One might think that teaching the Bible is pretty straightforward. Shouldn’t it be easy to teach it accurately and in an unbiased way? Yet, I have heard so many people twist scriptures into pretzels to try and make them say something they were never intended to say that it is frightening. (Both liberal and conservative Christians, I hasten to add.)
There are a lot of reasons for this, but I was reading something the other day that really hit home. Paul and Elder (secular authors) write about the concept of egocentric thinking. To them it hampers critical thinking and finding truth and wisdom. As a Christian, I think it also hampers the ability of people to read the Bible as God intended and obey it – regardless.
So what are their signs of egocentric thinking?
- Believing something is true merely because I believe it to be so. Are there other scriptures backing up my belief? More importantly, are their scriptures that counter what I believe to be true?
- Believing something is true because we believe it to be true. In logical fallacy language, this is bandwagon thinking. If people I like, respect or admire believe something to be true, then it must be – regardless of whether or not it is actually true. A recent article stated that many of our societal woes are because people are more concerned about being popular and “cool” than being right. If you saw something in scripture in black and white that goes against a current popular narrative, are you brave enough to teach it?
- Believing something is true because I want to believe it is true. This is often manifested by someone saying, “Well I think a loving God would want…”. Often what follows is not at all what God wants, but what the person wants.
- Believing something is true because I have always believed it. People who never read the Bible independently are more likely to have this issue. Is what you have been told actually in the Bible or just the thought of a particular person or group of people?
- Believing something because it is in my self interest to believe it. Does saying something is in the Bible allow me to do something I want or get something I want (like power) by inventing or twisting scripture? There’s a great example in the New Testament when some Jews had convinced themselves that instead of taking care of their aged parents they could say the money was “set aside for God” and get out of helping them. Jesus time and time again taught against twisting scripture for personal gain.
It’s important to note that both teachers and students are susceptible to egocentric thinking. Have discussions with your students. Are we seeing this scripture the way God intended us to read and understand it or are we engaged in egocentric thinking? Or your students may respond better to “If God gave a test on this scripture and the only right answers were those that exactly matched His intent, what grade would He give your interpretation?”. Encourage students to always back up their ideas with additional scriptures or to challenge each other’s ideas with scriptures that may indicate their interpretation is off somehow. Encourage civil dialogue, but challenge one another. It’s the best way to avoid egocentric thinking.