D
I spent some time in BDF (Bible Discussion Forum) this morning and I'm truly impressed how many know everything about everything. (Not sarcasm... this time.) There are some things in the Lord I simply seem incapable of getting, and I've tried.
I get it takes me a long time to learn complex things. (I spent a whole summer writing out the times table once a day, because I couldn't remember them any other way. I have read the rules for passed vs. past so often, I actually saved the fourth try in my Favorites folder. It's titled, "Taking Another Pass on Pass." I still have to read that every time I want to use one of those words. I cannot get the eight parts of speech. I have a degree in Communications and have spent months last year just trying to learn that! Still don't get it. This hard to get stuff, so this really isn't kidding around either.) But I'd feel better thinking I'm not the only one who doesn't get stuff about the Bible either. I ask that people not try to educate those of us who admit to not getting it, unless you have a very easy way of explaining it, because all the complex ways and all the long answers haven't sunk in.
So? What can't you get?
And to give you an idea of what I mean, I'll start with what I don't get.
-- "Angel of God." Two men I trust on here -- Marc and oldhermit -- have told me that sometimes in the OT, "Angel of God" means God himself. And sometimes it doesn't. I don't get how to know which is which.
-- Soul and spirit. I don't get how these are two different things, what the difference is, or how to tell. I've read the words in original language and looked up definitions for their use. Even tried a word study. STILL don't get it!
-- Oldhermit (and I genuinely trust OldHermit) tried to teach me how to generalize the scriptures to get an overall sense of what they're saying in all of them. He even let me do a specific study on a small topic. (Melchizedek. Only mentioned twice in all of scripture, so this shouldn't have been all that hard. And I did study as much as I could find out before telling OH what I learned.) Then he tried to show me how to generalize what I learned for all of the Bible. Nada! Had I not checked word by word that 99.5% of the words he used were truly English, (the other .5% were in original language lol), I might swear he wasn't teaching me in English. He really was.
So, please. Just to make sure I'm not the only one who doesn't get stuff, would you mind telling what you don't get? And, no. Not stuff everyone doesn't get, (like trinity or why God chose us), the stuff that it seems like we ought to get if we just try harder. I don't like feeling I'm all alone in the don't-get-it section.
I get it takes me a long time to learn complex things. (I spent a whole summer writing out the times table once a day, because I couldn't remember them any other way. I have read the rules for passed vs. past so often, I actually saved the fourth try in my Favorites folder. It's titled, "Taking Another Pass on Pass." I still have to read that every time I want to use one of those words. I cannot get the eight parts of speech. I have a degree in Communications and have spent months last year just trying to learn that! Still don't get it. This hard to get stuff, so this really isn't kidding around either.) But I'd feel better thinking I'm not the only one who doesn't get stuff about the Bible either. I ask that people not try to educate those of us who admit to not getting it, unless you have a very easy way of explaining it, because all the complex ways and all the long answers haven't sunk in.
So? What can't you get?
And to give you an idea of what I mean, I'll start with what I don't get.
-- "Angel of God." Two men I trust on here -- Marc and oldhermit -- have told me that sometimes in the OT, "Angel of God" means God himself. And sometimes it doesn't. I don't get how to know which is which.
-- Soul and spirit. I don't get how these are two different things, what the difference is, or how to tell. I've read the words in original language and looked up definitions for their use. Even tried a word study. STILL don't get it!
-- Oldhermit (and I genuinely trust OldHermit) tried to teach me how to generalize the scriptures to get an overall sense of what they're saying in all of them. He even let me do a specific study on a small topic. (Melchizedek. Only mentioned twice in all of scripture, so this shouldn't have been all that hard. And I did study as much as I could find out before telling OH what I learned.) Then he tried to show me how to generalize what I learned for all of the Bible. Nada! Had I not checked word by word that 99.5% of the words he used were truly English, (the other .5% were in original language lol), I might swear he wasn't teaching me in English. He really was.
So, please. Just to make sure I'm not the only one who doesn't get stuff, would you mind telling what you don't get? And, no. Not stuff everyone doesn't get, (like trinity or why God chose us), the stuff that it seems like we ought to get if we just try harder. I don't like feeling I'm all alone in the don't-get-it section.