Life Verse Bibl 104 Liberty University Everyday
The 2 response posts must contain at least one quote from Everyday Bible Study. This quote should provide support for the material contributed to the original thread and response posts. Additionally, these quotes must be properly cited. Quoted material must be properly cited. You can do this simply by including something like the following after your quoted material: (Cartwright & Hulshof, p. 23). Citing specific Scriptures may also be beneficial in supporting your thoughts and ideas. You can cite Scripture by noting the passage and translation after the quoted text (John 3:16-17, NLT).
Each Student response 200 words and at least one citation
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Student 1 T B
Week One Discussion
Squares:
1. Four ideas fit with my thinking. The 1st idea discusses the dangers of adopting a “life verse” mentality regarding the biblical text. Many people read and interpret the Bible for insight into their own lives. Instead of trying to know God and understand him, many people look to the bible for confirmation of their own beliefs and own desires. We must remember the bible is not about us. It’s about God and it’s his story, not ours.
2. I agree on the importance of historical context when assessing a topic. In the example mentioned, to understand the Civil War and the topic of slavery, you would first have to understand the history of slavery in America and everything that led up to that point. The same thing goes with the Bible. To understand the stories and characters, you would first have to know the precursing events. We are all impacted by the past, and it influences how we feel about things today.
3. Having a basic understanding of the timeline in the Bible is important to comprehend the full story. Knowing how the Bible fits together gives a better perspective for the reader.
4. For the most part, I agree with the analogy between sports, music, food, and literature. To each, there are different categories, groups, and genres. The same holds for the Bible. Each book or passage has it’s own context, type of literature, and author. Therefore, once you better understand the genre of the book, you can better understand the book for what it is.
Triangles:
1. One angle I’ve never considered before is how God credits us with Christ’s righteous life. I understand that Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. But this should have no bearing on the rest of us, especially the billions of people that have lived after Jesus’ death. To me, it’s difficult to comprehend how we should inherit his righteousness. It feels like we are profiting off his sacrifice and life’s work. Meanwhile, there are people that live terrible lives and are rewarded because of Jesus’ accomplishments. I believe our own actions and life should account for more.
2. I found the historical framework to be extremely helpful. Knowing how the Old Testament fits together greatly improves my knowledge of the story. One of the most difficult aspects of reading the Old Testament is understanding the chronology and how everything ties together.
3. One of the angles I’ve never considered before pertains to the foreshadowing of Jesus’ sacrifice. I am interested to read more into the Old Testament and learn how it sets the background for Jesus’ sacrificial death.
Circles:
1. One of the questions circling in my mind pertains to the holidays such as Christmas and Easter. I agree that for many Christians, these holidays are the only times they truly reflect on the life and work of Jesus Christ. As a Christian, I question how should I feel about the holidays. There are “part-time” Christians that only go to church during these times. There are the many non-believers that celebrate these holidays. Then are also the Pagan influences, and commercialized pro-capitalistic aspects of the holidays today. With all of these things considered, I have a difficult time deciding how I feel about the holidays, and also how should I feel about the holidays according to the Bible.
2. Another question I have is about the 400 years of silence between the old and new testament. What is the reason for this break in the story, and were there any significant events that happened in this time frame.
Hearts:
1. “His plan is to rescue, redeem, and restore all that was lost”. This is the 1 idea that I loved, centering on the purpose of God’s plan as revealed in his story. Humanity was lost and desperately needed a new savior. The bible is one story leading up to life and resurrection of the savior, Jesus Christ. I love this idea, and how it explains the purpose of God’s story. There have been numerous examples of terrible atrocities committed in the Old Testament, and most people, religious or non-religious, can agree society needed to be changed for the better. The old method wasn’t working and the world needed a figure like Jesus to rescue, redeem, and restore everything that was lost in the fall of humanity.
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Student #2 E L
Discussion Board 1
Squares
1. An idea that fits with my way of thinking, is the idea that God’s plan is rescue, redeem and restore what was lost in the fall of humanity. God has a plan for us and if we except his gift, we will see it.
2. Although the Bible does talk about many peoples lives, even having entires books of the Bible discuss a single person. The Bible is God’s Story.
3. The Old testament is equally as important as a the New Testament. Things that happened in the Old Testament, create a understanding of things in the New Testament. We see expectations, the setting. They are not two separate things, they lead into each other.
4. The Bible is to help us get from Heaven to Earth. Although we see in the Bible steps to help us in our every day life. Its main purpose is to not help us choose what job to have next and who to date, but it is important that we pray and ask God to help guide us and he can open and close doors.
Triangles
1. An angle of the Bible that I have not really considered before is that the Bible is a book of stories that are woven together to tell one complete story.
2. Another angle is that, every character from the Bible is not me, and I should not strive to be like all of them. They all had their faults, as none of us are perfect. We should not read about David or Esther and think how we could be like them, but instead we should think how we could be more like Jesus. He is our greatest role model.
3. The Old Testament was written over the course of several thousand years. While the New Testament was written over the course of about one hundred years.
Circles
1. The first question that circles my mind after reading this Bible Study is, why are there so many different ways of writing in the Bible, different genres?
2. The second is, is the reason there are so many different styles of writing in the Bible because of the time period or location, each book of the Bible came about?
Hearts
1. I loved the idea that without the Old Testament, we would be lost trying to figure out the New Testament. The Old Testament helps us to have a better understanding and understand the different genres. It creates the setting for the New Testament. It gives us the basis of Jesus’ references along with the apostles.