Sunday, May 13, 2012

I Learned a New Acronym

Growing up I always heard about the CoC's standard hermeneutic for Biblical interpretation: Direct Command, Approved Example, Necessary Inference. Just recently I was reading and saw this refered to by the acronym CENI. So I learned a new acronym which is always exciting. Sometimes it is refered to as just CEI. Really it should be DCAENI, but that is much harder to say and write and not as catchy.

This whole revelation got me thinking about many things including the following discussion that took place based on a Facebook post of mine. I had been reading that the Lord's Supper was to be taken only on Sunday and every Sunday. Taking the LS on any other day of the week is sinful. We had also recently discussed this in a Sunday morning Bible class. Not liking the way that sat in my stomach, I came up with this "modest proposal" hearkening back to my HS English class days and Jonathan Swift.

I didn't take all the comments here, just a couple from David and my Mom (in honor of Mother's Day). Notice how quickly I went from the "modest proposal" into ranting and didn't stop ranting even after I said I would. Only minor edits here for grammar.

For my CoC brethren (and cisterns) and others interested in needless controversies: Since the Lord Supper is to be taken on a Sunday, each Sunday, and only on Sunday (as the general CoC instruction goes) and the examples we have in scriptures would follow the Jewish time reckoning of sundown to sundown and there was no concept of timezones, should we only be taking the Lord's Supper while the sun is up in the land of Israel? Seems we should make this a new rule and put it into practice immediately based on the CENI principles we hold so dear.
Well it would change based on the seasons as days get shorter and longer but we could probably pick a time that would always be acceptable, I'll have to figure that out and codify it into the rulebook
The earliest sunset in Israel is 4:36PM local time which translates to 8:26AM CST. The latest sunset is at 7:51PM which is 11:51AM CST. So to have a constant time throughout the year, any time between noon Saturday and 8AM Sunday local time would be acceptable. Thinking of bringing this to the elders and suggesting we adjust our service times accordingly.
You're welcome to use my timezone research so that my labors are not in vain. The problem with disputable matters is that we sit around disputing them so much, we get mad and then divide ourselves into small groups call each other false teachers and unfaithful. All this serves to harm the cause of Christ rather than spreading God's love to all. Where there is grace for moral issues, there is no grace for doctrinal issues (in the eyes of many). Jesus worshiped (as was his custom) in the Synagogue which was not authorized for Jewish worship by God but their own institution. David ate the sacred bread which Jesus said was fine. The disciples picked grain on the Sabbath which Jesus said was fine. There is grace from God, just not a lot of grace among those that should be brothers and sisters. Rant off
In addition we must also take Communion on Thursday evenings since that's when Jesus started it. Afterwards we must all go out to the local park, pray, sleep and get arrested. I'll let someone else do the timezone math on when this should all take place.
Regarding CENI (Command, Example, Necessary Inference) it is just a tool. it seems to be best suited toward evaluating what we already do rather than exploring what the Bible said God would have us do or not do. You can pass practices through the filter of CENI and come out with a Yes/No answer, but you can't use it to discover new things. Also, the implied adjectives "Direct" Command, "Approved" Example, "Necessary" Inference are really squishy and can be and have been used to filter in or out lots of ideas using many legalistic machinations that make my heart and head hurt. I've been reading too many religious blogs this week.
http://oneinjesus.info/* is a blog I've started reading this week trying to spider out and find both "liberal" and "conservative" viewpoints on a variety of issues. Some of the ulta-conservative stuff I've encountered has made me sick to my stomach. Little tiny things causing such division in God's body.
David said: "So I really wonder if there are other tools, or mechanisms, or logic paths used by others for interpreting secpriture. CENI is a fairly stright forward method of categorizing ways to glean information from scriptures. Do other people use something else? IFG-YFG-LF (I Feel Good - You Feel Good - Lets Fellowship)."
Mom said: "So are you thinking something more detailed like a NT book similar to Leviticus would solve many of these disputes?"
Yes, mom, we definitely need all the rules clearly defined so that we know where to look for the loopholes. I am starting to think that CENI and the other lists we make are good for teaching simple principles but start to fall apart amid the messiness of life. 5 steps to salvation, 5 acts of worship, 4 types of prayer. All are simplified ideas pulled from a variety of scriptures but do not tell the whole story. That's the problem with living by rules in general, there are always more rules to make. And rather than finding common ground by focusing on the important stuff, we make important that which is God has not and create divisions in his church. David, hopefully this will give you plenty of sermon fodder. Bottom line, I think it is a fallacy to say that CENI or any other hermeneutic applies universally specifically since God did not give them to us.
Another recent FB status update I spewed at the world (or at least my social network):
Speak where the Bible speaks and create binding laws for everyone where the Bible is silent.
As quickly as I came to know and understand CENI, I have come to dislike it. As I said, it can be useful, but it doesn't not tell the whole story nor is it the right tool for every encounter with scripture.

*Note: http://oneinjesus.info/ that I mentioned is not one of the ultra-conservative writings that I said hurt my head. It is a very well thought out set of writings that I appreciate very much. I just wanted to make this clear as reading through the context it might seem that I was putting it down.

2 comments:

Bob Mathews said...

Thanks Matt. A few observations:

• I'm all for freedom. In fact, it was for freedom that Christ set us free (Gal 5:1). There's a reason he didn't want us to be burdened down by endless laws that no one could keep. Whatever his reason was, I'm fine with that. That said though, there's a difference between enjoying Christian liberty and ignoring our source of authority for what we do in worship. If our freedom for which Christ has set us free is authority in itself, fine. Make a case for that. As to myself, I'm just a bit uncomfortable treading into waters where my King hasn't given me the authority to tread.

• I've always thought the "Jewish method of keeping time" argument to be particularly weak, for the simple reason that this isn't Israel! We don't argue to observe marriage as they do in Israel, so let's not even pretend to use the argument of when a day started under Jewish custom as an excuse to observe the Lord's Supper on [what we call in our culture] Saturday night.

• Frankly, I'm of the belief that Jesus conducted the first communion service on Wednesday evening (well all right -- after sundown, which would have made it Jewish Thursday morning), but that point isn't worth arguing about. It's just something I've come to enjoy studying in order to learn more about it.

• To me, the biggest argument for observing communion on Sunday is because of its purpose -- to remember the DBR of our Lord. If we held it on the day he died (which I believe to be Thursday), it would certainly have meaning. That day is disputable though, so if we're going to partake on the day Jesus died, many (most?) would argue to observe it on Friday. However, Paul tells the Corinthians that without the resurrection, we are all to be most pitied (my paraphrase -- 1 Cor 15), so I would argue that it's the resurrection much more than the death on the cross that is the reason for our observance of the Lord's Supper. That argues for Sunday. That, and the fact that we have no examples of apostolic-age churches partaking any other day. One reason for that may have been for convenience, since that's when they were all able to meet together after working all day but the fact remains, this is our example.

• Although I can't in good conscience partake of communion on Saturday evening, I wouldn't point a condemning finger at you or anyone else who does that. My only question would be "why?" Why would you want to? What purpose would it serve? I know of people who attend worship on Saturday evening so they can sleep in on Sunday morning.

Anyway, if your blog and all your rabbit-chasing has served to make us think more about what it is we do in worship, and why we do what we do, then to God be the glory. It's a whole lot easier to show up at worship & go through the motions than it is to have our heart in the right place, but no one is glorified when we do that. God deserves better than we sometimes give him. ("We" = me included)

Matt Lee said...

Appreciate the comments, Bob. Most of the time I write stuff like this after I've gotten spun up about some issue. And I'm hoping that by writing this down I can 1) get it out of my system, 2) keep a record of my journey so I can look back later in life and laugh at how stupid I was.

I agree that it is a great tradition to remember our Savior's death, burial, and resurrection every Sunday (for nearly 2000 year even). It is the purpose that makes it important and special. Just like baptism is more than taking a bath or going swimming, the Lord's Supper is more than just a snack of crackers and juice.

Where I'm having a lot of trouble lately is calling sin that which God has not called sin. To me that seem like sin, but God didn't specifically say that so maybe not.

My big problem with CENI is that it makes the NI and the E equitable with the C. We have a hard enough time discerning and agreeing what the C's are, and we apply it so inconsistently. CENI is a useful tool, but it is not the only tool and cannot be applied indiscriminately across all scripture for all time. At least that's my current thinking.

Thanks for reading taking the time to respond.