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Bible Maverick
"Consider The Source" -- Your Paradigm
There's no bigger problem in one's study of the biblical writing than one's hermeneutics. Simply defined, hermeneutics is the science of scripture interpretation.
What affects our hermeneutics, however, is our paradigm. In fact, if we all had the same paradigm, same IQ, and spent the same amount of time in our Bible study, we would all draw similar conclusions. Alas, God never made clones, people do that.
It was the Jewish paradigm that kept the majority of them from entering the Anointed's kingdom. Jesus addressed it when he said, "No man puts new wine in old wineskins."
Since we all acquired our paradigms from authority figures in our life such as parents, teachers, coaches and preachers, they rule our basic precepts. Let me quote Kuhn and Philip E Johnson.
"A paradigm is not merely a hypothesis, which can be discarded if it fails a single experimental test. It is a way of looking at the world, or some part of it,..anomalies by themselves never falsify a paradigm, because its defenders can resort to ad hoc hypotheses to accommodate any potentially disconfirming evidence. A paradigm rules until it is replaced by another paradigm... Kuhn described experimental evidence showing that ordinary people tend to see what they have been trained to see, and fail to see what they know ought not to be present. The finest scientists are no exception. On the contrary, because they are dependent upon inferences and upon observations that are difficult to make, they are particularly prone to paradigm-influenced misperception."
Let me emphasize a couple of major points of the above quote. 1) "...anomalies (things that don't fit) by themselves never falsify a paradigm.."
When we hear things that do not fit what we'd already been taught as "gospel", our tendency is to reject it out of hand. Our brain shuts down and refuses to consider the subject. The reason is simple. If we actually considered the subject thoughtfully, we might be forced into changing our paradigm and that would be painful. No one likes change, especially to his way of thinking.
2) "...ordinary people tend to see what they have been trained to see, and fail to see what they know ought not to be present..."
I'm afraid Kuhn was being a little arrogant as he talks about "ordinary people" as if he and those of his ilk exist in some unknown Eden as extraordinary people unaffected by paradigms. In truth, such people do not exist. However, what he said is certainly true. People do tend to see what they've always been taught to believe and are generally blind to things that shouldn't be included.
Simply put, paradigms can be real killers when it comes to truth and our particular paradigm concerning biblical things is especially deadly. If this isn't true, then why all the diverse religions in Christianity and the continual splintering even among the sects themselves.
In examining some of the theses and opinions that you will read and hear on this web site, you will have to endeavor to step out of your own paradigm and give real consideration to the concepts of others, no matter how far out they might appear on first hearing.
John
"truth has nothing to fear from the evidence"
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