Liberal Christianity

Lesson 2: The Role of Scripture in Spiritual Practice

Optional Exercise

Using the Bible for interpretive spiritual content rather than merely as a collection of historical religious facts and prescriptions.

We live an existence governed by the perceptions of our five senses. We have come to understand that our brains function from both a left and right side. The left-brain is primarily an interpreter of facts – an encyclopedia of personally acquired knowledge and experience. The right brain, the creative and imaginative side, is the source of our music, poetry and inventions.

Both sides of our brains reside in the same cranium and it makes sense that the intent of the Creator is that the two aspects are to be harmonized in use. Through our senses, facts and experience are admitted into our thinking, ordered and collated on the left side of our brain and then conceptualized and understood on the right side.

Furthermore, I'm not aware of any writing, sacred or secular, that advises us to emphasize one side at the expense of the other. Balance and harmony of perception seems the path of our spiritual and physical evolution to wisdom and a higher spiritual plane.

The letter of the Law was the basis for social behavior and decision-making. The spirit of the Law, despite the presence of scripture, tradition and history, was not. Fear of the priesthood was the basis for acceptance and validation and an impetus for feeling fear of both the priesthood and one's peers or neighbors.

The letter and spirit of the Law were not balanced. Left brain thinking with its collection of facts assembled into a knowledge of the "world as it is" almost totally overruled the wisdom that is formed in the right brain based on a creative compiling of facts contained in the left: "the world as it ought to be; the world intended by God."

We are equipped to see in three dimensions: height, width and depth. Without three-dimensional vision, we see only a square instead of a box and a circle instead of a sphere. There are also three dimensions to our knowledge of God. The missing dimension of the God of Israel seemed to be the wisdom that exists on the side of common sense; a repressed spirit of the law that comes only from understanding God as God is in experience.

Knowledge of the scriptures isn't enough. Knowing the laws and commandments without grasping the divine or spiritual intent is not enough. The third dimension is how Peter describes what the scriptures are. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

If scripture was written in that manner, then left-brain logic dictates that scripture ought to be read that same way. The same left-brain logic suggests that a prompting more fully moves through the mind via the creative and imaginative side -- the right brain side.

Left-brain thinking turns on the spirit receiver by its ability to read words, remember definitions, remember stories and remember personal life incidents. Right brain thinking activates the more spiritually creative aspect of thinking that senses the will and influence of ideas both higher and deeper in the mind.

To live entirely with an emphasis on left-brain thinking makes us no more human than a computer, which amasses knowledge and acts only according to facts in the database. To live entirely with an emphasis on right brain thinking causes us to live in a world of fantasy, wishful thinking, and imaginary states where the practical application toward bringing wishes to reality is missing. Right brain conceives the wish, but left-brain has the resources to realize the wish.

It makes no sense that God would speak to man solely through left-side, logical, law-based thinking. Nor is it sensible that God would speak to man solely through right side thinking where ideas would remain only in a conceptual state without the will and knowledge to action. The implication is that God speaks to man through a mind balanced with knowledge and wisdom.

I have at times in my life been a piano teacher. Worrying about jots and tittles to excess is like being able to play music only by reading notes and counting the rhythm loudly inside our heads as we try to hit the notes as dictated by our loud inner counting. We have no true feeling for the music itself, the phrasing and the flow.

It is very unlikely, playing music in that manner, that we will be captured by the fullness of the musical piece nor carried to a higher plane as the music actually communicates its mood and feeling. Such playing is dominated by left-brain thinking and, although mechanically a player can become very skilled, not only does the music remain mechanical in sound, as if played by a computer, but it is unlikely such a player will ever successfully understand or interpret what he plays, let alone create his own music.

Left-brained musicians did not create Christian hymns and lyrics.

This activity takes WORK. It will challenge the student to experiment and attempt a perceivable experience. Designed to clarify ideas of inspiration, promptings and revelation, it will require a sincere attempt to utilize internal senses other than mere linear thinking. For Christians, this may prove to be another experience of how what is termed "The Holy Spirit" is sensed within.

1. On a set of 30 3x5 cards write out from the Bible on each card, someting Jesus actually said. The number of cards you use can be increased, if you wish, to as many as 60. I personally think you will get better results with a larger number of cards, but feel that the activity is best served if you use at least 30 cards.

2. You must pick which sayings you are going to record on each card. You can do that by looking up the sayings of Jesus yourself in whichever Bible you prefer. OR .........

a. FILE LINK:OPTION ONE. I have compiled a file of Jesus's words from the New Testament essentially following those Bibles that have color-coded Jesus' words in red. Some of the sayings are single sentences, some are paragraphs and some longer ones which are complete parables appear as single long paragraphs. The list is numbered for each of the four synoptic gospels. Mathew's list includes 416 "sayings", Mark 180, Luke 237, and John 161. Using the font Times-New-Roman and a size 12, this file is 65 pages long. Jesus had a lot to say. OR

b. FILE LINK:OPTION ONE A I made an arbitrary list of 100 sayings from the book of Matthew containing verses I thought useful. You might pick your verses from this list. However, I want for you to understand that each of the four gospel writers had their own "agenda" or objective. Matthew wrote to the Jews, Mark wrote of the Jesus of Miracles, Luke wrote to the Gentiles and John wrote something more theologic than biographic. I suppose that the most accurate reflection that blends all four agendas would be a verses from each author. I've given you two lists, you figure out which sayings you want and how many sayings/cards you are going to fill out.

3. Once you have the cards prepared, turn them face down on a table or the floor.

4. Then YOU make up a series of no less than 10 of your own questions on any spiritual matter that concerns or interests you and write each one out, leaving a large space (several lines) below each question for the answer you are going to "discern".

5. After mixing the cards in a random manor, choose at least three cards face down (you have no idea what is on each card until you have chosen it and turned it over) containing aspects of the final answer to your question(s). A single card is not the answer. Two cards are not the answer. Aspects of all three cards will constitute the answer you must figure out internally using your internal (spiritual) giftedness. Your answer doesn't have to be long but it must include something discerned from each of the three cards you drew.

a. Since this activity is spiritually oriented, do not feel self-conscious or reluctant to pray - if you are so inclined - about your questions and the answer you have encountered. You'll be putting Peter to the test: "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

REMARKS: If this smacks of fortune telling, tarot, or the like ... resist the urge to flee. You are doing nothing of the kind. What you are doing is duplicating the process by which scripture was actually written. If you do it sincerely and seriously (but not necessarily soberly, mechanically nor ritualistically) your experience could astonish you. I am trilingual (English, Spanish and Russian) and I first encountered this experience attempting my own amateur translations of bible verses from English into Spanish or Russian. The mind/spirit is forced to ponder almost to a point of meditation, the words of those verses.

Let me add only the following: To be led by the words of Jesus, remain open and alert. Avoid taking inflexible positions. Be patient with ambiguity and something will eventually come to you. Allow yourself to be led by the words and you'll find yourself in greater response to the "spirit" of what's written more than the "letter" of the verse. You may need to suspend your belief or even suspend your disbelief as you work this experiment.

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