glad to give it a try…so, send them to me at: mbesh@comcast.net

Disclaimer: All the above jokes & inspirations are obtained from various sources and copyright are used when known. Other than our name and headers, we do not own the copyright to any of the materials sent to this list. We just want to spread the ministry of God’s love and cheerfulness throughout the world.

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