I am grateful for the Bible memorization classes I had
to be part of at Bingham Academy. Every
morning before classes commenced we gathered to memorize hundreds of Bible
verses and entire chapters; even the books of Ephesians and Philippians. Charts were on the walls showing our
achievements. At the end of the school year prizes would be given to those with
the highest achievements. I loved
memorizing verses and usually won prizes. They rolled off my tongue like water
off a duck’s back. You might conclude that I was really knowledgeable about the
Bible but the grade on my report card in fourth grade in the subject called
“Bible” showed a glaring F. Memorizing was one thing; understanding the Bible
was another! Knowing God had not yet started either. That F, signifying
“failure”, was serious. Would I be withheld permission to pass into fifth
grade? To further complicate the matter I am a twin. Would John and I go into
separate classes? I don’t know what discussions went on behind the scene but I
was allowed to pass into grade 5. My
missionary parents must have been shocked that their daughter failed Bible.
My Muslim
friend was studying for the written driver's test. She found samples of tests with their answers
and memorized the answers. The only problem was she didn’t fully understand the
questions and answers. She could read the questions fairly well even though
many words were still not understood at all.
It enabled her to get the gist of the question and then memorized the
answer. I tried to help her to see it was important to not only memorize but to
understand what she was supposed to learn. Memorizing answers for a test may help us
pass, but it cannot turn us into a good driver, responsible citizen, or skilled
medical practitioner.
Many of my non-Arabic speaking Muslim friends are
proud of the fact that they read or memorize the Qur’an in Arabic even though
they cannot understand it. They say
their required memorized nimaz prayers in Arabic even though they don’t understand
what they are saying. They may try to convince themselves that memorizing is
what counts, not the understanding. My
Arab friends are more fortunate linguistically because they are able to
understand the Qur’an and their memorized nimaz.
There is earthly value in memorizing. Certainly it is
good exercise for our brains. We also tend to retain information we have
memorized. But memorizing without understanding is not of much value. If we cannot
understand then we also cannot apply the memorizing to every day living. As impressive as memorizing the Bible or the Qur’an is it cannot qualify us to enter heaven
or make us better people. It cannot bring us merit before God nor make
us right with Him. It can be helpful to have a conversation with our Muslim
friends about memorizing versus really knowing God. Like I experienced as a
child, we can achieve memorizing and even win prizes but fail to know God!
Dear heavenly Father, help my Muslim friends to want
to know You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
