Bells

Throughout history, bells have been considered works of art, tools of communication, and some people even ascribe special powers to them. They are hollow vessels made of clay, glass, metal or wood that when struck, produce noise… often a pleasant ringing sound. Sometimes the sound comes when a suspended dapper inside the vessel is moved, and sometimes the bell is struck with an instrument from the outside. The history of bells goes way back in time, for bells have been found in archaeological digs dated as far back in human history as 4500 BC.

Bells will often signal the arrival or a departure of someone or something. They are rung from church steeples, rung for an incoming phone call, rung from the door bell when company calls. Bells let you know when the food is hot in the microwave oven or the clothes in the dryer are dry. Bells are practical by all means but they have religious purposes too.

Buddhists are said to use bells to “clear” negative energy, and bells are often used by Wiccans to call upon spiritual entities. In the Bible, bells of pure gold, and hung in an alternating pattern with pomegranates around the hem of the high priests garment, (Exodus 28:34) mostly so people outside the holy of holies knew where the priest was even when they could not "se " him inside.

In many religions bells are believed to have some kind of magical power attributed to them, power to purify the mind, and even to ward off bad spirits or weather; but the miracle of the bell is not the tone that it makes, or what the bell is made of. The miracle of the bell is most truly the fact that we can hear it.

The human auditory system has the ability to convert the waves of sound from a bell into a form we can understand. Like a mechanical system, the physical movement of soundwaves through the working parts of the ear enables a person to actually hear words and other noises, like for example, the ringing of a bell.

In our ability to hear, we humans have mastered the art of tuning them to fine variations of intonations. The science of tuning a bell is accomplished by the meticulous turning grooves or scoring rings inside the skirt of the bell with a lathe. The skilled craftsman, practiced in the art of hearing, knows when the proper tone is reached, he knows because his ear is trained.

How marvelous is the ear! How marvelous is the ear that hears, even the trained ear that in the midst of musical bells, is trained to know the difference between one sound or note and another. The ear is truly more marvelous than even the skilled craftsman who make the bells, who hear so well and work with sounds to create and reproduce perfect and quality sound for the rest of us to hear. How marvelous it is that ears have even been created!

Jesus said, “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:9)

Like a bell, the truth rings out. In the world of religion, in all the clamoring and clanging, blessed truly are the ears that hear the church bells ringing, the Christmas music playing and the preacher preaching. Faith, we are told in Romans 10:17, "comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God."

Do we hear, do we hear what the Spirit is saying? Do you hear what I hear?

The apostle Paul stressed to young Timothy, the importance of sound doctrine. The concept is like that of a quality bell, one made by an expert craftsmen.

God has spoken throughout the prophets and through his one and only son. If we have listened know what God has said and done, then when these notes are repeated, when it is taught or spoken over and over,we learn to discern the proper pitch and intonation. Doctrine must be sound, not hollow. It must ring true and good. True to the proper pitch and key, a trained ear can tell the difference because they know what God's has said and done.

I am kinda amazed at how bells have changed the world. If you think about it, what we call "heavy metal music" today is really nothing new, for bells we made from heavy metal. Techno music is not new either... for bells were quite a technological advancement in their day, be it bronze or be it iron. And even though we live in an electronically saturated world, a world where the music of drums and bells, gongs, and cymbals flows directing it our ears carrying doctrines and ideas that ring, clash and clamor into our hearts and minds, we can have ears that hear what the spirit is saying.

So, what are we hearing? Do the words ring true and right and good? Are we hearing from heaven with clarity or have we acquired a taste for dissonance and noise?

God, the greatest craftsman of all made the ear, and Just as creating a fine sound takes a fine craftsman who knows what sound is, a finely tuned instrument handled well by a trained musician will play a finely tuned musical note. Doctrine, like a bell, a bell the ear can hear, a bell honed perfectly to suit the hearing ear, much like a craftsman's bell, will simply ring true. A bell that rings a different song or sound will be known by one, with and ear to hear.