Feedback from John (9.23.10) ...
This book is meant to give students tools that will help them read the Bible on their own. It is okay to have the answer be "This verse doesn't speak to that." For example:
- Proverbs 6:16-19 (p. 20) deserves answers along the following lines:
- What analogies does this proverb use? None. At least not that I can see.
- What attitude or action does this text praise? It doesn't.
- What benefit does this proverb promise to us if we follow its advice? I don't see any promises, exactly. However, I think it is implied that God will be happy if we avoid the kinds of behaviors mentioned.
- What attitudes or actions does this text condemn? Haughtiness; lying; murder--or, at least, harm to people who are innocent; scheming to do wickedness; a heart attitude that desires to do evil; false speech; any behavior that creates discord unnecessarily.
- What curse are we promised if we fail to heed its commands? (I'm not convinced there is a direct command. However . . .) God says he hates these activities and they are an abomination to him.
- The message of this proverb is . . . There are some basic behaviors God wants us to avoid almost "at all costs."
— I think it is pretty obvious that the answers to the first three questions and, even, the fifth one, are not very "satisfying" on their own. But they are legitimate answers!
— I think Sarita and I wanted, through this book, to demonstrate that, even if certain basic sets of questions were not always perfectly compatible with a specific passage, one can profitably read the Bible with a few very basic questions in mind. I think we wanted to help students establish that kind of habit of thought: "How can I suck the marrow out of this text?" — The questions we provide (we hope) may serve as a useful set of tools toward that end.
(NOTE: some portion of this information will be added to the Curriculum Updates page)