Many of my readers will remember the Worldwide Church of God's Bible correspondence course. Personally, I remember taking the twelve lesson version as a teen and feeling as though I was an expert in "God's Word" after completing it. Looking back on that experience now, I see how very naive I was back then and understand how profoundly I was manipulated by that experience.
In Lesson I of the Ambassador College Correspondence Course, An International Course of Biblical Understanding, we were challenged with the question "Why Study the Bible?" This was followed by a series of questions dealing with the "basic questions of life." The obvious implication being that one must go to the Bible for those answers.
Nevertheless, the study opened with a number of conclusions based on human reasoning about what God intended for the Bible to accomplish. Notice also that none of these assertions was supported by either internal or external evidence. However, the adoption of these assertions/conclusions was essential to the acceptance of the proof-texting which was shortly to follow.
Notice some of this reasoning and the conclusions which were derived from it:
"Stop and think! Would a Creator, having supreme intelligence, wisdom and love to think out, to plan, design, and bring about all creation - this earth, and all life and life-functions upon it - have left His created beings in ignorance of His purpose - the PURPOSE of their being here - and the LAWS that would bring them PEACE, HAPPINESS, JOY and everything good?
God Almighty did not hide these all-important truths from human minds. He made them accessible to mankind. He committed His TREASURE-HOUSE of basic knowledge to WRITING. He revealed that knowledge in the Holy Bible - the FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE - His instruction book for mankind. Yet almost no one has ever found the answers so PLAINLY written there!
The Bible is simply God's divine revelation of BASIC NEEDED KNOWLEDGE which mankind is not otherwise capable of finding out."
What about these assertions? Is it implausible to believe that God would leave humanity in ignorance of "His" purposes and laws? Can't we all agree that it appears that a large portion of humanity has indeed been steeped in ignorance of those things? Moreover, even among those portions of humanity which have accepted the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, there doesn't appear to be a great deal of harmony/agreement about what is revealed in those pages! What is the evidence that God hasn't hidden "these all-important truths from human minds?" Did God really intend for the Bible to be "His treasure-house of basic knowledge - His instruction book for mankind?" If so, why is there so much confusion about the proper role of law and grace within Christianity? Why do so many Christian marriages and families crumble? And, if we pin the responsibility for these failures on Satan, can we legitimately claim that Scripture has provided the answers - the antidote to human ignorance?
What is the alternative? Is it possible that God intended for Scripture to be a forum for discussing and learning about the Divine? Is it possible that God intended for Scripture to be part of our quest for answers to our questions? Does Divine inspiration make those disparate writings error free and consistent? If so, why are there so many obvious discrepancies and inconsistencies? Did God really intend for the Bible to be regarded by us as a science and history textbook? OR Was it intended to be spiritual guide - to reprove bad behavior and instruct us in the ways of righteousness?
In other words, it was imperative for Correspondence Course students to regard the Bible as an instruction book - a user's manual. For all of the indoctrination which was to follow, one had to accept the premise that the Judeo-Christian Scriptures were more than God ever intended for them to be! How does human language work? Is it even possible to perfectly convey thoughts/ideas from one individual to another? Does a person always hear what the speaker intended? Does a reader always interpret the author's writing in the way that the author intended? Do you think it's possible that Almighty God understands how human communication works?
Later, the lesson explores the question of the appropriate place to begin the lesson. While acknowledging a number of possibilities, the folks behind the lesson settled on "this very present age in which we live." "We feel the Bible will mean more to you if you fully understand its vital relation to YOUR LIFE today - its direct connection with CURRENT WORLD EVENTS," they explained. Their reasoning is further explained in another one of the paragraphs which followed the above statement. They said: "We feel you will understand the Bible better, and find it more interesting, if you view it all - its history and prophecy, its teachings and divine revelations - from the vantage point of your life here and now. The Bible will become clearer if you see how this world has led up to the very time and conditions in which you live - and where it is destined to go from here."
In other words, we're going to explain this book to you by starting at the end and going backward. We're going to explain this Bronze Age and Roman Era book by looking at it from the perspective of the modern world. As a teacher, this sounds like trouble. Good teachers and professors want to make their subject interesting and relevant, but they also know that it's dangerous to project our own culture and values onto the past. The danger is that we reach false conclusions based on a skewed perspective. The peril is that we make the past into what we want it to be. In other words, we risk arriving at conclusions which the original author(s) never intended for their readers to reach.
After a brief acknowledgement that a great deal of confusion exists about how to interpret the Bible, the lesson attempts to explain the phenomenon. We read: "And so men began, centuries ago, to INTERPRET the Bible! As a result, the Word of God has become twisted, wrested, perverted, with almost every false and counterfeit meaning imaginable being read into it. In stead of teaching and expounding the plain , simple, intended meaning, we now have hundreds of HUMAN INTERPRETATIONS of the Bible!" So, the confusion is man's fault - because humans insist on doing what humans do when they communicate with each other (interpret the message being received). Notice too that they have conditioned their students to believe that the meaning is plain and simple - it's all easy to understand if you stick with us and complete this course!
Are we beginning to see the problems inherent in the Ambassador College Correspondence Course? If the foundation is rotten, everything which is erected on that foundation will be shaky/unstable/flawed. In other words, the students of this course were set up for failure before they even got started answering the questions that would follow this introduction!
In Lesson I of the Ambassador College Correspondence Course, An International Course of Biblical Understanding, we were challenged with the question "Why Study the Bible?" This was followed by a series of questions dealing with the "basic questions of life." The obvious implication being that one must go to the Bible for those answers.
Nevertheless, the study opened with a number of conclusions based on human reasoning about what God intended for the Bible to accomplish. Notice also that none of these assertions was supported by either internal or external evidence. However, the adoption of these assertions/conclusions was essential to the acceptance of the proof-texting which was shortly to follow.
Notice some of this reasoning and the conclusions which were derived from it:
"Stop and think! Would a Creator, having supreme intelligence, wisdom and love to think out, to plan, design, and bring about all creation - this earth, and all life and life-functions upon it - have left His created beings in ignorance of His purpose - the PURPOSE of their being here - and the LAWS that would bring them PEACE, HAPPINESS, JOY and everything good?
God Almighty did not hide these all-important truths from human minds. He made them accessible to mankind. He committed His TREASURE-HOUSE of basic knowledge to WRITING. He revealed that knowledge in the Holy Bible - the FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE - His instruction book for mankind. Yet almost no one has ever found the answers so PLAINLY written there!
The Bible is simply God's divine revelation of BASIC NEEDED KNOWLEDGE which mankind is not otherwise capable of finding out."
What about these assertions? Is it implausible to believe that God would leave humanity in ignorance of "His" purposes and laws? Can't we all agree that it appears that a large portion of humanity has indeed been steeped in ignorance of those things? Moreover, even among those portions of humanity which have accepted the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, there doesn't appear to be a great deal of harmony/agreement about what is revealed in those pages! What is the evidence that God hasn't hidden "these all-important truths from human minds?" Did God really intend for the Bible to be "His treasure-house of basic knowledge - His instruction book for mankind?" If so, why is there so much confusion about the proper role of law and grace within Christianity? Why do so many Christian marriages and families crumble? And, if we pin the responsibility for these failures on Satan, can we legitimately claim that Scripture has provided the answers - the antidote to human ignorance?
What is the alternative? Is it possible that God intended for Scripture to be a forum for discussing and learning about the Divine? Is it possible that God intended for Scripture to be part of our quest for answers to our questions? Does Divine inspiration make those disparate writings error free and consistent? If so, why are there so many obvious discrepancies and inconsistencies? Did God really intend for the Bible to be regarded by us as a science and history textbook? OR Was it intended to be spiritual guide - to reprove bad behavior and instruct us in the ways of righteousness?
In other words, it was imperative for Correspondence Course students to regard the Bible as an instruction book - a user's manual. For all of the indoctrination which was to follow, one had to accept the premise that the Judeo-Christian Scriptures were more than God ever intended for them to be! How does human language work? Is it even possible to perfectly convey thoughts/ideas from one individual to another? Does a person always hear what the speaker intended? Does a reader always interpret the author's writing in the way that the author intended? Do you think it's possible that Almighty God understands how human communication works?
Later, the lesson explores the question of the appropriate place to begin the lesson. While acknowledging a number of possibilities, the folks behind the lesson settled on "this very present age in which we live." "We feel the Bible will mean more to you if you fully understand its vital relation to YOUR LIFE today - its direct connection with CURRENT WORLD EVENTS," they explained. Their reasoning is further explained in another one of the paragraphs which followed the above statement. They said: "We feel you will understand the Bible better, and find it more interesting, if you view it all - its history and prophecy, its teachings and divine revelations - from the vantage point of your life here and now. The Bible will become clearer if you see how this world has led up to the very time and conditions in which you live - and where it is destined to go from here."
In other words, we're going to explain this book to you by starting at the end and going backward. We're going to explain this Bronze Age and Roman Era book by looking at it from the perspective of the modern world. As a teacher, this sounds like trouble. Good teachers and professors want to make their subject interesting and relevant, but they also know that it's dangerous to project our own culture and values onto the past. The danger is that we reach false conclusions based on a skewed perspective. The peril is that we make the past into what we want it to be. In other words, we risk arriving at conclusions which the original author(s) never intended for their readers to reach.
After a brief acknowledgement that a great deal of confusion exists about how to interpret the Bible, the lesson attempts to explain the phenomenon. We read: "And so men began, centuries ago, to INTERPRET the Bible! As a result, the Word of God has become twisted, wrested, perverted, with almost every false and counterfeit meaning imaginable being read into it. In stead of teaching and expounding the plain , simple, intended meaning, we now have hundreds of HUMAN INTERPRETATIONS of the Bible!" So, the confusion is man's fault - because humans insist on doing what humans do when they communicate with each other (interpret the message being received). Notice too that they have conditioned their students to believe that the meaning is plain and simple - it's all easy to understand if you stick with us and complete this course!
Are we beginning to see the problems inherent in the Ambassador College Correspondence Course? If the foundation is rotten, everything which is erected on that foundation will be shaky/unstable/flawed. In other words, the students of this course were set up for failure before they even got started answering the questions that would follow this introduction!
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