Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Learn the MOST ESSENTIAL truths for following Jesus.

Get FREE articles and audio teachings in my discipleship emails!


You are here: Home / Archives

[#11] Genesis 1:14-19 (Part 1) – Three Purposes for the Sun, Moon, and Stars

Leave a Comment

One Verse PodcastGenesis 1:14-19 contains a description of the fourth day of creation. It is also the longest description of a creation day so far, taking up six verses in Genesis 1. The only other day that receives more attention is the sixth day, in which God creates mankind.

I tried to divide up these six verses of Genesis 1:14-19 into manageable sections so that I could record various podcasts on them, but I completely failed. The end result is that I am going to take three episodes to look at these six verses, and each episode will have a slightly different focus or emphasis.

In today’s One Verse Podcast, you will see why we cannot read Genesis 1:14-19 as a scientific explanation of how the sun, moon, and stars came to be, and you will also learn from the text what three purposes these celestial lights serve in God’s creation.

The Text of Genesis 1:14-19

Genesis 1:14-19. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light to the earth”; and it was so.

Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Genesis 1:14-19 sun moon stars

In this discussion of Genesis 1:14-19 we look at:

  • The fourth day of creation and how it fits within the structure of Genesis 1
  • Why the sun, moon, and stars might not have been created on the fourth day
  • Why Genesis 1:14-19 cannot be read scientifically
  • The three purposes or tasks God assigned to the sun, moon, and stars

Resources:

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member

Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

Why Nobody Believes the Bible (Not Even You)

61 Comments

I write some controversial stuff on this blog from time to time. It often seems that whenever I do, I get a comment on the blog or over on Facebook that I am wrong because I have chosen to reject what the Bible clearly teaches in favor of my own personal human opinion. It is not always stated with these words, but that is the general idea.

I was listening to a podcast the other day where the guest on the podcast said this very thing. He wasn’t talking about me, of course, but he said that the big problem in the church today is that people read the Bible, they don’t like what they read, and so they reject what the Bible clearly teaches because they prefer their own theology over the theology of the Bible.

study the BibleI was glad that the podcast host pushed back a little bit by asking if the pastor saw any difference between “what the Bible says” and “our understanding of what the Bible says.” The pastor said he did see a difference, but then went on to show by the rest of his comments that he didn’t. He basically said that how he understood the Bible was what the Bible clearly teaches because he lets the Bible and the Bible alone inform his theology, and anybody who disagreed with him was just following their own human understanding of the text imposing their own theology on the text of the Bible.

I smiled a bit, because I used to be the exact same way. This probably could have been one of the 5 Theology Mistakes I made as a pastor.

In the last decade or so, I have come to see things quite differently. I now understand that it is impossible to “just believe the Bible.”

I Just Believe the Bible?

When someone says to me, “I just believe the Bible,” I sometimes ask them, “Which Bible?”

I sometimes get a blank stare in response to this question, for in the minds of the most people, there is only one Bible. “You know, THE Bible,” they say to me.

Most people, however, understand me as asking which Bible translation they are using, and so they will launch off into an explanation of why they read the KJV (because it has the greatest tradition), or the NASB (because it is the most accurate), or the ESV (because some big name scholars endorse it), or the NIV (because it’s the most understandable), or whatever.

I then point out that a Bible translation is not really “THE Bible,” but is simply the shortest Bible commentary that exists. A Bible translation is nothing more than a good representation of what a certain person (or committee of persons) understands the Bible to be saying. A Bible translation is not the Bible; a Bible translation is a commentary on the Bible.

bible Translations

This is seen by comparing various translations of the Bible. Pick almost any chapter from the Bible and compare it between five or six translations and you will see how translation decisions give different meanings of the text due to the words that were used.

Since I am doing a study on Genesis 1 in my podcast, I have noticed this over and over as I compare translations of various verses in Genesis 1. Some translations lean heavily toward young-earth creationism while others lean more toward an openness about when and how quickly the universe came into existence.

Another example is the NIV and the ESV translations of the Bible, which were put together by a committee of scholars who are mostly Calvinists. As a result, these translations lean heavily toward Calvinistic interpretations and understandings of the text. These translations are short Calvinistic commentaries on the Bible.

I Read and Study the Greek and Hebrew Bible?

Occasionally I will talk to someone who knows that Bible translations are biased, and so after discussing English translations for a bit, they say, “Well, that’s why I always go back and check the Greek text.”

My response is this, “Wonderful! … Which Greek text?”

Then we have the exact same conversation we had about the English translations, but this time about Greek texts. There are thousands upon thousands of ancient Greek texts, and when compared with one another, they contain thousands of variant readings. Scholars have tried to sort through these texts to come up with what is likely to be the original Greek text, but (no surprise here), there is no universal consensus.

Greek BibleIn fact, there is not even a consensus on how to decide which variant readings are the best. There are two main approaches to the Greek texts, which can be found in the NA/UBS Text and the Majority Text. While the vast majority of scholars today prefer the approach found in the NA/UBS Text, a large number of scholars prefer the approach of the Majority Text. I won’t get into the differences here, because it would bore you to tears. In case you are curious, however, I prefer the Majority Text myself.

The point is that even when people read and study the Greek Bible, we cannot say that there is such a thing as THE Greek Bible. Just as there are different English Bibles, so also, there are different Greek Bibles.

I Perform Greek and Hebrew Word Studies?

Let us assume, of course, just for a moment, that everybody could agree 100% on what the original text meant. Or let us assume just for a moment that we somehow, miraculously, discovered the original manuscripts of the New Testament (called the autographs) as written by Matthew, Luke, Paul, Peter, etc.

We still could not say that we “just believe the Bible,” because even though we would now know for sure what words were used, there would never be consensus on what those words mean. Sure, we have Greek dictionaries, but — surprise, surprise — the various Greek dictionaries do not all agree on what the particular words mean in their various contexts. Sure, there is a lot of agreement, but on key Biblical words like justification, faith, heaven, eternal life, hell, Son of Man, Christ, and numerous other such terms, there is no universal consensus on how these words are to be understood in the Greek text.

After all, we must remember that just as Bible translators let their own theology guide how they translate the Greek text, so also, the people who write Bible Dictionaries let their own theology guide how they define various Greek words. So if you use a Greek Bible Dictionary written by a Calvinist and compare it to a Greek Bible Dictionary written by a Catholic, you will get some very different definitions of what is meant by the word “justification.”

I study the Historical and Cultural Context?

One important tool that many good scholars use to help them understand how the words were used and understood by the original author and to the original audience is historical-cultural background studies. I use these a lot myself, and find them to be one of the most enjoyable and fruitful areas of biblical research.

However, as with everything else, there is a lot of wiggle room when it comes to how much historical and cultural background studies help us understand the text.

Bible study tools

Take my current studies on Genesis 1 as an example. I have read about 30-40 books on this chapter so far. About 10-15 of them have said that the original author knew nothing about the Babylonian, Canaanite, and Egyptian creation myths, and so it is unwise to draw parallels between Genesis 1 and what is recorded in those other religious creation accounts.

The rest of the scholars say that it is almost absolutely certain that the original author and audience knew of these accounts and was writing some sort of theological polemic against them.

Most ironically of all, the first group of scholars (who deny any connection) often say that “the issue has been decisively settled in our day and no reputable scholar believes in any such connection any longer.” I scratch my head at this, because I have just read a couple dozen modern, reputable Bible scholars who do, in fact, believe in the connection between Genesis 1 and the Babylonian, Canaanite, and Egyptian creation myths.

So there is no consensus.

Or take the current debate about justification. In case you were not aware, there is a big debate among New Testament scholars today about what Paul meant by justification. In some of these books and articles on this debate, it is not uncommon to see a scholar say, “Well, in Paul’s day, the Jews believed … ” and then go on to state what Jews believed. I have undoubtedly said something similar in many of my own writings and teachings.

And yet saying “In Paul’s day, the Jews believed …” is like saying, “In our day, Christians believe … ” Put anything you want after that ellipses, there is no universal consensus about it. Do all Christians believe the same thing about what happens after death? Nope. About how to receive eternal life? Nope. About the deity of Jesus? Nope. About the nature of the church? Nope.

So again, even if we were doing a “Historical-cultural background” study on our very own day and our very own culture, it is impossible to give a blanket statement and say, “Well, in the 21st century, Christians believe that …” Whatever you put there, some Christians will believe it, and some won’t.

So historical-cultural background studies are helpful, but even they will not give you absolute certainty about the meaning of any text.

The straightforward reading the Bible is a myth.

I could go on and one with numerous other issues that affect “the plain and simple understanding of the Bible” to show you that there is no such thing. We could talk about how our own culture and history and personal experience colors our reading and understanding of Scripture. We could talk about worldviews and thought patterns and logical reasoning. We could talk about the nature of truth.

study the BibleAnd on and on and on …

The point is this: The straightforward reading the Bible is a myth.

Don’t believe anyone who says, “I just believe the Bible.” They don’t.

Sure, they might believe they “just believe the Bible,” but this mindset is the greatest contributing factor to their failure to see all the areas where they are wrong about what the Bible says. The person who says they just believe the Bible may be the most dangerous person to listen to regarding what the Bible teaches because they are blind to everything that has influenced their understanding of the Bible.

It is absolutely NOT true when someone claims, “The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it.”

Again, you sometimes hear people say, “If the plain sense of the Bible makes sense, seek no other sense.” But again, there is no such thing as the “plain sense” of the Bible, for what may seem to me to be the “plain sense” completely contradicts what someone else thinks is the “plain sense.”

I still remember when I was in Seminary and I was attending a class on the book of Romans, and after class as all of us students were filing out the door, one of the students said to me, “The professor is wrong. I’ve read Romans before, and that is not what it says.”

Ha!

But that’s the way many of us approach Scripture and how other people understand it (when it disagrees with our understanding). When presented with an explanation of the text that challenges our own explanation, our immediate defensive position is to say, “Well, that’s wrong because they are importing their own human interpretation into the text rather than letting the text speak for itself the way I do.”

Don’t fall into that trap.

Disagree with the other person if you want to, but recognize that they are trying to understand and explain the text just as much as you are, and that just as you want them to listen to how you arrived at your conclusions regarding the text (and don’t say, “I just read the Bible,” because you didn’t), so also, that other person likely engaged in deep study of the biblical text to arrive at their understanding and it would benefit you to hear how they came to their understanding.

In this way, both of you can learn from each other and challenge each other to understand the text at a deeper level.

Ultimately, finally, no matter what “conclusions” you come to about the meaning of a text, never let them be your “conclusions.” Hold all your conclusions tentatively. Hold them humbly. Recognize that you always have more to learn, that you have never “arrived,” and that God may just want to reveal an incorrect belief to you by bringing this other person into your life with whom you (currently) disagree.

Why God Hides from You

37 Comments

Why God hidesHave you ever wondered why God doesn’t make Himself more obvious?

Have you wondered why He doesn’t write His name in the clouds so they say, “I Am God and I Exist! Believe in Me!” or call out to us with a booming voice from heaven, or simply just show up in all His splendor and glory?

Even when He did come in the person of Jesus Christ, He came masked in human flesh, cloaking Himself in humility and frailty.

Why does God do this?

Why does God hide?

Why doesn’t God make Himself more … obvious?

I have been thinking about this off and on for … well, just about my whole life.

I remember in my teens reading Romans 1 where Paul says that God has revealed Himself in nature so that men are without excuse, and I remember thinking, “I don’t know about that … I see evidence of God in the beauty and complexity of creation, but I also see a whole lot of evil. God’s existence and management of the universe is not obvious. If God had wanted to make Himself obvious, He should have spelled out His name in the stars or something. God should show up every 50 years or so just to prove to each generation that He is still around.”

I know that many people think that this is what God IS doing through answer to prayer, and daily blessings, and so on, but in our more honest moments, I think all of us wish that God would make His existence more obvious.

(Of course, probably no matter what He did, we humans would still explain it away somehow… we have an amazing ability to ignore what is plainly set before us… but this is a tangent I won’t follow…. )

We all want God to just jump down out of heaven and show up in front of us, and shout, “I’m here! I know what you’re going through! I have heard your prayers! I am with you! I will help you!”

But He doesn’t.

I want God to hit me over the head with a two by four!

I remember as a pastor standing out side of my house with a man from the church who struggled with alcohol. He had just come off a drinking binge and was standing there in my yard repenting and confessing and wondering if God still loved Him and forgave Him even though he had failed God AGAIN!

I kept trying to reassure this man that God will always love him and forgive him, but he wasn’t taking my word for it, nor did he want Scripture verses. He wanted God Himself to show up. He kept saying, “You know what I need pastor? I need God to hit me over the head with a two by four. I just want God to cold-cock me. To lay me flat out on my back!”

two by fourHe and I were talking next to our wood pile (we heated our home with fire wood) and there was a two by four sitting right on top … it was about four feet long … perfect for knocking someone over the head. He pointed to it and said, “See that two by four, God? Come on! Hit me over the head with it! Right now! If you exist and if you love you me, knock me out!”

God never did, of course …

But I almost reached out and picked up that two by four and hit this man over the head. I came so close. He would have gotten angry and asked why I did it, and I would have said, “God told me to.”

I didn’t do it, though.

One reason was because I was afraid I might kill him, and the other reason is because I was pretty sure he had a gun in his car. I was afraid that if I hit him over the head, he might shoot me …

The point is that I think that in our more honest moments, all of us feel like this man.

We desperately need God to show up, and He doesn’t.

God never seems to show up when we most need Him to.

At least, He doesn’t show up in any way we can discern.

We’re even willing to suffer violence at the hand of God if He would just stop hiding from us!

But instead, God always seems to be Missing in Action. Distant. Giving us the silent treatment.

It is so frustrating.

And many of us end up feeling like we have offended God. That He is angry with us and wants nothing to do with us any longer.

Why Does God Hide?

Anyway, I have recently realized why God hides … Why God does not make Himself more obvious … Why He doesn’t write His name in the clouds or knock us over the head with two by fours.

praying to GodGod hides Himself because God loves and respects us so much.

If God revealed Himself to all humanity in the way that we want, we would have no choice to believe in Him and follow Him.

If God showed up in all His power and glory — if we survived this appearance (which we probably wouldn’t) — we would be forced to submit to Him.

And God never forces Himself on anyone.

God does not want to force people into believing in Him.

He has no desire to make people follow Him against their will. God wants us to love Him, and He knows that love cannot be forced.

If He showed up in all His power and glory, it would akin to a man holding a gun at a woman’s head and screaming at her, “LOVE ME!” We call that rape.

And God is not like that. God does not rape.

He knows that forced love is not real love. And more than anything else, God desires real and genuine love from us.

God knows that if He were to reveal Himself to us the way most of us want, we would be forced into loving Him.

Terence Fretheim in his book, The Suffering of God, states this point brilliantly:

For God to be fully present would be coercive; faith would be turned into sight and humankind could not but believe. For God to be loved by people for God’s own sake, without being forced into it, requires a measure of human autonomy. Too direct a divine presence would annul human existence as a flame kills a butterfly. God must set people at a certain distance from God; whatever the intensification of presence, there must an element of ambiguity. God’s presence cannot be obvious.

Yes, this is why God hides. This is why He withdraws. This is why He retreats.

God is not silentBecause He loves us.

But even from afar, He is not silent.

Though He wants us to love Him, He first loved us, and love is not silent.

And then He woos.

He calls.

He sends “secret admirer” gifts.

He writes mysterious love notes.

He writes love songs and records them on our hearts.

Then He waits. And He hopes.

He waits for us to seek Him.

He hopes that we will search for Him.

And when we do, He begins to reveal Himself in new and exciting ways that He could not do before.

So do you want to see God? Look for Him. He is not obvious, but He is there.

And when you seek for Him, you will find Him, when you seek Him with all your heart.

God is not so hidden that He cannot be found.

[#10] Genesis 1:11-13 – Why Blood Won’t Help Your Crops Grow

2 Comments

One Verse PodcastWhen crops fail, famine strikes, or drought occurs, what are your thoughts about God’s involvement in such things?

If you lived back in biblical times, you might think that the gods were angry at you, and that to appease their wrath, you needed to offer a blood sacrifice.

People don’t do this today, but many of us still think that when bad things happen, it is because God has neglected us, or worse yet, is out to punish us for something. So we pray, and tithe, and cry out to God for forgiveness and mercy. Strangely, this response is not that much different from the ancient pagan religious practice of offering blood sacrifices.

In both cases, we think God is mad at us and needs some sort of sacrifice or offering to love us and forgive us and accept us once again.

In this One Verse Podcast study, we look at Genesis 1:11-13 and see that God doesn’t want blood and He doesn’t want tears. All He wants is for us to know how much He loves us.

Stick around to see how Moses teaches this by writing about plants, trees, seeds, and fruit.

The Text of Genesis 1:11-13

Baal cycle and Genesis 1 11-13Genesis 1:11-13. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

In this discussion of Genesis 1:11-13 we look at:

  • Why Moses wrote so repetitively about plants and trees reproducing after their kind.
  • What the ancient Canaanites believed about how plants and trees grew.
  • How God’s creation of plants and trees shows us that He is only looking out for our good.

Resources:

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

5 Theology Mistakes I Made As a Pastor

34 Comments

All of us have major problems with our theology.

And the sooner we recognize that our theology is not perfect, the better off we’ll be.

Of course, the trick is knowing where you theology is wrong.

Though I am certain I have problems in my theology right now, I do not know what these problems might be. If I knew, I would change my views.

This is why it is important to always be talking with others, reading the ideas of others, and thinking about theology and how it relates to life.

As a result of my own theological study and research, a lot of my theology has changed over the past fifteen years. Below are five of the main mistakes I made in my theology when I was a pastor.

1. I expected everyone to study the Bible and read theology.

theology mistakesSince I love to study Scripture and read theology, I believed and taught that every Christian should do the same.

I saw how much spiritual benefit I received from reading and studying Scripture and theology, and I assumed that everyone else would get just as much benefit from these practices as I had.

I also believed that people could not really come to know God unless they diligently studied Scripture and read widely from theology.

Looking back now, I see how wrong I was.

I now see that God has made Himself known to little children and to those who may never crack open a book of theology or read a chapter from the Pentateuch. I have encountered people who know more about God and how He works than I have ever hoped to know of God, and they have never read the Bible all the way through, nor do they even know what the word “theology” means.

I have now come to see that I enjoy reading and studying theology because this is partly why God put me on planet earth. I have gifts, talents, and abilities in the realm of Bible study and theology. But not everyone has these same gifts, and therefore, not everyone has these same interests.

Therefore, not everyone needs to read the Bible or study theology. And even when they don’t many of them will have a better knowledge and understanding of God than I ever will.

2. I took theology and Bible knowledge way too seriously.

I used to think that theology was a serious subject, which required sound thinking, sober minds, and no laughter or joy. I have since found that this is a common disease among theologians.

We tend to think that since we are “talking about God,” we must do so with all seriousness.

Now, however, I sometimes think that God gets just as bored with our serious theological discussions as would anyone else (except theologians). Furthermore, God does not really care for how seriously we take the words that come out of our mouth.

I now believe that we all need to lighten up about our theology.

I sometimes imagine there is a “Comedy Hour” in heaven where God and the angels read through all the things we Christian theologians preach and teach and write about. As I wrote a while back, in talking about God, we are like an oyster on the bottom of the sea trying to philosophize about ballerina knees.

I am not saying that our theology needs to be full of hilarious jokes and creatively told insights and stories. No. Just because Jesus told stories, this does not mean we should as well.

Instead, what it means is that we need to take ourselves less seriously. I need to take myself less seriously.

I know that just as much of what I believed in the past turned out to be seriously wrong, so also, much of what I believe right now might turn out to be wrong as well.

mistakesSo I do my best. I study hard. But I hold my conclusions lightly.

And when I get a chance, I laugh. I laugh at Christianity. I laugh at church. I laugh at myself. Why? Because theology needs more laughter.

3. I thought that truth trumped love

While I always tried to be loving in what I said and did, as I read back through some of my old sermons, I find that I often erred in being so focused on truth, that I was not very loving.

I believed that the foundation for love was truth. And so while Paul instructed the Ephesians to find the balance between truth and love (Eph 4:15), I believed that the most important thing was truth. After all, I thought, it is never loving to withhold the truth.

I thought that it was preferable to speak the truth, even if it hurt, than to withhold the truth in the name of love.

I understand my logic, but I think that I often used such logic to say unloving things and treat people in unloving ways.

Today, while I do not condone falsehoods or lying, I try to err more on the side of love. I have discovered that some truth simply aren’t worth saying.

Besides, I have a view of truth which helps me see truth in almost everything.

I have noticed as well that Jesus wasn’t much of a stickler for orthodoxy. He was more than willing to contradict traditional theology to extend love. I try to follow His example and let my personal theology go out the window if doing so will help me love someone else.

4. I believed truly dedicated Christians regularly attended church

I still remember how I viewed the people in my church who only attended our Sunday morning service. I was grateful they came, but I knew, deep down in my heart, that if they were really devoted to following Jesus, they would also come to Sunday school, the Sunday evening service, the Wednesday evening Bible study, and the Saturday morning prayer meeting.

At least they came to the Sunday morning service though.

Which was more than could be said for the “so-called” Christians in town who didn’t attend any church at all!

There were several families I was aware of who said that they were following Jesus, but didn’t attend any church. I remember thinking how sad it was that they could be so deluded and deceived. After all, nobody could truly follow Jesus if they didn’t attend church!

I now realize how wrong I was.

theology mistakes to avoid

Some of the greatest followers of Jesus I have met over the past fifteen years have not “attended church” in decades. I have now come to see that while church attendance is helpful and beneficial for a good many Christians, it is unhelpful and damaging for a good many more.

This does not mean that those who do not “attend church” are not part of the church; they are. In fact, it may be that many of those who do not attend church might be more active in the church than those who do attend.

Church, after all, is not the event that takes place in a brick building on Sunday morning, but is the people of God who follow Jesus into the world (See my book, Skeleton Church).

Following Jesus and being the church is not about sitting in a pew on Sunday morning (though for many it might include that), but is about being Jesus in the world.

5. I believed the goal of the Christian life was to get rid of sin.

To put it another way, I believed that God was in the sin management business. I believed that God was looking down on planet earth, wringing His hands in frustration (and even anger) at how bad we had messed things up.

I believed that the reason God gave us Scripture, and the reason God sent Jesus to this earth, was to tells us how to live “right.” I believed that God’s primary goal for our lives was to get us to stop sinning.

Today, I don’t believe God is nearly as concerned about sin as we are. I believe that sin is just not that big of an issue for God. If there is something God is concerned about, it is religion, which presents an ugly portrait of God to people and tells us to worship this ugly portrait “or else.”

And while sin is destructive and hurtful, I think that God would rather have us sin a little than live smug religious lives of self-righteous arrogance.

Bonus Item: 6. I believed that God was violent.

I used to teach that everything the Bible says God did is in fact what God actually did.

While I still hold to the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, I now view things a little bit differently (I have a book coming out soon which explains more).

I no longer believe God is violent in any way, shape, or form. I do not believe God engages in violence or commands His people to do so. I believe that, if Jesus reveals God to us, then God is, by definition, non-violent.

This understanding, of course, has made me rethink a lot of other areas about theology, including how I read Scripture, but this entire topic is too huge to summarize in this post (which is already too long).

So those are some of the theological mistakes I made as a pastor. I imagine I am making more mistakes right now, but time will tell what those are.

How about you? What theological mistakes have you made in your past? What do you believe now instead and how did the change come about? Let us know in the comment section!

The Question is not, “Is the Bible True?” but rather, “How is the Bible True?”

26 Comments

Thinking about the nature of truth helps us understand how the Bible is (and is not) true.

And don’t get nervous … I believe all the Bible is true … but you need to read on to discover what I mean by this.

Beginning with Truth

There are different types of truth.

There is logical truth, scientific truth, historical truth, relational truth, poetic truth, and yes, even universal truth. There is a lot of overlap between some of these types of truth, but there are also some areas that might be true in one category, but not true in another.

Various Types of Truth Claims

what is truth

For example, the statement “2+2=4” is mathematically true, while the statement “I love my wife” is relationally true. But I cannot use mathematics to defend the truth that I love my wife, so the statement “I love my wife” is not mathematically true.

Then there are statements which are true for some and not true for others. The statement, “Halloween is a day on which children get candy,” is true for children who go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween, but is not true for those who don’t.

Many historical truth claims are true when they are made, but are not true later. For example, “King George is the King of England” was true when he was king, but is no longer true today.

Then there are experiential truths and truths from a certain perspective. Consider these two statements: “The sun rises in the east. The sun rises in the west.” Which statement is true? Everybody would agree that first statement is true. Yet from a scientific perspective, the sun does not rise in the east. This is an illusion based on our experience of seeing the sun rise up out of the Eastern horizon. Scientifically, however, the sun is stationary and the earth rotates around the sun.

Of course, even that is not a scientifically true statement, since in reality, the sun is not even close to stationary. The sun it is moving through the Milky Way galaxy at a speed of 450,000 mph. And when you consider that the Milky Way galaxy is moving toward the Andromeda galaxy at a speed of about 150,000 mph, and the earth is moving around the sun at a speed of about 70,000 mph, what this means is that when you were a child and your mother told you to “Sit still” you were still moving at a rate of about 670,000 mph.

So as you sit there reading this text, are you sitting still or are you moving?

You might say, “Well, I’m sitting still relative to my chair, but not sitting still relative to the universe.” Fine. Except that even relative to your chair, you are not sitting still. For the word “still” means “absent of all movement.” Yet your blood is moving, your eyes are blinking, your cells are reproducing, and your molecules are vibrating around like crazy. You are not remotely “still.” So you see? The truth claim that you are sitting still relative to your chair requires even further clarification to be truly true.

This dilemma about truth becomes even more convoluted when we begin to discuss history, poetry, and literature.

The statement, “I ate porridge for breakfast this morning,” is a true statement (Relative, of course, to how I am using the words “porridge” and “morning.”) But if I say, “The porridge was good,” we now have a truth dilemma. What do I mean by “good”? I could mean that it tasted good, or that it was morally good, or that it was not rotten, or maybe that it manufactured and sold by a company named “Good.”

And what about the statement, “I will eat porridge next Monday morning?” It is my plan to eat porridge next Monday, but does this plan make the statement true today? In other words, can a statement about the future be true?

Then there is the language of poetry. Take this statement: “The color of love is red?” Is that true? Yes, it is true. But not from a scientific, or logical, or mathematical, or historical perspective. Love has no color. And in fact, what exactly is “red”? For that matter, what is “love”? (Baby, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more!)

Or take fiction and literature as an example. Here is a True or False question for you to answer: Aesop’s Fables are true.

Well, of course they’re false! In fact, the word “fable” means “myth” or fictional story, which by definition, means they are not true.

And yet Aesop’s Fables contains some of the greatest truths in literature. Truths about greed, teamwork, hard work, and self-discipline. So in this sense, Aesop’s Fables are amazingly true.

Enough with all this though. I hope you see that the truthfulness of a statement depends almost entirely on the type of truth statement it is, the context in which it is said, and numerous other factors.

So what about the truthfulness of the Bible?

The discussion above is why it is so difficult for some people to answer the question, “Is the Bible true?” Is that question referring to scientific truth, historical truth, relational truth, mathematical truth, poetic truth, or some other type of truth?

Initially, the answer to all these questions seems to be “Yes.” Many would state that “No matter what type of proposition or claim the Bible is making, it is true.”

is the Bible true

Okay, let’s consider a few examples.

Earlier in this post, we talked about mathematical and scientific truth claims in the Bible.

In my One Verse Podcast, we have been looking at some of the claims in Genesis 1 (which some people believe are scientific truth claims … but I don’t). In Genesis 1:6, we read that God placed a firmament in the sky to separate the waters above from the waters below.

As I pointed out in the podcast, the word “firmament” means a hard dome. So is it true that there is a hard dome up in the sky which holds back a heavenly ocean from falling upon us?

Well, no, this isn’t true.

Ah, so then the Bible has errors?

I do not believe so (as I explain the Podcast). While Genesis 1:6 may not be scientifically true, there are other ways that a statement can be true. The key is figuring out how Genesis 1:6 is true.

Take the truth claim of the Bible that “God is love.” Is that true? Well, of course it’s true. But it is not mathematically or scientifically true. It is relationally true. It is a statement about God’s character and nature.

Or what about the numerous statement in the Psalms about how God looks and acts? I just randomly opened to the Psalms and found the statement in Psalm 68:4 that God rides on the clouds. Is this true? If you look up at the clouds and see them moving across the sky, is God up there riding across the sky on the clouds like a person rides a horse? Or maybe God is into cloud surfing the way people surf waves?

No, of course not. Psalm 68:4 is poetically true, describing the glory and majesty and power of God.

Or how about the parables of Jesus? Are they true?

Well, of course they are true!

But was there really a landowner who went away and when he sent back servants to receive the income from the land, the tenants of the land killed all the servants? And so the landowner finally sent his son, thinking the tenants would listen to him, but instead, the tenants killed the son as well? Did that really happen? Maybe … but its highly unlikely, and the reason Jesus told this parable, was not to teach a historical truth, but to teach a theological and relational truth about his own mission and ministry.

the truthOr take prophecy. Are prophetical statements about future events true? Well, they do reveal divine intent, and since God can bring about what He intends, we could say that prophetical statement are more true than the statements about any human intent, but again, are statement about future historical events actually true before they occur?

We could go on and on, but here’s the point:

The question is not “Is the Bible true?” but rather, “How is the Bible true?”

Asking that second question is key in properly studying and understanding the Bible.

This sort of approach to Scripture allows us to take a more nuanced view of the doctrine of inerrancy.

I Believe in Inerrancy

Biblical Inerrancy is loosely defined as the idea that the Bible is without error. That everything on which it speaks, it speaks truly.

I agree with this.

I believe the Bible is true. I believe every word of it is true.

And in fact, I am going to go further than most inerrantists I know. I believe the Bible is more true than most of them believe.

Most inerrantists qualify their belief in the truth of the Bible by saying that the Bible is without error in the original manuscripts. That is, most inerrantists only believe the original manuscripts of the Bible are inerrant. They freely admit that the manuscripts which we have now are full of errors.

But I do not qualify my belief in the truth of Scripture this way at all. Because of how I understand truth, I believe the Bible is true more than inerrantists do.

While I do believe that the original manuscripts were completely true, I also believe that the copies of these original manuscripts are completely true, and I believe that all translations and Bible versions are completely true, including not only the KJV, but also the NIV, the NASB, the Message, the Living Bible, and even translations into Swahili or Klingon. Yes, did you know there is a Klingon version of the Bible? There is. And I believe it is true.

I know these sorts of statement will make people mad, but here’s the thing: I believe that these debates about who truly believes the Bible and who doesn’t are just the smoke and mirrors of religion.

Debates About Inerrancy are Debates for Control

Debates about inerrancy are nothing more than ways for one particular group of religious leaders to manipulate and control their followers into submission and to keep them from listening to the ideas or teachings of another group of religious leaders — who, incidentally, use the same arguments to control and manipulate their followers to keep them from listening to the first group!

It is a powerful argument in the minds of many to be able to say, “I am right and those people over there are wrong because they don’t believe the Bible, and so you better listen to me.” But every time I hear this sort of language coming out of a teacher or a ministry, I run away faster than I would run from a roaring lion.

But if my understanding of what the Bible says is different than your understanding of what the Bible says, you cannot say that I don’t believe the Bible is true, for I do. I simply believe that the Bible is true in a different way than you believe it is true, and I believe that the truth claims it makes are different than the truth claims you believe it makes.

The claim, “You don’t believe the Bible is true” is nothing more than a smokescreen put up by manipulative religion to discredit or ignore a challenging teaching or idea about the Bible which disagrees or contradicts what that religion teaches. This accusation is played as a trump card, but it turns out to be nothing more than a joker.

But if we can stop arguing about inerrancy, we can return instead to what has true value, which is actually discussing the biblical text itself. We can talk about how a passage is true, even if we know it is not scientifically or historically true.

Does this way of thinking help you know that you can trust Scripture as true? I hope so. Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments below.

[#09] Genesis 1:11-12 – Was there Death before the Fall?

11 Comments

One Verse PodcastThis episode of the One Verse Podcast might be the strangest one yet. We’re going to talking about oceans of bunnies and mountains of spiders, and what both have to do with Genesis 1:11-12.

If you want to hear something you’ve probably never heard before, listen to the Podcast below!

The Text of Genesis 1:11-12

Genesis 1:11-12. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

day3creationplantstrees

In this discussion of Genesis 1:11-12 we look at:

  • Why there are two actions of God on Day 3 of Creation.
  • How Day 3 serves as a literary “hinge” between Days 1-3 and Days 4-6.
  • Whether there are 1, 2, or 3 types of plants mentioned in Genesis 1:11-12.
  • What it means for plants to bear seed “after their kind.”
  • Why death is necessary for creation to properly function.
  • What the plant cycle before the Fall teaches us about spiritual cycles in our own lives.

Resources:

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member

Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

Why you shouldn’t suffer for Jesus

18 Comments

I hear a lot of religious talk about how following God will lead to suffering and pain. How we must sacrifice ourselves for Jesus. While I do not at all deny that the New Testament does speak with this sort of language (cf. Rom 12:1-2), and while I completely agree that following Jesus will lead to troubles and trials (John 16:33), I think that religion sometimes places too great of an emphasis on the pain and the sorrow, and not enough emphasis on the joy and contentment.

Let me put it another way. I sometimes hear people say, “Jesus suffered and so should you.”

I’m just not so sure this logic is sound, nor am I sure it is biblical.

suffering for Jesus

To say that we need to become more like Jesus by following Jesus into suffering is like saying that we need to become more like God by following God into creating the universe.

Good luck with that…

While we certainly can be creative, none of us will ever create the universe.

Similarly, while we certainly will suffer in this life as followers of Jesus, Jesus does not call us to suffer as He suffered.

Yes, I know that we are to take up our cross and follow Him.

But to take up your cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23) is to take up your cross, not His.

take up your cross and follow JesusHe already carried His cross. He doesn’t need or want or call us to carry His cross. Jesus carried His cross so that we would not have to. (Yes, yes, Simon carried it for him for a while, but when we talk about Jesus carrying His cross, we’re not actually talking about Him carrying it, but about His death and suffering upon the cross…)

Jesus did not suffer and die so that we could follow Him into suffering.

I believe this sort of misapplication of the death of Jesus only grieves Jesus deeply.

Imagine if a criminal broke into your home and gave you the choice of torturing you or your child. You would obviously choose to have the criminal torture you to death. But what if, as your child grew up, they wanted so much to be like you, that they decided to start seeking out people to torture them? Is that why you chose to be tortured instead of your child? So that they could imitate you and become tortured also? No! You took the torture so that they could live free of torture, and it would grieve you if your child thought that by you taking torture for them, they had to be tortured themselves in order to be like you! You died so that your child might live!

So also with Jesus. Jesus died so that we might have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10). Jesus died, not so that we too might die as He did, but rather, so that we might live as He did.

So don’t follow Jesus into suffering.

suffer with JesusYes, in this world, you will have troubles (John 16:33). But that is because this world is full of troubles. Jesus didn’t want you to think that by following Him, you would escape all troubles. No, you will still have troubles, but you can bear them with the knowledge that they will lead to opportunities to glorify God and serve others.

Remember that people who do not follow Jesus also have troubles. But without the knowledge that God can use even their troubles to transform lives and bring restoration, redemption, healing, and hope, many people allow their troubles to get the best of them, and they turn to drugs, alcohol, entertainment, sex, or even death as an escape from their troubles.

Not so with the follower of Jesus! Our troubles are no different from the troubles of others, but we can redeem our troubles, knowing that God will use them for the good.

That is the only real difference between the troubles we have as followers of Jesus and the troubles that people face who do not follow Jesus.

We Christians sometimes adopt a martyr mentality, where we think our troubles are so much worse than the troubles that non-Christians face. But if you spend any amount of time in the lives of non-Christians, you will soon come to realize that this is not true.

All people face troubles, because this world is full of trouble and pain and sorrow and sickness and death.

everybody hurts

The thing that separates the follower of Jesus from the non-follower is not a lack of trouble or more troubles, but rather the fact that we believe God can redeem our troubles and use them for the good.

In fact, when we talk about suffering with Jesus, it might be best to realize that this does not mean that Jesus is calling us to suffer for Him. No, it means that when you suffer, Jesus is with you in the suffering. He does not send pain and suffering upon you, but rather walks with you through the pain and suffering when it comes.

This is what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus. It means to imitate or follow Him, but not to copy Him. It means to view our suffering and troubles the way He viewed His … as something that God can redeem. Jesus did not want to suffer and die (and more than we want to experience the suffering and pain of life), but He knew that His suffering would result in the greatest revelation in human history.

Similarly, our troubles can also result in a revelation.

Revealing Suffering

When we walk with God through the pain and suffering of life, we gain a clearer picture of who God truly is, and especially, who we truly are. We also gain a picture of how we can walk with other people through their pain and suffering … NOT by quoting Bible verses at them and pounding them over the head with fear, guilt, and shame about the judgment and punishment of God, but by simply being with them, crying with them, serving them, and loving them, as God does for us.

But make no mistake. Just because God redeems pain and suffering, this does not mean that suffering is good. Suffering is bad.

God does not want anybody to suffer, nor does He send suffering on anybody.

But in the wisdom of God, good can come out of bad suffering. Just as the glorious gifts of redemption, reconciliation, and revelation came from the badness of the cross, so God can bring good out of the bad things that happen in our life as well.

To imitate Jesus is not to imitate Him in His suffering, but to imitate Him in His love.

To become like Jesus is not chase after pain and rejection from others, but to chase after opportunities to serve others like Jesus.

How I Study the Bible (in 10 Steps)

14 Comments

Since I have a lot of my sermon manuscripts online from when I was a pastor, and now that I have started a Verse-by-Verse Bible teaching podcast, I occasionally get an email from somebody asking what approach I use to studying the Bible, and what Bible college or seminary they can attend to learn these things.

So this post provides a few short points about how I study the Bible and how you can too.

But before I get to that, let me just say that unless you are going to get a job that requires a seminary degree, you probably don’t need to attend Bible college or seminary. It’s just too expensive and time consuming, and for the most part, you can get the same information you would get at Bible College and Seminary by reading some good books.

But aside from that, here are the 10 Steps I use to study the Bible. These did not come from Bible college or seminary, but are something I put into practice over the course of writing and studying Scripture on my own.

study the Bible

1. Buy Good Bible Study Resources

The first step is to make sure you have some good resources to help you in your study. You need good books, commentaries, lexicons, and Word-study resources.

LogosBibleSoftware2In my current Podcast series on Genesis, I not only use a lot of the Bible study tools available through Logos Bible Software, but I also have over 30 additional commentaries and books I consult for each and every show.

Yes, Bible study can get expensive. I easily spend a couple hundred dollars on Bible study resources every time I start out to teach through another book of the Bible.

And yes, Bible study can be time-consuming. I typically spend about 8-10 hours of preparation time on every sermon or podcast I teach.

But listen, there is something SUPER important I want to say about Bible study resources once you have bought them… and it is this:

2. Don’t Use Them! This Is Key!

I cannot tell you how critically important this is.

I firmly believe that a failure to follow this step is the number 1 reason why most Bible studies and sermons you hear from various pastors are lifeless and dead.

If you want your sermons or Bible studies to have life and vibrancy and creativity, you must make sure that no matter how many Bible study resources and commentaries and books you have purchased, that you never, ever, EVER open them.

Wait.

What?

Step 1 was to buy good Bible Study resources. Step 2 is to never use them?

Yes.

At least … and here’s the key … you must not ever read them or use them or open them until AFTER you have finished studying the text and writing out your sermon or Bible study. Your sermon or Bible study must be completely done and ready to teach BEFORE you crack open a single book or commentary.

I cannot emphasize this enough.

There is nothing that will steal the life from your sermon faster than when you rely on commentaries and Bible study resources to tell you what the text means.

The life and vibrancy of any sermon comes from you struggling, praying, and sweating over the text for hours on end. The life of your Bible teaching is found by beating your head against the text on your own until it makes sense to you. The joy of self-discovery in the biblical text leads directly to the joy of teaching the text to others.

If you abort this process of yelling at God about why this text is so difficult to understand, you will never experience the joy that comes when God, by His Holy Spirit, opens your mind and eyes to the meaning of the text, and without this joy of having God teach the text to you, you will never be able to have true joy in teaching the text to others.

So resist, resist, resist the urge and temptation to turn to commentaries too quickly. Complete steps 3-5 below before cracking open a single book.

3. Study the text you want to teach

What text you study and how you study it all depends on your personality, the personalities of the people you are teaching, and the genre of the text itself.

If I am teaching a narrative, my sermon will take a more narrative approach. If I am teaching one of Paul’s letters, my sermon will take a more informative approach.

I read over the text a lot. I read it in its context. I write down some main points and initial observations or impressions of the text.

Somewhere in this process, I get a sense of what the text is about, and what I want to say about it. I begin to organize these thoughts in a logical way and write them down on a pad of paper or in Microsoft Word.

4. Keep studying the text you want to teach

This is a repeat of step 3, because this step is so important, and it takes the longest. Just keep studying the text. Thinking through the text. Looking at the words in their context. The sentences in their context. The paragraph in it’s context.

Two books, by the way, you ARE allowed to use at this point, might be a Bible concordance and Bible dictionary. If you want to look up what a word means or where it is used elsewhere, this is the place for that. And unless you have the Bible memorized, and know exactly what every word means, you sort of need a concordance and Bible dictionary to help you out.

5. Manuscript your sermon or lesson

This is a critical step for me as well. I manuscript my entire sermon or Bible study. Every word gets written down.

This doesn’t mean I am exactly going to use the manuscript when I teach the sermon or Bible study (I am definitely NOT going to read it!), but this stage of Bible study is important to me for several reasons.

First, typing out what I want to say helps me think logically through what I want to say. Almost always, what makes sense in my head ends up making no sense at all when I see it on the screen in front of me. So this helps me thing through exactly what I want to say and why.

Second, typing out what I want to say helps me sense the flow of the sermon or study. For example, the idea that I will simply transition from one point to another becomes much more difficult when I actually try to type it out.

Third, I can better judge the length of a sermon or manuscript if I type it out. The way I manuscript my sermons, I know that it takes me about five minutes to get through one page of text. So if I have 8 pages, that sermon will be about 40 minutes.

Fourth, manuscripting a sermon makes it super easy to preach that sermon in another place at another time if I ever want to. I can just pull it out, review it, and I’m good to go. Also, if I want to know what I said about a certain text, the manuscript helps with that. Also, now that I am putting my sermons online, it’s easy to just publish the manuscript. Also, as I write more books, I often find that I can pull sections out of previous sermons and include them in the books I write. Also (are you getting the picture here?), as I change the way I think about a text or how I understand it, it is easy for me to go back and update an already-existing manuscript.

Anyway, write it out.

6. NOW, Turn to your books and commentaries and Bible software

Okay, after you have completely finished your study and have written out your manuscript and are ready to teach what you have learned, this is when you should consult your books and Bible commentaries and Bible study software. You are now in a position to benefit from what these books say, or to argue with them and disagree (as often happens).

Read them all. Read widely. Even (especially!) read those books and commentaries you know you will disagree with.

bible commentaries

If you are a Calvinist, read commentaries from Arminians or Catholics, and vice versa. If you are liberal, read conservative commentaries, and vice versa. Be challenged by what you read. Stretch your mind and your thinking.

After all, if you are wrong, don’t you want to know? And if you are right, what is there to fear from reading voices that disagree? Doing so will only help you know the opposing arguments, and how to refute them, which makes your view stronger.

7. Add, adjust, change your manuscript as necessary

As you read books and Bible commentaries, add further notes, quotes, or insights from these commentaries to your manuscript.

This is okay to do at this stage, because you have done all the hard work on your own first. Rather than relying on others to do your work for you, this is only making your work even better. If you find that others arrived at the same conclusions you did, feel free to add footnotes to your manuscript so that you have support for your views, and also so that you can later go back and find what others have said.

If what you read contradicts what you discovered on your own, you must weigh the arguments that are used against the arguments you used, and decide which view is best. If you realize you are wrong, this is fine, for you just learned something. Change your manuscript to incorporate the correct view or explanation.

Occasionally, as a result of waiting until this point to consult the ideas of others, I have had to throw out entire sermons. I remember many times as a pastor, staying up almost all night on Saturday night rewriting and redoing my entire sermon because of something I found written in a commentary. But that’s the way it goes.

8. Sleep on it.

After you have finished studying the text, writing your manuscript, and consulting the ideas of others, put it away for at least one night before you teach it.

Oftentimes, as you sleep, your subconscious mind (or call it your Spiritual mind) sorts through the teaching to come up with insights you hadn’t thought of before, or solutions to problems you couldn’t understand, or things that you need to take out of your sermon or Bible study lesson.

For me, it is the latter that happens most often.

Quite frequently, when I get up in the morning, as I think through the sermon or Bible study lesson I had prepared during the previous days, I visualize the manuscript of the sermon and it is almost as if I see black Xs over certain parts that I need to cross out.

Why? Well, maybe it is because those sections are confusing or unnecessary, but most often, it is because those sections are religious.

how I study the BibleThe sections I most often feel uneasy about after a night’s sleep are the sections where I am trying to manipulate and control people with guilt, fear, or shame. They are the sections that sound judgmental. They are the sections that were included to boost my ego and pride.

I think, “Is that illustration really necessary, or am I just trying to play with people’s emotions to get a reaction out of them?”

I think, “Is that use of a Hebrew word really necessary, or did I include it just to show my hearers that I know Hebrew?”

I think, “Is that application going to help people live in the love of God, or will it just dump more guilt and shame and responsibility upon their lives?”

9. Review the sermon or Bible lesson with your spouse.

Depending on the time you have available, this step might occur before you sleep on it, but ideally, it occurs afterward. Sit down with your spouse or significant other, or maybe even a small team of people, and go through your manuscript with them. “Preach” it to them, allowing them to interject, ask questions, make comments, and seek clarification as you go along. The things they say are the things that others will be thinking as you teach them, so this is an important step in the process.

Also, think of this as a practice run. By speaking the message out loud, your ears and their ears pick up awkward phrases, hear things that need more explanation, and overall, provide feedback on how things could be said better.

Figure that this step will take two or three times as long as the sermon or lesson itself. If your sermon is intended to be 30 minutes, this review stage could take an hour or more.

10. Always remember that Jesus wants to teach you first.

I probably should have put this step first, but I included it last because it sort of goes without saying.

When you sit down to study the Bible or prepare a sermon, the first and last thought on your mind should be, “Jesus, teach me today.” I sometimes like to picture myself sitting at the feet of Jesus as one of His disciples, and watching Him opening the Bible on His lap, and then explaining it to me.

I figure that if I don’t let Jesus teach the text to me first, I have no business trying to teach it to others.

Of course, this sort of mindset can quickly lead to pride and arrogance, so be careful. You will learn to recognize this pride and arrogance when you do Steps 6 and 9 above. If a commentary disagrees with what you wrote, there might be a temptation to think, “Well, what I wrote is superior to what this guy wrote, because I learned it from Jesus.” If, as you are reviewing your manuscript with your spouse, and she says, “That part there doesn’t make any sense,” and you think, “That’s because she hasn’t spent as much time pouring over the text with Jesus as I have,” you have completely missed the entire point and Jesus didn’t actually teach you anything.

So as you work your way through the various steps above, always be listening to the still, small voice inside. Always remember that whatever the text says, it says it to you first. You must never preach a sermon or teach a Bible study that has not first found its way into your own heart, mind, and life.

Bonus: Everything you Teach and Write must be In Love

I am convinced that when you follow the 10 steps above in your own Bible study, what you say in your sermons will come out with a spirit and attitude of love.

Love is the defining characteristic of the true teacher of the Word. If what you are saying and writing comes out with harsh judgmentalism and criticism, what you are saying is not from God, but is from an accusatory spirit.

If you follow all the 10 steps above, but forget to teach with love, you are guilty of the biggest heresy of all time.

How Do YOU Study the Bible?

So how about you?

Do you engage in much Bible study or sermon preparation?

If so, did any of the ten points above resonate with you? What would you add? Let me know in the comment section below!

[#08] Genesis 1:10 – Naming the Earth and the Seas

2 Comments

One Verse PodcastAre you scared to stand before God in judgment? Lots of people are, but we’re going to today from Genesis 1:10 that you have nothing to fear from the judgment of God.

You will see this from how God names the earth and the seas, and you will also see that no matter what God does, He does it always and only for your good.

The Text of Genesis 1:10

Genesis 1:10. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:10 dry land and seas

In this discussion of Genesis 1:10 we look at:

  • What it really means for God to judge.
  • Why the names that God gave the earth and the seas are theologically significant.
  • Why God does what He does in creation (and in your life).

Resources:

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

Advertise or Donate

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!