7/30/12

Little minds in context

These kids are young, maybe five or six years old at most.  They are doing what kids do best:PLAY!!!  But, the picture reveals a lot about their upbringing; namely, they live in a society with computers.  Everything seems to revolve around them.... even having babies???  While we know the last part of that sentence is NOT true... still it seems that way, doesn't it???  Like it or not, we live in a culture increasingly dominated by microprocessors.  But, what happens when we read the Bible?  Do we remember its varying time-frame and cultures?  Here is an example from the book of John....


John, Chapter 9
 1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.  2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

  3 Jesus answered, 
"“Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.  4 I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.  5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”"  6 When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,  7 and said to him, "“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”" (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing. 

That people could believe that maladies came from their parents seems odd to us, but that was a common belief a couple of thousand years ago.  Also, the idea of using spittle and dirt to heal likewise seems strange.  BUT, I remember that when I was about five or six, my grandmother dipped some bread into milk and applied the mixture to my infected toenail AND IT WORKED!!!  All this to emphasize one thing: context.  Whatever you read in the Scriptures, remember the culture in the context of the chapter, book and for that matter the whole of The Word of God.   In case you are wondering..., you won't find one single reference to "downloading babies" in the whole Bible!!!  Boy, that is good news, I thought they had something to do with a cabbage patch... so much for MY CULTURE!!!