Did He Just Say What I Think He Did?

So here's a question I want to pose to you all. It's a thinker, and it may not make sense right away. But hopefully it will by the time this post is over.

Where is meaning found?

I'm thinking specifically in forms of communication, such as conversing, writing, body language, semaphore, smoke signals, monks doodling on grains of rice, you get the idea. It's common knowledge that communication can be misinterpreted.

Example.

The Apostle Paul frequently exhorts his audience to greet each other with a holy kiss. A common greeting in those times, socially acceptable as a salutation or farewell. Completely platonic with no strings attached, frequently practiced between members of the same sex. No biggie at all.

Fast-forward 2000 years.

Someone today reads what Paul says, and thinks: "What a great idea! A platonic kiss is a long-lost tradition of expressing love to our brothers and sisters in Christ. I should bring it back." And so our idealistic, albeit naive, friend charges into society and begins to attempt to platonically kiss friends, starting with those of the opposite sex because it feels simpler and less awkward. Once again, let us assume that our friend has the purest of motives.

But something goes wrong. For the most part, people don't like having random kisses foisted upon them, platonic or otherwise. Particularly not if the relationship is casual, or a mere acquaintance. Rumors begin to swirl around our friend, questioning motives, whispering half-truths, and utterly thwarting any hope for reinstating this ancient custom. Dejected, defeated, and disheartened, our friend can only retreat, wondering what went wrong.

Miscommunication. Misinterpretation. Misunderstanding.

Our friend had an intended meaning. A simple kiss, a gesture of love between friends. Nothing more.

The ones being kissed had an understood meaning. This is a sign of romantic love, of something-more-than-platonic-affection. And no amount of explaining could shake this understanding.

So to the totally objective outsider... What did the kiss really mean? Who was right? Should our friend be labeled a creep? Or should the rest of society loosen up a little? Who decides what the kiss really means, the kissee or the kisser? Who's to say?

So what about the Bible? Did the Apostle Paul have a definite meaning in mind when he was dictating all those letters to churches across the Roman Empire? Is the meaning Paul intended the only possible meaning his words can have?

Or can we, reading his words thousands of years later, take something from what he said that he didn't intend to say? And if we can... Are we justified in doing so?

It may be a profound truth. It could be a deep insight.

It might also be something that Paul never meant to say. In fact, perhaps he would even be appalled if he knew that people were interpreting his letter in such a way.

Who can say?

Electriwhat?

So here's the situation. (Purely hypothetical, of course.) Let's say we have someone who just graduated from college. He's got a degree in New Testment studies, but was working part-time at his church as the sound guy. The church decides to do a building project, and suddenly our New Testament major finds himself designing sound systems, mapping electrical grids, and assessing wattage loads for the upstairs youth area. Stuff he doesn't have a clue about.

The last time I cracked open my Bible, I read about Christ's sacrifice and how he counted it joy to suffer on the cross. Amazingly profound. Applicable to life.

Unfortunately for our purely hypothetical sound guy, I didn't see anything about amps, ohms, watts, receps, and the like. And the Biblical Literature classes I took certainly didn't mention it.

But our hero has a decent head on his shoulders (I hope), and he calls other people who have some clue about this stuff so he can work things out. These other people give him solid counsel, encouragement, and more than one pat on the back. They say things like, "At least you're calling people who know. You already know more than most people do anyway, but you care enough about the job to be sure it's done right. Don't be scared."

Our hero knows more about this stuff than most people do?

Scary.

Our hero also has two weeks to order, receive, and install his new gear and be ready to show it off.

So back to this whole suffering on the cross thing... Hero or not, this is over my head. But at least I know I can keep my life, which was something Christ knew he wouldn't get to do. And if I believe the writer of Hebrews, Christ joyfully took on the cross. Some people say he lost; I happen to believe that he won. Either way, he did it with joy.

Joy. The experience of gladness. Christ took on the cross with gladness. Can I take on this project, inadequate as I am, and count it joy to do this? If Christ counted the cross as joy... Pass the pencils and graph paper.

We won't know if I'm a hero until everything is ready to go and we flip the switch, but I've got grace to make it there.

Profile Pic

Here is my profile pic...

Welcome To This Universal Blanket...

And now... I have a blog. Yay!

More exciting stuff to follow, I'm sure. But hey, no one really expects that much out of a first post anyway.