- Scriptural Neophytes -

We had mutual friends who were in hot pursuit of rock-solid knowledge of the L*rd. They started a home bible study. I was introduced into it about a month after it began. Mr. & Mrs. Host (not their real name either) provided the basement rec room for Tuesday nights as well as coffee and doughnuts. This is one of the few times I can say without reservation, I followed the L*rd's leading, blindly. No questions asked..

So every Tuesday night at 7 we trouped downstairs into the basement of the Host's house to study. I used the term cautiously because as time went on, we developed a study habit that I have come to term 'study-on-steroids.' We did not just read a few verses, throw back a couple of jugs 'o java and call it a night. We sometimes, no make that often were at it long after the 'official' end of the study at 10 pm.

Three hours? No, many a night it was four, five, six...if I say any more, I will embarass myself. We finally had to make our first 'house rule'. Bible Study ended at 10 pm, with corporate prayer, to show respect for those who could not stay. After that, it was open forum time.

John taught out of the KJV(King James Version)and was pretty devoted to it. However, he made allowances for the 'babes.' He was very generous about encouraging the use of a translation the individual could understand but that others could understand as well. Many times we would read out of one translation and then it was automatic that someone else would re-read out of another. Mrs. Host preferred the NIC, I the Amplified. John also hauled around an absolutly raggedy copy of Strong's Concordance. It was revered as a reference book amongst us neopjytes, just a micron short of the scriptures.

John had rules. He made us stick to those rules. We would wear him out if he did not but he never told us that. He was trying to teach us good study habits. It was years later that I finally figured out why he really did it.....hehe, hehe, heh....self preservation.

First Rule according to John:
If thou shalt presume to impose thy !opinion! upon the fellowship, thou shalt quote no less than two, preferrably three scriptures to make thy doctrinal point.

Ach, so tiresome at first. We struggled to come up with one scripture to hang something on. However, as time passed, we started showing up on John's doorstep to just 'take a peek into the Strong's for a sec', yeah r-i-i-i-i-i-ight.

I really did show up many times to check the Strong's and John would divert me into the 'puter stuff, or try to. I pretty much dug my heels in but he tried. By the way, at that time a Strong's Concordance was so expensive, like $80.00(US). So you can see why it was so valuable to John and us neophytes.

As time went by the lines between bible study and bible ministry became blurred. The fall of the first year we collected something like 15 bags of clothes for a mission. We started putting out a cigar box for 'coffee donations' the leftover money was sent to India to a Pastor to help his little church.

Along about this time, some of us 'Smarty-Arty' types figured we knew a thing or two. The membership had stabilized and we pretty much were comfortable with each other and with John. That's when things got hairy. Some of us had scraped together the cash to purchase a favorite translation, or a Haley's and so forth. Mr. & Mrs. Host, no make that Mrs. Host is a bargain junkie, so used bibles started showing up, "Just in case someone forgot theirs." she would say in all earnestness. Pretty soon, Mr. Host was pressed to come up with a bookshelf.

Second Rule according to John:
If thou imposest thy interpretation of the Holy Scripture upon the fellowship by way of commentaries, thou art required to back thy chosen commentary authors with scripture, preferrably 3.

Since by now we thought we knew a thing or two, we were much less constrained about the fervor with which we made our theological/doctrinal points. We did have to watch it during the pre- 10 pm hours in case there was someone new around. After 10 it was open theological/doctrinal season. We would hack and smash our way through each other's positions, taking no prisoners.

Now lest I give you the wrong impression, yes there were hurts and boo-boos from time to time but few people left that study group easlily. When someone did, they eventually found their way back again. If we had overstepped the line, we would do anything we could to make restitution so as not to make G*d disappointed in us, or loose a member. That would just be b.a.d. We sincerely believed we were personally responsible. We were compelled to make restitution ourselves if we overstepped the line.

Nobody forced us to, we wanted to.^{*Take note, you will see this material again.}

Like I said earlier, there were rules, even at the full contact sport stage. Another thing John used to say all the time, so much so that it too became a rule was:

You can argue with a man's theology but you can never argue with a man's experiences with G*d.

Translation: If your brother tells you G*d showed up for dinner last night in a purple clown costume with chartruese polka-dots, you have no right to argue with the brother. You can heartily not believe a durn thing the brother says but you can not argue with the brother. Who are you to say what G*d can and can not do?

...continued in [ "End Game" ]

[ Publication Info ]

G*d Bless
~ We live to serve ~

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