Inductive Method of Bible Study - Part 1

There are many ways of Bible study. One of them is the inductive method of Bible study. There are other names and several versions of this method.

The following material is based on the books:
1. Walter Henrichsen, Gayle Jackson Studying, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible
2. Howard G. Hendricks, William D. Hendricks Living by the Book
3. How To Study the Bible (published by BEE International)
4. Discovery Bible Study (published by BEE International)
5. Understanding the Bible (published by ICI)

This method can be used in several ways:
1. The study of one verse
2. Analytical study (the study of a paragraph or a chapter)
3. Synthetic study (the study of a book of the Bible)
4. Thematic study (the study of a theme of the Bible)
5. Biographical study (the study of a character of the Bible)

This method has three main steps:
1. Observation (What can I see here?)
2. Interpretation (What does it mean?)
3. Application (How can I apply it?)

Observation lays a foundation for interpretation, and interpretation lays a foundation for application.

The purpose of observation is to find facts. In observation, you search for the information in the text of the Bible. There are, actually, many things that can be found there. Before you search for the information in the text, it is good to find some information about the background of the book:
1. Author (who, when, and where wrote that book?)
2. Readers
3. Historic situation
You can find this information from the book itself, other books written at about the same time, and from Bible commentaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and study Bibles.

In the text that you study, you can find:
A. The context:
1. Who? (Who are the people mentioned or implied here?)
2. Where? (Where do the actions take place?)
3. When? (When do the actions take place?)
4. What? (What is going on here?)
5. Why? (Why did that happen?)
6. How? (How did the actions take place?)

B. The crucial words and expressions:
1. Words used several times
2. Other important words

C. The grammar structure:
1. Verbs - their tense and voice
2. Subject and object
3. Descriptive words - adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns
4. Conjunctions and prepositions

D. The literature structure:
1. Association ("and")
2. Comparison ("as")
3. Contrast ("but")
4. Repetition (the same words or phrases are used repetitively)
5. Alternation (two ideas alternate - for example, Luke, chapters 1,2)
6. Details (deduction; from the general idea to the details)
7. Summary (induction; from the details to the general idea)
8. Causation (from the cause to the consequence)
9. Substantiation (from the consequence to the cause)
10. Explanation
11. Illustration
12. Climax
13. Turning point
14. Introduction
15. Conclusion
16. Questions
17. Answers
18. Advice, warning, admonishment, promise

E. The literature form:
1. Discourse (Epistles)
2. Narration (Genesis through Ester, Gospels, Acts)
3. Parable (in Gospels and some Old Testament books)
4. Poetry (Psalms, Song of Songs)
5. Wisdom (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes)
6. Prophesy (the books of prophets in the Old Testament)
7. Apocalyptic (Revelation)

F. The literature atmosphere
1. Environment and emotions of the characters
2. Tone, mood, and emotions of the author

In conclusion, you can give a summary of observations. You can also try to define the main idea of the text (what was written?) and the author's purpose in writing it (why it was written?)

Interpretation of the Bible

In the previous post, I wrote that learning the proper interpretation of the Bible is important for ex-members of abusive churches because abusive churches usually twist the Bible in order to justify their abusive and authoritarian practices. This often causes people to have wrong concepts of God and the Bible and frustrates their normal spiritual experience.

Actually, individual Bible study can be very enjoyable. It seems that many people think that Bible study and Bible interpretation are very difficult. This is not really so. Everything depends on the methods you use. It is impossible to write everything about Bible study and interpretation of the Bible in one post. I will just give some ideas.

It is often recommended to just read the Bible. This is good. However, the problem is that when you read the verses that were often used in your abusive church, you think that you "know" what they mean and are unable to consider that these verses might have a different meaning. In addition, they remind you of the abusive church and how they were used there.

Probably, the most simple method in addition to just reading the Bible is to read Bible commentaries. However, it is important what Bible commentary you use. The best commentaries give more than one interpretation of difficult verses. In addition, they give information on the background of each book and on the Biblical history and culture. I think this way is helpful because it gives another interpretation of the verses that were twisted by the abusive church.

It is good to read more than one interpretation of the verses (either in one commentary or reading more than one commentary). This gives you an opportunity to think about the meaning and use your ability of independent thinking. Sometimes, you will not be able to make a conclusion what interpretation is more correct. This is not a problem. Since even theologians who have special education and who spend much time on interpretation of the Bible have different opinions, this means that this verse is not easy to understand. It might cause some confusion in the beginning. However, it is also good to learn that there are different opinions in Christianity and that it is normal to have different opinions.

I think it is also very useful to learn the principles of interpretation of the Bible (hermeneutics) and methods of study the Bible. Probably, many people think that they need to know the Biblical languages in order to interpret the Bible. Of course, it is good to know the original languages of the Bible. However, it is not mandatory.

There are many books on hermeneutics and methods of study the Bible that can be used by people who do not have any theological education. I will mention just some of them:
1. Geoff Bennett The Bible: Dig a Little Deeper
2. Howard G. Hendricks, William D. Hendricks Living by the Book
3. Walter Henrichsen, Gayle Jackson Studying, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible
4. Daniel M. Doriani Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible
5. Gordon D. Fee, Douglas Stuart How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
6. Henry A. Virkler Hermeneutics: Principles and Process of Biblical Interpretation

It is also good to get some "birds-eye view" of the Bible studying Old Testament and New Testament surveys. There are many books on the survey of the Old Testament and the survey of the New Testament. Some of them are very simple, some are deeper. I personally prefer 4 books:
1. Samuel J. Schultz Old Testament Speaks
2. Fred J. Greve Old Testament Survey. A Study Guide
3. Merrill C. Tenny New Testament Survey
4. Jesse K. Moon New Testament Survey. A Study Guide

In principle, study of the doctrines of mainstream Christianity may be also useful. There is a lot of literature on the Christian doctrines beginning with the books for new Christians and ending with the literature on systematic theology and dogmatics. However, many authors present the doctrines of their denominations or their personal opinions. So, it is important to notice the doctrinal positions of the authors and it is good to read the books of different authors who have different doctrinal positions.

Though learning the biblical languages is not mandatory, it is still useful. If you have no time to learn the languages, there are many interlinear translations that can help. However, they still cannot fully substitute reading the Bible in the original.

The Bible was written in three languages: New Testament Greek (the whole New Testament), Biblical Hebrew (the most part of the Old Testament), and Biblical Aramaic (some chapters of Daniel and Ezra). New Testament Greek (koine) is different from classic ancient Greek (Attic dialect). Biblical Hebrew is different from modern Hebrew. Besides Biblical Aramaic, there are many other Aramaic dialects. Biblical Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic are similar languages, but still they are different languages with different grammar and vocabulary.

Psychological and Spiritual Counseling of Ex-Members of Abusive Churches

There is some terminological confusion, so I will start this post with terminology explanation. Psychologists usually use the word "cult" referring to any group that uses mind control methods. This group might be religious, political, commercial, psychotherapeutic, philosophical, and so on. Psychologists do not care for the group doctrines and beliefs, they care only on the mind control methods there. However, they still have some classification of cults. According to their classification, all the mind controlling groups that use the Bible are called "Bible-based cults".

I think this term is somewhat confusing because of two reason. The first reason is that Bible-based cults are both the groups like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons that are obviously heretical and the groups like International Church of Christ and various branches of the Brethren that hold the most fundamental doctrines of Christianity and thus are not heretical. The second reason is that according to the Christian definition the word "cult" denotes a heretical religious group which does not hold the Biblical teachings. Thus, "a cult based on the Bible" sounds very strange to most Christians.

In Christianity, there is the term "abusive churches". This term denotes Christian churches (not obviously heretical) that have spiritual abuse. Spiritual abuse denotes behavior of some Christian leaders (pastors and so on) who abuse their spiritual authority. This term implies authoritarianism and also the damage caused to the members of these churches. This damage is both spiritual and psychological. Actually, from the point of view of psychology, spiritual abuse and mind control is the same thing. So, abusive churches can be defined as Christian churches that use mind control methods. I prefer to use the term "abusive churches" instead of "Bible-based cults" because the term "abusive churches" is not so confusing.

Non-Christian psychologists who counsel former members of cults and abusive churches usually say that the former members should be counseled by psychologists who have knowledge of mind control. In principle, I agree with that. However, there is something else. Ronald M. Enroth in Recovering from Churches that Abuse, chapter 2, writes that many ex-members of abusive churches need counseling. In page 21, he writes,

Dr. Paul Martin, a Christian psychologist, believes that, although there may be obstacles such as a lack of finances standing in the way, a formal, systematic program of professional counseling is essential. A structured program enables victims of spiritual abuse to have a framework for dealing with their post-departure problems, thereby facilitating the recovery process. However, Martin points out, it is important that the counselor not be a secular mental health professional having a bias against religious beliefs, who would discourage the victim from giving any regard to religion whatsoever.

A Christian counselor is needed, whether a pastor or professional therapist. It must be someone who understands the dynamics of abusive systems and who, in a relationship of trust, can provide the warmth and caring necessary to support the victim. The survivor must be assured of God's unfailing grace and be able, in effect, to rediscover the gospel.

Then, in chapter 3, Enroth describes the rehabilitation program in the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center. The director of Wellspring is Paul Martin who is a former member of an abusive church. The Wellspring program includes both psychological and spiritual help. Describing the Wellspring program, Enroth writes about their spiritual help (pp. 32-33),

The first stage also must address the doctrines of the abusive church. It is important to examine and carefully refute any unorthodox teachings. Most of the churches mentioned in this book are theologically orthodox, although nearly all would be guilty of distorting the Bible's message in some way. Peter Sommer observes, "These groups are rarely heretical in theory. They don't deny Christian basics; they tend to brush by them. Instead they focus on what makes them different from other churches or groups. They have lots of teaching, but it tends to be on such themes as commitment, submission, and prophecy."

Stephen Martin, a staff member at Wellspring, considers instruction in sound study methods and the interpretation of the Bible important. In abusive groups, twisted hermeneutics are often used to instill fear and guilt and thus become a form of spiritual intimidation. "Since leaders of abusive churches typically twist the Scriptures, education in hermeneutics would help the ex-member gain the right perspective on Scripture passages. In talking with former members at Wellspring, I have found a number of them who have difficulty with or even an aversion to reading the Bible because it has been misused by the group to abuse them. Learning the proper application and interpretation of Scripture goes a long way toward healing the wounds of abuse."

Sommer advises, "It may be wise not to read Scriptures that the group has emphasized; their interpretation may be deeply grooved into your thinking. Read instead the many texts that they did not teach you." I suggest that these people attempt to rediscover God's Word through the Psalms because those writings validate a person's individual spiritual life. Paul Martin feels it is wise for victims to use a different translation of the Bible from that commonly used in the group...

The abusive church experience is often a crisis of faith, as Paul Martin and others have pointed out. Victims must be able not only to rebuild self-esteem and purpose in life, but also renew a personal relationship with God. That can be difficult for those who have yet to resolve the tough question, "Why did God allow this to happen to me when I was sincerely seeking him?" As Rachel, one former church member, puts it, "I had been taught that nothing was ever God's fault. The problem was that I was a true, believing Christian, but when I asked God for spiritual bread and water, look what I got. Was I praying to the wrong God? Was I dishonest? Secretly evil? Was I demonic, like the church kept telling me I was? How could an honest, sincere believer get tricked like this? How could God let this happen?"

People like Colleen and Rachel need the assurance that it is possible to have a rich relationship with God. In Sommer's words, the victim must be turned "to faith in the living God from faith in a distorted image of him. Your break with the group is a step of obedience to the first commandment: No graven images!"

In conclusion, Enroth writes,

Not many programs are especially equipped, as Wellspring is, to treat victims of spiritual abuse. Moreover, the costs can be out of reach for people upon leaving a control-oriented group because they have few financial resources. It is also the case that beyond the sphere of Christian counseling, some psychologists and psychiatrists are biased against all religious beliefs and may encourage clients to rid themselves of all religious entanglements, proverbially throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I think Enroth and Martin are right about the need in both psychological and spiritual counseling of ex-members of abusive churches. I also fully agree with them that it is much better to get a counseling from a Christian psychologist, and not from an atheist psychologist. I have never got any counseling, however, I was a member of freedomofmind group. This group is led by unbelieving psychologists who oppose Christianity. Actually, they caused me to turn from the spiritual quest to psychology. They caused me to believe that only psychology can help to get rid of the all problems caused by cults and abusive churches. Eventually, I came to conclusion that it was not really so. However, I am still more focused on psychology than on Christianity. This is the problem. So, I do believe that the counselor who can really help ex-members of abusive churches should be a Christian who can render both psychological and spiritual help like Dr. Paul Martin.

What Does MBTI Really Indicate?

There are still some things I want to make clear regarding personality types and personality tests like MBTI, Keirsey, and other. Discussing these tests and personality types with other people, I noticed that some people do not really understand what these tests measure.

1. All the personality tests have instruction to answer the questions as you USUALLY act or think, not as you WOULD LIKE to do.
2. These tests measure PREFERENCES, not the functions or abilities. This means that, for example, if a person is scored as an introvert, he or she still may act as an extravert in some situations, but he or she usually PREFERS to act as an introvert. This person may or may not have an ability of extraversion. However, his/her preference is to act as an introvert. His/her ability for extraversion is less developed than his/her ability for introversion. However, this does not necessary mean that he or she does not have any ability for extraversion. So, it is the preference for one or the other function that makes the dichotomy, not the functions themselves. Many people can use both functions in the pair, however, they still prefer to use one of them.

Some people do have low scores on some scales. There may be two reasons for that mentioned by Yeakley:
1. Some people who have low scores are not sure who they are. Their preferences are just very undeveloped.
2. Some people who have low scores have made efforts to develop their less developed functions to the extent that both functions in the same pair became almost equally developed. Then, these people may have some difficulty with preferring one function from the pair.

I think there may be one more reason - some people try to answer how they would like to act and think, not how they usually act and think.

Actually, I do not think that MBTI, Keirsey, and similar tests are perfect. There is one thing that puzzles me with Keirsey. If a person has equal scores for E/I, he/she is scored as I; if he/she has equal scores for S/N, then, he/she is scored as N; the same is with T/F and J/P. Each pair has even number of questions, so it is possible to has equal scores for each alternative. To me, it would be logically to have odd number of questions for each pair. Then, the scores would never be equal. Probably, MBTI and other tests have the same problem.

MBTI and probably Keirsey do not have the normal distribution. Actually, this is quite good. Many psychological tests, for example, IQ tests and EPI have normal distribution. IQ tests have the mean equaling 100 and 3 sigma equaling 40. This means that the average IQ is 100 and 99.7 percent people have IQ between 60 and 140. Most people have IQ around 100 and less people have IQ significantly different from 100. EPI is a personality test, and it has the normal distribution for both scales.

If MBTI and Keirsey had the normal distribution, it would mean that most people have very low scores, close to zero. Then, most people would not be able to find out their personality type from these tests. Fortunately, there are not so many people who have this problem.

Temperaments and Accentuations

I noticed that there are some serious differences between American and Russian psychology. For example, in Russian psychology, temperaments and accentuations are widely accepted. However, they are almost not used in American psychology.

4 temperament model was developed by Ivan P. Pavlov. He said that person's temperament depends on the type of the central nervous system. The types of the nervous system depend on three factors:

* Strength of the nervous processes
* Balance of the nervous processes
* Mobility of the nervous processes

There are four types of temperament:

1. Sanguine temperament is characterized by a strong, balanced, and mobile nervous system. Sanguines have a quick reactions and can easily change their activity. They are cheerful and sociable, like to contact new people, change the environment. They usually are not so upset at their problems.
2. Phlegmatic temperament is characterized by a strong, balanced, and inert nervous system. Phlegmatics have slow reactions, not easily change their activity and adapt to the new environment. They usually have calm and stable mood.
3. Choleric temperament is characterized by a strong, unbalanced, and mobile nervous system. Cholerics have very quick reactions and can easily change their activity. However, they have sudden changes of mood, quick-tempered, and impatient. They have strong "ups" and "downs" and often have conflicts with people.
4. Melancholic temperament is characterized by a weak, unbalanced, and inert nervous system. Melancholics are very sensitive and emotional, but often do not express their emotions outwardly. Their mood is changeable. They are often sad, depressed, have a lack of self-confidence.

All the temperaments are considered to be normal, inborn, and unchangeable.

There are several classifications of accentuations. The most famous of them was developed by East German psychiatrist Karl Leonhard and described in his book "Accentuated People" which as far as I know has never been published in English. His system includes 12 main accentuations and many mixed accentuations. All the psychologists admit that accentuations are normal. However, there are disagreements how many the people have them. Leonhard said that about 50 percent of Germans have accentuations. He defined accentuations as very expressed traits of character or temperament. He made a difference between "standard" people who do not have accentuations, that is, they have an average character and people with accentuations. According to Leonhard, people with accentuations are between "standard" people and people with personality disorders.

12 accentuations described by Leonhard:
1) demonstrative (histrionic) accentuation;
2) pedantic (anankastic) accentuation;
3) sticking (paranoid) accentuation;
4) excitable (emotionally unstable) accentuation;
5) hyperthymic (hypomaniac) accentuation;
6) disthymic (subdepressive) accentuation;
7) affect-labile (cyclothymic) accentuation;
8) affect-exalted accentuation;
9) anxious accentuation;
10) emotive accentuation;
11) extraverted accentuation;
12) introverted accentuation.

Leonhard's definition of extraversion and introversion was different from Jung and Eysenck.

While every person has a certain temperament, not everyone has an accentuation. Accentuations may become more or less expressed from time to time.

Since temperaments as well as personality types are inborn and unchangeable, it is possible to use temperaments for a study like what Yeakleys did with the members of ICC and other groups. However, accentuations are not so stable and not all the people have them. There is a widely used in Russia Shmisheck test for accentuations. I took that test about 6 years ago, 3 months ago, and recently. Each time this test indicated that I have no accentuations. So, accentuations probably cannot be used for a study like Yeakley's.

Discussion Group on Cults and Abusive Churches - Discussion-On-Cults

I started this group in July, 2008. Here is the description of the group:

This group is for those who are interested in critical discussion on cults and abusive churches. This discussion involves:
1. Discussion of authoritarianism, mind control (coercive persuasion, thought reform), and spiritual abuse (that is, psychological and sociological issues of cults and abusive churches).
2. Discussion of religious doctrines and practices (that is, theological and apologetic issues, including aberrant and heretical teachings).
Unlike many groups that focus either on psychological issues of cults (cult mind control) or theological doctrines of cults, this group is for discussing both sides of cults.
3. Personal testimonies and experience of ex-members of cults and abusive churches and their mutual support. However, this group does not provide cult-related or any other psychological counseling.
4. Recovery from cults and abusive churches (psychologically and spiritually).
5. All the other matters related to cults and abusive churches.

This group is for the real freedom of mind, ideas, opinions, and thoughts.

In this group, there is freedom to express different religious views. However, this group is not for religious proselytism. Any kind of cult promotion is forbidden.

Everyone can freely express their opinions. Everyone has a right to disagree with others and express the disagreements. Everyone should respect others' opinions even if he or she disagrees with them. Personal attacks, offensive language, and flames must be avoided. All the discussions should be maintained in polite, respectful, and ethical manner.

This group is for people affected by cults and abusive churches (former members, families, relatives, and friends), people who are interested to learn about cults and abusive churches, and professionals (psychologists, sociologists, clergy, theologians, and others).

Members of this group who are concerned about their anonymity are allowed to use pseudonyms and hide any kind of information that can reveal their identity (personal information, their former group name, and so on).



Click to join discussion-on-cults in Yahoo! Groups


I have just started a branch of this group in Google in order to add some functionality to this group.



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Discussion Group on Cult Mind Control - Freedomofmind2

Recently, I joined one more group on cult mind control and related issues. According to the group owner, this group is intended for free exchanges of opinions, ideas, and experiences. Particularly, this group is recommended for people who were in freedomofmind group and were banned or forced to leave or lurk there because they were offended by the leadership and did not have freedom to express their opinions there. Freedomofmind2 group is for real freedom of mind, opinions, and ideas.



Click to join freedomofmind2