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Women, The Bible, and Necessary Inference
Women, the Bible, and Necessary Inference
When it comes to religion, people throw out common sense. That is one of my observations when it comes to hermeneutics, the way we interpret Scripture.
For example, women use necessary inference as one of their main methods of communication. And yet when it comes to interpreting the Bible – and someone mentions necessary inference – a common retort is “Necessary to who?” The affront implies (hmmm), that if they don’t see the necessary inference then it must not exist. Isn’t the real answer to “Necessary to who?” that the one who made the inference (technically mplication) expected it to be understood? Therefore it is necessary to the original speaker or writer.
How do women, maybe especially wives, do this regularly and everyone accepts it? My wife emptied the dishwasher and put dirty dishes in it. Then she said, “The dishwasher has dirty dishes in it.”
Now what am I supposed to infer from that statement?
1. Don’t put clean dishes in the dishwasher? While true and a given, that is not the point.
2. Don’t leave my dirty dishes downstairs? Again true, but such would be true even if the dishwasher was filled with cleaned dishes.
3. That I should have emptied the dishwasher? While again true, that isn’t the point here. For that to be the necessary inference my wife should have said, “Someone finally emptied the dishwasher!”. Can you hear the tone in that?
Everyone already knows what my wife meant, what she inferred. That is, “Don’t put your dirty dishes in the sink, put them in the dishwasher.”
Now that was easy, wasn’t it? That’s just plain common sense.
And yet, we know a common counter argument to the above which is, “Why don’t women just say what they mean?”
Here’s the problem with that approach:
1. She did say what she meant as the above experiment showed. Everyone understood what she meant.
2. What right do I have to impose on her how to communicate? Just because someone doesn’t say something how I would, does that make it less true?
3. Women often communicate in this submissive way because they want to be responded to by our desire to please and willingness to think, instead of appearing pushed and obligated. Shouldn’t we husbands appreciate this approach?
Can you see how this again applies to interpreting the Bible? Consider Jesus:
1. Jesus often taught in parables which the apostles wished He didn’t.
2. Jesus had the right to communicate however He chose.
3. Jesus even said that the parables were for those who had ears to hear.
As you can hopefully see, when it comes to religion, the Holy Spirit communicates God’s word in a way that is filled with common sense communication. So common in fact, we see necessary inference used in every day life. So put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and put some effort in interpreting the Bible by asking, “I know this inference is necessary to God, so what is God communicating to me?”
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