Week Two Summary and why it’s been two weeks…

Dear ladies that are reading Bible Doctrine with me,
I apologize for the length of time it has taken me to write the week two summary. For the past two weeks we have had out-of-town company. We have had some good times, but much of what we normally do has been set aside. Our guests have traveled back to their respective areas of the country and we are slowly getting back to our routines!

My take on pages 21-26:
This book, Bible Doctrine, is written to people who already believe the Bible to be Truth and who already believe that the God revealed in it is the Creator of the Universe.

We study theology so that we can obey the commandment given by Jesus to “teach all that He commanded us.” This, of course, includes teaching ourselves with the aid of the Holy Spirit and those He has gifted to teach. We also study because because it helps us to overcome wrong ideas about God (which are prolific in our culture), helps us to make better decisions as we desire to live lives that glorify God, and also because it makes us grow.

How will we proceed? We will proceed with a commitment to prayer. With the Psalmist we say, “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” We will proceed with humility. There is nothing more disturbing than a proud believer; one that uses the Word of God just to win an argument forgetting that while God’s Word is useful for correction, it must be delivered with the hope of good for the listener. We will proceed with our reasoning skills but will submit them to the Truth of God’s Word, knowing at times there will be opportunity to believe doctrines based on faith….like the Trinity and the Incarnation. We will also proceed with help from others…..each other, commentaries, our pastor etc.

Third Assignment: Finish chapter one. Read through all the questions.

Today is the Beginning!!

Today is the beginning of a read together group of women who want to spend some time studying doctrine. Last night at our accountablility group I talked about why this is important. Often times when you speak of studying doctrine, you get a rather dull look from people. After all, doesn’t doctrine just divide Christians and make them “argue” about things when they should be loving and caring and just sharing the gospel? Well, maybe. The truth is that doctrine does cause Christians to “agree to disagree” and sometimes that is painful. However, they still should be loving and caring and sharing the gospel…absolutely. Another arguement is, “isn’t doctrine dry?” My answer to that is, “Well it could be at times, I suppose, but so are some of the foods I choose to eat because they are nutritious and not sweet and gooey like I really like!!”

So why study doctrine? Doctrine is the meat of what we as Christians believe. The fruit of studying doctrine will bring about strength in the Christian’s life. The timeless truths that are instilled in our hearts as we study doctrine will carry us when the difficult storms of life come. Storms that could rock our worlds if we did not know God according to His Word. We can cling to Truth when the earth beneath us is trembling and we can not focus.

My friends, this week’s assignment is pages 17-21. Stop on page 21 when you get to the subheading B. (Of course, you can read further if you want, but the idea is to keep the goal small and “doable” so that we continue in a steady pace and finish eventually!)

When you read you can comment here that you finished and if you want to write something about what you read, please feel free!

Excited to read with you!

If you do not have the book yet, you can read at google reader here.

Be sober-minded

This week I’ve been mulling over the admonition in 1 Peter 1:13. It says this, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

This verse was the topic of discussion last Sunday, then on Tuesday night I watched a great debate between an atheist and a Christian, and on Wednesday we discussed Sunday’s sermon in a group of 16 people….I might add one of my very favorite things to do.

For the most part I have been thinking about the admonition to be “sober-minded.” What does that mean? The opposite of sober is intoxicated, but the context of the verse is not dealing with alcohol intoxication. The context is concerning your thinking. What could I be intoxicated with that would prevent me from using my mind well? In a nutshell, me and my passions.

The gift I have been given in being able to believe God’s word is not for me and my comfort and my selfish ambitions. It’s for God’s glory and His service and that plays out in living for Him in an otherness ethic.

So to be sober-minded I should fill my mind with understanding of His ways. Some of the ways I do this is by reading…..reading some difficult and sound doctrine and really dealing with the meat of the word. I am ashamed to say that I have not read Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. I have not read The Reason for God nor the book that it was written in a response to. There are times that I am not prepared to give a sound reason for why I think a particular way because I have not done my homework.

And the reason for a sound mind, one that is prepared to discuss the meat of the word, is not so I am be “intelligent” or even respected but so that I can serve. I can serve God by serving my brothers and sisters in Christ with love and compassion (as opposed to selfish motivation….you know a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” mentality) and I can serve those who don’t believe by lovingly and gently pointing to the cross as the way of peace of with God (as opposed to being haughty, embarrassed, or simply unconcerned). Though I might add, even when the convictions that come from God’s Word are said with love and with concern for the individual, they are not always welcomed by the listener.

Why does a sober mind promote this type of living? Because a sober mind works as a result of the principles of God’s word. I loved watching the demeanor of Douglas Wilson when Christopher Hitchens ridiculed his belief in an ancient text. He was not rattled at all. He answered with the quiet assurance of a man whose mind is sober.

I do not think that I live up to Scripture’s admonition because I am not exercising my mind enough and I want to improve. So……anyone want to start a “book club” with me? I am thinking..meet once a month to discuss a “book of the month.” I know everyone is busy….me too….but I think it will help me to actually read if I know I get to talk to someone about it!!!

Conversation to Consider

As usual I met with a great group of ladies last Thursday night for some great conversation about the book, Don’t Waste Your Life.

We are almost finished reading it and will only have one more discussion time…it has been so much better to discuss this book with others than to read it alone. (Though the first time that I read it alone I got alot out of it too!)

The chapter that we read was titled “Glorifying God 8 to 5″ and he could have added “Monday – Friday” because he is actually talking about glorifying God at the work place.  I think a subtitle could be “Don’t Waste an Opportunity” because really our inability to live for Christ as opposed to ourselves is what gets in the way of being a wittness at work.

The following is a summary of what we talked about:

The majority of Christians will not be vocational ministers and/or missionaries.  They will work in the secular workplace.  So much of our witnessing will actually be people witnessing who we are, what makes us tick, how we care, and how we think about life….we set Christ on display or we make light of the gospel in how we LIVE each day. Do we blend in to the culture or do we stick out?   And if we stick out, is it because we are compassionate people of godly character or because we are loud-mouths who don’t live what we believe?

We make much of Christ at the workplace by trusting His promises at work.  We trust that He will help us to discern how to do our work to the best of our ability.  We trust that He gave us this job and therefore do not complain that we have a job and that we have to work.  We trust that the money that it provides is from Him and spend it on things that are honoring to Him, helpful to our families, helpful to others in need etc.

We make much of Christ at the workplace by being a person of Godly character.  We do not gossip about our co-workers.  We care about those that are hurting.  We are willing to overlook offense for the betterment of a situation.  We clean up after ourselves.  We show compassion, gentleness, knowledge of what we believe without being angry at those who can’t see things the way we do.  In other words we earn the right to speak the name of Jesus by first being an obedient follower of Jesus.

We make much of Christ at the workplace by being a great employee.  We apply the God-given talents that we have in order to do the best that we can.  We complete work in a manner that shows we have integrity.  We accept criticism, learn from it and then improve.  We do not lie to, cheat or steal from our employer; not in the little things and not in the big things.  Ultimately, it is the Lord Jesus Christ that we desire is honored in our work.

Even in the most difficult of work situations the Bible says…” ….they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” Titus 2

There are other points in the chapter but we ran out of time!  If you are interested, read chapter 8!

Thanks ladies for an invigorating, convicting conversation!

www.bondedtogether.wordpress.com

Science and the Bible

There are several ways to begin a conversation with someone who thinks that the Bible is just a bunch of old ideas about life and that science research has given much more reasonable answers to the beginning of life.

The major point of disagreement is summed up here:  The Bible states that God created the universe and all that is in it.  Science proposes that nature created itself and thereby seeks to explain how it did so.

First of all, it’s simply not true that science has proven that God does not exist. To be fair, science has not proven, at least in the scientific way of proving a theory, that God does exists either. This should not surprise the Christian because the Bible explicitly says that “salvation is by faith.” Therefore, Christians see the “fingerprints” of God’s amazing creative ability and intricate design EVERYWHERE they look because they know Him by faith.

However, to the unbeliever, who wants to try to understand how a believer could possibly put so much faith in an Ancient book that they would live their daily lives by it, a few things could be said scientifically.

First, some of the greatest brains that have walked the planet and that have contributed enormously to science have been firm believers in God.  Who?

James Maxwell:  Scottish physicist who is considered the father of modern physics.  To even begin to understand his equations that demonstrate how the electromagnetic force works, you need two or more years of post-calculus study! He was brilliant.  He loved God so much that he insisted that this verse be carved in Latin on the door of his laboratory:  “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.”  Psalm 111:2

Sir Isaac Newton:  We have all studied Newton’s laws.  They are standard in every physical science or physics text book because they are foundational.  He studied creation with serious intensity and with an incredible brain.  He is credited with developing calculus to explain his observations.  Newton believed that science demonstrated the handiwork of God.

To those who think that we are silly for believing that God created the universe and continues to keep it going, we can say that we stand in good company!  (For more examples read Scientists of Faith, Kregel Resources:  Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996.)

One more way to speak to the unbeliever’s “baffled mind” that we would trust that God created everything is to mention the governing laws of the universe:  The laws of thermodynamics.  No scientist disputes that these laws are governing the way the physical world is operating right now.  However, in order to get a theory like the Big Bang or evolution, these laws have to be set aside.  So, we have to “trust” the scientists who trust these theories that there was a time when things did not operate under these laws, EVEN THOUGH there is no proof that this time existed.

First Law: No matter or energy is being created or destroyed. That’s what is states in a nutshell.  So creation is complete.

Second Law:  If a system is left alone, with no energy put into it, it will become more chaotic.  (In other words if I leave a car parked in the driveway for a long time, it will rust, not turn into a fancy sports car.)  Things get less organized without the input of energy….not more organized.  Clearly this law was NOT in effect if things were evolving into more complex organisms!!  However, it cannot be proven that such a time existed when the universe was under a different set of rules….faith required to believe that.

In conclusion, I don’t think, in general, that we can or even should scare people into believing God.  I think that Christians believe in  God because they love  Him.  But…..for food for thought…..to the unbeliever, if we are right, and there is a righteous God, who governs over all the universe and judges according to His Word and has put this amazing creation here as a testimony of His existence and glory, then there are serious consequences for ignoring Him.  He is a judge and He will punish sin, sin as He defines it, not as we define it.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  Prov. 1:7

Science is a wonderful subject to study, personally, I love it and am not “threatened” that it will turn me away from the Living God.  He has given me life and peace and joy and purpose….He is my redeemer and I love Him!

(NOTE:  This is just one way to approach the question, there are tons of ways!)

Reflecting About Sin

Sunday’s Sermon convicted my heart that I am much too easy on my sin. The reason I am too easy on it is because I ignore it, excuse it away, or don’t read the parts of the Bible that point it out. The thought questions at the end of the sermon have left me thinking….looking forward to “fleshing” some of these thoughts out in small group.

Questions to think about:
1. Have I embraced a “tamable, American” god that “understands” my sin and therefore doesn’t bug me to repent of it?
2. Do I read my Bible because I want to know God or so I can feel spiritual?
3. Do I come to church because I want to worship or because I want to fellowship with good people?
4. Do I behave as a member of the church every day of my life….in other words to I feel connected to God’s people by the common bond we have in that Christ has redeemed us?
5. Do I have nothing to ask of God? Am I so self-reliant and self-satisfied that I do not need to ask Him to work on me, changing me to be more like Jesus.
6. Is my perception of God primarily informed by the Bible OR by my upbringing Or by the culture? Am I willing to change my perception of God if the Bible demonstrates that I have misconceptions of Him?
7. Am I attached to something that distorts my view of God constantly, like music, literature, T.V., etc.

Food for thought! Enjoy and may God bless you with His Spirit as you seek Him in His Word!