Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song And Praise

When I worked on my pastoral counseling degree at the Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, PA, I learned a new way of approaching scripture. It was to ask questions of the text in order to gain more understanding. In other words, what do I need to know in order to have somewhat of a grasp on the text. This approach works for me as I like to be a detective with a text. I want to know the context. Who are all of the characters? Where are they? Setting – town, desert, on or by a lake, etc. What may be some of the words to examine in the original language? There is a free website called the Blue Letter Bible. It’s commentaries are a bit conservative, but you can do word studies. Greek words often have more than one meaning and it is up to the translator to pick the English word. In Hebrew, there can often be seven English words for one Hebrew word. Depending on what word is used, it can change the meaning of the whole passage. When scholarship progresses, translators may change the English word. In order to under