
---

### Prayer Requests

---

<Question>What's going on in this part of Acts?  Where are we in the story?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 21:15-17" />

<Question>Where is Paul's company right now?</Question>
<Question>Where did they come from?</Question>


<Verse verse="Acts 21:18" />

<Question>What James is this?  What is his significance / role in the early church?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 21:19-21" />

<Question>What are the elders at the Jerusalem church telling Paul?</Question>
<Question>Do you think Paul was preaching misinformation?  How do you interpret this?</Question>

The problem that the Jerusalem elders are addressing is that of Christian Jews in Jerusalem.

Observance of Jewish law and tradition was a means for early Christian Jews to maintain peace 
with their Jewish brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.  These Christian Jews were being told 
that Paul was effectively teaching Jews in Asia to renounce their Judaism.

Theologically, what Paul was teaching was sound.  He taught that those who believe are justified in 
righteousness by faith alone, and that believing Jews were no longer under the law. As
Christ said Himself, He came to, and did, fulfill the law.  Paul also taught that to return to 
the shadow & judgement of the law was dishonoring to Christ, as Christ bore that judgement Himself.

<Question>Why do you think this might upset Christian Jews?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 21:22-26" />

<Question>What is the elder's solution to this problem?</Question>

> The solution is for Paul to join four Christian Jews who have undertaken the Nazirite vow (Nu 6; cf. Ac 18:18). As one of the strictest Jewish vows of holiness under the law, this would prove to everyone the depth of Paul's Judaism.

<Question>Does Paul comply?</Question>
<Question>What does his compliance show about his attitude toward the Christian Jews in Jerusalem?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 21:27-29" />

<Question>What's happening here?</Question>
<Question>Did Paul likely take Trophimus to the Temple?  Why is this significant (why do you think Luke included this detail)?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 21:30-34" />

<Question>What's going on in these verses?</Question>
<Question>How does the commander respond to the lack of reliable information?</Question>
<Question>Do you feel in today's society, there is a lack of reliable information?  How do we respond to that?</Question>


<Verse verse="Acts 21:35-38" />

> The Roman commander thought Paul was an Egyptian rebel, an unnamed messianic pretender who, according to Josephus, had
> gathered number of people at the Mount of Olives, to attack Jerusalem in about AD 54 (3 or so years earlier).
> The Romans put them to flight, but the leader escaped.  This commander thought the rebel perhaps had reappeared.  Instead
> Paul spoke to the commander in Greek, an act entirely appropriate and to be expected for the Hellenistic Jew that he was.


<Verse verse="Acts 21:39-40" />

<Question>Paul addresses the crowd in Aramaic.  Why is this important?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 22:1-2" />

<Question>How does the mob respond to being addressed in Aramaic?</Question>

In Acts 22, Paul gives a decent outline for giving one's testimony...

1.  Former Life
2.  Life-changing Encounter
3.  New Purpose
4.  Rejection by the World

See if you can spot it...

<Verse verse="Acts 22:3-5" />

<Question>Paul describes his former life in these passages.  Even though he says he was zealous for God, what is his past marked by?</Question>
<Question>What was your life before Christ marked by?</Question>
<Question>How does this look different for someone that grew up in the church versus not?</Question>
<Question>How do you think growing up in 20th century America / world has impacted this part of your story?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 22:6-13" />

> Our life stories are important. The stories we choose to tell others give them a picture of what's important to 
> us and help them understand why we think the way we do. Even though some of our best stories have been told 
> repeatedly, we never seem to tire of telling them. In fact, our passion for them grows every time we tell them. 

<Question>It's not lost on me that the last time I taught, I taught on Paul's life-changing encounter in Acts 9.  How 
closely do you think this testimony resembles the story in Acts 9?</Question>

<Question>It's obviously Luke retelling in both instances.  How many times in Luke's travels with Paul do you think he
heard this testimony?</Question>

<Question>How does that make you feel about how you share your own testimony?</Question>

<Question>What aspects of the world around us today make it difficult to share our own life-changing experience with Jesus?</Question>


<Verse verse="Acts 22:14-21" />

<Question>When Paul's sight was restored, Ananias spoke to him of a new purpose.  After your life-changing encounter, did you
feel a new purpose in life?</Question>

<Question>How has that played out for you?  Do you feel like you're pursuing that purpose vigorously?</Question>

<Question>If so, what has helped you stay the course?  If not, what do you feel gets in the way?</Question>

<Question>Tough theological question: Do you think God expects us to wax and wane on the purpose we're called to?</Question>

<Question>What is Paul saying in verse 17-20?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 22:22-25" />

<Question>What do you think turned the crowd hostile again?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 22:25-29" />

<Question>Paul mentions his Roman citizenship as he's about to be lashed.  Do you think his own fear was a factor in this response?</Question>
<Question>Over and over again in Scripture, God tells His people "do not fear" or "don't be afraid." Often, however, fear is a physiological response
that's not immediately within our control.  Is God telling us to do something we're not capable of doing?  What does it mean to "not be afraid"?</Question>
<Question>Paul obviously faced fear and rejection in sharing his testimony throughout his life.  What types of fear or rejection might you face in sharing your own testimony today?</Question>

### Closing thoughts on testimony

<Question>Why is it important to clearly contrast your life before and after your commitment to Christ as you tell your life story?</Question>
<Question>How might a person's past be perceived as an obstacle to accepting Christ? How might other people's opinions reinforce that obstacle?</Question>
<Question>What's your strongest motivation for sharing about Jesus?</Question>
<Question>How is your life purpose tied to Jesus' commission recorded in Matthew 28:18-20?</Question>
<Question>List any responses people have given to your testimony about the gospel. What do the responses reveal about those people?</Question>



Acts 22


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### Prayer Requests

---

### So far in Acts...

<Question>What's happened so far in Acts?  Where are we in the story?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:1-2" />

<Question>What's happening in these verses?  Summarize in your own words.</Question>
<Question>What would you guess is happening in the Church at Damascus that would prompt Saul to want go there?</Question>
<Question>What do you think Saul's perspective is?  Why is he trying to destroy the Church?</Question>
<Question>Does Saul believe in God?  Why might that be something significant to think about?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:3-4" />

<Question>Saul was asking for arrest letters to take to Damascus.  Do you think he got them?  Why or why not?</Question>
<Question>What happens next?</Question>
<Question>What are the immediate implications of Jesus's intervention for Saul?</Question>
<Question>What are the immediate implications of Jesus's intervention for the Church at Damascus?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:5-6" />

This is a short, but really profound moment in Acts.  Paul asks "Who are you Lord?". The Greek word here is *kyrios*, 
which can mean "lord, or master," but can also be a greek translation of "Yahweh."

<Question>What is Saul asking here?</Question>
<Question>What do you think Saul's mental & emotional posture is in this moment?</Question>
<Question>How does Jesus respond?</Question>
<Question>How do you think Saul feels about that?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:7-9" />

<Question>Why do you think Jesus struck Saul blind?</Question>
<Question>What might be significant about Saul not eating or drinking for 3 days?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:10-19" />

<Question>What do you notice about Ananias' conversation with the Lord? What lessons can you take away from this exchange?</Question>

When you really think about this, this is another story where we get visibility into just how much the Lord is
intervening and orchestrating.  From the time he enountered Saul on the road, he orchestrated events over 3 days,
with at least 5 seemingly random people involved (Saul, Ananias, Saul's escorts, and Judas).

<Question>What times have there been in your life, where, looking back, you have been able to clearly see where God interfered for your benefit?</Question>
<Question>Why do you think it's often hard for us to remember those times, and approach the future with the same confidence?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:20-22" />

<Question>How did Saul respond to the Lord in the days after he was healed of blindness?</Question>
<Question>What do you think is significant about Saul confusing the Jews and proving that Jesus is the Messiah?</Question>
<Question>What tools do you think Saul used to prove to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:23-31" />

<Question>How did Saul's conversion change the experience of believers throughout the region?</Question>
<Question>How was your own conversion experience different from Saul's?</Question>
<Question>How was it similar?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:32-45" />

<Question>What was the result of Aeneas being healed in Lydda?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 9:36-42" />

<Question>What was the result of Tabitha (Dorcas) being raised from the dead in Joppa?</Question>

All around Judea and Samaria, people were turning to the Lord after seeing Jesus change lives and hearing testimony.

<Question>How do you feel about your own testimony, and how often you share that with others?</Question>
<Question>What makes it hard to share your testimony with others today?</Question>
<Question>What are things we can do to overcome those barriers, and follow Jesus' call to bear witness?</Question>







Acts 9


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### Prayer Requests

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### Authorship of Acts

<Question>Who wrote Acts?</Question>

<Question>Who was Luke?</Question>

<Question>What is it about?</Question>

### Evidence for Lukan Authorship

The books of Luke and Acts are one work, often referred to as Luke-Acts.

They are technically anonymous, but there are several indications within the books
that support traditional Lukan authorship.

1. The author was not an apostle (Acts 1:2)
2. The language of the books align with what we know about Luke (well educated, polished Greek, and political prowess).
3. Luke uses "we" often when he is with Paul.  We would expect Paul to also mention Luke.  He does: (Col 4:14, 2 Tim 2:11, Phil 1:24).
4. Aristarchus, Tychicus, Timothy, and Mark are all mentioned in the 3rd person by the author, so it can't be them.
5. Ireneaus (Turkey) and Tertullian (Africa) both passed this down (~160AD).
6. The earliest dated manuscript we have has the inscription "According to Luke"

### Dating of Acts

The dating of Acts is particularly important in it's canonicty, and interesting as well.

> One of the most helpful indicators for dating Acts in this time frame actually comes from 
> what the text does not say. Scan the chapter headings in your Bible and you'll quickly see 
> how much content Luke devoted to events surrounding both Jerusalem and the Apostle Paul. <br /><br />
> The fact that Acts makes no mention of the fall of Jerusalem (which happened in A.D. 70) or 
> the death of Paul (somewhere between 62 and 67) leads us to conclude that these events hadn't happened yet.<br /><br />
> Imagine reading an account of John F. Kennedy that covered his family, his 
> upbringing, and his election but made no mention of the Cuban missile crisis or his assassination 
> in Dallas, TX. You would quickly conclude that the book was written before these things occurred. 
> Similarly, the fact that Luke does not include information on the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
> Temple or the death of Paul shows us that prior to both of these events.
>
> \- source [reasonabletheology.org](https://reasonabletheology.org/dating-book-acts/)

### Objections to Historical Authorship

There are some objections by critics to Lukan authorship we should be aware of.

**Important: In the investigation of ancient literature, it's important to
understand that the closer to one another accounts are, the LESS reliable those
accounts are considered to be. Example: A police report.**

##### #1 - The portait of Paul in Acts seems different that the one in his letters

> **Response:** Historians believe a more similar painting of Paul in Acts to his
letters would support someone "passing himself off" as knowing Paul. The fact
that Luke had his own opinion of Paul, and didn't paint an identical picture
makes the authorship more reliable.

##### #2 - The "we" sections of Acts could be a literary device or subterfuge

> **Response:** If someone were trying to, again, pass themselves off as something
they were not, we would expect to see them make themselves more central to the letter.
The fact that the author doesn't implies the author's motives were accurate
historical record and not personal gain.

##### #3 - The author of Acts doesn't seem to know about Paul's letters

> **Response:** This, once again, is more of an argument FOR Lukan authorship than against.
Luke's account of Paul in Acts is certainly compatible with Paul's letters, and is
clearly not **derived** from them. Again, in literary investigation, when we see things
that are identical, it is cause for concern, not the other way around. This point supports
both Lukan, and early authorship, because the author would have been someone who knew
Paul and traveled some with him, but would have written before Paul's letters were collected
and recognized as canon.


### Descriptive OR Prescriptive

* **Descriptive**: The passage is describing what happened.
* **Prescriptive**: The passage is teaching us that should happen.

<Question>Is the story of David & Goliath telling us how David dealt with Goliath because he was mocking the Lord or is 
it telling us how we should deal with every person who mocks the Lord?</Question>

<Question>The early church meeting in homes in Acts 2:46 (and other passages). Is how the early church met in homes describing 
the events, or is this a mandate for how we are to meet?</Question>

Whole movements have been formed based on seeing this as prescriptive and that this is the way believers are prescribed
to meet. But what seems clear throughout Scripture is that this is a beautiful description of how the early church 
was able to meet and not a prescription for how every future church is to meet.

These movements are also not inherently bad.  Most are born out of the spiritual discipline of simplicty.  No big church,
no big building, no big budget, no big stress.  Not a bad thing.  It's just important to realize that **only** meeting in
homes, exactly the way Acts describes it, is not a scriptural mandate.  Luke is describing how it happened.

<Question>Do you think Acts is going to be generally more descriptive, or prescriptive?</Question>

Just because Acts is **generally** more descriptive doesn't mean there are not prescriptive parts to it.  There are 
speeches from Peter and Paul that lay out salvation, etc.

<Verse verse="Acts 1:1-3" />

<Question>Who is Luke writing to?</Question>
<Question>What is his first narrative?</Question>
<Question>In verse 2, Luke says "the apostles he had chosen."  What does this seem to imply?</Question>
<Question>In modern days, we would want a LOT more detail on verse 3.  Why do you think Luke is so succint?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 1:4-8" />

<Question>What does Jesus tell them to do?</Question>
<Question>Has there ever been a time where you have felt like God is telling you to wait?  How does that feel?</Question>
<Question>Do you think it would be easier to wait if you knew how long you'd be waiting?  Why?</Question>
<Question>What strikes you about verse 6?</Question>
<Question>How does Jesus respond in verse 7?</Question>

Verse 8 is what Acts is all about.  It's the key point of this section we're reading.

1. They will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them.
2. With that power they will be witnesses where they are and where they will go.

The layout of Acts shows this expansion of the story through these witnesses:

- Acts 1-7 is in Jerusalem
- Acts 8-10 is Judea and Samaria
- Acts 11-28 is to the ends of the earth

<Verse verse="Acts 1:9-11" />

<Question>What's the significance of the two men in white?  What do they?  What is Luke trying emphasize here?</Question>

<Verse verse="Acts 1:12-26" />

<Question>This is a time of waiting for the disciples.  What was another time of waiting for them?</Question>
<Question>How is this period different?</Question>
<Question>How do you experience waiting on the Lord?  Are you fearful or hopeful?</Question>
<Question>When you do feel anxiety in waiting on the Lord, what do you do about it?  What should you do?</Question>

Often in modern Christianity, we miss the "practice" aspect of our faith.  It's all spirit and no flesh.  In Jesus's
time and with His disciples, SO much of what they did was practice.  He Mr. Miyagi'd them all the time with practices.

<Question>How can we "practice" waiting on the Lord in hope, instead of anxiety?  What tools do we have?</Question>
<Question>Should we expect to do it perfectly every time?</Question>
<Question>What should we do when we fail?</Question>


Acts 1:1-29


---
### Prayer Requests
---


The point: **Jesus's death on the cross made forgiveness possible for me.**


### World Views

<Question>In your own words, what is a worldview?</Question>
<Question>Is your worldview something you give, or have given, a lot of thought to? Why?</Question>

<Verse verse="Romans 1:20" />

### Teleological Worldview

**Teleological** is from the Greek word **telos**, which means purpose or goal.

A **teleological** worldview is one recognizes God's purpose or goal in nature, and 
states that God reveals not only Himself, but what it means to be human, or His purpose and His
will for us, in the order of all creation.


### Material Western Worldview

A **material** worldview states that we are all just matter, or products of an unbiased, purposeless
material process, starting with the Big Bang, and going on for millions (or depending who you are billions)
of years.  There are some scientific problems with this (fine-tuning problem, specified complexity, etc).

In the West, a **material** worldview has become far more pervasive in the past 150 years or so.

The shift started in 1859, when Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution.

> Darwin defined evolution as "descent with modification," the idea that species change over time, give rise to new species, and share a common ancestor. The mechanism that Darwin proposed for evolution is natural selection.  - Khan Academy

But one of the biggest differentiators of Darwin's theory was the **elimination of any underlying purpose.**

<Question>Do you think your own worldview is important?  Why?</Question>

<Question>The thing about worldviews is...</Question>

### Sin - Material Worldview

So for a moment, let's say Darwin was right.

<Question>If we're all part of a purposeless matter machine, does sin exist?</Question>
<Question>In a Material Worldview, what then is the basis for any type of morality?</Question>
<Question>Do you see any logical problems with this based on evidence in the world?</Question>

### Sin - Teleological Worldview

Now, let's say Darwin was wrong, and that the universe was created by God, with a specific purpose.
How do we understand that purpose?  How do we start understanding what it means to be human?

<Question>Point 1 - God is relational, and prioritizes love</Question>

<Verse verse="Genesis 1:26-31" />
<Verse verse="Luke 3:21-22" />
<Verse verse="1 Corinthians 13:13" />
<Verse verse="Mark 12:30-31" />

<Question>Point 2 - Choice is a logical requirement of relationship</Question>

<Verse verse="Joshua 24:15" />
<Verse verse="Mark 8:34" />

<Question>Point 3 - Sin is a logical byproduct of choice, and an important one</Question>

<Verse verse="Genesis 3:1-7" />

### Sin - God's Nature

The westernization of Christianity often, in my opinion, removes the weight of pure
holiness from God.  His power, might, & goodness so often get watered down.  But they are
very real.  God is good.  God is not "safe" for sinful people.

<Verse verse="Exodus 33:18-20" />
<Question>"No one may see me and live"...  wow.  Why can no one see God and live?</Question>
<Question>What does that mean for us?</Question>

As we become more biblically literate, we can easily see that all of scripture points to humanity needing a savior.

<Question>How do you feel like the world treats the idea of sin today?</Question>
<Question>Do you feel like that is any different than the worlds view of sin 2000 years ago?</Question>
<Question>How was Jewish culture different than Greek or Roman culture, as it pertains to sin, in 30 AD?</Question>


### What has happened so far in John? 

* Jesus in Jerusalem for Passover
* Triumphal Entry
* Lots of teaching
* Predictions of His death
* Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
* Betrayal by Judas & arrest
* Denials by Peter
* Jesus brought to Pilate by Jewish leaders

<Verse verse="John 19:1-7" />
<Question>How is Pilate posturing here?  What's he saying?</Question>
<Question>What is Jewish leaderships response?</Question>
<Question>Why wouldn't they kill Jesus themselves? (tip: Acts 7)</Question>

<Verse verse="John 19:8-12" />
<Question>What do you think made Pilate more afraid?  What is John saying here?</Question>
<Question>It's easy to interpret Jesus response as saying all of Pilate's authority was given by God, but what if by "above" Jesus is referring to Caesar?</Question>
<Question>If that's the case, then how is the one who handed him over guilty of a greater sin?</Question>
<Question>What do you think Jesus is trying to tell Pilate?</Question>
<Question>What is Pilate's response?</Question>
<Question>How do the Jewish leaders respond to that?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 19:13-15" />
<Question>What is Pilate doing now?</Question>
<Question>How do the Jews respond?</Question>
<Question>When Biblical narrative of God and His chosen people, how does this response make you feel?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 19:16-22" />
<Question>Why did Pilate finally hand Jesus over to the Jews, even after finding no guilt in him?</Question>
<Question>Why do you think Pilate fastened the sign to Jesus's cross?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 19:23-27" />
<Question>Why do you think John thought it was important to include these details in his account of the crucifixion?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 19:28-30" />
<Question>What do you think Jesus meant when he said "It is finished"?</Question>


<Verse verse="John 19:31-37" />
<Question>What did it mean for the Jewish leaders to ask for the legs to be broken?</Question>
<Question>In light of the fact that the Pharisees were committing a murder, does anything strike you as ironic?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 19:38-42" />
<Question>Why do you think John takes the time to mention 75 pounds?</Question>
<Question>Ultimately, what was God's response to our sin?</Question>
<Question>Why was Jesus adequate atonement for our sin against the purity of a holy God?</Question>
<Question>Do you ever find it difficult to believe that you are ACTUALLY forgiven? Why?</Question>

### Sin - The devil, the flesh, and the world

John Mark Comer does a great job of breaking down how sin enters and takes root
in our lives daily.

- The Devil: Deceptive ideas...
- The Flesh: ... that play to disordered desires ...
- The World: ... which are normalized in a sinful society.

John 19



## On community…

In our first session 2 weeks ago, it seemed like most people here felt strongly about developing Biblical Community.  There are a couple of points to make here:

* We need to give a head nod to the fact that we're all perfect strangers in here
* Because of that, we all need to give some effort toward sharing more openly than we normally would with perfect strangers

I'm not saying we need to air all of our deepest, darkest secrets here this morning.  I'm saying that if Biblical Community is something we are all trying to develop, it is going to require some effort, especially in communicating.  Or, put more succinctly, don't be shy.  Speak up!


## How Biblically literate are we as a class?

One thing that I know the pastoral staff here wants out of our classes, as much as Biblical Community, is Biblical Literacy.  It's very hard to develop as a disciple of Jesus (and disciple means someone who is learning from Him, and becoming more like Him by practicing His Way) if you don't have a clear concept of His Word.

With that in mind, I'll take my own advice, and open up a little.


## A little about Ty & Growing Up in the Church

* I was baptized at age 5
* I grew up in the Church, and was licensed as a minister at age 17
* I stayed active in the Church leading worship until I was about 21
* By age 23, I was a self-identifying atheist
* By age 26, I was suicidally depressed

Wait.... What?

<Question>What do you think happened to me?</Question>
<Question>This study talks a lot about sin & shame.  As I read through it, the concepts felt a little culturally dated.  What is your take on that?</Question>
<Question>Is society still concerned with sin?  Are you?</Question>
<Question>Any stories out there similar to mine?</Question>
<Question>What are the major cultural forces we feel like we're fighting against today?</Question>


## On Biblical Literacy

My church (and church school) made it a priority to inundate us with Scripture constantly.  We were always in the Word.  However, while they did a good job of teaching me

* **why** the Bible is important and
* **who** the important figures and stories are in it, 
    * they **failed** to help me understand
* **_what_** the Bible is
* **_where_**&  how it came to be
* **_when_** all these things happened, especially in relation to each other, and
* **_how_** to study it appropriately

Lastly, but probably most importantly my local church failed to give me **good reasons for believing the Bible is true.**

**_I firmly believe that discipleship starts in the home, and if we are going to disciple our children and grandchildren, we have to have a better, more comprehensive understanding of the Bible, and more importantly, know HOW to study it._**


## When it comes to studying the Bible, Context is key

Without full, proper context of the events of the time, Scripture can be…

* Really hard to understand
* Easily misinterpreted
* Way more boring to read.  Laugh, but this has serious spiritual implications…

When I study the Bible (for a lesson, or often otherwise), I typically:

* Have my Bible open to the passage(s) I'm studying
* Have either a Chronological or Apologetics Bible open as well (often both)
* Often have another study of the same Scripture open
* Have my computer open to research maps, quickly pull other scripture with BibleGateway.com, or even to “see what the world” says about this, so that I have context for atheistic or other secularist objections to validity

_If we're serious about our faith, the study of Scripture should be work… but some of the most fun and meaningful work we can pursue, because it's life-changing._

With that in mind…

### Teeing up John 4

* Who was John?
    * Son of Zebedee
    * Brother of James (what eventually happened to James)
    * Or was it John who lived in Jerusalem (John the Elder)
    * Still some debate, but apparently a better case can be made for John the Apostle
* What is this book about?
    * John's eyewitness testimony of the life of Jesus
* What is this book's purpose?  Why was it written?
    * John 20:31 - “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,[a] and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

### What has happened so far in John? 

* John's famous prologue (“In the beginning was the Word”).  Historically, this has been instrumental in establishing the doctrine of the Trinity, establishing Jesus's deity.
* John the Baptist's Testimony to the Pharisees
* Andrew, Peter, Philip & Nathaniel follow
* Water into wine
* Cleansing the temple
* Jesus & Nicodemus. John 3:15-16 were spoken by Jesus to Nicodemus in a night-time (secret) meeting
* Leaves Jerusalem to Judean countryside, meets up with John
* Instead of going the long way around Samaria (which would have been Jewish preference), he goes straight through the middle

![alt_text](/images/john-map.png "image_tooltip")

## Jews & Samaritans

A lot of the enmity between Jews & Samaritans goes back to Ezra chapter 4.  Imagine the hatred between Serbs and Muslims in modern Bosnia, the enmity between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland or the feuding between street gangs in Los Angeles or New York, and you have some idea of the feeling and its causes between Jews and Samaritans in the time of Jesus. Both politics and religion were involved.

**What happened after Solomon?**

Samaria was essentially the territory of Joseph's sons Ephraim & Mannaseh (long before David or Solomon).  After the split, Israel (the North) was conquered by the Assyrian's in 722BC, and most people were captured and taken.  They intermarried with the Assyrians, then were sent back to “reinhabit” the area.

Meanwhile, the southern kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon in 600 B.C. Its people, too, were carried off into captivity (many scholars think they also intermarried with the Babylonians). But 70 years later, a remnant of 43,000 was permitted to return and rebuild Jerusalem. The people who now inhabited the former northern kingdom—the Samaritans— initially offered to help rebuild the temple, because they wanted to worship Yahweh also, but when they were rejected by the incoming Jews from Babylon.  After that, they vigorously opposed the repatriation and tried to undermine the attempt to reestablish the nation.

<Verse verse="Ezra 4" />
<Question>Can you think of any type of enmity in America today that might touch on the kind of disdain the Jews and Samaritans felt for each other?</Question>
<Question>Most Jews purposefully walked around Samaria (presumably because it wasn't particularly safe).  Why do you think Jesus chose to walk directly through?</Question>


<Verse verse="John 4:1-7" />
<Question>Traditionally, all of the women in a town or village would go to draw water together early in the morning.  John tells us that the woman was by herself, and that it was mid-day (or about noon).  Why do you think this was?</Question>
<Question>It sounds like Jesus is barking an order a bit.  If we examine more closely, what has John established that helps us paint a clearer picture?  What picture is that?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:9" />
<Question>What is the woman's posture right here?  What do you think she might be thinking, especially given her life circumstances, and how her community probably views her?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:10" />
<Question>What is Jesus saying here?  What is the gift of God?  Why doesn't the Samaritan woman know it?</Question>
<Question>What are Jesus' implications with the phrase “he would give you”?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:11-12" />
<Question>How does the woman respond?  What's her tone?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:13-14" />
<Question>Jesus is masterful at reaching people where they are.  How is He doing that with the woman in this phrase?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:15" />
<Question>Did his setup work?  What immediate need does the woman have that needs to be met?  Why is this need uniquely difficult for her?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:16" />
<Question>What is Jesus doing here?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:17" />
<Question>How does the woman respond?  In truth?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:18" />
<Question>How does Jesus respond to her response?   What gift is he giving her here?</Question>
<Question>Why is the outward acknowledgement and confession of our sin important?</Question>
<Question>What do you think your biggest obstacle to acknowledging your own sin is?</Question>
<Question>How does our culture, both inside the local church and in secularism view this concept?  What is America's notion of sin?</Question>
<Question>When you reflect on that in your life, parenting, or grandparenting how does that make you feel?  What do you think you should do about it in your own life or in your parenting?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:19-20" />
<Question>What's the woman doing here?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:21-24" />
<Question>In your own life, when your sin is pointed about by you, or someone else (in the form of anger, frustration, sadness, etc), how do you respond?</Question>
<Question>What do you think Jesus was saying when he said “You Samaritans worship what you do not know”?</Question>
<Question>How does Jesus' comment here fit in with the common cultural idea of “many paths to God”?</Question>
<Question>What do the Jews know?</Question>
<Question>How is salvation from the Jews?</Question>
<Question>What true need does the woman have that he is providing for in his response?  How does this compare to her original need?</Question>
<Question>What do you think it means to worship in Spirit & in truth?  How does the idea of acknowledging and confessing our sins relate to worshiping in truth?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:25" />
<Question>What's going on in this verse?  What do you think the woman was processing / thinking about when she was listening to Jesus?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:26" />
<Question>“He” is actually not in the original literal translation.  The literal translation is “I who speak to you am.”  This is significant because Jesus is referring to himself by the same name God described himself with to Moses in Genesis.</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:27" />
<Question>Why do you think John takes the time to point out that no one said anything to the woman?</Question>

<Verse verse="John 4:28-29" />
<Question>What was the woman's response to her encounter with Jesus?</Question>
<Question>How does this compare to our current cultural responses to Jesus?  </Question>
<Question>What types of actions should this spur us toward, as Christians?  Are there things we can do to help change this generational narrative?</Question>



Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well.

John 4:1-26


## Review from last week

* By 23 I was a self-identifying atheist because of a lack of Biblical literacy
* When it comes to Biblical Literacy, context is key.  Without it, the Bible can be…
    * Confusing
    * Misinterpreted
    * Boring… (big spiritual implications)
* Paul’s 2nd missionary journey
* With Timothy & Silas
* 3 years total, 2 years in Corinth (51-54 AD)
* Talked about the success of the church in Thessalonica
* Paul’s gratitude for them
* Modern accusations of anti-Semitism

![alt_text](/images/paul-2nd-missionary.png 'image_tooltip')

## A Helpful Timeline of Acts (hint: Keep This!)

![alt_text](/images/acts-timeline.png 'image_tooltip')


<Verse verse="Acts 17:5-8" />
<Question>What happened in Thessalonica?  Did the group and converted Jews face any suffering there?</Question>




<Verse verse="Acts 17:10-15" />
<Question>What happened in Berea?</Question>
<Question>Did the group face any suffering or conflict there?  From whom?</Question>
<Question>How would you describe the success of Paul’s ministry in Berea?</Question>
<Question>What do you think the phrase “people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica” means?  Who is he speaking of, and who is he comparing them to?</Question>
<Question>Who went to Athens?   Who stayed?   What instructions did Paul give his escort?</Question>


<Verse verse="Acts 17:16-19" />
<Question>Describe the beginning of Paul’s stay in Athens.</Question>
<Question>How would you classify the attitude of the Athenians toward religion?  Toward Paul?</Question>


![alt_text](/images/areopagus-1.png "image_tooltip")

![alt_text](/images/areopagus-2.png "image_tooltip")


<Verse verse="Acts 17:22-32" />
<Question>The sermon to the Stoics and Epicureans is a study in itself, but needless to say, Paul was preaching to some of the most intellectual, sophisticated people of the day.  In fact, Rome gave Athens special status as a city because of its highly regarded educational system.  In that light, how do you feel like Paul’s sermon was received?</Question>



<Verse verse="1 Thessalonians 2:17-20" />
<Question>Did Paul and his company leave Thessalonica voluntarily?</Question>
<Question>How did they feel about being separated from that church?</Question>
<Question>What reason does Paul give for being unable to return to the Thessalonians?</Question>
<Question>How does Paul describe the Thessalonians in verses 18-20?  Why do you think his love for them is so deep?  Why is this significant in our own lives today?</Question>
<Question>If Paul were writing a letter to you today, how do you think he would describe you to yourself?</Question>


<Verse verse="1 Thessalonians 3:1-5" />
<Question>How did Paul deal, verses 1-2, with Satan’s attempt to outwit him?  Did he have any assurance that his plan would work?</Question>
<Question>SIDE NOTE: This is a segment of Scripture that can be confusing without carefully examined context…  I did a fairly deep dive, because Acts implies that Paul spent his time in Athens alone, and that Silas and Timothy rejoined him later in Corinth from Macedonia (Acts 18:5), which would appear to be a contradiction of what Paul is saying in verses 1-2.  The best exposition I found on reconciling these is that the likeliest scripturally supported scenario is that Silas and Timothy did briefly connect with Paul in Athens and were immediately sent back out to Bereas or Phillipi and Thessalonica, respectively.</Question>
<Question>The Greek word that Paul uses to express “no longer standing it” contains the metaphor of a vessel over-full and bursting with its contents.  Why do you think Paul is expressing his longing for Thessalonica and loneliness in such strong terms?</Question>
<Question>What did Paul send Timothy to do in Thessalonica?</Question>
<Question>What was the goal of Timothy’s time there?</Question>
<Question>Why do you think Paul preaches on suffering and affliction so frequently?</Question>
<Question>What was Paul’s greatest fear for the church there (verse 5)?</Question>


<Verse verse="1 Thessalonians 3:6-10" />
<Question>Where is Paul writing this from?  How do we know this?</Question>
<Question>What did Timothy report back to Paul?</Question>
<Question>If Timothy’s goal was to encourage Thessalonica in their faith, how have those tables turned?  What does this tell us about how our lives should look in Christ today?  Where do we fail most often to live that out?</Question>
<Question>How strong is Paul’s encouragement & love in verses 8-10?  Do we affirm other believers with that kind of fervor frequently?   What do you think stops us from behaving like Paul in that regard?</Question>


<Verse verse="1 Thessalonians 3:11-16" />
<Question>What things does Paul pray for in this prayer?</Question>
<Question>What do you think verse 13 means?</Question>
<Question>Who does Paul pray the Thessalonians love to increase for?  We get this, certainly.  Loving people is consistently preached throughout Jesus’ ministry and the New Testament, as second only to loving God.  Why is it so hard then?  What causes us to fail?  What can we do differently, how can our faith change in sanctification, to enact a meaningful difference?</Question>


To better understand Paul’s relationship with Thessalonica, let’s get back to Acts…

1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:16


## A little about Ty, Growing Up the Church, and Atheism

* I was baptized at age 5
* I grew up in the Church, and was licensed as a minister at age 17
* I stayed active in the Church leading worship until I was about 21
* By age 23, I was a self-identifying atheist

What…. What?

**What do you think happened to me?**

## On Biblical Literacy

My church (and church school) made it a priority to inundate us with Scripture constantly.  We were always in the Word.  However, while they did a good job of teaching me

* **why** the Bible is important and
* **who** the important figures and stories are in it, 
    * they **failed** to help me understand
* **_what_** the Bible is
* **_where_** & how it came to be
* **_when_** all these things happened, especially in relation to each other, and
* **_how_** to study it appropriately

The only advice I ever received on how to study the Bible was to get a pre-built study, pick a book of the Bible, read the whole thing over a year, or close your eyes and open up to a random page.  This can have staggering consequences if we let the same things happen to our children and grandchildren.

> _“As a student in public high school, I took a course in anthropology.  Our teacher decided we should have a debate on creationism versus evolution.  Being an outspoken Christian, I was nominated to debate the [young-Earth] creationism side.  Having little to no understanding of the subject myself (I had never put much thought into the topic other than what I had been taught as a child), I attempted to valiantly argue for a literal six-day creation.  The other side crushed me, and I felt the full brunt of shame for not being able to defend myself or my views, deeply held as they were to me.  It was a seminal moment in my life.  It led me to question many of my previously deeply held beliefs, and I nearly walked away from faith entirely over the course of the next year.”_  **-   Student (comment on Natasha Crain's blog)**

**_I firmly believe that discipleship starts in the home, and if we are going to disciple our children and grandchildren, we have to have a better, more comprehensive understanding of the Bible, and more importantly, know HOW to study it._**


## When it comes to studying the Bible, Context is key

Without full, proper context of the events of the time, Scripture can be…

* Really hard to understand
* Easily misinterpreted
* Way more boring to read.  Laugh, but this has serious spiritual implications…

When I study the Bible (for a lesson, or often otherwise), I typically:

* Have my Bible open to the passage(s) I'm studying
* Have either a Chronological or Apologetics Bible open as well (often both)
* Often have another study of the same Scripture open
* Have my computer open to research maps, quickly pull other scripture with BibleGateway.com, or even to “see what the world” says about this, so that I have context for atheistic or other secularist objections to validity

_If we're serious about our faith, the study of Scripture should be work… but some of the most fun and meaningful work we can pursue, because it's life-changing._

Now, on to Thessalonians… by way of… an Acts Timeline!


## A Helpful Timeline of Acts (hint: Keep This!)

![alt_text](/images/acts-timeline.png 'image_tooltip')


## Scriptural Context

To better understand Paul's relationship with Thessalonica, let's get back to Acts…

<Verse verse="Acts 16:6-9" />

<Question>What stands out to you about the Holy Spirit and Spirit of Jesus in this passage?  Why is that interesting?</Question>


<Verse verse="Acts 16:10-15" />

<Question>Who is writing this?  Did you notice anything about the language change here?</Question>

_This is most likely no accident, and most scholars think it is most reasonable to assume that Luke was actually with Paul, Silas and Timothy, then left at Philippi, perhaps to aid the young struggling church there._  


<Verse verse="Acts 16:16-40" />

<Question>How were Paul, Silas and Timothy treated in Philippi?  How did God use that?</Question>


<Verse verse="Acts 17:1-10" />

<Question>What happened in Thessalonica?  Did the group and converted Jews face any persecution there?</Question>


<Verse verse="1 Thessalonians 1:7-2:6" />

<Question>In those days, “snake oil salesmen” would have been common in a town like Thessalonica.  These people would have promised medicine, or fortune telling (like the girl in Acts), or any number of “pain reliefs,” all the while taking people's money out of greedy self-interest.  In that light, what do you think Paul is trying to say here?</Question>  
<Question>What proof in verses 4 & 5  that their message is authentic, their motives pure, and their methods upright?</Question>


<Verse verse="1 Thessalonians 2:7-12" />

<Question>In verse 7, what does Paul say they could have been?   What were they instead?   When thinking about how you live out your own relationships (not just outside the home, but inside the home), how does this verse convict you?</Question>
<Question>Why does Paul say they behaved that way in verse 8?  How can we practically translate this to our own lives?</Question>
<Question>What do you think verses 9-10 is reinforcing?</Question>
<Question>BONUS:  What type of work was Paul likely doing?</Question>
<Question>In verses 11-12, Paul says the group acted “like a father with his own children.”  How does he describe that?   What does it mean to “implore each one of you to walk worthy of God”?   As fathers and mothers of our own children, are we emulating this?  If so, how?   If not, what needs to change?</Question>
<Question>Keeping this in mind, how do we know that Paul is not telling the Thessalonians they must earn their way into God's kingdom?  (Hint: 1 Thes 1:3)</Question>


<Verse verse="1 Thessalonians 2:13-16" />

<Question>Why do Paul, Silas and Timothy constantly thank God?  Why are they overcome with gratitude?</Question>
<Question>What is changing the Thessalonians, in verse 13?   What does this imply in the lives of those who profess to believe?</Question>
<Question>What evidence (verse 14-15) does Paul give that the word of God is working effectively in the church at Thessalonica?</Question>


<Verse verse="Phillipians 1:27-29" />

<Question>How does this passage help you better understand Paul's tone and feeling as he writes to Thessalonica?</Question>
<Question>Do you think 14-16 promote anti-Semitism?  Why or why not?</Question>


To better understand Paul's relationship with Thessalonica, let's get back to Acts…

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16


## Intro Questions (15 min)

<Question>What stood out to you as you read Amos 5:18-27?</Question>
<Question>What does it mean when Amos brings up “the day of the Lord”?</Question>
<Question>What are the things Israel is doing that displease the Lord? Why is it displeasing to the Lord?</Question>
<Question>Verse 26 brings up idolatry. What are some idols we tend to have in our cultural Christianity?</Question>


## The Day of the Lord

Let’s dive right in.   Remember at this point in history (mid 700’s BC), though Israel and Judah are split, they are living in relative calm and financial prosperity under Jeroboam II (and Uzziah in Judah).  Since this section is titled “The Day of the Lord,” it’s important that we try to go back and understand what that terminology would have meant to the people of Israel at that time.

The Day of the Lord is prevalent in Revelation, referring to a day when God will bring his judgment against evil, and allow a new creation to flourish, but its roots go all the way back to Genesis, which is important, because, obviously Israel didn’t have John’s Revelation in hand in 780 BC (since it wasn’t written until the first century AD).

The Day of the Lord, to the Israel of that time, would have harkened back to deliverance from Egypt, and would have been seen as a time of peace, hope, deliverance, and permanent establishment of the nation of Israel (no more challenges from their enemies, etc).

Amos is quickly going to flip this on its head, and show them that their expectations are completely misaligned.


There are 2 keys to understand in Israel’s frame of reference:

1. They believed they had the favor of God, so any judgment coming would be a means of provision and protection for them. 
2. The day of the Lord was viewed as a day of hope and celebrated because they believed #1.


<Verse verse="Amos 5:18-20" />

<Question>In verse 18, Amos talks about longing for the Day of the Lord.  Should Israel be longing for it?</Question>

Why should Israel not be looking forward to it?

- The result will be darkness and not light.  Why?
- Amos has talked a lot about this in previous verses, but Israel’s worship of God had become complacent.  A rhythm of practices without any heart for God behind it.  They believed they were in the favor of God, but this was a false hope… a lie.

**Do we hold false hopes in our hearts that are actually lies?**  To better understand it, we need to look at how Israel went so wrong in believing they actually had favor with God.  So, where did they go wrong?

1. They were complacent.
    1. They weren’t seeking the Lord to see if what they were doing was right.  They were just going through the motions
    2. This ultimately proves they did not actually care about the Lord.  Instead, they cared about continuing a culture and rhythm, not worship.
    3. “Complacency had been telling the people, with irreproachable logic, that when the Lord comes it will be to side with His people.” (Motyer 122)

2. They mistook calm for peace.
    4. It is common for people to misunderstand God’s patience with us as God’s acceptance of our actions
    5. This, in Israel, is likely due to the people aligning concepts like political strife and financial prosperity with what God wants for them →  “Things are going well for me, so God must be happy with what I’m doing.”
    6. It’s easy to see “calm” and “peace” as the same things.  They are not.


### Calm or Peace, You Decide

**Example #1**

Every holiday, uncle Joe brings up a piping hot political discussion that leaves half the family yelling at each other by dessert time.  It particularly bothers your grandmother, who then stews on it for weeks after the holiday.  As a result, you and other members of the family decide certain topics are off limits for holiday discussion, and uncle Joe will no longer be invited, unless he agrees to keep these topics off limits.  Is this creating peace, or calm?

**Example #2**

You decide to hold your tongue, and let your child walk through something on their own.  You’re intentionally patient, waiting anxiously and hoping that they will recognize what they need to do.  Are you at peace?  Do things seem calm to your child?  Is it possible (maybe even probably) that in your child’s mind that because you are silent, you are in agreement with their actions?  In these moments is your relationship with your child calm?  Is it at peace?



3. They focused on themselves, and not the Lord.
    7. Notice what we have not seen about Israel in Amos so far. We have not seen a pursuit of the Lord, a respect of the Kingship of the Lord or an awe at His majesty.
    8. The dangerous result here is that they have molded their understanding of who God is to fit what is most convenient for them.
    9. A belief that they would be protected always, no matter what they did. This is self-serving. This does not match anything the Lord had told the Israelites for generations. Yet, they still believed it. Why? Because their following the Lord was actually built around themselves and had basically nothing to do with actually knowing the Lord.

These 3 dangers are very present in our own lives, and if we are to not make the same mistakes, we need to be vigilant about addressing them.



1. Complacency of faith
    1. **Question: Where am I complacent in my faith?**
    2. _Attitude:_ Lord, show me where I’m living in complacency, so I might not neglect what is right and true.
    3. _Action: _Regular confession and repentance before the Lord asking Him to reveal your heart to you.
2. Confusing “calm” with “peace”
    4. **Question: Where am I confusing God’s patience with my actions as God’s acceptance of my actions?**
    5. _Attitude:_ Lord, show me where I am living apart from what You say is right, true and good. Lead me to see your patience, celebrate your patience and respond with repentance.
    6. _Action:_ Be intentional about lining up how I live with what God says is right, true and good.
3. Seeing the Lord through the lens of what is most comfortable to me.
    7. **Question: Am I seeking to learn and respond to who God ACTUALLY is or am I focused on my own comfort, and fitting God into that box?**
    8. _Attitude_: Lord, help me seek You because You are worthy and help me see You for who You really are. Keep me from seeking to make You in my image. Lord, I submit my feelings to You. Help me follow what is true, more than I seek to follow what I feel.
    9. _Action_: Search the Word regularly and submit to what it says about who God is.


<Verse verse="Amos 5:21-24" />

<Question>Clearly, what the Lord is describing is something that He is not pleased with. What is it He isn’t pleased with?</Question>
<Question>Who told them to do all these things in the first place?  So why is God repulsed by them now?</Question>

<Verse verse="Amos 5:25-27" />


Israel was practicing idolatry.  The idols of Sakkuth and Kaiwan were being carried in processions in **syncretistic** worship, which the prophet condemns. These gods were connected with the planet Saturn.

> **syncretism (n) -** the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought.

It might be tempting to believe that we’re not subject to idolatry in our own present-day church.  This is a mistake.Idolatry is regularly present in the midst of continuing to practice our normal ritualistic religious activities.


1. **Church attendance** - Are we intentionally gathering to worship the Lord together or are we gathering because it’s what we are used to doing?
2. **Tithes and offerings** - Do we give money as a means of a “tip” to the Lord hoping that He will allow our financial security to continue?
3. **Church hopping** - Do we church hop in an effort to find what is most satisfying and comfortable for me? When we are challenged or stretched we tend to move on somewhere else that’s more comfortable for us. _(Sometimes being challenged or stretched is what we need)_
4. We talk about Jesus at Christmas and Easter, but it is out of habit or tradition, and not out of true and pure worship.
5. We go through the motions of a religion, but when push comes to shove and things get hard, where do we actually turn?  Do we turn to ourselves?  Do we turn to other people?  Do we view God as a last resort to use in times  of desperation, or do we pursue Him first as the God of the universe, worthy of our worship?  Is it easier to give God lip service than to actually surrender to Him?

> From Curt…

> The scariest part is that the people believed they were still in good standing with the Lord. They still looked forward to the day of the Lord. They still expected it to be a day of deliverance. It was not as if they knowingly thought they were playing a joke on God and said, “well...let’s act like we’re worshiping Him, but not actually worship Him.” The idolatry ran so deep, they didn’t know it was there.

> This is why we have to keep coming to the Lord and asking Him to reveal our hearts for what they are. This is why confession and repentance must be normal practices in our lives. This is why we need others we trust who can help point us back to the Lord over and over again. Apart from a deep rooted dependence and pattern of living in dependence on the Lord, we will default to idolatry.

> We must recognize the frailty of our own hearts and minds along with our natural tendency to move toward idolatry. We must not define success as the activities we are doing, but the heart that is doing it.

> This passage shows the Lord is not focused on our simple actions, He is focused on our coming to Him. He knows we are broken. He knows we are idolatrous. He knows we will wander. That’s why what He asks from us is to come to Him.

> If we would moment by moment, day by day set a pattern of coming to Him, we would find the Lord graciously opening our eyes to the places of idolatry in our lives. We would experience mercy, grace and compassion.

> How do we avoid this same idolatry? We come to the Lord as often as we can.

> Let this passage be a warning to all of us, that our religious practices are not going to satisfy the justice of God. We need Him. Not just activities about Him. We need Him.


## A Gut Check on Idolatry

It’s SO easy for us to fall into idolatry.  Literally the first story in the Bible shows Adam & Eve falling into the idolatry of self:  wanting to make themselves like God.

It can be incredibly difficult to see this idolatry in ourselves, so Curt’s recommendation to be constantly seeking the Lord is critical.

There’s also, I think, a good litmus test we can give ourselves for the hold something has on our heart:  How often are we focused on it?  Think about the things we spend most of our time & worry on:

- Kids
- Finances
- Health & Security

For me, I’ll take each of these things and take the scales of comparison to them.  How much time, effort, money, thought am I spending on any one of these things?  Then, I’ll compare how much time, effort, etc I’m spending on seeking God and His will for my life.

It’s amazing how often I have to check myself on how I’m idolizing these things, and prioritizing them above God.


# Next Week:  Read Amos 2:4-16

- Read it several times, slowly
- Don’t hesitate to research & meditate on it


## Closing Table Questions (15-20 Minutes)

<Question>The people believed that the day of the Lord would be a great day for them. How do we get caught in the same trap?</Question>
<Question>What are things we do that can become ritualistic rather than acts of worship? How do we know if we’re doing things out of religious ritual or out of a heart of worship?</Question>
<Question>Why does it matter that we work to not confuse God’s patience as God’s acceptance of all we do? What are the practical consequences if we do this?</Question>
<Question>What does it look like to live a life devoted to worship of the Lord?</Question>


The Day of the Lord is prevalent in Revelation, referring to a day when God will bring his judgment against evil, and allow a new creation to flourish, but its roots go all the way back to Genesis, which is important, because, obviously Israel didn’t have John’s Revelation in hand in 780 BC (since it wasn’t written until the first century AD).

Amos 5:18-27


A key point when reading the Old Testament is to understand that often isn’t always written chronologically. The books are not in an ordered timeline. So, to better understand, let’s kick off by going back to David as a reference point we can lean on.

# History Lesson

- David (1010 - 970)
- Solomon (970 - 931)
- Rehoboam (931 - 928)

Then **ISRAEL & JUDAH SPLIT**, about 3 years after Rehoboam's reign began. From there, it looks like this:

<table className="text-xs">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td colSpan="2"><strong>Kings of ...</strong></td>
      <td rowSpan="2">
        <strong>Start of reign</strong>
      </td>
      <td colSpan="2"><strong>Prophets to ...</strong></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><strong>Judah</strong></td>
      <td><strong>Israel</strong></td>
      <td><strong>Judah</strong></td>
      <td><strong>Israel</strong></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>1. Rehoboam</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>931 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>1. Jeroboam</td>
      <td>931 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>(Ahijah)</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>2. Abijah</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>913 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>3. Asa</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>911 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>2. Nadab</td>
      <td>910 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>3. Baasha</td>
      <td>909 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>(Jehu)</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>4. Elah</td>
      <td>886 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>5. Zimri</td>
      <td>885 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>6. Omri</td>
      <td>885 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>7. Ahab</td>
      <td>874 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>(Elijah)</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>4. Jehoshaphat</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>870 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>(Micaiah)</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>8. Ahaziah</td>
      <td>853 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>(Elisha)</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>9. Joram</td>
      <td>852 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>5. Jehoram</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>848 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>6. Ahaziah</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>841 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>10. Jehu</td>
      <td>841 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>7. Athaliah</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>841 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>8. Joash</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>835 BC</td>
      <td>Joel (guesswork)</td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>11. Jehoahaz</td>
      <td>814 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>12. Jehoash</td>
      <td>798 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>9. Amaziah</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>796 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>Jonah (to Nineveh)</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>13. Jeroboam II</td>
      <td>782 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>Amos, Hosea</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>10. Uzziah</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>767 BC</td>
      <td><strong>Isaiah (MAJOR)</strong></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>14. Zechariah</td>
      <td>753 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>15. Shallum</td>
      <td>752 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>16. Menahem</td>
      <td>752 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>17. Pekahiah</td>
      <td>742 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>18. Pekah</td>
      <td>740 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>11. Jotham</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>740 BC</td>
      <td>Micah</td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>12. Ahaz</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>732 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>19. Hoshea</td>
      <td>732 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>13. Hezekiah</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>716 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>14. Manasseh</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>687 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>15. Amon</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>642 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>Nahum (to Nineveh)</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>16. Josiah</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>640 BC</td>
      <td>Zephaniah, <strong>Jeremiah</strong></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>17. Jehoahaz</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>609 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>18. Jehoiakim</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>609 BC</td>
      <td>Habakkuk (approx)</td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>19. Jehoiachin</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>597 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>20. Zedekiah</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>597 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>592 BC</td>
      <td><strong>Ezekiel, Daniel</strong></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>587 BC</td>
      <td>Obadiah (to Edom)</td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>520 BC</td>
      <td>Haggai, Zechariah</td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>(Esther)</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>478 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>(Ezra)</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>458 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>(Nehemiah)</td>
      <td></td>
      <td>445 BC</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>433 BC</td>
      <td>Malachi</td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>


## What was happening leading up to Amos?

- Though there are a few “good” kings, most are pretty horrible (example: Jehu in 2 Kings 9-10)
- Through most of the kings up to Amos’s time, Judah and Israel are constantly warring with each other, trying to reclaim territory
- Uzziah (Azariah’s) and Jeroboam’s fathers warred bitterly over territory
- However, in Amos’s time, Israel was experiencing relative peace and prosperity

_NOTE: I highly recommend reading Kings to get an understanding of this part of the history of Israel_

## So, who are the prophets?

The Lord sent prophets as a means of warning the people so they might have an opportunity to experience the mercy of God instead of the judgment of God.

### Major v.s. Minor

You may think Major and Minor have to do with the importance of the prophet or their writings, like I did. In actuality, it’s based on pretty simple literary differences. The Minor prophet books are shorter, and their audience is narrower, while the Major prophet books are much longer, and their audience is more broad, even global.

### The purpose of the prophets message…

1. Proclaim the coming judgment
2. Call the people to repent
3. Declare a coming hope

### Tips for reading the prophets…

1. Prepare yourself by understanding that reading the prophets can be difficult.
2. Find out when each was written to help understand the context of the book.
3. Find out to whom they were writing. This also gives some insight into the book. Many of the prophets were writing specifically to Judah or Israel. For example: Amos wrote specifically to Israel, before the exile.
4. Take your time. Again, the reading can be difficult, and full of analogy.

> _NOTE FROM TY: I actually open up my computer, and use tools like BibleGateway.com and the Googles to find reasonably accurate history, interpretation, sermons, etc. Amos is very specific in his warning, and mentions a lot of people and places. These prophetic writings (especially the minor, specific ones) can get pretty difficult to follow if you don’t take it super slow and embrace the research and history._

### What is God doing through the prophets?

- Reminding the people of the covenant He made with them and they made with Him.
- Showing them what happens when holiness is met by rejection.
- Using judgment as a means of bringing His people back to Himself and moving them toward redemption.
- He is reaffirming that whatever they face, there will be a day of restoration coming so they should not give up hope.

### Three primary areas of judgment seen throughout the prophets:

- Idolatry
- Greed
- Injustice
- _We will see all three of these in Amos._

### Why do prophetic books matter today?

- They show us how to live as exiles and foreigners in another land.
- They show us that there is a day of restoration coming.
- They show us where we need warnings. Read them regularly and be reminded.

### Why should we get excited about Amos?

<Verse verse="James 1:22-25" />

- God’s Word and Law is the mirror that helps us pursue righteousness and sanctification
- If we don’t use that mirror daily, how can we know what needs to change in our life?
- Amos (and other minor prophets) are a fantastic mirror we can use to see God’s definition of righteousness, and how other people in the past missed this mark

# A little about Amos…

- He was a sheep herder and arborist (took care of sycamores)
- He was from Tekoa, a desert in Judah
- God called him directly to “prophecy to Israel” (Amos 7:14-15) …even though he was from Judah

## Amos 1-2:3 - The Six Judgments of Other Nations


<Verse verse="Amos 1:3-5" />

### Judgment #1: Damascus

- **Their problem:** Trampling the people of Gilead (v.3). This would be devaluing other people and trampling on them to get what they wanted.
- **The consequence:** Damascus will be destroyed, the king will be killed, and the people will go into exile. (vv.4-5)
- **The lesson:** God values all people who have been made in His image and every person is to be treated as an image bearer of God. Those with less money, those with more money, refugees, the homeless, your enemies, people who bother you, the opposite political party etc...
- **Personal question:** Is there anyone in my life I am devaluing? (Do not fly past this question and dismiss it. Force people to actually wrestle with it. The answer may not come to them immediately. But if we are all truly honest we can find people we value less than others. This should be a place of repentance for us.)


<Verse verse="Amos 1:6-8" />

### Judgment #2: Gaza

- **Their problem:** Gaza took captives entire communities and sold them to Edom. This is profiting off the enslavement of other people. (v.6)
- **The consequences:** The Lord will ultimately turn His hand against them to their destruction (vv.7-8)
- **The lesson:** Similar to Damascus - People are not resources to exploit, but instead they are valued image bearers of God. Other people are not our competition. Let that sink in...Other people are not our competition. They are fellow image bearers of God who we have an opportunity to serve and help them find and follow the Lord. Everything changes when we stop seeing other people as our competition and start seeing them through the lens of the Holy Spirit.
- **Personal question:** Am I using anyone for my own gain instead of seeing them as image bearers of God to be loved and valued? How can I value and serve every person I come in contact with?

<Verse verse="Amos 1:9-10" />

### Judgment #3: Tyre

- **Their problem:** They sold people after lying and breaking their word. (broken promises) (v.9)
- **The consequence:** Tyre will be destroyed. (v.10)
- **The lesson:** What we say matters. We are to be a people of our word. The Lord values a promise and a covenant. So we learn two things:
  1. God takes it seriously when He makes a promise or covenant. So we know we can trust Him that He will not break His promises. (Psalm 145:13)
  2. We are to be a people who reflect the God who is a promise keeper. So our word is to matter to us, even if it becomes costly to us. (Philippians 2:3&4)
- **Personal question:** What is the value of your word? How have you been a reflection of a promise keeping God?


<Verse verse="Amos 1:11-12" />

### Judgment #: Edom

- **Their problem:** They were led by their unchecked anger and rage (v.11)
- **The consequence:** They will be destroyed (v.12)
- **The lesson:** Anger and rage will never lead to what is right and good (James 2:19-20). The cost of anger will always be born not only by ourselves, but by others around us. Contrast this with the Lord (who holds righteous anger) and see that He is slow to anger. (Psalm 86:15)
- **Personal Question:** How has anger impacted your life? What have been the consequences to others because of your anger?

<Verse verse="Amos 1:13-15" />

### Judgment #5: Ammon

- **Their problem:** The thirst for more (power, control, resources) led them to unspeakable brutality. (v.13)
- **The consequence:** Destruction will occur among the land and the king and his officials will go into exile.
- **The lesson:** Greed and a desire for more will lead to devaluing others to a point where just about anything can be justified against them. (Just look at our history of wars and even current global conflicts.) Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives any of us are capable of far more evil than we can imagine.
- **Personal question:** Where has greed crept into your life? This can be tricky to spot because we think in terms of looking at other people. So if we do not have as much as others around us, we expect that greed is not playing a role. Comparison is not the right measuring stick. Greed is measured by asking ourselves, is there anything I believe I am missing that I think I need? In Christ we are to find all we need. Greed is regularly sending shoots deep into our hearts that are hard to identify.

<Verse verse="Amos 2:1-3" />

### Judgment #6: Moab

- **Their problem:** The overthrow and killing of the Edomite king. (v.1)
- **The consequence:** Destruction along with the death of the rulers and officials. (vv.2-3)
- **The lesson:** (Similar to others) People are to be seen as valuable image bearers of God.
- **Personal question:** Similar questions as Damascus and Gaza

# Painting a Target?

Review the map below. Here are the 6 Judgements outlined in the beginning of Amos. What’s the target pointing at? What do you think might be coming next?

![alt_text](/images/amos-israels-judgement.png 'image_tooltip')

## Table Discussion

<Question>What has been your experience with the Old Testament prophetic books?</Question>
<Question>What are you excited about as we start the Amos study?</Question>
<Question>Which of the six judgements on the nations stood out to you in Amos 1? Why?</Question>

## Questions from the 6 Judgements

<Question>What does devaluing someone else look like in your life or in others around you?</Question>
<Question>What does it look like today to use someone for your own gain instead of treating them as image bearers of God? What does it look like to value and serve each person you come in contact with as image bearers of God?</Question>
<Question>How have you been a reflection of a promise keeping God with your words and actions? (truth telling and covenant keeping)</Question>
<Question>How has anger impacted your life (yours or someone else’s)? What have been the consequences in these situations?</Question>
<Question>Where do you see greed creep into your life? Does today’s society make it easier or harder to focus on things other than financial security?</Question>
<Question>How do you typically respond when someone gives you a warning about what they see in your life? How can you prepare to listen to what the Lord wants to show you through this study of Amos?</Question>

# Next Week: Read Amos 2:4-16

- Read it several times, slowly
- Don’t hesitate to research & meditate on it


The Lord sent prophets like Amos as a means of warning the people so they might have an opportunity to experience the mercy of God instead of the judgment of God.

Amos 1:1-2:3


## Context

* James was the brother of Jesus
* A “pillar” of the early church (along with John & Peter)
* Speaking to Jewish Christians (from Jerusalem, most likely)
* People with “respectable” sin


## Disclaimers

This passage talks about wealth.  It’s a blistering warning to what James calls the rich.  It’s probably going to be easy to say or think “James isn’t talking to me.”  I would encourage you to put your heart into really trying to hear what the scripture has to say.

Second, possibly the worst thing we can do in this conversation is to turn this into a Pharisaic debate over how rich is too rich.  If we go to that place, we are focusing on rule-following and judging others, instead of what is flowing out of our hearts and into our lives, and more importantly, the lives of others.

The last obstacle to avoid in this discussion is letting it spiral into a debate over politics, social welfare, class warfare, upcoming elections, especially in today’s political climate.  There is a place for healthy conversations about those topics, but we need to avoid it in this setting, and focus on what Christ, through James’ scripture, is trying to speak to our hearts.  We need to try to listen to God’s voice in today’s  study.

**[Tell about landing in Sri Lanka]**


## Being “Rich”

<Question>So with respect to money, what do you think it means to be rich?</Question>

<Verse verse="James 5:1-3" />


<Question>Strong wording.  Who do you think James means by “you rich people”?</Question>
<Question>Why should they weep and wail?</Question>
<Question>What miseries are coming on them?  How do we know this from what James has written here?</Question>
<Question>What is “the thing” they have done?</Question>
<Question>What does “the last days” mean?</Question>

I recently read a great quote in Teaching to Change Lives, by Dr. Howard Hendricks:

> _“My wife, Jeanne, and I once dined with a rich man from a blue blood Boston family, and I asked him ‘How in the world did you grow up in the midst of such wealth and not be consumed by materialism?’

> His answer: ‘My parents taught us that everything in our home was either an idol or a tool.’”_

<Question>I’m gonna ask a hard question, then we’re gonna dig deeper into it: If we look at our  lives today,  are they MORE focused on paying the bills, saving enough for retirement, and leaving a legacy for our kids and grandkids, or MORE focused on helping the suffering, children, orphans, etc?</Question>

I’ve mentioned the toxicity of the American Dream before.  I think a lot of people, myself included, can easily fall prey to the self-talk phrase “I wouldn’t consider myself rich.”  To me, this phrase is both a symptom and source of the toxicity of the American Dream that I’m talking about, and what it has done to us, especially as Christians,  through generations of pursuit.

Here’s why it’s toxic:  it puts us to sleep.  We all see people with waaaay more than we have, and therefore we consider our lives humble, so we feel ok about our spirituality.  We get content with wake up, get the kids ready, go to school, go to church, rinse, repeat.  And this has been the product generations in the making.

But here’s the deal: it’s not really sleep at all.  It can become an obsessive, unfulfilling constant state of worry.  It’s been talked about at some length in psychological circles that there are generally two types of mindsets:  **Scarcity** & **Plenty**.


### Scarcity Mindset

A scarcity mindset is when you constantly worry that there won’t be enough (time, money, food, you name it).  Psychologists like Eldar Schafer who co-wrote the book “Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much” believe this mindset is literally eating away at our mental capacity.  The logic goes:

- Humans have limited cognitive capacity
- Scarcity mindset leads to tunneling (or obsessing)
- Tunneling cannibalizes cognitive capacity that could be directed elsewhere

_Example:_  I didn’t notice (or put much effort) into the troubled family on my street, because I was too worried about losing my job.

> “Scarcity captures the mind… when we experience scarcity of any kind, we become absorbed by it. The mind orients automatically, powerfully towards unfulfilled needs. Scarcity is more than just the displeasure of having very little. It changes how we think. It imposes itself on our minds.” - Eldar Shafer

Further, a scarcity mindset doesn’t end when scarcity doesn’t actually exist.  More typically, the concept of scarcity (or fear of not having enough) grows to fit your current state.  It can be a really taxing, difficult cycle for people (even people of immense wealth) to break.


### Plenty Mindset

Conversely, a plenty, or abundant, mindset, in psychology, believes there is plenty out there for everyone.  In Christianity, more specifically, it means being comfortable trusting God in His provision.  That trust, if it’s real,  gives us freedom from the tunneling & obsession a scarcity mindset creates, allowing us to see other’s needs, and God’s opportunities for His glory, and our sanctification, more clearly in front of us, because our cognitive capacity isn’t being drained by worry.

<Verse verse="Matthew 6:24-34" />

<Question>Which type of mindset do you feel you practice more naturally?</Question>
<Question>Which mindset do you feel would be more inclined to “store up treasure in the last days?”</Question>
<Question>When you look at the aim of the American Dream:  job success, home ownership, retirement planning, a financial legacy for our children… do those goals sound more centered around Scarcity or Plenty?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 5:4-6" />
<Question>What picture does verse 4 paint of the people James is warning?</Question>
<Question>James is obviously tearing these people apart for oppressing poor workers in greed.  As we go about our lives at work, how can we ensure that we’re not doing that?  Any examples or stories?</Question>
<Question>What do you think James means in verse 6?  Who are the righteous?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 5:7-11" />
<Question>What is the therefore there for?  How is James relating the idea of being patient until the Lord’s coming back to his strongly worded warning to the rich and self-indulgent?</Question>
<Question>How do you think patience relates to a Scarcity mindset?</Question>
<Question>How about a Plenty mindset?</Question>


This passage talks about wealth.  It’s a blistering warning to what James calls the rich.  It’s probably going to be easy to say or think “James isn’t talking to me.”

James 5:1-11


## Context



* James was the brother of Jesus
* A “pillar” of the early church
* Speaking to Jewish Christians (from Jerusalem, most likely)
* People with “respectable” sin

Be sure and review [Faith & Reason](/lessons/why-trust-the-bible-week-8#faith) before proceeding.

## How much do actions matter?

<Question>Answer this for yourself:  “I am a really good _______________.”</Question>
<Question>What makes you comfortable saying that?  What qualifies you to say that?</Question>
<Question>Now answer this: “I am not a very good ________________.”</Question>
<Question>Why do you say that?  What makes you uncomfortable claiming the title?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 2:14-17" />

<Question>How do you feel about what verse 14 says, when it says “Can such faith save him?”  What do you think James is implying?</Question>
<Question>What’s being described in verses 15-16?  Does it feel a little like an SNL sketch to you, maybe if it weren’t so sad?</Question>
<Question>Has there been a time in your life when you felt like the person being described in verses 15-16?   How did you respond to that feeling?</Question>
<Question>James says faith (a commitment to a belief) without works is dead.   What do you think this means?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 2:18-19" />

NLT: Now someone may argue, 'Some people have faith; others have good deeds.' But I say, 'How can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.'

NIV: But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

<Question>The pronouns here can make this verse confusing.  James is basically saying someone is going to challenge his assertion that faith without works is dead by saying: “Some people have faith, some people have works.”  What do you think about this?</Question>
<Question>How does James rebut that challenge?</Question>
<Question>Do you think James is saying that if you don’t do good deeds, then you’re not saved?  Why or why not?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 2:20-23" />

<Question>Abraham had faith:  the _commitment_ to a belief in God.   What was credited to him for that belief?</Question>


<Verse verse="Genesis 15:4-6" />

<Question>How did Abraham’s faith (commitment to a belief) drive his actions in life?  Did he do anything that seemed ridiculous because of what he believed?</Question>

<Verse verse="Romans 4:18-24" />

**Now let’s see what Paul says…**

<Verse verse="Romans 3:21-30" />

<Question>Do you think that James and Paul are taking opposite positions?  Why or why not?</Question>
<Question>Do you think a faith can be genuine if it’s never acted upon?</Question>
<Question>So what’s the takeaway?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 2:25-26" />

<Question>Contextually, why do you think James is writing this (in a fairly heated tone)?  How did Jewish Christians in that time feel about the law and its role in their salvation?</Question>
<Question>Why bring up Rahab?  How do Rahab’s “works” compare to the other works James is describing in chapter 2?  Go back to James 2:15 if you need a reminder…</Question>
<Question>So what does this say about our own faith today?  If we have committed to our belief, how now shall we live?  Do you feel like the “works” in your own life represent the abundance of your faith?  If not, what gets in the way of that?</Question>


How much do actions matter when it comes to expressing our faith?

James 2:14-26


## Recap

- James was the brother of Jesus
- A “pillar” of the early church
- Speaking to Jewish Christians (from Jerusalem, most likely)
- Human anger v.s. God’s righteousness
- Being a “doer” of the word
- God’s law is a “mirror” we can use to approach our own sin
- Pure religion


## Warm Up

<Question>Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?</Question>
<Question>How did it happen?</Question>
<Question>How did you feel or react?</Question>


## Coming to Terms

<Question>What does it mean to show favoritism?</Question>
<Question>Have you ever been impacted negatively by someone showing favoritism?  How about your kids or grandkids?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 2:1-4" />

<Question>Ok, let’s be really honest about verse 2.  What if this actually happened?  What do you think would happen today in our church?</Question>
<Question>What if we weren’t talking about rich v.s. poor?  What if we were talking about someone coming in who is openly trans-gender?  What other types of favoritism do we show in the church today?</Question>

<Verse verse="Luke 7:36-50" />

<Verse verse="James 2:5-7" />
<Question>What is James saying about the poor?</Question>
<Question>Is what he is saying well founded Scripturally?  (Luke 6:20-26)</Question>

<Verse verse="Matthew 25:31-46" />
<Question>What is James saying about the rich?</Question>
<Question>What do you think James means by exploiting, dragging into court, blaspheming the good name?  What do you think might be going on at the time?</Question>
<Question>If you look at today’s uber-wealthy (Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk) through the lens of what James is accusing the rich of, how do you think they would fare in that trial?</Question>

<Verse verse="Matthew 6:24" />

<Question>In today’s society, which is easier to serve?   What does American culture promote serving?   Are there things we could do to change that narrative for our kids and grandkids?</Question>

<Verse verse="James 2:8-11" />
<Question>What do you think James is trying to say in verses 8-10?</Question>
<Question>Why do you think he would write those words to the Christians of the time?</Question>
<Question>How do you feel about the idea that breaking even one commandment breaks the whole law?  Do you think that’s fair?</Question>
<Question>How do you treat the idea of “fairness” at home, with kids, grandkids etc?</Question>
<Question>In the context of James writing to people well-versed in all of the 600+ laws of Torah, this seems a little remedial?  Why do you think James took the time to write this down?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 2:12-13" />
<Question>What do you think it means to speak and act as someone who is about to be judged?</Question>
<Question>What would you change about how you act today, if you knew you were going to be judged tomorrow?</Question>
<Question>In the context of favoritism, what do you think James means when he talks about mercy?</Question>
<Question>If you had to pick, which do you think, based on James and other Scripture, deserve special treatment:  the rich or the poor?  Why?</Question>
<Question>For centuries, Christian scholars have tried to set up a debate between James and Paul, which we’ll talk more about next week.  When James says mercy triumphs over judgment, what do you think he means?  How does that tie into the concept of Faith versus Works?</Question>



What does it mean to show favoritism?  Have you ever been impacted negatively by someone showing favoritism?  How about your kids or grandkids?

James 2:1-13



### Who was James?
* James (son of Zebedee)
* James (son of Alpheus)
* **James (brother of Jesus)**

**Why do we think this?**

James (son of Zebedee) was martyred before the writing of the book of James.  Not much is known about James (son of Alpheus), however, the intro address of the Book of James is written as someone who would be very prominent / familiar in the church.  The only James that fits this bill is James the brother of Jesus.


## But who WAS James?



* Half-brother of Jesus
* A Christian Jew
* “Thomas-level” doubter pre-resurrection (John 7:2-5)
* Close to Peter (Acts 12:17)
* Possibly commissioned by Jesus himself (1 Cor 15:7)
* Understood by Paul to be an apostle (Gal 1:19)
* Pillar of the Church (Gal 2:9, Acts 15:13-22)


## What’s happening? Who is James writing to?



* The church is growing in and around Jerusalem, but…
* Saul had been “ravaging” it (Acts 8:1)  (AD 30 - 32)
* Many Christians fled the city & scattered
* Saul → Paul Conversion (AD 32); Paul goes to Damascus
* Paul visits Jerusalem to meet Apostles (~ AD 35); only meets 2
* He stays with Peter, and meets James (Gal 1:18-19)
* James was a Christian Jew, writing to Christian Jews (James 1:1, “12 tribes”)
* Writing to former Jews who knew the law, likely grew up with it


## Controversy


### James (Jesus’ brother) can’t be the author



* James was martyred in AD 62
* Brittanica says that’s too early for the book to have been written
* Most modern biblical scholars think that’s nonsense:
    * Probably written in the mid-40’s
        * Leaders were teachers & elders, not bishops and deacons (3:1, 5:14)
        * Christians were still meeting in synagogues (2:2)
        * Events & truths in later books are not mentioned
        * The Great Circumcision debate had not yet happened, apparently


### Late canonicity



* What is canon?
    * Apostolicity - Written by an apostle or close companion
    * Antiquity - Written in the 1st century
    * Orthodoxy - Agrees with the doctrine of Jesus Christ
    * Universality - Valued by all Christians around the world
* Established as cannon in 367
* Why so late?
    * Tradition says Jerusalem Christians fled to Pella before Romans destroyed the city in AD 70
    * His community & constituency were in a disarray that continued through the second Jewish war (AD 135), which would make it more difficult to transmit the letter


### Luther - “an epistle of straw”



* Luther did believe the book was troublesome, but…
    * He didn’t sufficiently recognize it’s apostolicity based in Scripture
    * He regularly touted the value of the book as canon (this is often ignored)
    * His main problems were:
        * It wasn’t apostolic enough in content
        * He saw a “faith v.s. works” problem
    * He was well-known for using drama / hyperbole
    * For Luther:
        * Gospel = Faith
        * Law = Repentance
* Most modern historians believe it was James (brother of Jesus)
* Early apostles (and Jesus) clearly teach repentance as part of a gospel-centered lifestyle (Acts 14:15)
* James is very “occasional”
    * He’s preaching to Christian Jews who know the law
    * They have already professed their faith
    * James wants to see it faith made genuine through sanctification, he’s pushing them toward action IN their EXISTING faith, not sharing the good news of salvation



<Verse verse="James 1:19-20" />

<Question>James tells us to be “quick to hear, slow to speak.” Have you had situations where you did the opposite—slow to hear, quick to  speak? What’s the problem with that?</Question>

<Question>What does “human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness” mean to you?  Is there such a thing as “righteous indignation?”  Do you think there are some times that God wants us to get angry?  If so, what do you do with verse 20?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 1:21" />

In verse 21, when James talks about getting rid of “filthiness and rampant wickedness,” we think we know what he means. There is plenty of filth in our world too. We generally think of lust and various sins associated with it. But look at the context. James has just been talking about anger and the sins of speech, and he goes on to say that the alternative to filth is to “receive with meekness” the word. So maybe this “filth” also involves pride and controlling our tongue.

Remember that James was writing to an audience of mostly Jewish believers scattered around the world. They would have likely had a strong moral upbringing in the Jewish faith. They would already be rejecting the lustful filth of their Gentile neighbors, you would think. But maybe James is challenging them to get rid of sins of anger and pride as well. It’s always easy for us to rail against the kind of sin that other people commit. It’s harder to confront our own.

If you want to dig even deeper, consider this. The Greek word for “filth” (rhyparia) is found only here in the New Testament, but a related word (rhyparos) occurs in James 2:2 and in the Greek translation of Zechariah 3:3–4. Those references involve filthy or shabby clothing. In Zechariah, it’s a strong picture of salvation—God cleansing the high priest. This leads some experts to suggest that James is following a baptismal liturgy—removal of “shabby” garments, then cleansing, then listening to the Word.


<Verse verse="James 1:22" />
<Question>What do you think it means to be a “doer” of the Word, versus just a hearer?</Question>
<Question>How are we “deceiving ourselves”  by just being hearers?</Question>

<Verse verse="James 1:23-25" />
<Question>What the heck does this all mean?</Question>
<Question>What’s the point of looking in a mirror?  What do we use them for?</Question>
<Question>Let’s say you looked in the mirror and noticed something bad, like you missed a spot shaving or misapplied your makeup.  Then, instead of fixing it, you just walked away and forgot about it.  What would be the point of the mirror?</Question>
<Question>In James’s example, what do you think the mirror represents?  What do you think James is trying to tell us about God’s law?</Question>
<Question>In verse 25, what does James call God’s law?</Question>
<Question>In what way is the law “a law of liberty”? Wouldn’t you think it does the opposite?</Question>


<Verse verse="James 1:26-27" />
<Question>Verses 26–27 focus on “religion.” How would you define “religion”?</Question>
<Question>Do you think of religion as a good thing or not? Do you think your neighbors think of religion as a good thing?</Question>

A lot of people these days consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.” To them, religion seems narrow, restrictive, maybe even hateful toward people outside the religion.

For the last several decades, many Christians have emphasized that their faith is about “a relationship not a religion.” That is, it’s not about following rules or rituals, but a connection with God through Jesus.

The Greek word James uses here for “religion” is rather rare in the New Testament. The other two uses of the word refer to the strict practices of the Pharisees (Acts 26:5) and the cult-like worship of angels (Colossians 2:18). Apart from James (possibly), the New Testament doesn’t tell people to be more “religious.”

<Question>With that in mind, do you think James is using the term “religion” in a positive way? Why or why not?</Question>
<Question>In verses 26–27, how does James define “religion”?</Question>
<Question>There are three specific actions he includes in his definition. What are they?</Question>
<Question>Why do you think he mentions these three? Aren’t there other good deeds he could name?</Question>


---


## Action Ideas

James is writing to religious people.  Maybe you consider yourself religious, too. But James keeps pushing us to move on. Do we listen more than we speak? Do we keep our anger in check? Are we careful about what we say? Do we put into practice what we hear in God’s Word? Do we let God’s implanted Word grow within us?



* **Pray: Anger**
    * Even if you’re not hot tempered, do you “stuff” and create bitterness?
* **Pray: Soul Pollution**
    * Ask God to show you ways you may be getting “polluted” by the world.  (Tip: You don’t need to look too far past your phone & social media)
* **Act:  “quick to hear, slow to speak”**
    * Think of someone with whom you should do more listening (kids, spouse, parent)
    * Think of questions to ask in your next conversation
    * Focus on them, not your own thoughts and responses
* **Act: Guarding the Tongue**
    * Am I too sharp or critical with my kids?
    * Do I bicker with or pick at my spouse?
    * Am I gossiping?
* **Act:  Care for the suffering & needy**
    * Ask your pastors about opportunities to help:
        * Widows
        * Orphans
        * Homeless
        * Hospitalized
        * Retirees
        * Special-needs children and adults
        * Unemployed
        * Immigrants
        * Prisoners
        * Etc.
    * What tugs at your heart?  What action is God (and James) calling you to?

James (son of Zebedee) was martyred before the writing of the book of James.  Not much is known about James (son of Alpheus), however, the intro address of the Book of James is written as someone who would be very prominent / familiar in the church.  The only James that fits this bill is James the brother of Jesus.

James 1:19-27


#### Chapter 7: Take it On the Word of a Resurrected Man


### Week 7 Highlights



* We discussed miracles, their definition, and why it’s not implausible to believe in them.
* We reviewed the two main objections to miracles, as originally presented by Scottish philosopher, David Hume in 1748:
    * _Scientific objection_: Is it possible that the witnesses of Biblical miracles just didn’t understand science enough to know that what they were seeing was not miraculous?  
    * _Philosophical Objection:_ Even if science cannot prove the impossibility of miracles, we should still say that the probability of miracles is too small to believe that they are possible.
* We studied 11 characteristics and 3 purposes of biblical miracles as presented by Pastor Bob Deffinbaugh.
* We discussed the centrality of the resurrection to our faith in Jesus Christ and why the disciples themselves believed the resurrection. 
* We debunked several alternative theories to the reality of the resurrection.
* For our apologetics bonus, we looked at Christ’s proclamation of deity to John the Baptist, quoting from Isaiah 35 and 61, and correlating missing text found in the Dead Sea Scrolls that states he will “rise from the dead”.

## The Resurrection and Reliability of the Bible

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we believe what Jesus said, and since Jesus himself endorsed the entire Old Testament and authorized the entire New Testament, we believe they are reliable and true.

> “Holy Scripture could never lie or err… it’s decrees are of absolute and unavoidable truth.”  - Galileo Galilei, the ‘Father of Science’, 1613

## What the Resurrection Should Mean to Us

* Those of us united to Jesus by faith will be resurrected just as He was.
* God fully accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as sufficient payment for our sins.
* Jesus now lives to lead, rule, protect, intercede for, and do good for His people who are still alive on earth.
* God ratified, endorsed, vindicated, and confirmed all of Jesus’ claims about who He was and what kind of authority He possessed.

### Chapter Question

**Matthew tells us 3 times that Jesus predicted His own death.  What do we learn through these predictions?  In particular, what do they teach us about how Jesus understood His own identity as the Messiah?**

Jesus presented His death and resurrection as the necessary and confirming culmination of His identity as Christ.  The role, mission and destiny of Christ was not to be determined, but was already established in the Old Testament.  It was not something Christ was choosing to do, but it is what he _HAD_ to do.  There was no doubt that it would be carried out, thus revealing the fulfillment of the OT prophecies and confirming Jesus’ identity as THE long-anticipated Messiah.

_“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”_ - Acts 2:36 

> “God’s nature is revealed most perfectly in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth…who was sent by God to reveal the divine nature.” - George F.R. Ellis, PhD, _Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature_, 1997

**What does the resurrection mean for the Old Testament?**

The resurrection establishes Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament, thus establishing His authority to speak for God the Father.  It also made it clear that Jesus was _THE_ prophet who could perfectly reveal who God is and what He says.  Therefore, it means everything that Jesus not only treated the Old Testament as authoritative, but as THE very Word of God, thus confirming the divinity of the scriptures.

He told them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”  - Luke 24:44

**When Jesus says things like “You have heard it said, but I say to you”, is He correcting errors in the Old Testament?  If not, then what is He doing?**

Jesus was correcting the misinterpretation and misuse of the Old Testament scriptures by Pharisees and exercising his kingly, prophetic authority to say what the Old Testament _REALLY_ meant in the first place. 

**What does the resurrection mean for the New Testament?  How do John 16:12-16 and 2 Peter 3:15-16 help us to answer this question?**

The resurrection established the authority of Jesus as the promised Messiah, in turn, giving authority to the fulfilled promises that He made.  Those promises included sending the Holy Spirit to guide the Apostles in truth and wisdom as they spread the Word throughout the early church.  Therefore, the Apostles weren’t just eyewitnesses, they were particularly and specifically authorized by the King to teach the church the rest of what he wanted taught.

> “If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier.  But it is not.  We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions.  How could we?  We are dealing with Fact.  Of course anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about.”  - C.S. Lewis, _Mere Christianity_, 1943

**So, in your own words, why should you trust the Bible?**

<Verse verse="1 Peter 3:15" />

**Do you feel that you are more prepared than you were 8 weeks ago?**

> “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.”_ _- E. Paul Hovey


<a name="faith"></a>

## Apologetics Bonus: _Faith, Reason, and Bill Craig’s Big 5_ 

“Just have faith.” We have probably all heard it.

Problem:  What on earth does that mean?  Just blindly believe something without any evidence?  What are we telling our kids to have?

Atheistic (and popular) culture is redefining faith as _the opposite of reason_.  Should we continue to allow popular culture to be the primary voice in our kids ears, causing them to feel shamed and stupid for believing something “without any evidence?”

Let’s examine how we can change the narrative, starting with Reason…


### What is Reason?

> “[Reason is] fundamentally the act of engaging the mind - whether done intuitively or rigorously, poorly or flawlessly.  It is, ideally, a process of careful thinking, always involving logic, and often drawing upon evidence.” - _Peter Grice, True Reason_


### Key Points



* Though atheistic culture makes reason sound praiseworthy, and in opposition to faith, **everyone** reasons
* The implied charge is that Christians reason **_poorly_**

**Let’s hear what the atheistic community is putting out there…**

> “Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it.  Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence.” - **_Sam Harris_**

> “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.  Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” - **_Richard Dawkins_**

> “The difference between faith and insanity is that faith is the ability to hold firmly to a conclusion that is incompatible with the evidence, whereas insanity is the ability to hold firmly to a conclusion that is incompatible with the evidence.” - **_William Harwood_**

> “We may define ‘faith’ as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence.  Where there is evidence, no one speaks of ‘faith.’” - **_Bertrand Russell_**


### Key Points



* All of these statements rest on the assumption that there is no evidence for God
* All of these statements provide a _new_ definition of ‘faith’ that is based on a presupposed worldview


### What is Faith?


##### Oxford

**faith (n)**

1. complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
2. strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.


#### Webster

**faith (n)**

1. allegiance to duty or a person - “lost faith in the company’s president”
2. fidelity to one's promises
3. sincerity of intentions - “acted in good faith”
4. belief and trust in and loyalty to God
5. belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion
6. **_firm belief in something for which there is no proof - “clinging to the faith that her missing son would return”_**
7. complete trust
8. something that is believed especially with strong conviction
9. especially : a system of religious beliefs - “Protestant faith”
10. **_without question - “took everything he said on faith”_**


#### The Bible

“Faith is the **assurance** of things hoped for, the **conviction** of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1

> _“Many skeptics latch on to the words ‘hoped for’ in this verse and claim that even the Bible says faith is just a matter of wishful thinking.  But that completely ignores the other key words - ‘assurance’ and ‘conviction.’  This verse doesn't say faith is the hope for things hoped for, but the assurance of things hoped for.  Furthermore, the verse doesn’t suggest that assurance is based on boundless fantasies, but on conviction.  In other words, this doesn’t portray faith as an irrational leap into the unknown.  Rather, it presupposes that Christians have good reasons for belief, leading to assurance and conviction.”_   - Natasha Crain, _Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side_


### Key Points



* In spite of attempts to change the definition, faith is not a belief by itself
* Rather faith is the _commitment_ to a belief
* That commitment comes when you trust something you have good _reason_ to belief


### Good Reasons:  Bill Craig’s Big 5

**Reason #1: God Makes Sense of the Universe’s Origin**

We have reviewed this (The Cosmological Argument).  The universe came into being.  Science calls this the Big Bang.  First, whatever begins to exist has a cause.  Second, the universe began to exist.  Third, therefore the universe has a cause.

> “Suppose you suddenly hear a loud bang… and you ask me, ‘What made that bang?’ and I reply, ‘Nothing, it just happened.’  You would not accept that.” - _Kai Nielsen - Prominent Atheist_

Furthermore, whatever caused the universe must be causeless (otherwise regressing causes infinitely) cannot be bound by universal laws like time, space, matter or energy.

**Reason #2: God Makes Sense of the Universe’s Complexity**

Scientifically (mathematically), it’s far more probable for the Big Bang to result in a life-prohibiting universe, than a life-sustaining one.  Here are some key calculations from today’s scientific community:



* **Stephen Hawking** - If the rate of the universe’s expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have collapsed into a fireball
* **P.C.W. Davies** - The odds against the initial conditions being suitable for the formation of stars (necessary for life) is a one followed by at least a thousand billion billion zeros.  For context, the human genome is 3 billion characters long.  That’s a book the height of the Washington Monument.
* **P.C.W. Davies** - If the strength of gravity or of the weak force were changed by only one part in 10 followed by a hundred zeros, life would not be possible.
* There are about 50 constants and quantities - the amount of usable energy in the universe, the difference in mass between protons and neutrons, the ratios of the fundamental forces of nature (gravity, the weak force, electromagnetism, the strong force), and the proportion of matter to antimatter - that must be balanced to an infinitesimal degree for any life to be possible.

Skeptic’s theories have become deliberately rooted in non-science (Many Worlds theory… think Marvel metaverse), to cope with the specified complexity of the Universe and remain atheistic.

**Reason #3: God Makes Sense of Objective Moral Values**

Evidence that objective morality exists among humans of all deistic perspectives and worldviews is so overwhelming that it’s nearly incontrovertible.  Rape, torture, child abuse… the overwhelming majority of humanity would agree that these acts are abominations.

It’s unlikely that objective morality would be a biological adaptation, as it is conceivable that actions like rape and selective murder would be advantageous to the survival of the species.

Therefore, if objective morality exists, and it is not likely an evolutionary byproduct, then there must be a moral lawgiver.

**Reason #4: God Makes Sense of the Resurrection**

If Jesus of Nazareth really did come back from the dead, we have a genuine divine miracle on our hands, and thus very strong evidence for the existence of God…

Congrats, you have 8 weeks of studying this very thing under your belt!

**Reason #5: God Can Immediately Be Experienced**

Philosophers have a term called “properly basic belief.”  It is the core of why we assume we exist, and that we are not the product of electrodes probing a brain in some vat, even though we cannot logically prove we are not.  Our belief that we exist is “properly basic.”

This belief is viewed as entirely rational, and grounded in our own experience (waking up, moving matter, etc.).

As Christians, we understand our belief in God as ‘properly basic.’  We have real experiences with him.  Therefore, like our belief that we exist, we can term our belief in God this way (properly basic), and be completely rational.

Atheists will likely believe that the idea that there is no God is equally ‘properly basic.’  This is a sad reality.  Philosopher William Alston says that in this case Christians should do whatever is feasible to find common ground, like logic or empirical facts, to show in a non circular way whose view is correct.

This is exactly the point of arguments 1 - 4.

#### One Atheists' Change of Mind

> _“When I began my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was a convinced atheist.  I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would be writing a book purporting to show that the central claims of Judeo-Christian theology are in fact true, that these claims are straightforward deductions of the laws of physics as we now understand them.  I have been forced into these conclusions by the inexorable logic of my own special branch of physics.”_   - Frank J. Tipler, PhD, _The Physics of Immortality_, 1994

## Apologetics Bonus Bonus:  Aliens

Does the existence of aliens undermine the Christian worldview?


### Reasons It Could



1. Aliens would undermine the human centrality of the Biblical narrative
2. Aliens would undermine the Incarnation
3. Aliens would undermine the story of creation


### But wait a second… there ARE aliens

Christians have ALWAYS believed that God created at least one other sentient, intelligent race in the universe… angels.  According to the Bible, angels are powerful beings of pure spirit, recorded as appearing to humans in our space & time.  Most biblical scholars agree that their creation predates the creation story of Genesis.


### Human Centrality

The basic concept here is the belief that because the Bible is human-centered, other races or species must be disqualified from a relationship with God.  If we accept this, and Aliens are found, then Christianity must collapse, because Aliens are not human, and the Bible doesn’t account for them.

However, this is a false dichotomy.  Any parent with multiple children understands that just because they have another child, they are not diminishing the love and care that they have for their first child.

This makes it at least conceivable that there could be other biological races that are special to God.


### Incarnation

What about aliens and the uniqueness of the Incarnation?  Back to the “alien race” of angels, we can see from scripture that God deals with them in intimate ways.  They clearly frequently take on the role of His messengers, and we’re told in Scripture that they have other appointments given to them by God.

If we can assume that God is dealing with angels intimately (i.e. personally) without ever being incarnated as one of them, it’s not a far jump to assume that He could be dealing with other biological forms of intelligent life similarly.


### Creation

The idea here is that the introduction of Aliens would put a big hole in the Biblical story of creation.  John C. Lennox summarizes it best in _7 Days that Divide the World_, when he explains that in the same way that, over time, Christians saw how Scripture accommodates a heliocentric solar system, with new science and discovery, it’s possible to see how the Bible’s creation account can accommodate an Old Earth creation perspective.

So the problem isn’t really aliens, it’s unguided evolution accounting for the existence of aliens.  Looking back at the specified complexity of the universe, the very point that would be required to be rock-solid, which is “How did the first self-dividing cells come to be?” for aliens to exist, is the very point at which all of our existing scientific theories fall apart.

In a nutshell, and contrary to popular belief, science is currently the strongest antagonist of the existence of aliens.

That said, and going back to John Lennox, the existence of something unpredicted doesn’t collapse Scripture if Scripture is our foundation, it only serves to shape our understanding of it.


Chapter 7 - Take it On the Word of a Resurrected Man

Why Trust the Bible - Week 8


#### Chapter 6: So Did It Happen?


### Week 6 Highlights



* We reviewed and debunked 4 alternate reasons that the New Testament authors would have written what they did, other than be trustworthy authors of truth. 
    * They were writing fiction
    * They were purposely being deceitful
    * They were deceived themselves
    * They were simply confused.
* We dove into reasons we don’t believe that the New Testament authors were being deceitful, being deceived themselves, or were simply confused about what they experienced.
* We discussed the apologetics bonus topic of “How old is the earth?”. This included why it matters, differences in biblical opinions and scientific dating methodologies.

What is a Miracle?



1. an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs
* _the healing miracles described in the Gospels_
2. an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment
* _The bridge is a miracle of engineering._

Craig Keener, author of _Miracles Today: The Supernatural Work of God in the Modern World,_ says “Believers recognize God’s activity in all creation; existence, life, and DNA are all larger expressions of **divine action **than most miracle accounts I report. These are so pervasive** **and happen with such regularity that people consider them “**ordinary**.” In the Bible, though, God also acts in special or “**extraordinary**” ways in history and people’s lives to reveal himself and get people’s attention… We call these events **miracles**.”


#### Chapter Question

**The author writes, “You can’t just declare miracles - and therefore the Bible - to be implausible simply on the strength of your own experience or lack thereof” (pg 107).  Why is it not necessarily implausible to believe in miracles?**

Just because you haven’t witnessed or experienced something yourself doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

**What is wrong with the _scientific_ objection to miracles?**

_Scientific objection_: Is it possible that the witnesses of Biblical miracles just didn’t understand science enough to know that what they were seeing was not miraculous?  

This is actually a backwards way to look at this because science actually cannot prove that supernatural events have not nor cannot happen.  Science cannot prove with certainty that there is no God - omnipotent creator of all - therefore it cannot prove that miracles are impossible.

**What is wrong with the philosophical objection to miracles?**

_Philosophical Objection:_ Even if science cannot prove the impossibility of miracles, we should still say that the probability of miracles is too small to believe that they are possible.

The fact is, if you ran probabilities to determine everything that is or is not possible, then you would have to doubt everything that is unusual or uncommon.

Why Do So Many Say Miracles Are Impossible?

This goes back to the Enlightenment period (18th century), but the idea was popularized especially by Scottish philosopher, David Hume’s, essay against miracles (1748).

**The Scientific Objection**



* Hume defines miracles as violations of natural law. He also defines natural law as something that can’t be violated. Therefore, his very definitions effectively define miracles out of existence.
    * His idea of natural law borrows from Isaac Newton and early proponents of Newtonian science. They, however, believed not only that God established nature’s laws but also that he transcended them and could act within nature as he pleased.

**The Philosophical Objection**



* Hume’s second argument against miracles is that uniform human experience should predispose us to doubt all claims about miracles. The _uniformity of nature_ philosophy is the principle that the course of nature continues uniformly the same, e.g. if X is the cause Y, then Y will necessarily exist whenever X exists. In particular, the uniformities observed in the past will hold for the present and future as well.
    * How uniform is human experience though?  


#### 


#### Chapter Question

**Lots of miracles have been recorded throughout history.  Why ought we believe the Bible’s and not the rest?  Why are Jesus’ miracles plausible?**

The miracles recorded in the Bible are essential to the stories around them.  In particular, in the New Testament, they are  deeply connected to the message Jesus was proclaiming.

According to Pastor Bob Deffinbaugh, Biblical miracles are differentiated from those proclaimed by other religions or secular observers by their_ characteristics _and their _purpose_.

Characteristics of Biblical Miracles

**(1) _They were truly historical_**. In the Gospel accounts, the writers have not presented the miracles of our Lord as anything other than actual events. They are not true myths, mythical stories with ‘spiritual lessons,’ but real events conveying spiritual truths. The miracles of other religions are far more mythical in nature. Though perhaps not precisely stated, we can sense a kind of ‘once upon a time’ mood. Not so in the Gospels.

**(2) _They were reasonable_**. The miracles of the Apocryphal Gospels are fantastic and questionable. They are completely out of character, with Jesus arbitrarily and impulsively using His supernatural powers. In contrast, the Gospels show a highly ethical use of His power, in a way totally consistent with His person.

**(3) _They were useful_**. Almost every miracle of our Lord was designed to meet a physical need. Our Lord refused to employ His powers to satisfy His own appetites, or to ensure His protection. He turned down every invitation to do the miraculous to satisfy idle curiosity (cf. Luke 23:8).

**(4) _They were accomplished openly_**. The miracles were performed in the most public situations, not oft in a dark corner. While so many alleged ‘miracles’ of today defy documentation, those of our Lord were mainly public.

**(5) _They were accomplished simply_**. Others who claimed to be ‘miracle workers’ always operated with a great deal of ritual and ceremony. A ‘miracle’ was an extravaganza, a carrying-on with pomp and circumstance. Our Lord most often merely spoke a word, and at times performed His miraculous deeds at a distance (cf. Matthew 8:5-13).

**(6) _They were accomplished instantly_**. With very few exceptions, the miracles of Jesus were completed instantly and completely.

**(7) _They were accomplished in a variety of circumstances_**. While some could do their deeds only under the most controlled environment, Jesus did His works under a great variety of circumstances. His powers were demonstrated over nature, over sickness and disease, and over the forces of Satan. The sicknesses He healed were of amazing variety.

**(8) _They were accomplished on the basis of faith_**. The miracles of the Gospels were accomplished on the basis of faith, either that of our Lord (cf. John 11:41-43), or of the one cured (cf. Mark 5:34), or of others who are concerned (cf. Matthew 8:10, Mark 2:5). Where there was little faith, little was accomplished (cf. Mark 6:5,6).

**(9) _They were gratuitous_**. While in the cults, a fee of payments was expected, the miracles of our Lord were free of charge. No fee was expected or accepted. Our Lord’s ministry, from start to finish, was one of grace.

**(10) _They were free from retaliation_**. With the possible exception of the cursing of the fig tree (Mark 11:12-14) none of the miracles of Jesus were of a punitive or negative variety. This is in contrast, not only to the desires of his own disciples (Luke 9:52-56), but also the practices of other ‘healers’ of His day, and even of what often occurred in the Old Testament.

**(11) _They were eschatological_**. The miracles of Jesus were evidence of the dawn of a new age. With the presentation of Jesus as Messiah, a new age had begun. He had come to restore man from his fallen state, and creation from the chaos resulting from sin. He had come to restore and to save. Man had been placed on the earth to rule over it. When the last Adam (Jesus Christ) came, nature immediately recognized its master. When our Lord confronted sickness and disease He mastered it. He came to save, and thus the word often used for healing was ‘to save.’

The Purpose of Biblical Miracles

**(1) _They attracted men_**. Though not the primary thrust of our Lord’s miraculous ministry, one outcome was that His miracles attracted men and women who were anxious to hear His message. To many, His deeds were at least those of a prophet (cf. John 3:2; 4:19). Here was a man with a message from God.

Our Lord made many attempts to avoid the spectacular and to arouse misdirected Messianic hopes (Matthew 8:4; 12:16; 16:20, etc.). But we must also recall that it was the miraculous healing ministry of Jesus which drew the multitudes to the place where the Sermon on the Mount was delivered (Matthew 4:24-25).

**(2) _They accredited Jesus as the promised Messiah_**. It was expected that when the Messiah came, He would be accredited by miracles. When our Lord presented Himself at the synagogue in Nazareth, He quoted a passage from Isaiah chapter 61:


    _“And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:17-19) ._

The people expected Messiah to present Himself by signs (John 7:31). Our Lord’s power over demons demonstrates the coming of the Kingdom: “But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20). By reason of His work alone, men should receive Him as Messiah (John 10:37-38).

**(3) _They reveal God_**. The miracles of Jesus were not merely deeds to authenticate the message of the Messiah, but a vital part of that message. The miracles not only revealed the power of God, but His person. In the miracles of Jesus we see the sympathy and compassion of God. Jesus was deeply moved by human suffering and need (cf. John 11:35). These needs prompted Him to action. Again, the miracles reveal Jesus to be the Redeemer and Restorer of a fallen universe. He came to save.


#### Chapter Question

**The author writes, “If the resurrection happened, then the rest of the fundamental superstructure of Christianity comes together like clockwork - including the authority of the Bible, both New Testament and Old” (pg 114).**

**Have you thought about the resurrection in this way before?  Why is its truthfulness essential for Christianity?**

If Jesus is still dead, then he wasn’t the Christ, and the rest of the New Testament wouldn’t matter.

**Why did the disciples themselves believe in Jesus’ resurrection?**



1. The empty tomb
2. The appearance of the resurrected Jesus in the physical form of the same Jesus they knew.

**Why can’t the resurrection be ignored?**

You can’t say that NOTHING happened.  Obviously, SOMETHING had to have happened, because it created shockwaves around the world and throughout the history of 2000 years.

**From pages 118-121, the author lists several alternative explanations to the resurrection.  List them here.  Are any of them compelling to you?  Why does each explanation fail?**



* The women went to the wrong tomb - Authorities could have produced a corpse if this was the case.
* Jesus didn’t really die - A man who was tortured and severely injured the way Jesus was couldn’t have moved about the way the resurrected Jesus did, convincing disciples he was a resurrection.
* The disciples stole the body of Jesus - The disciples wouldn’t have died for such a hoax.
* It could have been a mass hallucination - We already debunked this absurd idea.
* Perhaps they were overwhelmed by a dream or vision - The stories told around the resurrection have the characteristics of eyewitness accounts, not of spiritual metaphors. Additionally, a dream or vision would not have given rise to the movement that was to come considering how the Jewish people viewed dreams/visions.

_“Why would the apostles lie?... Liars always lie for selfish reasons.  If they lied, what was their motive, what did they get out of it? What they got out of it was misunderstanding, rejection, persecution, torture, and martyrdom.  Hardly a list of perks!”_ - Peter Kreeft, PhD, Professor of Philosphy at Boston College

**What are the implications of a resurrected Jesus?  List them below.**

The early Christians did not invent the empty tomb or resurrected Jesus in order to explain a faith they already had.  They developed that faith BECAUSE OF the occurrence and convergence of these two phenomena.



* If the resurrection really did happen, then our confidence in the Bible is catapulted to a new level.
* If Jesus was really resurrected from the dead then the Bible is the Word of God.

_“I think the alternative explanations, which try to account for the spread of Christianity through sociological or psychological reasons, are very weak… For me, the historical evidence has reinforced my commitment to Jesus Christ as the Son of God who loves us and died for us and was raised from the dead.  It’s that simple.”_ - Edwin Yamaucho, Miami University of Ohio, PhD Mediterranean Studies (excerpt taken from _A Case for Christ_).

**Apologetics Bonus:** A Note on the Deity of Jesus

John the Baptist, in prison and struggling, sends his followers to ask Jesus about his identity:

_Now when John heard in prison what the Christ was doing, he sent a message through his disciples and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”   - _Matthew 11:2-3 

Jesus doesn’t give a straightforward answer, but replies:

_“Go and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy[a] are cleansed, the deaf hear,** the dead are raised**, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”_   - Matthew 11:4-5

Jesus’ response is an allusion to Isaiah 35: 5-6

_Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy._

And Isaiah 61:1

_The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;_

For years, many questioned Jesus’ addition of **_"the dead are raised,”_** as it is absent from the Old Testament text.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 finally revealed some astonishing answers to this question.

Manuscript **4Q521** dates back to thirty years before Jesus was born and contains this phrase in Isaiah 61!  In Hebrew, it is embedded in a messianic context and refers to the wonders that the Messiah will do when he comes and when heaven and earth will obey him.

John the Baptist would have instantly recognized Jesus’ words as a distinct claim to be the Messiah.

Could the discovery of these scrolls have been just another modern-day miracle?


Why Trust the Bible - Week 7


#### Chapter 5: But Can I Trust You?

### Week 5 Highlights

- We looked at the development of the New Testament _canon_, including how and when documents were collected and agreed upon by church leaders.
- We discussed _choosing_ versus _receiving_ the Word of God.
- We reviewed the 4 criteria for accepting early church writings as canon:
  - Apostolicity
  - Antiquity
  - Orthodoxy
  - Universality
- We discussed the term _Apocrypha_ and the differences between Old Testament and New Testament applications of the word.
- We explored the apologetics bonus question of “If evil exists, how can God be good and loving?” We looked at what it means for something to be ‘good’ and how justice is delayed, not denied.

#### Chapter Question

**If the writers of the New Testament aren’t trustworthy, then what are the alternatives? List and describe the 4 alternatives listed on pages 82-83.**

1. They may have written for a non-historical purpose, constructing fictional legends.
2. They may have had a deceitful purpose, attempting to trick people with a hoax.
3. The authors themselves may have been deceived, thus unwittingly passing along the deception.
4. Their accounts may have just been hopelessly confused, contradictory and error-ridden.

**Are there any clues in the New Testament scriptures to suggest that the authors are NOT trying to write historical accounts? If so, where? If not, how do the Gospel authors state their purpose for writing?**

Over and over again, the authors plainly state that they are giving us an account of events that happened so that we can have certainty and believe what happened. John, for one, outright says that his account is of what was seen, what was heard, and what was real.

**Why is it exceedingly unlikely that the biblical authors were being deceitful?**

1. All of the New Testament works were written within 3-4 decades of the life of Jesus, while plenty of eye-witnesses were alive who could have rebuked false claims.
2. The gospel writers were not prominent, making them unlikely choices to pull off a large scale hoax.
3. The apostles and gospel writers were terribly persecuted and murdered, so there was ZERO motive for pulling off a hoax.
4. There are just too many personal failures and embarrassments included in the gospels that wouldn’t have been included if the writers were trying to make themselves look good.

**Why is it exceedingly unlikely that the biblical authors were deceived themselves?**

1. Mass hallucination doesn’t make sense. Hallucination is a personal experience. Plus, numerous groups reported seeing the risen Jesus in different places at different times over a number of weeks.
2. The idea that the disciples were “wishfully thinking” Jesus would be resurrected can be disputed because resurrection had a very specific meaning to first century Jews that didn’t involve an individual rising. At that time, the Jews thought of resurrection as an event that would only happen at the end of times when all of the dead would rise together. Additionally, the disciples are described as having unbelief in regard to the resurrection.
3. The argument that the oral tradition was somehow corrupted doesn’t hold up because of the length of time between the events (recorded by those who were in contact with Jesus) and the original manuscripts of the events was so short. Letters were written to churches and gospel stories were recorded within 30 years of Christs’ death, which is historically, a short time.

**Why is it exceedingly unlikely that the biblical authors were simply confused?**

It’s reasonable to say that every alleged contradiction, inconsistency or error has been met with at least one plausible resolution, if not more. Discrepancies in eye-witness accounts do not mean that \_nothing \_happened. It is actually more convincing that the accounts were not all recorded exactly the same.

**Apologetics Bonus**

DISCLAIMER: When we’re discussing apologetics, it’s important to understand that responses to these questions can never be deemed “The Answer.” We are all human. We have wildly differing worldviews and opinions. In many of these cases, the answers and logic chains we present are simply potential answers to a question, and not reflective even of our own opinions.

The goal here is to make you think; to engage you with the concepts and issues.

And remember, we are human, and God is not. Arminians argue with Calvists, atheists with theists, and on and on. Our tendency will always be to anthropomorphize God. This is an error, and leads to hubris, rather than humility. To remain humble, we must always realize that God is above time, space, matter and energy.

Trying to understand God’s ways are akin to an ant trying to build a Tesla.

HOW OLD IS THE EARTH?

In a nutshell? It depends on who you are…

### Why does it matter?

Let’s look at 2 different testimonies from blog commenters on Natasha Crain’s popular apologetics blog…

“My son is 18 and just announced that he no longer believes in God. We brought both of our children up in church, and he alone made the choice to be saved and baptized. When he got older, he started hanging out with server kids who were atheists. He started changing his views on religion. I fought back with truth but felt like I was in a fight I couldn’t win. I was defeated by all the scientific arguments I couldn’t answer. I need stronger knowledge for the fight yet before me.” - Mom

“As a student in public high school, I took a course in anthropology. Our teacher decided we should have a debate on creationism versus evolution. Being an outspoken Christian, I was nominated to debate the [young-Earth] creationism side. Having little to no understanding of the subject myself (I had never put much thought into the topic other than what I had been taught as a child), I attempted to valiantly argue for a literal six-day creation. The other side crushed me, and I felt the full brunt of shame for not being able to defend myself or my views, deeply held as they were to me. It was a seminal moment in my life. It led me to question many of my previously deeply held beliefs, and I nearly walked away from faith entirely over the course of the next year.” - Student

**_“The science involved in the origins debate is very frequently the sole dividing line between Christian faith and atheism - for kids and adults alike.”_**

- **_Natasha Crain_**

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>YOUNG EARTH CREATION</td>
      <td>OLD EARTH CREATION</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <ol>
          <li>Genesis clearly say 6 24 hour days</li>
          <li>Earth’s age can and should be based on Biblical chronology</li>
          <li>Noah’s flood accounts for Earth’s geological features</li>
          <li>
            Old Earth creation undermines the Gospel (because of death &
            suffering)
          </li>
        </ol>
      </td>
      <td>
        <ol>
          <li>
            The most obvious reading is not always the correct one (Matthew
            16:28) → Day Age Theory & Framework Theory
          </li>
          <li>
            Better text understanding suggests 6 literal days is not accurate (
            <em>yom</em>, sun on 4th day, etc.)
          </li>
          <li>
            Accepting 4.5 billion years is not a theological problem. Animal
            v.s. Human death
          </li>
        </ol>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

\*\* NOTE: Both Young & Old Earth creationists believe that God created (no through Evolution, capital E).

DIFFERENCES IN BIBLICAL TIMELINE OPINION

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <strong>YOUNG EARTH</strong>
      </td>
      <td>
        <strong>OLD EARTH</strong>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>CREATION OF EARTH</td>
      <td>4081 BC</td>
      <td>4,560,000,000 BC</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>ADAM & EVE</td>
      <td>4081 BC</td>
      <td>4081 BC</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>NOAH</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>SHEM → TERAH</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>ABRAHAM</td>
      <td>1951 BC</td>
      <td>1951 BC</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>EXODUS</td>
      <td>1446 BC</td>
      <td>1446 BC</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>SOLOMON</td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>KING AHAB</td>
      <td>851 BC</td>
      <td>851 BC</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>US</td>
      <td>AD 2022</td>
      <td>AD 2022</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

MAINSTREAM SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF DATING THE EARTH

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <strong>METHOD</strong>
      </td>
      <td>
        <strong>ESTIMATED AGE</strong>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Tree Ring</td>
      <td>11,000 yrs</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Ice Core</td>
      <td>300,000+ yrs</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Varve Layers</td>
      <td>6,000,000+ yrs</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

All three methods above have similar accuracy problems & objections:

- Layers don’t always develop at a truly constant rate
- The Flood would dramatically change the historical of any of these, being a catastrophic event
- The Appearance of Age Theory (Adam was never an infant)

### IMPORTANT METHOD: Radiometric Dating

Radiometric dating has to do with isotopes. An isotope is when an atom of a particular element has more neutrons than protons.

Example: Carbon (6+ / 6n) → Carbon-14 Isotope (6+ / 8n) → Decays into Nitrogen (7+ / 7n)

_Key Point:_ The rate of radio-active decay is **constant**. You can set your clock by it.

### Carbon (or not) Dating

Carbon-14 is a common isotope, but it decays relatively fast and is only found in things that were once living.

Today, we have better isotopes to date measure against. Best example is Uranium-235 → Lead-207.

Based on measuring the rate of radioactive decay from Uranium-235 → Lead-207 scientists get the estimation of 4.65 billion years for the age of Earth.

**_Young-Earth says…_**

Radiometric dating…

1. Assumes the original conditions of the rock are accurately known
2. Assumes that the isotope & corresponding element have not been impacted by other factors
3. God’s curse or the Flood may have started with miraculous intervention of radioactive decay rates
4. Isn’t always accurate on rocks of known ages, so the scientific community gives it too much credit as trustworthy

### IMPORTANT METHOD: Measuring Distant Starlight

The sun is 93 million miles away.

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second.

93,000,000 / 186,000 = 500.

Therefore the light we see left the sun 500 seconds ago (or roughly 8.3 minutes).

_Key point: We can see light from galaxies that are billions of light years away, therefore they must have existed long enough for us to see them._

**_Young-Earth says…_**

Let’s talk about Time Dilation.

### Time Dilation

The concept of time dilation is that with respect to two observers in inertial regions, time will be dilated (lengthed) for an observer who is moving relative to another observer.

![alt_text](/images/time-dilation.png 'image_tooltip')

Calculating this difference uses the Lorentz Factor…

<img style={{ width: 300 }} src="/images/lorentz.png" />

**Example:**

If a team of astronauts decided to take a 2 light year journey at 0.8c (or 80% of the speed of light), for those of us on earth, they would be gone 10 years, while from their perspective, they would only have been gone (and aged) 6 years.

_Key Point: Young Earth Creationists posit that because the rate at which time flows is not constant, light that would presumably take billions of years to get here, as measured by clocks in deep space, could reach the Earth in thousands of years, as measured by clocks here. Put more simply, the light is younger than it looks, and we simply lack the clock to measure it’s rate of travel._

### IMPORTANT METHOD: Expansion of the Universe

Remember Edwin Hubble? This concept puts his discovery to good use.

1. Because of old Edwin, we know the universe is expanding
2. So we measure the rate of expansion, and estimate a point of origin in space.
3. This estimates the origin of the Universe at 13.8 billion years ago

**_Young Earth says…_**

Take a look at Isaiah 40:22 (along with other verses) that talk about God “stretching” out creation with his hands.

_Key Point: If God supernaturally “stretched out the heavens,” we can’t assume that the universe has always been expanding at the same rate._


Why Trust the Bible - Week 6


#### Chapter 4: Are These Really the Books You’re Looking For?

### Week 4 Highlights

- We discussed how _scribes_, professional copyists, were tasked with transmitting the writings of the New Testament and typically created _codices_, or bound copies, of the manuscripts.
- We reviewed that more than 5,400 complete New Testament manuscripts exist, dating from the 2nd to the 15th century and that nearly 99.86% of the New Testament could be re-created through the writings of 2nd-4th century church fathers, thus verifying the content.
- We established that the variations found in ancient manuscripts actually lend to the credibility of the message of the New Testament.
- We showed that the gap between the actual events and dates of the earliest manuscripts is actually extremely small when it comes to the New Testament versus other widely accepted historical accounts, such as the works of Plato and Julius Caesar.
- We had lively discussion around the apologetics bonus question, “Did God create sin?”, particularly focused on the attributes of God as all-knowing, all-powerful, and always good.

#### Chapter Question

**What is canon?**

Canon = a collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine. It comes from the Greek language, meaning rule or standard.

The Development of Canon

Let’s keep in mind that the gospel accounts and letters that make up the New Testament were not written with any intention of being included in a book for believers to read 2000 years later. These were documents created for the early church.

Why was it necessary to establish canon?

1. To combat the rise of heresies, early believers had to refute false teaching by defining canon.
2. Due to Roman persecution, early Christians found it imperative that any scripture they were in possession of was worthy of imprisonment or death.
3. As apostles aged and began to die, less importance was placed on oral teaching and more on their writings as well as the writings of those under their supervision.

The first mention of a collection of Paul’s letters was found in a Latin document (165-185 A.D.) known as the _Muratorian Canon_, an annotated list of sacred Christian writings. Thirteen of Paul’s letters appeared in the list. Several theories have been proposed by scholars regarding the formation of the Pauline Corpus:

1. Long process - Since Paul’s writing tended to address pastoral problems peculiar to the community, the letter was not deemed to be of interest to the other Pauline communities. Therefore, for many years, the individual letters were kept in the archives of each community. It was only toward the end of the first century that the different Pauline communities began to exchange copies of one another’s letters.
2. Big Bang - The publication of the Acts of the Apostles, in which Paul plays a prominent role, awakened in the Pauline communities a renewed interest in the letters once written to them by Paul. They began to collect these letters, thus the Pauline Corpus was born. The initial collection of Paul’s letters could have been undertaken in Corinth and Ephesus, the two centers of the most intense and prolonged missionary activities of the Apostle.
   - There is speculation that Onesismus (noted in Philemon) was the same Onesimus who became the 2nd bishop in Ephesus and can be credited with collecting Paul’s letters due to his respect and love for Paul.

By the 2nd century, the four gospels had begun circulating together.

AD 170 - The* Muratorian Canon* included all of the New Testament books except Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, and possibly 2 and 3 John.

AD 363 - the _Council of Laodicea Canon_ included 26 books of the New Testament except Revelation.

AD 393 - The* Council of Hippo Canon* added the book of Revelation.

AD 397 - The* Council of Carthage* Canon affirmed the Council of HIppo Canon.

#### Chapter Question

**The author says that the idea that there was a conspiracy to arrive at this particular canon is “arrant nonsense” (pg 64). How does he defend himself?**

Books that contradicted the New Testament canon did not begin to appear until later in the 2nd century, well after the deaths of the apostles and original canonical authors.

**Why is the distinction between “choosing” and “receiving” the books so vital?**

Choosing - Taking for oneself with a closed fist

Receiving - Open hand, ready to receive

“This is why we constantly thank God, because when you _received_ the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (CSB)

“Neither individuals nor councils created the canon; instead they came to recognize and acknowledge the self-authenticating quality of these writings, which imposed themselves as canonical upon the church.”

-Bruce Metzger, _The New Testament, Its Background, Growth and Content _

#### Chapter Question

**What plausible, historically valid reasons did the authors have for accepting the New Testament canon? List and briefly explain the four main reasons below (see pg 69-72).**

- **Apostolicity** - Written by an apostle of Jesus Christ or a close companion
- **Antiquity** - Written in the 1st century, contemporary to apostles and witnesses
- **Orthodoxy** - Agrees with the standard of truth reelected in the doctrinal tradition handed down from Jesus Christ himself.
- **Universality** - Used and valued by Christians in every part of the known world

#### Chapter Question

**Are you persuaded that the New Testament canon is made up of “the right books” (pg 72)? Why or why not? What additional evidence would help you determine if the New Testament has the right books?**

Old Testament Apocrypha

The books that constitute the OT Apocrypha are well known mainly because they are a point of division between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Written approximately between the third century BC and the first century AD, these books include 1 & 2 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, Judith, Tobit, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, as well as some smaller works and even some additions to existing canonical books. All of these books are preserved in Greek, though some may have been originally written in Hebrew/Aramaic.

Although these books were known and used among the Jews of this time period, there is little evidence to suggest they were regarded as Scripture. Neither Josephus nor Philo—key sources for our understanding of the scope of the OT canon—used them as Scripture. In addition, no NT author (most of whom were Jews) cites even a single book from the Apocrypha as Scripture. And later rabbinic writers do not receive the Apocrypha, affirming only the Hebrew Scriptures as part of the Jewish canon.

The fact that the Jews limited their Scriptures to the Hebrew canon should not come as a surprise given that there was an established belief that inspired prophecy had ceased by the time of the fourth century BC.

New Testament Apocrypha

While the amount of Christian apocryphal material can be overwhelming, there are a few of considerations to keep in mind:

- All of these apocryphal writings are dated to the second or third century, or even later. Although attempts have been made to trace some of these writings to the first century, such efforts have not won wide support. Thus, there are no reasons to think that these writings have any genuine claim to apostolic authorship.
- Many (though not all) of these apocryphal writings contain systems of doctrine that were out of accord with the rule of faith that had been passed down to the early church. The Gospel of Philip, for example, contains a version of Valentinian Gnosticism which is essentially polytheistic, affirming a multiplicity of divine beings in the heavenly realms.
- None of the apocryphal NT writings, with only a rare exception, were ever serious contenders for a spot in the canon. Despite the claims of some that apocryphal works were as popular as canonical works, the historical evidence tells a very different story. Indeed, most apocryphal works were either ignored, or condemned outright by the church fathers.

# Apologetics Bonus

DISCLAIMER: When we’re discussing apologetics, it’s important to understand that responses to these questions can never be deemed “The Answer.” We are all human. We have wildly differing worldviews and opinions. In many of these cases, the answers and logic chains we present are simply potential answers to a question, and not reflective even of our own opinions.

The goal here is to make you think; to engage you with the concepts and issues.

And remember, we are human, and God is not. Arminians argue with Calvists, atheists with theists, and on and on. Our tendency will always be to anthropomorphize God. This is an error, and leads to hubris, rather than humility. To remain humble, we must always realize that God is above time, space, matter and energy.

Trying to understand God’s ways are akin to an ant trying to build a Tesla.

### Topic: Evil and Suffering Exist, therefore a Loving God Cannot

To start the conversation off, we need to set a couple of parameters by answering some questions…

**Question 1: We (and the Bible) say God is good, but what IS good?**

Is good always being nice? Is it doing the “right” thing? What happens when those are in opposition? What is good then?

**Question 2: Is it possible that sometimes good does not necessarily mean kind?**

Sure. As parents, we are all too familiar with the concept of allowing some pain and suffering to help build our children’s character.

Other examples of this are Dentists, Athletic Trainers, Doctors, Teachers… the list goes on. Medicinal pain and suffering are nearly always endured for a concept of good that does not directly relate to kindness, rather something more important… which leads us to our first key points:

**Key Point(s)**

1. **MORAL** and **SPIRITUAL** **EDUCATION** are more “good” than **PLEASURE** or **COMFORT**.
2. Moral character is **formed through hardship**, and NOT through pleasure or comfort. A good example here is: Learning courage is impossible without the fear or experience of pain.

<Verse verse="Romans 5:3-4" />

If we can infer that Moral and Spiritual Education are more important that our own comfort, and that suffering produces these, along with hope, we can get to our next key point, which is:

**Key Point**

The objective of our lives is not comfort, it is preparing for eternity.

Here’s some ammunition for this argument:

- If there is no eternity (or Moral Lawgiver), morality would be superfluous or arbitrary. This is part of the Moral Argument for the existence of God, which we can discuss later.

- If there is no eternity, or no God, what is the purpose of spiritual education?

_NOW, BACK TO CHOICE (in relation to suffering)…_

Pretend for a moment that you are God, and you’re aiming to eliminate evil…

- Every time you prevent evil, you’re taking away choice
- To prevent all evil, you have to eliminate all choice (all people sin)
- When you remove all choice, you also eliminate the capacity for genuine love

The Big Objections

**Objection #1**

“Evil people get away with stuff all the time. Why doesn’t God intervene with them; it just doesn’t seem fair!”

This one is pretty straightforward if you believe the Bible…

**Key Point**

If you believe in the Bible, and in a good God, the evil people aren’t getting away with it. Justice delayed is NOT justice denied.

**Objection #2**

“Good people suffer as much or more than bad people. How is that fair?”

This one is a little tougher to swallow, but no less true…

**Key Point**

There are no good people.

**Objection #2-b**
“But God don’t make no junk.”

This is true, and where the difference between ONTOLOGICALLY good and MORALLY good become important distinctions.

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <h3>ONTOLOGICALLY GOOD</h3>
        <strong>What we were made to be</strong>
        <p>“Bearing God’s Image”</p>
      </td>
      <td>
        <h3>MORALLY GOOD</h3>
        <strong>The decisions we make</strong>
        <p>“Adam & Eve”</p>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

<Verse verse="Jeremiah 6:13" />
<Verse verse="Isaiah 64:6" />
<Verse verse="Romans 3:23" />

**Objection #2-c**
“But there are people genuinely trying to do and be good, and suffering. Why would this happen?”

Can you think of a time when suffering or pain, while difficult in the moment, brought you to something good? Closeness with God, or another person?

**Key Point**

Suffering frequently leads to “lay down our arms,” surrender to God, and seek the cure of Christ. Suffering often leads to repentance.

Think about this both with respect to the Israelites, and in your own life.

“God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.”

- C.S. Lewis

**Objection #3**

“If God grieves over the death of one sparrow, how could He bear the sickness, suffering, and death of the multiplied millions of men, women, children, animals and all other sensate creatures, in every part of the world, in every century since the beginning of time?”

To answer this well, it’s important to apply some thought, and imagery to the issue:

- Imagine God speaking creation into existence, and knowing at that time that He was creating cute little puppies, but because of choice, blood, guts, pain, and suffering would also be.

- Now remember that He, once we introduced sin, He could have said, “Hey, all this junk is your fault… live with it.” But He didn’t…

- Now, imagine that same God, at that same time, knowing what He was creating, deciding that He would roll all of that pain & suffering in history into a ball, eat it, tasting and digesting it fully, for eternity.

**Key Point**

How could an intelligent, good God bear all of this pain and suffering? **He did!**

### IMPORTANT NOTE: Objections in Real Life

People often have these types of objections during times of significant pain and suffering personally. It’s no wonder that God tells us over and over again to take joy when we face trials. When people approach us with these, should we lay out the logical arguments for belief, chide them in their lack of joy, or argue with them when they are grieving?

Of course not. How, then, should we respond as Christians?

**Key Point**

Feel their pain. Grieve with them. Pray over them (if you can) or for them. Pray that God will use this to bring them closer to Him, whether they are a believer or not.

Remember that God is a God of love, and remind yourself what love looks like in that moment.


Chapter 4 - Are These Really the Books You’re Looking For?

Why Trust the Bible - Week 5


#### Chapter 3: Copies of Copies of Copies of Copies?

### Week 3 Highlights

- We examined the time gaps between New Testament translations versus other widely accepted historical translations and determined that the New Testament translations were actually written very closely to the original events.

- We looked at the number and quality of original ancient manuscripts available on papyrus and parchment.

- We reviewed the timing of the apostles’ creed, early Christian traditions and Pauline creed to verify that they were established within just a few years of Christ’s resurrection, while eye witnesses were still alive.

- We discussed how a good Bible translation is marked by both _accuracy_ and* readability*.

- We introduced an apologetics bonus conversation centered upon **_Edwin Hubble & The Beginning - Understanding the Cosmological Argument_** and lightly discussed the question “Did God create sin?”

“There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane [secular] history.” - Sir Isaac Newton

#### Chapter Question

**The chapter focuses on the task of _transmission_. Have you ever given this subject any thought? What would you say to someone if they charged the Bible with just being “a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy”?**

**_Transmission _**= to convey, to transfer, to communicate

The task of copying manuscripts was generally done by **scribes** who were trained professionals in the arts of writing and bookmaking. Scribes would work in difficult conditions, usually for 48 hours a week, with little pay beyond room and board. Some scribes were responsible for proofreading, closely examining texts to compare manuscripts to original copies. In the 6th century, a special room devoted to the practice of manuscript writing and illumination called the scriptorium came into use, typically inside medieval European monasteries. Sometimes a group of scribes would make copies at the same time as one individual read from the text.

**_Scribe_** = a professional copyist

In the 2nd century, 97% of non-Christian manuscripts were written on scrolls. However, most New Testament manuscripts are codices. The adaptation of the codex form in non-Christian texts did not become dominant until the fourth and fifth centuries, showing a preference for that form amongst early Christians, likely due to the length of the books.

**_Codex _**= Ancient [manuscript](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript) books, with handwritten contents. A codex, much like the modern book, is bound by stacking the pages and securing one set of edges in a form analogous to modern [bookbinding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookbinding) by a variety of methods over the centuries.

#### Chapter Question

**How many ancient manuscripts and transcripts of the New Testament do we have? Why does this enable us to know with _high confidence_ what the originals said?**

While the author notes more than 5,400 complete manuscripts in existence, according to Wikipedia:

“The [New Testament](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament) has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work of literature, with **over 5,800 complete or fragmented [Greek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language) manuscripts** cataloged, 10,000 [Latin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin) manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including [Syriac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syriac_language), [Slavic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_languages), [Gothic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_language), [Ethiopic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge%27ez_language), [Coptic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_language) and [Armenian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_language). The dates of these manuscripts range from AD 125 to the introduction of printing in Germany in the 15th century.”

According to author Charlie Campbell in _Answers for Skeptics_, there are also writings of church fathers, such as Polycarp (69-155), Justin Martyr (100-165), Tertullian (155-220), and Eusebius (260-340) that quote scriptures more than 86,000 times, allowing scholars to reconstruct 99.86% of the New Testament. There are only 11 verses that the early church fathers never quoted.

#### Chapter Questions

**If you were to look at the various antique manuscripts of the Bible we have, you’d notice some differences. Did you know that? Does that lower your confidence in the Bible at your bedside?**

Remember that the purpose of this class is to develop historical confidence in the accuracy and reliability of **the message of the New Testament.**

When reviewing items like variations in copies of the original text, it is important to stay aware of the context in how this message has been delivered over time. Historians generally expect there to be variants in transmissions over time. After all, we’re all only human. We make mistakes. Put another way, in an era of hand-scribing duplicates, we would not expect to find droves of identical copies.

These variations, then, actually _lend_ historical confidence to the authenticity of the _message_, which is an important point to ingest. To reiterate above, it’s additional evidence that no one is to “pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.”

**How long is the gap between the original writers and our earliest surviving copies? Why is this not a big deal? How does this gap compare to other historical documents listed on pages 48 and 48?**

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <h4>Plato - Tetralogies - BC ~399-387</h4>
        <ul>
          <li>~ 200 complete manuscripts in existence</li>
          <li>
            <strong>
              <em>Differential: 1,300 years</em>
            </strong>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </td>
      <td rowSpan="2">
        <h4>
          Tacitus - Annals of Imperial Rome - AD ~116 (discussed in Week 3)
        </h4>
        <ul>
          <li>Books 1-6 in one manuscript dating AD 850</li>
          <li>Books 7-10 are lost</li>
          <li>Books 11-16 in another manuscript dating AD 1000-1100</li>
          <li>
            <strong>
              <em>Differential: 740 - 950 years</em>
            </strong>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <h4>Julius Caesar - Gallic Wars - BC ~58-52</h4>
        <ul>
          <li>~9-10 readable copies</li>
          <li>
            <strong>
              <em>Differential: 900 years</em>
            </strong>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

#### Chapter Questions

**There are “up to 500,000 variants” in the Bible! (pg 49). What can we say about this audacious claim?**

**The author writes, “Believe it or not, at any given point in the New Testament where variants occur, it is precisely the existence of those variants that allows us to piece together what the original document most likely said.” (pg 52). How does this work in practice? How does the “harder reading” (pg 55) help us?**

“... the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed.” - Sir Frederic Kenyon, _The Bible & Archaeology_.

The vast majority of noted variants are accidental errors made by scribes, and are easily identified as such: an omitted word, a duplicate line, a misspelling, a rearrangement of words. Some variations involve apparently intentional changes, which can make it more difficult to determine whether they were corrections from better examples, harmonizations between readings, or ideologically motivated. Variants are listed in critical editions of the text, the most important of which is the _Novum Testamentum Graece_, which is the basis for most modern translations.

**Have you noticed the footnotes in your Bible that describe different translations? Far from inviting insecurity, these parts of Scripture should encourage you. As the author writes, “There’s no conspiracy to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes” (pg 57). Use your own or an online study Bible and spend the next 15 minutes looking for these footnotes. What have you learned from this exercise?**

# Apologetics Bonus

DISCLAIMER: When we’re discussing apologetics, it’s important to understand that responses to these questions can never be deemed “The Answer.” We are all human. We have wildly differing worldviews and opinions. In many of these cases, the answers and logic chains we present are simply potential answers to a question, and not reflective even of our own opinions.

The goal here is to make you think; to engage you with the concepts and issues.

And remember, we are human, and God is not. Arminians argue with Calvists, atheists with theists, and on and on. Our tendency will always be to anthropomorphize God. This is an error, and leads to hubris, rather than humility. To remain humble, we must always realize that God is above time, space, matter and energy.

Trying to understand God’s ways are akin to an ant trying to build a Tesla.

### Question: Did God create sin?

There’s an old sign that reads…

- FAST
- GOOD
- CHEAP
  - You can only pick 2

A similar argument exists among anti-theistic scholars…

- ALL KNOWING
- ALL POWERFUL
- ALL GOOD
  - God can only be 2

Some examples of this logic:

- God is all knowing and all powerful, but sin exists, so God cannot be all good.
- God is all powerful and all good, but sin exists, so He must have created it by accident, and can therefore not be all knowing.
- God is all knowing, and all good, but sin exists, so He must not have had the ability to prevent it, which means He can’t be all powerful.

There are a few issues with these logical chains, however:

1. They all presume that because sin exists, God explicitly created it
2. They fail to consider other potentials for God’s purpose
3. They presume that our understanding of good and evil are cosmically accurate and complete

_Let’s dive into an argument that could possibly overcome these issues._

#### Point 1: Did God create us on purpose?

While we are obviously incapable of understanding God’s entire purpose, we can look to scripture to try to understand some of His purpose, in particular, with respect to the creation of humans.

Riddled throughout God’s Word is the concept that God loves people. From the very beginning He said He wanted to make men and women “like Us.” In fact, the entire Bible is the story of God’s great love and rescue of His people, culminating in John 3:16, _“For God so loved the world…”_

If we presume that God created the universe, as the Bible tells us, and that God loves us, as the Bible reinforces countless times, then we can infer that His action of creating us was on purpose. He meant to do it. We are also told explicitly He chose to create us in Genesis.

#### Point 2: Who we are

So if God purposefully created us, there are a few other things we can deduce:

- The act of creating us was good (because God is good)
- His creation was good, ergo, we were originally created good (Genesis tells us this as well)
- He gave us choice (ostensibly to make us more like Him)

So far, God is still all-knowing, all-powerful, and all good, right?

#### Point 3: We have choice

And there’s the rub. Did God give us “choice”? If He did, this is where the **potential** for evil is born. With choice, we have the capacity for sin, but that doesn’t necessarily mean God created evil.

**Objection:**

_“Yes, but creating the potential for sin is the same as creating sin itself. Why not just create a sinless universe?”_

Remember that without choice, sin is impossible, but so is love. So a sinless universe would have to, by default, be a loveless universe. If God is a God of love, would He create a universe like this?

**Objection:**

_“Choice is just an illusion that God gives us.”_

#### Point 4: The Lego Problem

Maybe that’s true, and certainly lots of Calvinists head down that line of thought, but I think there’s a Lego problem with that.

Imagine that you could breathe life into your kid’s Lego characters. You’re faced with the decision of whether or not to give that Lego character the ability to choose, or make them a robot who thinks they’re making choices, but really aren’t.

In trying to solve this dilemma, you find yourself asking “Hmm, which one would be better? Which one would I care for more? Which one would I be able to more fully love?”

**How would you answer that?**

#### Point 5: Love

For me, the answer is simple. I would choose to give the Lego character choice. Without choice, love cannot be genuine. I understand the Lego character may not choose to love me, but I would rather have the genuine opportunity for a relationship, than have a duped robot at my beck and call.

Applying this to God directly would be anthropomorphization, which we know is a no-no. Remember… God of the Universe… time, space, matter … you get it.

But we **_can_** look at God’s description of _Himself_ through His Word, and see that love is a pretty big deal to Him:


<Verse verse="Matthew 22:37-40" />
<Verse verse="Nehemiah 9:17" />
<Verse verse="John 13:34-35" />
<Verse verse="Isaiah 54:10" />
<Verse verse="John 15:9-17" />
<Verse verse="Psalm 36:7" />
<Verse verse="Romans 5:8" />

#### Conclusion?

God shows us over and over again that He loves us. He tells us with His own Words that we are to love Him, and love one another. Tantamount to Jesus’ teachings is love. So important, He names it as His command to us.

If God desires love, both the love of Him, and the love of each other, I would conclude that He would care if that love were genuine, and not forced. Erego…

The argument can be adequately made that in order to create a universe that supports this kind of love, God gave us choice. In giving us choice, God understood the potential for **not choosing Him** (sin). To support the notion of choice, a tempter had to be allowed (we must have the opportunity to not choose God if choice is to be real). Humanity **enacted** sin, by not choosing God, and thus the fall.

So in conclusion, God created a universe in which genuine love could exist, which necessitated choice, and therefore allowed for sin, but humans made the decision to enact it, originally.


Chapter 3 - Copies of Copies of Copies of Copies?

Why Trust the Bible - Week 4


#### Chapter 2: Lost in Translation?

### Week 2 Highlights

- Jesus _authenticated_ and _endorsed_ the Old Testament as the Word of God. This is especially important if we can historically establish that Jesus was who He said He was.

- We reviewed the ideas of seeking truth in science versus seeking truth in history and how we have to make certain presuppositions in order to eventually accept what is justifiably reasonable, in order to avoid circular reasoning “or it’s turtles all the way down.”

- Epistemology - the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion

- We defined the **_“Chain of Reliability”_** as a chain of evidence based on a series of 5 questions that you can ask to determine if the historical document you are reading is reliable.

- Can we be confident that the _translation_ of the Bible from the original language into our language accurately reflects the original?
- Can we be confident that the _copyists_ accurately transmitted the original writing to us?
- Can we be confident that we are looking at the \_right \_set of books?
- Can we be confident that the original authors were, themselves, _trustworthy_?
- Can we be confident that the events the original authors described _really_ took place?
- We compared Historical Confidence and Mathematical Certainty:

- **Historical Confidence**
  There is enough evidence to support the belief that a recorded event actually happened

- **Mathematical Certainty**
  “Pure mathematics (or logic, which is merely the same discipline under another name) [is defined] as ‘the science whose propositions contain no constants.’ That is, all the ‘things’ about which logic and mathematics seem to assert specific propositions - the truth values, universes of discourse, classes, syllogisms, etc., with which logic deals, and the numbers, integral, fractional, real and complex which form the subject-matter of arithmetic and algebra, the points, lines, and planes of geometry, and the functions, definite integrals, etc., of analysis - are mere constructions, made to help us express and explain what certain sorts of propositions have in common, and not all things of the real world.”

Norber Wiener - Harvard University
_The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods (1915)_

- **The Point**
  Attempting to apply Mathematical Certainty to history is impossible.

###

#### Chapter Questions

**Why is the question of translation so important?**

**Refer to the Kidspeak illustration on pages 32-33. Give an example of how you’ve done translation in your own life.**

**If translation is possible, then why are there so many Bible versions? Does the existence of so many translations undermine the claim that translation is possible? Explain why or why not. (See pages 33-40)**

### **Pick out a verse at random, look it up online, and copy down three or four various translations of that verse below. Do you understand what the biblical author was trying to communicate?**

### _We have done this work for you below…_

### A Comparison of Translations using Philippians 4:11

**Interlinear Greek Bible**

**KJV:** Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

**NKJV: **Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:

**NIV:** I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

**CSB:** I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.

**ESV:** Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

**MSG:** Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances.

### Comparison of Ancient Source Material

#### Tacitus - Annals of Imperial Rome - AD ~116

- Relevant because historians widely accept it as accurate
- 16 Books
- Books 1-6 in one manuscript dating AD 850
- Books 7-10 are lost
- Books 11-16 in another manuscript dating AD 1000-1100
- **_Differential: 740 - 950 years_**

#### Josephus - The Jewish War - AD 66-70

- 9 manuscripts dating from AD 900-1100
- **_Differential: 840 - 1040 years_**

#### Homer - Iliad - 800 BC

- &lt; 650 Greek Manuscripts today
- Dated from AD 100 - 200
- **_Differential: ~1000 years_**

#### The New Testament

- > 5,000 early manuscripts
- Many found near the Nile on Papyrus dating back to at least AD 200
- One fragment dating back to between AD 100-150 (John, dating AD 90)
- **_Differential: 10-60 years_**
- _"The quantity of New Testament material is almost embarrassing in comparison with other works of antiquity." - Bruce M Metzger, Ph. D_

###

### Quality of Translation - The Harmony of Ancient Manuscripts

Below is a table of ancient copies of the New Testament we have. The primary point here is that these copies and / or translations confirm the text of each other, even though they were found hundreds of years apart, and in different places on Earth.

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>ca. A.D.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>200</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>250</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>300</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>350</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>450</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>Matthew</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <code>P45</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>B</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>Sin.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>A</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>Mark</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <code>P45</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>B</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>Sin.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>A</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>Luke</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <code>P4,P45,P75</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>B</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>Sin.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>A</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>John</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>P66</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>P45,P75</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>B</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>Sin.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>A</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>Acts</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <code>P45</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>B</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>Sin.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>A</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>Romans-Hebrews</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>P46</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <code>B</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>Sin.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>A</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>James-Jude</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td></td>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <code>P72,B</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>Sin.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>A</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <code>Apocalypse</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <code>P47</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td></td>
      <td>
        <code>Sin.</code>{' '}
      </td>
      <td>
        <code>A</code>{' '}
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

P66 is the most complete papyrus manuscript available, known as the Bodmer Papyri.

P = Papayra

_The following are all almost complete Parchment manuscripts:_

B =Vaticanus

Sin = Sinaiticus

A = Alexandrinus

**Source: library.duke.edu/papyrus/texts/manuscripts.html**

The oldest manuscript, known as P52, was discovered in 1938 and dates to AD 100-150. It contains text from John 18: 31-33, 37-38. It measures 3.5 x 2.5” and is currently housed at John Rylands University Library Manchester, UK

    					 [https://youtu.be/pyfR0AsRaX4](https://youtu.be/pyfR0AsRaX4)

### Generally Accepted Scholarly Dating of the Gospels

Both Christian and non-Christian scholars generally accept historically early writing dates for the Gospels. Most scholars agree that Mark was written in the 70’s, Luke in the 80’s, and John in the 90’s.

Blomberg believes there is evidence to support an even earlier dating. It starts with the book of Acts.

Acts ends abruptly, with Paul under house arrest, probably because it was written before Paul’s execution, which happened in A.D. 62.

Luke would have been written before Acts, as Acts was Part 2 in a 2 part series.

Since Luke incorporates parts of Mark, that would put Mark’s writing at an even early date, possibly into the 50’s.

### Establishing Early Creeds & Oral Traditions

Taking into account that the Pauline letters were written before the Gospels, probably starting in the 40’s and surfacing in the 50’s, can we look at Paul’s writing and see anything that looks like early creed or canon that would have been given to him?

Yes we can, in 1 Corinthians 15:

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

So if the crucifixion was roughly A.D. 30, then Paul’s conversion would have been ~ A.D. 32.

He was immediately taken to Damascus, where he met with Ananias and some other disciples, and his first meeting in Jerusalem would have been about AD 35 where he met with the apostles.

At some point during this time he was given this creed that he is passing on. This is significant because you have reasonable evidence that the key facts about Jesus' death and resurrection for our sins (including great detail on who had actually seen him, which means the ability to get eyewitness accounts of these things) dating back to within 2 - 5 years of the actual events happening.

So to repeat / rephrase, a good case can be made that the Christian belief in Jesus' resurrection, though not yet written down, can be dated to within a couple years of it actually happening.

#### Chapter Questions

**What are the two aims of a good Bible translation? (See page 40.)**

A good translation is marked by both _accuracy\*\* \*\*\_and \_readability_

# Apologetics Bonus

### Edwin Hubble & The Beginning - Understanding the Cosmological Argument

Science used to believe the universe was eternal. However, In the 1920's, Edwin Hubble observed that other galaxies are in motion, and moving away from us.

This seemingly innocuous discovery has some pretty big implications, in particular, that all matter in the universe seems to be moving away from a **point of origin**. Because of this, theories about an origin began circulating in the scientific community.

Hubble’s finding was a big deal, because it was major evidence supporting **a Beginning**.

And this is where the **Cosmological Argument** takes root.

The **Cosmological Argument** states that:

1. The universe has a beginning. Science agrees.

2. Anything with a beginning, must have a beginner, because matter doesn’t appear from nowhere.

3. Any logical “cause” of the universe must have, at minimum, these attributes:

   1. The ability to choose to create the universe

   2. Not caused by anything itself

   3. Not bound by any attribute of the universe, like time, space, matter, or energy

   4. Must be immensely powerful

4. When considering the attributes of this “cause,” they are consistent with what we call God.

**A personal note…**

For me, this creates an odd comfort and peace with the HOW of the beginning. I can't even conceive of a universe without time, space, matter, or energy. Go ahead, try.

People like to argue 6 physical days vs 6,000,000,000 years as a day, etc...

But my question is: when considering the power and might required to perform the task in the first place, and that God is an entity that operates outside of these constructs (indeed, he created them), does it really matter? What does it change about our faith, or belief in a creator God?


Why Trust the Bible - Week 3



#### Chapter 1: Don’t Believe Everything You Read


### Week 1 Highlights



- **1 Peter 3:15** “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give **_the reason_** for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”
- When we believe God’s Word is true to our core, we live it out very differently than if we don’t
- It is impossible to Mathematically or Logically “prove” History; that is not History’s goal
- The Old Testament was canonized by the 5th century BC and is rooted in oral tradition, history, prophecy, poetry, and psalms that began to be documented in the 16th century BC
- The New Testament was canonized quickly in the very early church in the 2nd century AD  based on 4 criteria: Apostolicity, Antiquity, Orthodoxy, and Universality
- Truly studying Scripture can be difficult, because we have to remember that **_it cannot mean to us today, what it did NOT mean to them then._** Hermeneutics & exegesis are tools we can use to help us better understand Scripture based on the time & place of its writing.



### **What is Trust?**

According to Merriam Webster, trust, as a verb, means _to have confidence in,_ _to deem reliable, to believe._


#### 


#### Chapter Questions

**Do you trust the Bible?  Why or why not?**

**What are some bad reasons to trust the Bible?**

**What are some good reasons to trust the Bible?**

**What did Jesus think about the Old Testament? Why does it matter?**


If we can establish that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that Jesus was who He said He was, we have a whole new, authoritative endorsement of the Bible, in its _entirety_.  We can trust the Bible as true and accurate because the God of the Universe said it is so.



1. Jesus _believed_ the Bible
2. Jesus _authenticated_ and _endorsed_ it as the Word of God
  - He lived according to the law
  - He quoted the scriptures
  - He referred to people from the Old Testament as real
  - He corrected the religious leaders’ interpretations of scripture


### **Truth in Science versus History**


#### Chapter Questions

The author writes on page 16, “It’s turtles all the way down for all of us, no matter what you take as your final authority for knowledge.”

**What does he mean?**

**Do you agree with him?  Why or why not?**

**Can you think of any examples where we accept these kinds of arguments?**

Richard Dawkins on the Origin of Life:  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlZtEjtlirc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlZtEjtlirc)


### Seeking Truth in Science

The modern atheist claims vehemently that science has given us everything we need to explain the universe, specifically absent any intelligent designer or deity.  However, many post-millennial scientists, specifically molecular biologists and genome scientists, many of whom profess no religious affiliation, are finding significant issues with accepting this approach.


#### Deeper Dive: The Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a physical and a functional standpoint.

It is the biological instruction manual for creating (and maintaining) a human being.  And it remains the world's largest collaborative biological project.

The text of the Human Genome is roughly 3 billion letters long, written in a cryptographic sequencing of 4 character groups.  If a person read it aloud at 3 letters per second, without stopping, it would take 31 years to read.  Printing the characters in a regular font size on normal bond paper and binding them would result in a book the height of the Washington Monument.

Francis S. Collins, respected international scientist, and leader of the Human Genome Project (also a former atheist) helped President Bill Clinton, in his congratulatory speech, coin the phrase “Today, we are learning the language in which God created life.”

Biologists now understand that even forming a single-celled organism, the most simple form of “life” we can conceive, would require the aligned sequencing of roughly 250 proteins.  Put simply, science basically says in order to achieve life, we need a 4 character sequence (e.g. ACDB-BCAD-AACD) sequenced correctly, 250 groups long.

Leaving this to Darwinian theory, with the variables being the basics of inorganic matter in the atmosphere (hydrogen, nitrogen, ammonia, etc) and some energy source (e.g. electricity / lightning), the odds of this being statistically viable within the assumed age of the earth would be something like 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Not only in spite of new scientific discovery, but because of it, it is becoming increasingly difficult for molecular biologists to ignore a theory involving an intelligent designer.  Cells are simply too complex for time and evolution to be a rational explanation.


#### The Origin of Life

In spite of rigorous claims from atheistic advocates like Richard Dawkins, neither Darwinian theory nor modern science provides any explanation for where “life” began.  Only that once it was here, it started evolving in certain ways.

This is where the notion of “science has given us everything we need to explain the universe” should be checked at the door.

In spite of the scientific community’s Babylonian hubris regarding its own achievements, through all of our technological marvels, science cannot yet answer the simple question “Where did we come from?”


#### Seeking Truth in History

This is why, as humans, we put so much trust in documented history.  We accept the testimony of others, when we deem them to be historically accurate and without ulterior motive.  We want, and need, to learn from the trials, victories, and experiences of others.  What they saw, what they heard.  What they did right, and mistakes they made.

Finding truth in accurately documented history has been instrumental in all areas of human progress, science included (perhaps first and foremost).

But in order to discover this truth, we must first establish trust in the historical documents we are analyzing.

**_Epistemology (pg17) -_** the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.


#### Chapter Questions

In this chapter, the author spends time talking about presuppositions (_Reason is reasonable, logic is logical, our senses are trustworthy, we really do exist)_:

**Can you identify any presuppositions you may have?**

**Is our belief that the Bible is the Word of God a presupposition?  Or a confident conclusion drawn from examining evidence?**

**The author claims that this book is an exercise in “doing history.” Do you feel that is an acceptable approach?  Why or why not?**


#### Deeper Dive: Examining the Presupposition of Reality

Philosophy can be fun.  Our unique and gifted brains can come up with all sorts of craziness, and flexing those muscles can be enjoyable and cathartic.  A word of caution, however… What does postulating that we are all the product of some giant’s dream do to serve our life’s purpose?

The eventuality of running down these types of philosophical arguments is hitting the point at which we acknowledge that it is theoretically possible that nothing exists, or that we’re all a dream.

Rather than pursuing this nihilistic course, which is completely unproductive (unless you’re writing the movie “The Matrix”), be encouraged that your senses, your experience of waking up everyday, having relationships, fond memories, etc, is sufficient enough evidence for you to believe that you are, indeed, real.

To boot, no brain, or sufficient computing system, is powerful enough to hold all of the information in the world, and keep it organized enough to produce your reality on a daily basis =)

Rejecting nihilism (or non-existence) is critical to taking positive action in our world and relationships.


### Determining Trust in History

Analyzing the trustworthiness of historical documents is an ambitious exercise.  We cannot cover all of the angles in which to analyze the gospels, however, the **_“Chain of Reliability”_** is a good start, and we will add more flavor from our own studies as is appropriate.

The **_“Chain of Reliability”_** is a chain of evidence based on a series of 5 questions that you can ask to determine if the historical document you are reading is reliable.



1. Can we be confident that the _translation_ of the Bible from the original language into our language accurately reflects the original?
2. Can we be confident that the _copyists_ accurately transmitted the original writing to us?
3. Can we be confident that we are looking at the _right _set of books?
4. Can we be confident that the original authors were, themselves, _trustworthy_?
5. Can we be confident that the events the original authors described _really_ took place?


#### Chapter Questions

**What is the difference between Historical Confidence and Mathematical Certainty?**

**How do you feel about someone saying: “I’m not going to act on anything without first hand experience of it.”?**


#### Reliability of Historical Documents

Alexander the Great died in 323 BC.  The two earliest biographies about him were written by Arrian in approximately 160 AD and Plutarch in approximately 100 AD.  Both were written _more than 400 years_ after Alexander’s death, yet historians consider them trustworthy.

Now, follow this timeline that Craig Blomberg lays out to Lee Stroble in “A Case for Christ”:



* Acts ends somewhat suddenly (Paul’s testimony to Agrippa), with no mention of what has happened to Paul after that. This implies that  it was written prior to his death in 62AD.
* Luke wrote his gospel prior to documenting the Acts of the Apostles, so probably no later than 61AD
* Luke incorporated information from Mark’s gospel writing, so Mark’s account was likely written no later than 60AD.

Therefore, the first gospel was written _no more than 30 years_ following Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.


#### More on Reliability

Lee Stroble asks other great questions pertaining to the reliability of the gospels, such as:



* Is there credible evidence for Jesus outside His biographies?
* Does archaeology confirm or contradict Jesus biographies?
* Is the Jesus of History the same as the Jesus of Faith?
* Was Jesus really convinced He was the Son of God?


Anecdotally, those are literally chapter titles in his book “The Case for Christ”.  This is a great starting point for further examining Biblical reliability.


### **Something to Meditate Upon**

From the Gideon’s Bible Introduction (author unknown):


    > The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.
    > Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable
    > Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.
    > It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.
    > It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword and the Christian’s charter.
    > Here too, Heaven is opened and the gates of Hell disclosed.
    > Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end.
    > It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
    > Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.
    > It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.
    > It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever.
    > It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.


#### Homework from Ty (if you want it)

With respect to reliability, a question that I have been pondering lately, though without much time to do any legitimate research has been:


Let’s assume that the Pharisees and Sadducees, as compared to Jesus’ followers, at the time of his death and resurrection, had immense resources:  money, power, political connection, even commodities like papyrus on which to write.  Let’s also assume (which I think is a safe assumption), these people hated Jesus, even enough to kill him, which they did.

If we can safely assume these two statements, I pose this question:

_Where are all the writings from Jewish leaders at the time refuting Jesus’ miracles, death, and resurrection?  Where are the documents written by the people who hated Him the most, refuting everything He ever did?_

I would love partners in researching this.  My hypothesis?

We won’t find them.  Why?  Because Jewish leaders are still bound by the law of Torah, which would prevent them from historically documenting lies for future generations.


Chapter 1 - Don't Believe Everything You Read

Why Trust the Bible - Week 2


### What this class is about

- First and foremost, this class is about strengthening your faith, and your bond with God and His Word
- We want to walk down this path together by examining an introduction into apologetics, and the historical trustworthiness of the Bible, particularly from the perspective of "Why should we trust the Gospel?"

### What this class is NOT

- This class is not a deep dive into apologetics, creation theory, deep historical study, hermeneutics, or learning how to argue someone into the Kingdom of Heaven.
- Our hope for this class is that you will walk away...
  - Having made a deeper connection with God and His Word, from a very practical, historical perspective
  - Having deepened relationships (or created new relationships) with other people in this class (including us)
  - Having gained an understanding about the difference between Math, Logic, and History
  - With a thirst to dig deeper, do more reading and research, and develop an richer relationship with God's Word
  - Having had fun!

### Intro Conversation Questions

- If someone came up and asked you, "Hey, you seem like a reasonable person, how can you really believe that some old dude held up his staff and parted an entire sea?", what would you say?
- How about if your teenager told you "Mom / Dad, the kids at my school are telling me the Gospel is basically just a big conspiracy theory made up in 200 AD. What am I supposed to say to them when they're making fun of me (and you) for believing it?"
- What difficult questions have you been asked (or been asking yourself), where you didn't really feel like you have a reasonable answer?

### What are apologetics?

- 1 Peter 3:15 - Why we believe what we believe. Why what we believe is true is a reasonable, or arguable position.
- Oxford - reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine.
- Apologetics is a very wide, and very deep field. MANY historians and theologians have devoted their entire lives to the study. A lot of this study has been in response to intensifying atheistic attack in the last 150 years, largely from scientific advances that gave rise to a "Modernist" anti-theology.

### Why are apologetics important?

#### They are important for us.

Common ways people (even us, subconsciously) view the Bible:

- It just another legend, fairy tale, or book of wisdom
- Some of the Bible actually happened, and other parts didn't, because they are impossible
- The Bible is a historical book, but sometime we are just interpreting what actually happened incorrectly

How many of you have felt like this, or read something in the Bible that you've questioned, and didn't know how to resolve it? How has that made you feel, or impacted your faith?

This is why apologetics (a reasoned, rational defense of what we believe) has HUGE implications for our daily lives in faith.

**When we believe God's Word to our core, we live it out very differently than if we don't.**

#### They are important for others... through our witness

- Many believe that Christians are stupid, because they have blind faith in something unprovable.
- Through apologetics, we can reasonably show that our faith is less blind than atheism, and more engaged than agnosticism.
- Being able to show unbelievers, gently, and kindly that we are not stupid, and our beliefs are founded on historically relevant, accurate , is exactly what Peter meant, and has a huge impact on our witness to others.

### A quick prep on History v.s. Math (& Logic)

- It is impossible for History to be Mathematically or Logically proven; that's not it's goal
- Do you believe Plato actually existed? Why?
- When we try to apply Mathematical or Logical constructs to History, we eventually get to the possibility, no matter how small, that nothing actually exists, even us.
- When we examine the Bible, it's incredibly important for us to treat it with the same respect, and the same critical eye that we would any other document purporting to be historically accurate.

### What is the Bible?

**FACT: It's incredibly difficult to defend the Bible, or your belief in it, without at least a basic understanding of where it came from.**

According to the March 2007 edition of Time magazine, the Bible "has done more to shape literature, history, entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. Its influence on world history is unparalleled and shows no signs of abating."

How can one book have so much influence in the world and why is it that so many people trust the scripture within the Bible? Let’s start by taking a look at what the Bible actually is and the history of how it came to be.

Bible (Greek Biblia “the books”) is not a single book but actually a collection of books sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, Islam, and numerous other faiths. It is in the form of an anthology, a compilation of texts of a variety of forms that are all linked by the belief that they are collectively revelations of God. The texts are historical accounts, hymns and poetry, prayers, proverbs, essays, letters and prophecies. The books that are included in the Bible by a specific religious group are canonical, indicating that group views those writings as the true representation of God’s word and will.

### OLD Testament

The books of the Old Testament began as songs and stories that were **orally transmitted** from generation to generation before being written down in a process that began sometime after 1000 BC and continued for over 1000 years into the period after Christ’s life.

Does it make us trust the scripture MORE or LESS when we understand that it is based on oral tradition? Any room to work in discussion of FACT vs TRUTH?)

_What do we know about songs and stories passed down over generations and generations?_

- They are made memorable by using rhymes, patterns, and imagery, which is much of what we see in the earliest Biblical stories.

  _What does generation to generation mean?_

- Many many years. We do not know for fact how many. But we can guess it was at least more than 4 or 5 thousand years.

The earliest compilation, containing the first 5 books of the Bible (Torah “law” or Pentateuch “5 books”) was accepted as Jewish canon by the 5<sup>th</sup> century BC.

**Canon definition: a collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine.**

A second collection of narrative history and prophecy (Nevi’im “prophets”) was canonized in the 3<sup>rd</sup> century BC.

A third collection containing psalms, proverbs and narrative history (Katuvim “writings”) was canonized between the 2<sup>nd</sup> century BC and 2<sup>nd</sup> century AD. Taken together, these form the Hebrew Bible or TaNaKh (Torah + Nevi’im + Katuvim).

The Old Testament, as used in the Christian Bible today, is derived from the expanded Greek translation of the TaNaKh, known as the Septuagint. According to historical legend, this translation came about when 72 Greek-speaking Jewish scholars in Alexandria were asked by Ptolemy II Philadelphus to translate the Torah into Greek for inclusion in the Library of Alexandria. However, there are some writings in the Septuagint that Protestant Christians do not include in their canon, while Catholic and Eastern Orthadox Christians do. These are often referred to as the Apocrypha (Greek “to hide away”). The Septuagint has four parts: law, history, poetry, and prophets. This is generally how we, as Protestant Christians, describe the Old Testament today.

### NEW Testament

During the rise of Christianity in the 1<sup>st</sup> century AD, new scriptures were written about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, the Messiah prophesied in the books of the Old Testament. Two collections of these scriptures were accepted as canon by the end of the 2<sup>nd</sup> century AD.

- The Gospels
- The Pauline epistles

There were 4 criteria for accepting these (New Testament) writings as canon.

1. **The Apostolicity (Apostolic Origin)** - Written by an apostle or close friend / companion of an apostle
1. **Antiquity** – Must have been written close to the time of the events (I.e. Before 100 AD, while the apostles were still alive)
1. **Orthodoxy** – Must have been in agreement with the standard of Truth handed down from Jesus himself
1. **Universality** – Christians in every part of the known world used and valued the book

The book we will be reading in this class will focus on New Testament history and authenticity and will look more deeply at the issues surrounding New Testament canonization.

### Mass Dissemination of the Bible

Between 385 and 405 AD, the early Christian church translated the Old Testament and New Testament canon into Vulgar Latin, (the commonly spoken Latin of ordinary people) which became known as the Vulgate. The Vulgate was established as the official Latin translation of the Bible used by the Catholic Church by the Council of Trent in the mid 16<sup>th</sup> century.

The Protestant church established the King James Version of the Bible in the 17<sup>th</sup> century, which may still be the most prevalent English Bible of all time.

Many of us in the room today are probably using CSB, ESV, NIV or a similar modern translation thanks to today’s technology. Regardless of translation though, as Protestant Christians today, our Bible will consist of **66 books** (39 OT, 27 NT) written by **40 different authors**.

I will say this one thing about the Bibles we are reading today. Regardless of the translation, they all agree on this:

- There is ONE true God and He alone is the creator of everything
- The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not change. God sent him to die for our sins. He was resurrected from the dead for the salvation of all who call on His name. This was God’s plan for man from the time of the original sin.

### Studying the Bible and Trustworthiness of Interpretation

When studying the Bible, it is so important to understand that…

**_The Bible CANNOT mean today what it did not mean when it was written_**.

This is where Hermeneutics and Exegesis come into play.

The primary purpose of Hermeneutics is to determine and understand the meaning of Biblical text by bridging the gap between our minds in the present world and the minds of the Biblical writers at the time of their authorship through a thorough knowledge of the original languages, ancient history and the comparison of Scripture with Scripture.

Exegesis is used to study and interpret Biblical text. This is commonly what we do when we study the Bible using inductive methods, making observations of the scripture we are reading and then drawing conclusions based on those observations.

One thing we have to be aware of when studying scripture, is using Eisegesis, which means reading scripture with a **_preconceived_** notion such as a cultural lens that didn’t exist when the scripture was originally written. A common example of eisegesis happens in the reading and interpretation of Rev 3:15-16, John’s letter to the church in Laodicea.

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Many people use modern understanding of the terms hot, cold and lukewarm to assume it is meant to describe believers as either being hot for Christ (religiously zealous), cold to Christ (not committed) or lukewarm in their faith (wishy washy).

But by using Hermeneutics and Exegesis to understand the geography and culture of Laodicea, as well as the original language of the scripture (Greek), one learns that Laodocia was a very wealthy city with an embarrassing water situation. The hot water from neighboring Hierapolis and the cold water of neighboring Colossae were brought into Laodicea through aqueducts. By the time the water got to the city, it was lukewarm and had no purpose like the hot healing water and the cold refreshing water.

Therefore, after a thorough study of the scripture through the lens of a 1<sup>st</sup> century writer to 1<sup>st</sup> century Laodocians we can see that while the Laodocians were content to be blessed, they weren’t being good witnesses for Christ and weren’t fulfilling any purposes on behalf of His kingdom, which caused John to write angrily to them.

Understanding different methods of the study and interpretation of the Bible are critical when discussing the Bible’s trustworthiness.

We need to understand that **certain people’s (and sometimes our own) interpretation of scripture may not be accurate.**

But that DOES NOT mean the scripture is wrong, just our interpretation of it.


Intro to Why Trust the Bible class, where we examine the authenticity, historicity, and reliability of the Bible as a historical document.

Chronological list of lessons I've worked through on Sundays.