Context Matters

My friend Mike Metzger of the Clapham Institute once used the following example to demonstrate how important frames are if we are to make sense of reality’s puzzle. This may seem like a head scratcher, but bear with me—there’s a definite point to this. As you read the next paragraph ask yourself: Is this comprehensible or meaningless?

A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than the street. At first it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skill, but it is easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Birds seldom get too close. Rain, however, soaks in very fast. One needs lots of room. If there are no complications it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose from it, however, you will not get a second chance.

Without any image or context to frame the sentences, this paragraph is simply nonsensical. There may be a few things here and there that hold at least a little meaning for you: perhaps you like the seashore or perhaps you’ve used a rock to anchor something. But, overall, without the frame, not only do we get lost but we also get quite frustrated, and we eventually give up trying to understand what’s being said.

Christianity is the same way. Rarely in our “Christian upbringings” is Christianity properly framed for us. There may be a few things that hold some meaning for us, but overall without the proper frame we get lost and frustrated amidst what appear to be “meaningless” dogmas and doctrines, and eventually we’re tempted to give up on it, especially, it seems, when it comes to the teachings on sexual matters. But maybe Christian teaching—whether it be on sex, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Virgin Mary, heaven and hell, or any other issue—hasn’t made much sense to us because we haven’t been given the right frame.