It has become popular over the past several years to equate the modern western word “vision” with the Biblical term “vision.” Our modern word implies a picture of the future that you pursue with passion and we are told it is quite necessary in our Christian walk and leadership roles. In Honor Academy speak, “vision” becomes synonymous with your life purpose.
In his character development class, Ron Luce preaches heavily on vision. In order to motivate interns to pray and brainstorm about their life’s purpose, he quotes Proverbs 29:18a, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” Ron expounds further by looking at the Hebrew word for “vision” which is “chazown.” Between minutes 5:00-7:00, he says this:
This word is actually a Hebrew word, which our cheap translation in English is ‘vision,’ but it really means a lot more than vision…The word chazown means that thing that you were born to do, the vision that God Had in mind when he brought you to the planet.
Does the Biblical meaning of chazown support Luce’s interpretation?
11-3-09 Character Development Part I (video has since been privatized) from Honor Academy on Vimeo.
Chazown is mentioned 35 times in the Old Testament. Click here to see the other 34 verses. Notice that 1 of these instances refers to a nightmare “night vision” and the other 33 all correspond to prophetic visions or revelations from the Lord.
Tim Challies addresses this topic masterfully by saying:
The Hebrew word that is causing all the trouble is chazon which refers specifically to a prophetic vision. This is not vision in the sense of “a picture of the future that produces passion” and only a small amount of research into the text shows this to be true. Strong suggests the following meanings:
a) vision (in ecstatic state)
b) vision (in night)
c) vision, oracle, prophecy (divine communication)
d) vision (as title of book of prophecy)None of these can be used to support the type of vision these authors are suggesting. Furthermore, “perish” does not mean “die” but rather “cast off restraint.” The meaning of the verse is clear – Where there is no prophetic vision or revelation from God the people cast off restraint, no longer faithfully interpreting God’s Word and His Laws.
We should also note that none of these authors we listed above have completed the verse. The King James renders the rest of the verse as follows: “but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” The ESV says “but blessed is he who keeps the law.” The word “but” contrasts something from the first clause and the second. Obviously, what is being contrasted is those who cast off restraint when there is no revelation from God with those who keep the Law regardless. This verse warns against turning from the revelations of God and promises blessing to those who honor Him.
Matthew Henry’s commentary echoes this sentiment. Henry interprets the verse this way:
Where there is no vision, no prophet to expound the law, no priest or Levite to teach the good knowledge of the Lord, no means of grace, the word of the Lord is scarce, there is no open vision, where it is so the people perish.
So, after a careful reading of the Scriptures, noting what the Hebrew word means and how it is used elsewhere in the Old Testament, I cannot see anything which supports Luce’s view of this word. This verse is not highlighting the importance of finding our life purpose – “the vision God has in mind for you when He brought you to the planet.” Instead, this verse is saying that where God does not speak or reveal Himself, the people go their own way and perish.
The question is why does the head of a major ministry handle the Scripture so ignorantly or carelessly? This is not a controversial or difficult verse to interpret. Luce’s supposed definition of Chazown cannot be found in any Hebrew texts or supported by any scholars.
So, is he just making this stuff up?
14 comments:
Hey i can’t watch the video it’s embedded or under a password or something…
Looks like they changed the settings so the general public no longer has access to the content. Gee, I wonder why…
i’m really shocked by how little attention this specific post is getting. [completely unrelated–i love tim challies. his blog “discerning reader” is GREAT for an opinion on whether or not a christian book is solid biblically, or just opinion]
luce’s interpretation [as well as many other mainline preachers] seems like mostly opinion to me. what’s heartbreaking is that this opinion became gospel to me and soooooo many others throughout the courses of our internships.
h.: so true. I was going to say the same thing. Good to know I’m not the only one.
No wonder Scripture implores us to not rest on the doctrine of man… this is the same mindset that leads to God as a fortune-teller. Scary.
Ha. i loved it when you said “in honor academy speak.” a well placed Orwell, 1984 reference. In all honesty, I think Big Brother and HA are remarkably similar. This post is right on point, especially with substituting the form of VISION found in that scripture with the modern form of VISION. I wonder as well as h. why this post hasn’t received more attention. When I think of the HA and the core values they impressed upon me, Vision is definitely in the top 3. I mean, I went without food or verbal communication for 3 days on the vision retreat because of the HA’s misinterpretation of that verse. All those wasted tummy growls and all that shame and guilt I acquired that weekend because I just wasn’t a strong enough Christian to understand what God wanted me to do with the entirety of my adult life. I’m remembering all those teachings about how we were supposed to guard our vision and never go for a gal unless our visions would align. I remember the strong emphasis that was placed on never asking a gal what her vision was until the last 5 days or so at the internship. Its funny, really, how I developed false ideologies from people like Ron who I’d never even met in person or had a conversation with. I just gobbled it all up.
Honor Academy Speak – you know, it was probably a bad idea to read 1984 and Brave New World with some friends during my intern year…we tried to learn doublespeak and decided that the call center’s Friday Freakout was much more like a “Two-minute hate” than we’d like to admit!
phil
I attended a Christian college for a semester, about half a year after my time at Teen Mania. My first day of New Testament class, the teacher got up in front of us and said “I’ve often heard people say that you can understand the Bible without knowing Greek and Hebrew. I have never heard anyone who has studied Greek and Hebrew say that.” I was kind of offended at the time, after all I had been drilled on the importance of Bible reading my whole life. I’ve grown to see how true that statement is, and the above situation just clearly demonstrates the fact.
I once decided to pray & fast for an extended period of time to ask God what my purpose/destiny is in this world. Do you know what He told me? “I made you to walk with me.” Love that….. He likes hanging out with me! No big pressured to-do list for my life.
Only this site can turn Ron Luce trying to help you find a purpose for your life into something negative.
Only a follower of Ron Luce can turn a man using patently false doctrine to usurp God’s place in determining the direction for your life into something positive.
Yes he does nothing but use the bible to back up his claims and it’s false doctrine. Why do Atheists come here?
@Jimmy–
1. I’m a Christian.
2. Atheists can be hurt by false doctrine too.
3. Even the devil himself can use the Bible to back up his claims (Matthew 4:5-7).
As a Christian who believes the Bible, it’s my considered assessment that Ron Luce’s doctrine is false teaching wrongly masquerading as biblical. I’m glad atheists come here, because I like everyone to see the difference between what Ron Luce believes and what the Bible really teaches.
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