Small Group Error Correction
Last Saturday I attended church with my mother, who is a Seventh-day Adventist. I was visiting for her 90th birthday. During Sabbath School (the SDA version of Sunday School), there were a number of questionable “facts” brought out by various members of the class. Amongst these was “Spare the rod and spoil the child” as a Proverb (it’s not, though there are a couple quite close to it), and whether Jesus used the term “vipers” of his opponents, or was it only John the Baptist (Jesus used it too).
Now this post isn’t about the greater numbers of errors committed by SDAs than folks of other denominations. SDAs do quite well studying their Bible. I disagree with many of their theological suppositions, but regarding basic facts they are quite good. <em>All</em> small groups are subject to this problem. What do you do about it? I suggest three things.
- Check your Biblical texts in your Bible, not from memory, and check them with a variety of Bible translations. A small group can agree to bring different versions. Read the footnotes as well. Sometimes you may declare that a certain verse doesn’t exist, only to find out later that it was quoted from a different Bible version.
- When there is a question of fact, look it up in a good reference source, such as a current Bible dictionary (HarperCollins, New International Bible Dictionary, Anchor Bible Dictionary [used carefully]). Bible handbooks or Bibles with study notes often include such information, but they also tend to have more opinion as well.
- Distinguish fact from theological perspectives and other opinions, even in reference sources. You’ll find differences of opinion between various sources, but you’ll also find a core that is quite generally agreed upon. Using multiple sources written from different perspectives will help you on this.
Finally, don’t be afraid to study because you’re not an expert. Dig in and work at it. The world won’t come to an end because you made a mistake. It has much bigger problems than your misunderstanding of a text. So relax and enjoy, but take the time to check as well.