The difference may seem insignificant at first. Nevertheless, our obsession with the Scripture's applicability reflects a fundamen- tal weakness. We have adopted practicality as the ultimate judge of the worth of God's Word. We bury ourselves in passages that overtly relate to daily living, and ignore those that don't. Early in my ministry, I made a conscious commitment to biblical preaching.
“A Journey Through The Old Testament” SUMMARY: For many Christians the Old Testament is daunting and confusing. The books are long and speak about a culture dramatically different form our own. This wonderful book by Elmer L. Towns, “A Journey Through the Old Testament” does not substitute for reading the Old Testament, but Mr. Towns has provided a wonderful “journey” in understanding the people of the Old Testament and a view of the Coming Messiah. His works speak to the intellect as well as to the heart of how God prepared the world in His image – and His hope for mankind.
And finally, the concept or skill that I did not find particularly useful and why. Firstly, there were several concepts and skills that I found to be most meaningful during this “Interpreting the Bible” course. The process that I feel meant the most to me and my walk was called the four steps of the “Interpretive Journey”. This was a process of basic understanding of how to grasp what the biblical author is saying in the text. Applying this process throughout the assignments was invaluable to my understanding as a Christian.
I found the practical sections of this book to be extremely helpful. For instance, when Brooks explains the benefit of asking the “so what” question of the good news text, I was motivated to look at a few of my sermons that had already been preached and ask the “so what” question of the text. Brooks is clear that the Bible is the foundation of preaching. This statement as she points out may seem to be one that there is agreement with among preachers, however as is pointed out there are those who believe that good news may come from other sources. It has been my experience in hearing sermons that the Bible is the source of the good news that is proclaimed.
Santiago, throughout the story, is a big reason why the reader is able to understand that there is a religious allegory present in the story. Santiago states, “I may not be as strong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.”. The reason being that this quote is important is because it parallels to Jesus Christ. How this quote parallels to Christ is when he’s carrying the cross, Christ went through different stages of pain and agony while carrying the cross but he had the mental strength to keep going. Furthermore, Santiago was a true person in always
Both my parents were raised as Catholics, but unlike me, I seem to question religion a lot more and have my own interpretations on the scriptures and what it really means to be a follower of God. Blue Like Jazz did open my eyes even more and helped me further my journey as a follower of God. Although Miller’s stories were not in perfect chronological order, the book still flowed smoothly and was seen as moments and points that were most important and changing in his life. I can relate to this idea of moments with my experience with the spiritual retreat of Kairos. Instead of using time we defined everything in moments and I found something special in that.
Dr. Anderson displays a strong foundation of counseling through truth and having a relationship with Christ. Other web based articles were used to support the theory of Anderson’s book. Although the web based articles other different avenues of Christian counseling all of the sources used share a common root, how to show others how to overcome their problems to become healthy well adjusted individuals by using biblical concepts. Christian Counseling to the Spiritually Oppressed Discipleship is receiving instruction from a religious leader and being a follower who has learned to believe in the truth of the doctrine of his teacher. Discipleship in today’s world can be in the form of a Christian counseling.
Believers practicing loving God with all their mind would be a witness to this world and even a way of reaching out in compassion and gentleness we have left behind by burying our arguments in our Bibles and not engaging the questions raised by the lost. Understanding where Evangelicals have fallen intellectually will help foster obedience to Christ’s command to love God with all of our mind. The major arguments held by critics Richard Hofstadter, George M. Marsden, and Alister McGrath, declare modern Evangelicalism anti-intellectual. Some of the main reasons for this are the average Evangelicals fear of defending their faith, the separation of the spiritual and secular, and the slothfulness Evangelicals have to
Analytical Review of the Book of James The book of James has been called the practical book of the New Testament by many. This review will cover the purpose of the book, why it was included in the Bible, what would be missing if not included, and how it applies or is relevant to today. The purpose of the book of James is to foster practical Christian living. The church people in James’ day were beginning to have undermining attitudes and practices. James speaks against these in his teaching.
The life of Christ in Mark’s Gospel evidently accounts the humble and just acts of Jesus Christ on earth. Jesus was seen as an activist, a teacher and a healer. He touched the lives of many people in sickness, taught us the ways of faith and challenged the position of other people of power at the time. The ministries of Jesus teach us relevant lessons not only for the people that were living the New Testament but also for catholics to reflect on today. Mark’s Gospel has a vast number of examples portraying Jesus as a leader of new teachings.