Here Be Dragons

Today in How to Study the Bible class, Dr. Shepherd was teaching us about how to interpret the Bible for today’s application. He told us of the mapmaking techniques Christopher Columbus and his contemporaries used. They would map the areas they knew, and when they got to the end of the day’s exploratory knowledge, they would blur the edges and write, “Here be dragons.” Their point was that the unknown was scary. Who knew what was out there? They assumed the worst: Around every dark corner, there be dragons.

My mind immediately began to question old Chris’ reasoning. Why were they so afraid? Had so many gone exploring and come back mangled by dragons that they began to assume that the unknown always equals danger? Before Dr. Shepherd could quite finish his story and begin to apply it, I knew that I disagreed with the map-makers of old. Fear cripples us. We need not assume the worst. We need not dread the dragons. I do not want to live a life of fear.

Then Dr. Shepherd made his application of the story. He explained that when interpreting the Bible, we should be very cautious. We should always assume that when pushing the boundaries of the currently-held interpretations, we should use caution of the same kind as the map-makers and their dragons. When people posit, “Oh, that doesn’t apply to us today,” or, “But why don’t we try looking at this verse in a new way,” we should assume—“Here be dragons!”

Respectfully, I disagree with both Columbus and Shepherd (who each have approximately the same level of greatness in my mind). I don’t want to see dragons around every literal or figurative corner. I don’t care to have apprehension for the unknown.

I do not want to live a life of fear.