The Contronyms Conundrum

Amelia Bedelia is a fictional character from my childhood. She was a young person who was trying to navigate the world when language is so full of double meanings. And so Amelia Bedelia got into all sorts of trouble not because she misunderstood but because she understood. She just understood the other meaning. For instance, when asked to “draw the drapes when the sun comes in” Amelia Bedelia might get pencil and paper to illustrate the drapes. But she did not close the drapes. She understood the “other” meaning of the word draw.

There are a set of words called contronym which are common and yet rare. There are not that many contronyms in total but we use them all the time that we remain unaware of how rare they are. A contronym is a single word that have two contradictory meanings.

Here is a list of the most common contronyms I found:

• Apology – a statement of contrition for an action or a defense of one

• Bolt – to secure or to flee

• Bound – heading to a destination or restrained from movement

• Cleave – to adhere or to separate

• Discipline – a form of training to obey rules or a form of punishment for an offense (or a field of study)

• Dust – to add fine particles or to remove them

• Fast – quick or stuck and made stable

• Left – remained or departed

• Peer – a person of the nobility or an equal

• Sanction – to approve or to boycott

• Weather – to withstand or to wear away

These common and simple words above are words English speakers say we understand and that their meaning is clear. But these simple words show us that words can have not only different meanings but directly opposite meanings. The existence of contranyms should humble us when we consider reading the Bible - a collection of books written in different languages over different time periods. Could it be that there are passages in the Bible that have Hebrew or Greek contranyms?

Yes. Yes there are.

The most cited one is in Job chapter 9 when Job’s wife tells Job to “barech God and die.” Your Bible might show that the word barech means to curse and to bless. So which is it? Is Job being instructed to bless or curse God and then die?

We are limited and the Bible is not always as clear as we would like it to be. As Paul says, we see through a mirror only dimly. Which when you think about it, this is a masterful sentence. Not only does it state a truth (we do not fully understand) but the sentence itself is an example of that very truth:

Do we see just fine but the mirror is dim and it makes what we see dim? Or is the mirror so dim that we can only see small specks of light? Is the dimness in our eyes or the mirror?

What a conundrum.

Guitar Amps Helping Us Understand the Bible

I have a friend named Lance. He also is a United Methodist pastor. He is a polymath.

Of the many gifts, graces and skills this guy has, he has the ability to play the guitar. He says he is not very good, but I cannot play the guitar and so to me it sounds like he can shred (I think that is the correct term). Anyway I was asking him a slew of questions about his new guitar when he began to talk about amplifiers, AKA “amps”.

I assumed that an amp receives the electrical signals from the guitar and then just makes those signals stronger so those signals can be fed to a speaker which allows the sound to be heard. This is not exactly what happens. Apparently (and I confirmed this with another friend who is a professional musician named Jackson) the amp is like a second part of the guitar instrument. The amp is a filter to the sound from the guitar. If I plug one the same guitar into different amps I will get a different sound. The sound is still coming from the same source (the guitar) but the sound is being altered by the different ways the different amps are created. When I heard this, I could only think of one thing,,,

The Bible.

The Bible is like the guitar. God is like the musician who uses the instrument called the Bible to communicate with humans. Each human is like a different amp. Each human receives the words and signals from the Bible. Because each human is different and is made just a little bit different from other human beings. The way that human understands and talks about the Bible is a modified by their experiences and their make up.

The amp can try really hard to stay as true to the guitar, but it just is not possible to do a one-to-one replication of the sound. The amp distorts the sound. But that does not mean the sound is bad or not reflective of the intent of the musician. In fact many musicians make the choice to play in a way knowing that sound will be distorted. Distortion of the sound is desirable because the point of the musician playing the music is harmonize with others.

God gives us the Bible and when we read the Bible we distort it, and God knows it. God’s goal is not a one to one replication. God’s goal is to make music so that the Lord of the Dance can lead us all. The Bible, like an electric guitar, cannot be heard on its own. It needs amps and speakers. But the amp cannot amplify nothing, it has to be connected to a source. Humans cannot amplify much of anything, we need a source in order to hear the music.

If you have read anything on this blog for any amount of time, you may see this metaphor and it’s connection to the United Methodist Church. Anyone who reads the Bible without an amp is not making any music. And anyone who is making music is making interpretive decisions on how that music sounds. The assumption that some people read the Bible without any interpretation are actually not reading the Bible. They are playing a guitar in a way it was not intended to be played.

No wonder so many people are turning from Christianity. We are using the Bible in a way it was not intended by God to be used. And so, let us read the Bible well. Let us play the music so that it becomes a song for the Lord of the Dance to lead us in.

Reading Scripture Is Not The Ultimate Reading

Christians around the world read scripture. It is a critical spiritual disciple and one that I believe every Christian needs to engage in. The problem is that too often we think reading scripture is the ultimate “reading” - it is not. Reading scripture is important but perhaps you can see that reading scripture places the human being at the center of the action, and that is problematic.

Another limitation to reading scripture is that it is a practice that engages and is focused on the mind. When we read scripture we are seeking information. We will engage in study and research like we are doing some sort of term paper for school. It is popular to think that if you know when Romans was written, have a grasp on two source source hypothesis, and know what trito-Isaiah is then you “really know your Bible.” And you do. You know a lot of information about the Bible. Generally those who elevate orthodoxy and the mind are those who elevate reading scripture or sometimes it is expressed as “read your Bible”. This is all well and good, but limiting to the Christian life.

Many people have seen the deficiency in just reading scriptures. The argument is that it is not enough to engage the mind with reading scripture we must engage the hands. Orthodoxy is nice and all, but there is no orthodoxy without orthopraxy (right action). This group tends to elevate the morality and ethics of the Bible. The concern is less with engaging the mind than it is engaging the hands. Rather than ask people to read scriptures, you might hear this group speak about the scripture reading for the day. It is a little shift in the focus from reading scripture to scripture reading. It is not the human reading the sacred words, but that the sacred words are reading the human. it is the scripture that is doing the act of reading so that in time the human identifies the story of the Bible as their own story and not just a tale of the past.

Up until about five years ago, I assumed that this was the way to engage with scripture. I ask about the scripture reading in worship more than I ask what verses were read or quoted in the sermon. I had been one who understood the limitations to engage in the head and thought hand engagement was better. Maybe it is, maybe it is not, but five years ago it was revealed to me that scripture reading, othopraxy and ethics/morality focus is limited. Which leads me to the third way to engage with scripture.

You may know it as Lectio Divina, but this is the way that I now engage with scripture. It is not a practice where I read scripture (although passages are read). It is not a practice that demands a scripture reading (but scripture is used). Lectio Divina is Latin for "Divine Reading.” Notice the actual words and order - Divine Reading. It is not about the human reading scripture, nor is it about scripture reading the human, it is the Divine doing the reading. It is the Divine who is the main actor. It is the work of the Divine that is paramount in this practice. As such, Lectio Divina is less about information or ethics/morality as it is about formation. It is less about head or hands and more about heart. It is less about orthodoxy or orthopraxy but about orthocardia - right heart.

If you are interested to experience the difference between reading scripture, scripture reading and Lectio Divina, call your pastor and I am sure they can help. I know pastors can help because it was pastors who helped me - Nancy Allen, Bob and Judy Holloway, Estee Valendy, Jerry Hass, Rabbi Chava Bahle, Joretta Marshall, Grace Imathiu and Loyd Allen.

The Doctrine of FAQ

We have this coffee maker that was leaking and I consulted the owners guide frequently asked questions (FAQ). There is something satisfying about FAQ’s in my life. Not only do I get the satisfaction by getting an answer to my question, I feel normal because I discover that the problem that I have is not unique to me. Others have had the problem and have asked the question so often that smart people generated a list of these questions and provided satisfying answers. FAQ’s are great for coffee makers, but not for Christianity.

Many of us in the Christian faith approach the faith as a sort of ultimate FAQ. As though the Bible is a set of Jeopardy board answers and all we have to do is find the correct question:

“The Lord is my Shepard” - What is security?

“Do not worry about tomorrow.” - What should I do with my anxiety?

I am asked for scripture for a number of situations all of the time. It is not a problem that we turn to the Bible for guidance but the Bible is not an FAQ. It is not “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.” It is more a little library curated over centuries than a single book written on one subject.

Many times we turn to the Christian faith as a sort of FAQ on what is happening in their life and the world. It makes sense to look to tradition for guidance because we can learn from the past, but we are not held hostage to the past.

It is not just the Bible that is treated as a FAQ, it is also Christian doctrine. It is assumed that there are some questions that have been asked over the years, for instance, “What did the death of Jesus do?” There is a lot of Christian doctrine that attempts to answer this question. There are some very good responses to these questions. Doctrine is helpful and very informative, however doctrine is not an FAQ the the Christian faith.

Doctrine is a point of entry to the faith, not the point of arrival. Doctrine is a street that takes you to new places, not a cul de sac of certainty. It is a thought and responses to life’s questions using a Christian perspective, but the Christian perspective is not monolithic. There is no singular “Christian Perspective”. Do not let anyone tell you that this must mean that if there is not a singular Christian perceptive, then it must mean that ALL perspectives are Christian. This is a false choice because clearly there are many perspectives that are not Christian (colonialism, imperialism, racism, antisemitism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, patriarchal, consumerism, etc.).

I offer up one Christian perspective on doctrine - doctrine is not a FAQ and it is harmful to all to treat it as such.