Letting the present define the past

One of the more comical examples of changes in language and perspective I have know of in the last few years -- especially in this election season -- is the reference to the friends of the paralytic who tried to bring him to Jesus. The King James version says that they could not get him close to Jesus "because of the press." So, they took him to the roof, dug through it and lowered their friend down in front of Jesus.

Now, as much as we all are aware of the media and the rich and famous, we can picture these men trying to bring their friend, but all the reporters and media types were crowded around Jesus and no one could get up close. But alas, those translators were using terminology that to them meant "because of the crowd". Modern ears hear the same word differently.

Humor aside, one mistake I see being made in the modern evangelical church is to define the scriptures in terms of "the way we do things now." Example: When we discuss the journeys of Paul, Barnabas and others, we typically frame it in some manner that is a direct correlation to modern mission agencies, etc.

Instead, we should scrape away our preconceptions and let the scripture tell the story to us freshly -- as if we might actually learn something -- and let it form and reform the way we do business as the Church in the 21st century.