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Articles
"Who's on First?"
Abbott and Costello, the famous comedy team of the previous generation, are most remembered for their hilarious routine about baseball. It was a classic example of the confusion that results when people aren't communicating “on the same wave-length.” It's not uncommon, even today, to hear people remark “who's on first?” – an allusion to that comedy duo - when confronted with a confusing situation.
This brings to mind some lessons we need to learn - lessons concerning our efforts to teach the Bible to lost people. It is very possible that we will begin teaching folks at a level they are not prepared to receive. We ought to be careful about assuming that a student knows certain fundamentals. If we start with a faulty foundation of knowledge, we are certain to run into difficulty as we try to move our students on to the things that are “hard to be understood” (2 Peter 3:10). We should follow the example of Philip, who determined his student's level of understanding and “began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus” (Acts 8:35).
We need to be sure that we are ‘using Bible words in Bible ways’. If we are careless in this matter, we are opening the door to unsound conclusions. For instance, if we talk about the birth of a baby and refer to it as a ‘miracle’, we may later be confronted by the argument that all the true Bible miracles can be dismissed with a natural explanation. A birth is, in fact, a marvelous thing, but it is not a miracle in the Biblical sense. (Only the virgin birth of Jesus would be accurately proclaimed a miracle.) So, again, we must learn to be careful with terminology.
Finally, we should be cautious about using phrases and jargon that are very familiar to us, but may leave a student in utter confusion. It would be a shame to waste a good teaching opportunity simply because we weren't careful about analyzing our student's ability to comprehend the message. There is a “time when ye ought to be teachers” (Hebrews 5:12). And good teachers KNOW their students.
Pray that God will help us find the good and honest hearts, and that He will give us wisdom to use every opportunity to the fullest.
