Sat, 2007 Jun 09
CADing the Bible
I was reading Ezekiel 42 this morning. This is part of an extended vision given to Ezekiel in which a temple (among other things, later, I believe) is described in pretty significant detail. Very little of which I could follow. So, I had the idea of trying to CAD this temple. Indeed, I can think of several other descriptions in the people that would make good CADing exercises (most of them temples).
I spent about 15 minutes trying and despite finding some diagrams, I’m pretty sure I’m more confused than when I started. It’s just not particularly clear to me what Ezekiel is saying much of the time. On the other hand, I learned more about this temple in the 15 minutes of trying to CAD than in the several times I’ve read the passage. That comes as no surprise, and in fact was a major part of the reason for trying.
And once again I find myself wondering why we Christians so often limit ourselves in studying the Bible (expand to why we humans so often limit ourselves in studying anything). Some people, like me, rather enjoy reading and can get a lot from just reading. Even for those like me, this is really not enough. That’s part of the reason I started my FromGenesis blog, to encourage me to write about scriptural passages, as writing is another way I learn.
We Christians tend to confine recommended methods of understanding scripture to reading and listening, sometimes with a illustrative video, drama, or discussion group thrown in. Particularly disappointing in this is the lack of active methods of comprehension, of “doing something”. I know, for some people reading can be an active method, but I doubt it’s the majority, particularly when large parts of the book have references rather more understandable to a nomadic herding culture.
So, I’ve thought of a couple of ways that work for me, writing about passages and drafting buildings described in the Bible. I don’t know what sort of effort I’ll make on the CADing, but I imagine that any effort will gain me some. Again, some thoughts.
