Christians tend to fall into two groups. The larger is those who don't read the Bible and the smaller is those who read the Bible inaccurately.
The pastor recommends The Jewish Approach to God by Rabbi Neil Gillman. (It's written for Christians and I though Matt might like it.)
We know many things through science; but, science cannot show us God.
For Paul, the Fall was turning away from true communication with God. Jesus taught knowledge of God the most important thing. But we cannot find God - God finds us.
Jesus is God finding us. The Bible makes Jesus known.
The first challenge the Bible presents is that it's the way we meet God.
The second challenge the Bible presents is how to read it.
The Bible is not an easy path to God. You have to set aside time - Bible study is not an easy fix. The meaningful things in life take time.
The first principle of Bible reading is that we understand God by looking at Jesus. The entire Bible is about Jesus. We don't look at the violence in the Old Testament as insight into God - we start and end with Jesus - the Alpha and Omega.
The second principle of Bible reading is that we need to know as much about what it meant to the original audience as we know about what it means to us.
The third principle of Bible reading is that we always have the possibility of encountering God when we read it.
The fourth principle of the Bible is that we need a plan to follow.
Read a short passage. Put it into your own words. Journal about it.
1 Corinthians 13
As the pastor read this and then shared what he wrote in his own words, he said even an 100% commitment to social justice is nothing without love. This reminds me of the song, Easy to Be Hard from Hair.
Writing prayers out is really helpful.
If you choose to live by love, then you live into a life where you are known and completely know.
Knowledge of the timeless grows out of understanding the timebound.
Assignment:
Read Galatians in NIV and the Message.
Put into your own words.
No comments:
Post a Comment