"Studying" the Bible at OALC

Yesterday,

Anonymous said...

"I am a member of the OALC and this is the first time I ever heard of such a thing as being discouraged from reading the Bible. That is not true at all. We have many large gatherings and often discuss the Bible. Many have brought up questions pertaining to the Bible and we discuss them thoroughly. Apparently you have not have attended the gatherings or discussions while visiting with the Christians. I pray that you have a better understanding, and not criticize our church."

To the person who posted the comment, I appreciate your willingness to post. I know the internet can be a difficult place for a Christian (and by Christian, I mean all who know that Jesus Christ is their savior, regardless of what church they worship at). I truly want this board to be a place where current and ex-oalc can discuss these kinds of things without fear of repercussions.
What I am referring to regarding Bible study in the OALC is that you are not encouraged to read and study the Bible on your own. Certainly, discussion is the main event at a gathering.

Gatherings I attended attempted discussion of the Bible. You'd gather in a room, a preacher would pick a "place" in the Bible, then go around the room and ask people what they thought it meant. Either someone would eventually get the "right" answer, or the preacher would tell you the OALC answer. My recollections involve these "places" somehow referring to an oalc "Christian" specifically. I always felt empty after a gathering, because the answers usually didn't quite make sense to me. Looking back, I think it was because we weren't studying a book or topic in the Bible, but a "place". To understand what the Bible is saying about a particular topic, we can't just isolate a portion and discuss it. We need to read all the stuff around it. It is our responsibility as Christians to know the Word well enough to compare it to what our preacher/pastor/priest is teaching. If we only know what they have taught us, how can we know if they're wrong? Just because something is "all you've ever known" doesn't make it true.


From another post:

Anonymous said...
"I, too, left the OALC - Laestadian church about 5 or so years ago. I got deeply into God's Word and I THANK God for waking me up and getting me out of that cult. If you read about the 5 things that make a cult you will see that OALC is one. God's Word is supposed to make us FREE not put us into bondage with man's teachings and traditions. Jesus talks about NOT following man's traditions lots of times: Matt 15:3,6,9 Mark 7:7,8,9,13 and Col 2:8 Ezek 13. We were not encouraged to read God's Word and yet in John 12:48 it says that 'The Word is what judges you at the last day'. Every individual needs to read it for themselves. When I read Revelation 7:9 --- I knew then that it could NOT be only the Laestadians going to heaven because in that verse there is a great multitude WHICH NO ONE COULD COUNT from EVERY nation, tribe and people and language standing in white robes (saved - cleansed) before the Lamb. That is not just the OALC people. They should not be referred to as OALC because that is implying that they follow Luther. They do not. They follow Laestadius therefore are Laestadians only."

And part of an earlier posters comment:

"Do you really believe that God reserves His truth and eternal salvation for an exclusively white and primarily Scandinavian sub-sub-subsect of Lutheranism? That all other churches are dead faith? That Christ who kept company with the prostitutes now forbids you to associate with "worldlies?" That you, beloved child of God, cannot trust the brain He gave you but must submit to another person's version of the truth?"

Let's keep talking!