This week’s adult Sunday school lesson was on the way the Bible is written in story and how eastern ways of thinking influenced the way they are written. There are two patterns of thinking – the eastern way and the western way. In order to more fully grasp Scripture, it is important for believers to understand.

The west has been influenced by the Greek philosophers. Greeks are abstract thinkers. They search for truth by pulling things out of their place to study them separately from its whole. This removes the context and isolates only a piece of the whole.

The east emphasizes concrete thinking. They search for truth within its context. This is the way that original readers of Scripture would have viewed the text. Sometimes removing verses from their original context allows the reader to miss out on some important details that can give deeper understanding. The eastern way of thinking is experiential.

The western way of thinking allows us to know about something but can lack depth. When viewing Scripture through an eastern lens, the reader is saying, “I don’t just want to know about God, I want to know God personally.”

Westerners prefer abstract or conceptual truth: precise definitions, philosophical systems, etc. Easterners prefer the sensory personal experience, something you can touch, taste, smell, or imagine. The Bible is full of metaphor, word pictures, and parable to illustrate this difference.

For instance, there is no sensory component to the word Holy, but easterners will often describe God as “shepherd”, “rock”, “fortress”, “deliverer”, “shield”, “horn of my salvation”, which paints a relatable image to people seeking to describe something so intangible.

The western way of thinking engages the mind.

The eastern way of thinking engages the heart.

Both are necessary to seek truth in different ways. And, understanding the eastern view of thinking when reading the text brings a richer understanding of what we are reading and how the writing was meant to be taken.