History in the making (er…discovering)?

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Is the Bible we have today the same Bible that was circulating in the first century?  Yes.

We have every reason to believe that our English Bibles are tremendously accurate, and agree with the originally-inspired Greek and Hebrew languages in which God’s Word was first recorded by the inspired human authors.  For those who suggest that various levels of corruption or human invention have been introduced to the text over the centuries, there is a discipline called “textual criticism” that helps protect the integrity of the biblical text.  To be super (too?) brief (and maybe a little confusing if you’re new to this), textual criticism weighs internal and external manuscript evidence to help us accurately identify which words the Gospel writers, the Apostle Paul, or any other biblical author actually wrote.  And within the last few weeks, an evangelical expert in textual criticism by the name of Daniel Wallace has hinted at recent findings that will further strengthen an already-compelling case for the validity of the New Testament.

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Learning a little about Lent

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This year, as a church we’re leaning into Lent in a more intentional way than we have in the past.  We’re holding an Ash Wednesday service on Wed, Feb 22 at 7am in The Hub at Brookside.  Our Sunday morning sermons will be built around passages in the Gospel of John leading up to the arrest, death and resurrection of Jesus.  We’ll be making an additional resource available with weekly readings and prayers as we prepare our hearts – individually and as a church – for Easter weekend.  Our prayer in all of this is that God will use this Lenten Season in such a way that the full impact of Easter (including the events leading up to it and the implications flowing out from it) lands with a fresh weight in our lives as we follow Jesus Christ – our Lord and Savior who was crucified for us and was raised again on the third day.

As a pastor in an Evangelical Free Church (that’s the denomination Brookside is a part of), however, I’m aware that observing Lent may be new(er) to many in our congregation who may not have grown up in some of the more formally-liturgical churches (both Protestant and Catholic) that do follow the church calendar.  Over the last few days, I’ve had the opportunity to point people towards the rich history Lent has in the Christian church and the ways it can be a means to form us as followers of Jesus.

To help all of us “wrap our arms” around Lent as we approach Easter in April, then, let me simply point you towards three resources written from an evangelical Protestant perspective that can help us appreciate the history and opportunity of Lent. Click on the links below to get re-directed to the articles.

The Trinity: One big deal

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I’m in the middle of teaching a class at Brookside called “Fuel for Faith: An Important Class about Christian Theology.”  Each week for 8 weeks we cover a category (or two) of systematic theology and learn from God’s Word (primarily), our class textbook (Wayne Grudem’s Bible Doctrine) and each other.

Last week we had some great interaction about the Christian doctrine of the Trinity – I’m grateful for a class that’s willing to ask some tough questions, think deeply, and be formed by God’s Word.  One of the things we had the chance to discuss was whether or not the doctrine of the Trinity is really that big of a deal.  Does it really make a difference whether we worship God as “one God in three Persons” (the traditional understanding), as “one God in three manifestations” (an early heresy commonly known as modalism) or as three aligned but ultimately independent gods (tritheism)?  Are the differences between these views really big enough to impact the way we live and how we worship?  And most importantly, what’s the clearest way to formulate how the God of the Bible reveals himself?

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What’s your picture of adult ed?

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Talk with people about the equipping ministry of the local church long enough (we call it “adult ed” where I come from), and you’ll soon discover that there are lots of ideas people have developed about this particular equipping “arm” of the local church.  Many of these ideas are often influenced most by whatever church people came from.  Perhaps their version of an “equipping ministry” is synonymous with the Sunday School program that involved lots of coffee and community, but little content.  Or perhaps their version of adult ed died out altogether as the church grew in other directions.

Working through and overcoming these preconceptions is one of those ongoing things I deal with as a pastor who oversees the adult education ministry of the local church I serve.  However, working through and overcoming these preconceptions is a joy, as it provides the chance to ground our approach to church education in church history (catechesis) and biblical study (the key role of instruction of God’s people throughout the Bible) – and not just in what some church somewhere else is doing or has done.

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Spotlight on Spring 2012 classes

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New Adult Ed. classes start for the Spring on January 29!  And for those of you that’ve talked with me at any length recently, you know that I’m itchin’ to get classes started again.  What gets me so excited for classes each semester isn’t just the fact that I often get the chance to teach (and if I go long enough without teaching, my face starts to twitch and my sentences get increasingly incoherent).  What gets me so excited about classes is knowing the potential they have for igniting changed lives in all of the following ways (and more):

  • …as peoples’ eyes are opened to the beauty of God’s Word & its message
  • …as people are formed theologically and given good “lenses” through which to look at life
  • …as people are equipped with tools & practices that will help them grow personally and serve the church meaningfully

All of our classes have been on the adult ed page of our website for a couple of weeks, so you may already know what’s coming.  To get the details on any of our classes (meeting time & location, costs involved) please visit that adult ed page, as they won’t be duplicated in this post.  However, there are other “things” (since I couldn’t think of a better word) about each class that can be tough to put on our website, but that nevertheless may help you (1) know more about the individual classes and (2) discern which class might be the right fit for you.

With this in mind, here are a few of these other “things” for each class that you may be interested in:

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What “Learning Overload” has taught me: Learning to learn well

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Talk with most people who know me, and they’ll probably agree that I’m a learner.  My top two “strengthsfinder” strengths are “learner” and “input” (a third is “intellection” which kinda goes along with this as well).  I love to ask questions.  My office walls (and a few walls in my home) are lined with bookshelves.  The one piece of artwork in my office is a picture of a guy reading.  I constantly invite “referrals” to good sources of information and each week get a few emails with websites I can visit and where I can soak in learning.  My iTunes downloads a number of podcasts that “re-fill” each day or week with yet more chances to learn.

There’s just one problem:  I don’t have time to spend sitting and learning for 40-50 hours each week (or even a fraction of that).  And even if I did, that probably wouldn’t be enough time to satisfy my love of learning.  In fact, the time I have to devote to learning seems to be shrinking as my kids get older and other responsibilities (understandably) demand my attention.  What’s a philomath (“lover of learning”) to do in this situation?  Here are some of the ways I’m learning (pun intended) to answer that question:

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The Historical Adam: To be, or not to be?

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Anyone who’s been part of church culture for any length of time knows that the relationship between science and the Bible is often a delicate one. Are they competitors or complementary (or, at times, both)? What do we do when the claims of one seem to conflict with the claims of the other?

These questions have been central in the ongoing “creation versus evolution” debate, and are popping up in fresh ways as a recent burst of information is bringing the existence of a historical Adam into fresh consideration. This is likely something you’ll hear about on the History or Discovery Channels, or get into conversation about over some Thanksgiving meal with extended family or friends.

Knowing this, here are a few articles (and one book), written by evangelical Christians, that can introduce you to this topic. Keep this in mind, though: these articles present a variety of evangelical approaches to this topic and may at times even conflict with each other. As always, read with your thinking caps on and with a commitment to the authority of God’s Word.

Here are some articles that will introduce you to things:

Here’s a book that tackles this subject from a firmly evangelical viewpoint: