Little Ideas

Sometimes I wonder if determining the Big Idea in a Bible passage does violence to the passage. I mean, we somewhat arbitrarily pick the passage length and then expect to find a thread running through it . . . What makes us so sure that the Bible writer intended there to be a main emphasis going through that bit?

And what makes us so sure that there is a main emphasis anyway? Maybe the writer wanted to emphasize a number of points equally.

And what about the the legitimacy of this approach for the less logical genres?

I get that it's probably a useful teaching device more than anything - because people can only take in one thing*. But I just feel a bit uncomfortable with it . . . When I'm preparing a sermon I can usually see a million themes and ideas and my brain explodes trying to find the main one. It ends up feeling like a bit of guesswork.


* And as Mikey pointed out, it's also a good thinking device, particularly for the beginning preacher, forcing us to think clear, simple and orderly thoughts.