How Not to Study the Bible – Prooftexting
“The one thing the Bible is not is what it is so often thought to be – a theological outline with proof texts attached.” – Leland Ryken, How to Read the Bible as Literature, 9 How did Christianity end up reading scripture as a list of disjointed and disconnected proof texts? It was developed from […]
How to Make Bible Study Practical – Perspective Issues 1
It is important, whether young or old, that we continue to tool and equip ourselves to study the Bible. So what I have to offer here on studying the Bible may be old news to some of you but hopefully there will be something for everyone. One of the driving forces in my Bible study […]
The Problem With Culturally Defined Truth
A few things that were once considered culturally acceptable by various groups: Slavery The Crusades Killing infants by exposure (leaving them to die) Murdering Jews Segregation The list could go a lot further than that but the point is, at some point in time there were large groups of people found these things socially and […]
Just Stuffing Our Faces
I was baptized by Stan Webb when I was 11 at the Lafayette Church of Christ in Ballwin, Missouri. One of the first questions I had was what I was supposed to do when communion was passed. I got some really good advice. I was told that it was a time to remember what Jesus […]
Pitfalls in Bible Study #2 – Goldilocks Theology
The more ideas you have about scripture the harder it can become to really listen to scripture. The failure to listen usually happens when you are out to make a point. So you grab a concordance or a site like biblegateway and start plugging words in the search box hoping to find a verse that […]
God Says It Better Himself – Letting the Word of God Speak for Itself
One thing I try to do consistently when teaching from a book of the Bible is to start class with a full reading of the text at hand. It is important for scripture to be heard sans commentary. While we shouldn’t read the Bible so objectively that it might as well be arranged like an […]
Gospel of John 14:5-14 – Way, Truth, Life and Exclusivity of Jesus Christ
In John 13-14 Jesus is revealing things to his disciples about what is going to happen and where he is going to have to go. These are important considerations if you are a follower, a disciple because where the master goes so go the disciples. In John 14:4 Jesus tells them, “You know the way […]
Gospel of John 16:1 – Jesus is Concerned About our Faithfulness
“All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.” John 16:1 In reading this verse this morning I am struck by Jesus’ concern for his disciples, not that they would would live to see another day but that they would remain faithful after he had returned to God. This is emphasized […]
The Old and New Testaments Have the Same Message
Fortunately over the last 30 years there have been significant voices trying to break the Christian misconception that the Old testament was a book of commandment keeping with little to do with love and grace and the New Testament was more about love and grace and less about commandment keeping. What had been overlooked in […]
Gospel of John 13 – Does Jesus Really Want me to Wash Feet?
John doesn’t give us the Last Supper/institution of the Lord’s Supper but he does give us the “rest of the story.” It was not uncommon in their day to enter a home for a meal and expect to have your feet washed by someone in the lowest position, usually a slave. The point was, doing […]