The vast majority of Christians grew up in a “western” culture and style of thinking. However, the Bible was written with an “eastern” culture and style of thinking. Western tends to be more about facts and logic, Eastern tends to be more about symbols and pictures. Neither is wrong, they are just different ways to convey information.
However, if you look at the Bible from a “western” perspective, you miss much of the fullness that comes with an “eastern” perspective.
The videos below will help.
I first listened to it over a decade ago. It radically change my perspective and helped me understand the Bible much better. It’s quite long, but well worth the time investment.
Disclaimer: while I love how he presents the “eastern” worldview, I definitely don’t agree with him on everything. He’s a little legalistic and we differ on several points. I would highly recommend that you listen, but listen with discernment as it relates to specifics. I suggest looking for the “big picture”; don’t miss the amazing forest for a few bad trees.
(Note: this was originally an audio recording, so you don’t need to watch the video. You can just listen.)
Ray Vander Lann – The Bible from Jesus’ Cultural Perspective 2000 Years ago:
Biblical Allusions with Ray Vander Lann:
(Note: some of this video’s content is contained in the longer video above.)
If you would like to learn more about the Greek perspective in the New Testament, I have two suggestions:
- My article: Patronage and Reciprocity: The Context of Grace in the New Testament which is a condensed version of a much longer treatise on the topic. (The longer version is linked to in the article, and well worth your time.)
- The book: “Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes” by E. Randolph Richards and Richard James. It’s one of the best Christian books that I have ever read and is 100% worth your time.
I hope that will help you understand Scripture better. 🙂
Test the spirits, many false teachers have gone into the world.
YAHWEH FATHER, YAHSHUA SON, HALLELU YAH. CALL ON YAHWEH YAHSHUA AND BE SAVED. THE LORD AND JESUS ARE FALSE. YAHSHUA MEANS YAHWEH IS SALVATION. PSALM 118 YAH IS ABBREVIATED HEBREW NAME OF YAHWEH.
CALL ON YAHWEH JOEL 2:32, ACTS 2:21 (Peter), Roman’s 1013 (Paul),
CALL ON YAHSHUA 1Cor 1:2, Acts 9:21, 9:27, NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH YAHSHUA, NO OTHER NAME BY WHICH WE MUST BE SAVED!
CHRISTIANITY IS FALSE FROM ORIGIN OF CHRISTOS, MESSIAH OR MASHIYAH IS ANOINTING FROM YAHWEH.
BELOVED CAN YOU SEE THE FALSE TEACHERS MUST CONTINUE IN FALSE CHRISTIANITY, THE HOUSE IS BUILT IN VAIN THAT IS NOT BUILT IN YAHWEH.
1Cor 12:3, Phil 211, YAHSHUA IS YAHWEH, 2Cor 3:17,18, YAHWEH IS RUACH HAKODESH, Deut 6:4 HEAR OH ISRAEL YAHWEH OUR ELOHIM YAHWEH IS ONE!
EZEKIEL 39:7 THE NATIONS WILL KNOW I AM YAHWEH THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL!
HALLELU YAH AND SHALOM!!!
Peter, how is Christianity ultimately false by the notion of saying his name differently? If you’re going to make bold claims please provide sufficient information
The WORD of GOD says seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened, if you really pray truthful and ask God , SEEKING HIM , YOU will see , He is, was and is to come. Shalom from a Christian, 🌻
Oh , Peter ( not same Peter as the Peter whom said what he said against my faith, I am Christian, not perfect yet( still on earth 😁) but I will stand up for my Lord Jesus and Christianity. No hard feelings, The TRUTH shall set you free. Amen
Not against what Ray Vander Laan is ultimately saying about eastern vs western thought, but his interpretations within the first 15 minutes are stymied by lack of supporting evidence.
One of the first claims he makes is that the disciples are probably all around 12 years old. In other words, he’s saying that they became disciples before they’d finished bar mitzvah. I’m not totally sure of the custom of bar mitzvah in Jerusalem at the time. While I don’t doubt it’s possible, it seems it’s unlikely for all of the disciples. They logically would have been old enough to work, and at least Peter was old enough to be married. In my mind that could put most of them as slightly older. This one is kind of a ‘maybe’ for me.
Next, I took a look at the semi-gematria associated with Goliath’s equipment, I saw… 5000, 600 and 6. So 5606? Somehow I missed where that became 666. Pretty certain this one is a completely fabricated claim. At first I thought I missed a base number conversion, but it seems that Biblical Hebrew was in base 10. I’ll leave the possibility that I missed something.
The last claim I looked at was the meaning of the name Sisera as serpent. I didn’t find any sources that translate the name Sisera this way. I won’t deny that there’s some echo of the defeat of this enemy that seem to call to Genesis 3:15, but it’s not a perfect parallel in many ways. My main problem is the over-reach of Sisera as serpent or snake.
I think I’ll pass on the rest of this video, it’s a little too fast and loose for comfort.
I don’t agree with everything he says, hence the lengthy disclaimer, and the age of the disciples does indeed sound suspect to me as well. As to a lack of evidence, remember that this is a recording of a lecture to a class of students. To Goliath’s equipment, IIRC, that’s a rare textual variant which he apparently prefers.
Again, It’s more about the overall picture than the specifics, as I said in the disclaimer.