Opus 2017-093: Reference Material

One of the trends I see in modern contemporary worship is the absence of Bibles in the hands of the congregation.  I see coffee and water bottles.  Those are never forgotten, but not Bibles.  The pewsitters are willing to sit and let the Bible verse to be displayed on the screen with the translation chosen to reinforce the speaker’s opinion and edited to avoid anything that would cause conflict.

It reminds me of the reason for the reformation.  The medieval church made it impossible for the average believer to access the word on his own.  It was illegal to translate the Bible so the common people could read it.  In fact, John Wycliffe had his bones dug up and burned because he had dared to do just that. 

Christians in the Roman Catholic era had to take the priest’s word for it.  To their credit the Catholic church has come around.  They now have a modern translation called the New American Bible which is quite acceptable.  I am sure they are happy I approve.

In case you were wondering, we see the same thing in Islam.  Muslims make a big deal about being able to read the Koran.  That simply means that they can phonetically pronounce the words and repeat memorized phrases.  I can read the Latin Vulgate too.  I just don’t know what I read.  Islam leaves it to the local teachers to tell the Muslim believers what they should know.

One of the reasons that modern education is weak comes back to the reason to educate.  If you do not want people to be able to think for themselves and be genuinely creative you get them hooked on video games and computer programs that are “easy” to use.  Technology does their thinking for them, dulls their minds and keeps them ignorant of all the options that used to be available.

Read for yourself.  Don’t take the Imam’s word for it.  Don’t take the pastor’s word for it.  Don’t take the teacher’s word for it.  Don’t take the reporter’s word for it.  And of course don’t believe everything you read on a blog.

homo unius libri