Caleb –

Sorry to hear about the 3 hours of sleep.  You can punish Evy later in life with an early curfew and embarrassing fatherly activity (sweat-pants, lame jokes, etc).

In regards to hermeneutics…

I believe one of the key issues today regarding poor hermeneutics (specifically for the layman) is our American tendency to “need” the quick fix.  We aren’t interested in hard-work and seeing the bigger picture; rather, we believe it is our right to have the solution presented to us in a clear/concise way.  We want to believe the infomercials showing us how to become millionaires by age 30 or get great abs in 5 minutes a day.  We want the maximum benefit with the least amount of work.  It really demonstrates itself in every facet of our lives.  For Christians, this attitude creates the desire for THE verse.  You know… the perfect summary in 10 words or less that gives us the answers we so desperately need to all of our current problems.  When we approach scripture this way, we frequently impose our presuppositions to the text.  We surgically remove a verse that “speaks” to us from the surrounding paragraph, letter, and book.  We are so frantic to find the specific modern day application that we miss the original context and intent of the passage.  So, while there is much application to be taken away from the scripture, we must force ourselves to slow down and (with significant laboring) understand the true meaning of a passage AND THEN see the principles to apply in our current context.

I realize that this is a very limited discussion of a broad topic.  But, at least it gets the ball rolling.  It is worth noting that I use the words “we”, “us”, and “our” in the paragraph above.  I clearly include myself in this discussion.  I realize that I fall short in my biblical understanding and interpretation.  Please respond with any follow-up thoughts.

See you tonight.

Chris

Well, the exam is over and I'm updating my Xanga (as promised).

I just spent the last 4 hours of my life answering 35 multiple choice questions.  Doesn't that seem ridiculous?  The exam was difficult... but I felt prepared this time around.  I am anticipating good news when the results are released.  Unfortunately, that day is almost 2 months away.  Thanks to anybody/everybody that was praying for me over the last month or so.  It's nice to be done.

I was expecting this post to be full of information.  I thought the words would flow out after the stress of my exam was lifted.  However, I was wrong.  My brain has temporarily ceased functioning.  I will try to post again soon.

The Society of Actuaries Exam C/4 will be held May 17th, 2006.  On this day, I believe I will post my first (real) Xanga entry in several months.  I would imagine the suspense is killing you.