Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Why Not Study the Bible?

    You may think that a strange title for a post on  Bible study blog.  Obviously if you read this blog you must in some sense be interested in studying the Bible.  But I want to direct this question specifically to Christian education leaders in churches.  This is the time of year when curriculum is chosen.  Often new Sunday School classes or small groups are set up.

    In many churches most of these groups will study some topic relevant to daily living.  If you’re doing well, you will use materials that are written from a Christian perspective or at least in conversation with Christianity.  Some of you will find a book on the Bible or a study guide that leads you step by step through a passage or Bible book, and you’ll study that.

    Now I have nothing against all these ideas for study.  There is a place for all of those things.  I can hardly complain, considering that I publish some study curriculum, both for Bible study (Luke, Hebrews, and Revelation) and for specific topics such as spiritual gifts, prayer, and discipleship.

    But at some point, Christian believers need to get to work and study the Biblical text directly for themselves.  A church based small group is a great place to get started on this.

    I have a number of suggestions related to Bible study at this blog’s sister site, Participatory Bible Study.  There are many other resources online, and there are also resources in many places on the internet.

    Here are some suggestions:

    1. Have someone in the group who has previously been involved in serious Bible study.  The idea is not to have this person dominate, but to provide a check on group activities and to suggest resources.
    2. Use a variety of Bible versions in your group.  Some people try to settle on a single translation so that everyone can follow along with any reading, but if you have nobody in the group who can consult the original languages (certainly a rarity these days!), comparing multiple versions will help you get a feel for different ways the source text might be understood.
    3. Charge different members of the group with following all using different resources.  Commentaries, study Bibles, Bible dictionaries, and Bible handbooks are all useful if employed properly.  Don’t follow a single resource and simply accept what it says.
    4. If you’re using study Bibles, again try to get different members of the group to consistently use different ones.  I am distressed when students resort to “the lower half of the page” when asked what a passage means.  You may need ideas from experts, but try to get more than one.
    5. Don’t make your Bible study group into a prayer group, but don’t neglect prayer.
    6. Challenge all members of the group to engage in Bible study daily and not just try to wing it during the hour or two that the group meets.
    7. Be contagious.  Share what you learn around the church and in your community.  This is not only to provide them with the blessing of what you have learned, but to hear from them and potentially be corrected by them.
    8. Don’t start with the hard books.  I am very anxious to get Christians to study the Pentateuch, for example, because it provides so much background for how we understand the message and ministry of Jesus.  But as much as I love Leviticus, I don’t recommend it as a starting point.  I recommend starting with a gospel such as Mark.  (Many recommend John, but I think you will get more out of John if you read Mark first.)
    9. Be faithful.  It’s better to have a smaller group and commit to be there.  Showing up when you can may be necessary for some people’s work schedule, but make as strong a commitment as your life allows and then live up to it.

    I believe that if you study the Bible directly, you will quickly find that it is very relevant as the answer to those other questions about life.  The folks who wrote books and study guides on specific topics generally started by studying the Bible and then applying the principles they found to a particular issue.  It’s valuable to share the results of their study, but as you can, go deeper!

    So, why not study the Bible this fall in your church?

  • Resource Links

    Bible Reading Sites

    The Bible Through the Seasons

     

    Biblical Languages Resources

    Reader’s Greek and Hebrew Bible

     

     

  • Repentance and Servanthood (Pr 13B)

    I like to look for common themes in the lectionary passages.  If I can find a way to use all four together on one topic, that’s even better.

    Proper 13B uses 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a (I’ve already discussed why I dislike cutting this off before verse 14), Psalm 51:1-12 (and I’d prefer to read the entire Psalm), Ephesians 4:1-16, and John 6:24-35.  There are obvious connections between Ephesians 4 and John 6, especially if one includes the prior passage about feeding the 5,000.  But the question of John 6:28 “what shall we do?” is well answered in verse 29-believe (and I would say “put your trust in”) the one the Father has sent.  Those two verses can be combined with “unity of the Spirit,” “bond of peace,” and the offices that are ordained in Ephesians four with some powerful effect, I think.  We see Paul trying to implement the command of Jesus in practical terms.

    The two Old Testament passages go together even more obviously, as one can see from the superscription of Psalm 51.  This Psalm is presented as the prayer of David after Nathan confronted him with his (David’s) sin.  Psalm 51 is a powerful outline for repentance, though I think it is good to read to the end, because the final verses present us with the end result of repentance, which is service.  Many times we treat concepts such as servant-leadership as appearing ex nihilo in the New Testament, but they are, in fact, solid Old Testament concepts as well.

    I would suggest that all four passages could be combined to talk about how a servant leader deals with errors and with falling into sin.  We are all imperfect.  We all make mistakes. The real question is what we do about them.  Our political leaders like to hide their sins so that people will trust them and they can lead.  What about truly humble leadership when one is up and humble repentance when one is down?

    Servant leadership involves putting one’s trust in Jesus (John 6:24-35), following his commands and pattern of ministry (Ephesians 4:1-16), willingness to hear correction (2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a), and finally willingness to repent decisively and truly turn to a new way (Psalm 51).

    Resource Link:  The participatory study series pamphlet Repentance and Rejoicing discusses repentance based on the outline of Psalm 51.

  • Lectionary Notes

    One of my devotional practices is to keep track of the weekly lectionary texts (not the daily and often not special days during the week), and read them through daily using different versions and different reference sources.

    I keep notes online when I have time.  I haven’t publicized this very much because I have been quite irregular, but I really like to get some kind of a note from these passage on a daily basis, so I’ve added the feed to the far right sidebar.

    Today I posted on another passage where I think the lectionary cuts off in an unfortunate way.

  • Cutting out the Tough Stuff (2 Sam. 11:26-12:13a)

    I’m returning to these notes after the busiest winter, spring, and half of summer that I have ever experienced.  I wrote a couple of notes, getting back to them in fits and starts, but I haven’t been able to sustain the writing time.  During this time my company released four books, one of them in two editions.  Since I was primary editor on all of the above, I had little energy for writing new things.

    I did, however, get time to complain on my Threads blog about a bowdlerized lectionary passage.  And that is my complaint again today.  But having made the complaint, I want to talk a little bit about how one might handle a passage such as ours.

    Our Old Testament lection takes up the story of David after Uriah is dead.  Nathan the prophet is sent to him, and gets him to convict himself by telling him a story of injustice.  We end with 2 Samuel 12:13a as David confesses, “I have sinned.”  If you look at the second half of verse 13, you might wonder why it was left off.  God forgives the sin and says that David will not die, death being the penalty he himself had demanded for a similar, though lesser crime.

    But if you follow through to verse 14 you’ll find the problem.  Though David is forgiven and will not die, the child that is the product of the adultery (in the viewpoint of this story) will die.

    Now many pastors are probably very glad that this last verse is left off.  They would rather not deal with those questions on a Sunday morning.  I don’t blame them.  But the problem is this:  The passage is still there in the Old Testament.  In my experience, many, many Christians are caught unaware in discussions with skeptics because they aren’t even aware of what is actually in the Bible.  Skipping portions of stories in this fashion helps preserve that ignorance.

    Now I don’t see how you’ll handle a verse like this in a 10, 15, or even 20 minute homily.  There are simply two many questions.  How can the child be held responsible for his parents’ actions?  Did God really kill a baby in order to punish the father?  What about the death penalty for adultery?  That is so foreign to our day and age that many people may ask why it should be such a heinous crime.  After all, even fairly well known pastors and evangelists have been forgiven and restored to ministry after committing just such a sin.  The death of the baby just makes it all that much harder.

    Whatever your answer to these questions, I would suggest that if you are a pastor or teacher in the church you will need to be able to deal with them.  My preference for this is either the Sunday School hour–if one can make sure it actually is an hour!–or a Wednesday night or other study during the week.  That gives time for people to air out their questions and not just listen as the pastor explains how he or she has worked through the questions.

    My own answer involves cultural accommodation.  God is dealing with people who think in precisely the terms presented in the story.  I don’t think we have to imagine that divine sovereignty decreed the death of the child, but rather that God used the natural death of the child to teach a lesson to someone who was only able to hear in those terms.

    Once we have looked at this ancient situation, however, we should ask about God and HIV.  When a baby is born HIV positive through no fault of its own, perhaps through no fault even of its parent, just how do we see God’s justice?  What about “crack babies?”  How do we look at them?

    Difficult passages like this give us an opportunity to address difficult questions that we might normally try to avoid.  We should take the opportunity when it is given to us.

  • A Science Comedian

    … no, really!

  • Christian Carnival CCLXXXVI Posted

    … Thoughts and Confessions of a Girl Who Loves Jesus.  Enjoy!

  • A Query for my Scientifically Oriented Friends

    In an article on MSNBC’s Cosmic Log, titled How Politeness Evolved, I find the following quote:

    “It is far from obvious how turn-taking evolved without language or insight in animals shaped by natural selection to pursue their individual self-interests,” University of Leicester psychologist Andrew Colman said last week in a news release about the research.

    Now that quote just seems wrong to me. My reading suggests that “pursu[ing] their individual self-interests” would be a dangerously incorrect statement of the process of evolution. In species with sexual reproduction, it seems to me, at the minimum, there is a social aspect to reproductive success.

    The rest of the article, in fact, seems to contradict this one statement, as it suggests that social behaviors can evolve. I’m guessing that at a minimum, “self-interest” is seen in too short term a light.

    Any comments, links, or pointers?

  • Somewhat of a Calvinist?

    Having located a Peter Kirk approved quiz, Testing Your C-Factor, I decided I really must take it. The results?

    I’m “somewhat of a Calvinist.” Really? I do like the part about being “slightly hedonistic.”

    Test your C-Factor: 53%
    You are somewhat of a Calvinist.

    Some of your points of view make you look like a Calvinist. However, you live your life in a lighter way than Calvinists do, which allows you to enjoy it more.

    ID Category Score Comment
    52 Work 71% You sure have a Calvinistic working ethos. You never work hard enough; work for you is your bounden duty. You are the type of employee any company desires, but the balance between your work and private life may get disturbed.
    55 Strictness 20% You know how to enjoy life. You don't always spend your time in a useful way. Mind the balance!
    57 Sobriety 50% You were not born to be a Calvinist. Catholicism suits you better – slightly hedonistic, loose and emotional.
    56 Relationships 33% In your relationships you are not very reserved. One might say: uncalvinistic. You let yourself go too easily to be a Calvinist.
    53 Beliefs 40% You are an unconcerned believer, who doesn't worry too much.

    It seems to me, however, that often Calvinists would object to the way in which they are described in this quiz. Further, while including “digital” (perhaps better “binary”) thinking as a trait of Calvinists, the quiz authors write a binary quiz. But that is the nature of quizzes such as this. They are either so complex that nobody wants to complete them, or so simplistic that the results are of little value.

    In my opinion, of course …

  • Do We Live What We Believe

    When one edits a book, one has an extraordinary opportunity to think multiple times about some of the statements. In the case of a revolutionary book such as The Jesus Paradigm, which is in the final stages before release, there are quite a number of such sentences.

    One of these impressed me enough that I quoted it on Twitter, and also used it in an ad for another book on discipleship. It reads:

    The key to church renewal is very simple: every follower of Jesus is to live what is believed.

    Now on the face of it, it’s a fairly straightforward statement. I have very often said myself that the one tool of evangelism I would prefer above all others is a church congregation living the message of Jesus. Now please don’t bother with comments about legalism and about how we are not perfect. Certainly none of us are perfect. I’m not even close to a candidate for that adjective.

    But “I’m not perfect” quickly becomes an excuse for any level of inaction. Jesus does give commands, such as “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). One suspects that Jesus anticipated some sort of response to this command.

    So I think this little sentence expresses a critical principle of renewal in the church.

    But then I started thinking of it the other way around. This reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend who is an atheist. Somehow the misbehavior of a televangelist came up in conversation and after we discussed a particular incident, she said, “You know, Henry, if I believed in God I would be terrified to do something like that.”

    I carried that sentence in my head, and even used it in a sermon that I titled “Practical Atheism.” (It was on a Sunday night, and was one of the best attended services, if I remember correctly! Perhaps many Christians would like to know how to be atheists.) I told this story and then quoted Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart: ‘There is no God.’” I suggested that in the modern world, an atheist observing our church services–and our reactions to them–might not be a fool to say “There is no God.” He might simply be observant.

    This keeps coming back to me as I study through Leviticus again. It isn’t a popular book, to a great extent because very few people understand it. It takes lots of work to understand, and even then there is much that is very difficult.

    But there are a few themes that are very clear. First, approaching the holy is both desirable, even essential. Second, approaching the holy is dangerous. Third, God’s presence is powerful and active. Things change when God gets involved. I’m not going to develop or support these themes; I’ll leave that for another time. Suffice it to say that they seem quite clear to me.

    These days, however, I hear frequently about the presence of God. “Wow! God was really present in our worship service this morning. I could feel it!” Now don’t take me as deriding the idea that one can feel the presence of God, though I prefer to say that God is present everywhere and everywhen, and we should discuss how aware we are of his presence.

    What I do question is how God can be especially present at so many worship services with so little impact. People go back again and again to experience the presence of God and then leave and go on living in the same way.

    Either we are not experiencing the presence of God as much as we say we are, or that presence is having much less impact on us than it should.

    I’m afraid it may come back to belief. We need to practice what we believe. That’s true. But is there another dirty secret in many of our churches–that we don’t actually believe the stuff we claim. I’m not talking here about doctrinal statements or theological propositions. I’m talking about belief that there is a God and that he does have expectations, that he might get involved in our lives in some way.

    Perhaps if we become certain that this is important we can get on with discussing those particular beliefs more effectively. I don’t know, but I’d like to try.

    So let me ask one question, of myself as well as of my readers:

    Do we really believe what we say we believe?

    I think that if we do, we’re going to live it, or to express it better, let Jesus live it through us.