Category Archives: Bible

Christians Should Read the Bible

As I might have mentioned if you have talked to me for more than a few minutes in the last 10 years, I think the term Christians has been gutted and stolen. And I think this has been made all the easier by people who claim to be Christians not actually reading the Bible.

I don’t mean the random verses on greeting cards. I mean ALL the verses. The ones that don’t make sense–“When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf.” Leviticus 19:5, NIV That verse seemingly has no impact on my life. I only know it was part of the rules God gave the Israelites to follow to be set apart for holiness. I don’t think it is something I need to follow as we don’t do sacrifices anymore, but it is part of the word of God that I will read and trust that it is part of the entire God story.

And in reading those verses I don’t see impacting my life, I will often find verses that very much apply to me. “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:9-10 NIV I don’t have a field that I harvest but I can easily read this to mean I should not keep everything for myself but need to share with others to help meet their needs.

This situation of things we can easily understand and things we grapple with continues in the New Testament.

As we see in 1 Timothy 2:15 NIV, “But women will be saved through childbearing–if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” (See this explanation for some excellent thoughts on what this verse might mean https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-does-it-mean-that-women-will-be-saved-through-childbearing-1-timothy-2/) This verse appears to contradict 2 Timothy 2:10 NIV, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” This verse is talking about the elect causes one to pause and consider that God wants all to come to salvation in Him, not just a select few. We find this in 2 Peter 3:9 NIV “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

These verses are a fantastic example of why we must read the whole Bible, sit under good Biblical teaching that incorporates what the Bible says while drawing on other verses in the Bible, and a solid understanding of the language, time, and culture the Bible was written in. We, as Westerners, obviously read the Bible from our cultural ideals of individualism and our understanding of life today. It is important to consider that the Bible was written in a much more community-focused time and place. Not every verse is about how we think or feel as a single, solitary person on the contrary, much of it is written with an audience that would understand it more from a communal perspective. I suggest this book, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible. It is not perfect, it sometimes feels like it is bashing Americans and refuting all of our understanding of the Bible, but it does a fantastic job of laying bare where we can go so wrong in reading the Bible just by focusing only on our cultural understanding. I also suggest Esther: An Honor-Shame Paraphrase and James: An Honor-Shame Paraphrase, both by Daniel K Eng.

Without reading our Bibles and working hard to understand them through study and biblical teaching, we run the risk of not really knowing what we believe or why. We are definitely unable to defend or explain what we believe if we don’t know what is in the Bible. We also run the risk of being taught only bits and pieces of the Bible if we don’t take the time to read it for ourselves.

It is not just me saying we need to study and know the Bible.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 NIV and “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:9-11 NIV

As 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us we need to handle the word of truth correctly. We shouldn’t be out there saying the Bible says this or that if we don’t know what it actually says. That would not show us to be good workers or good representatives of God. If God is truth, as we as Christians rightly claim He is, then we need to know what that truth is. We can not give into contradicting the word of God just to fit our own personal prejudices or wants and desires.

Where Is My Footing

I am not the most sure-footed person. My vision and some health history make me feel pretty unsteady at times. I am not a fan of stairs. I don’t walk on rocks if I can help it. Striding on sand is not my thing. I am slow and careful.

Except in my faith. I have always had a home in the church since I first started attending at age 4. I jumped right into the Christian subculture. I went to Christian schools for part of my growing up and for college. I went to purity conferences and Christian concerts as a teen. Church camp from age 9-16. Went back as a counselor in college for a couple of years. I even traveled with a Christian music group as their interpreter for the Deaf after college.

What I am trying to communicate is, I wasn’t just a Christian, it was my culture, how I voted, and how I viewed the world.

It is still how I view the world. I am first and foremost a Christian.

But somehow I left the culture. I left that world.

I still attend church and I still love to tell people about Jesus. I am still a Christian who homeschools my girls.

And yet, I am not at home in the culture.

By and large, if people in the community knew how I voted I am afraid I would be looked down upon. Don’t get me wrong, I am not necessarily quiet about my views so many know, and most who do still love me, but I keep quiet a lot in order to keep the peace. My poor husband and kids get an earful but I really do bite my tongue.

It is hurting me.

I want to scream, if you disagree so much with someone for their life and choices that you villify them, how will they believe you if you say Jesus loves them?

https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1JN.4.ESV

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. I John 4:20.

One version of the Bible implied this only meant other Christians but I disagree that is what was meant here. If you want to really speak into someone’s life, you must sometimes say hard things, you sometimes challenge someone. Who do we accept this kind of talk from? Someone we don’t know? No. Someone who we know dislikes or disapproves of us? Surely not. Like never. Does that mean I have to agree with everything someone says in order to talk about Jesus, no, but it is highly likely that if I decide to talk about Jesus, I better have chosen to be authentic, loving, and involved beforehand.

Does this mean I am only loving and nice if I want to talk about Jesus? No. That’s not authentic or invested either. I should be loving and nice regardless.

Honestly, I can only take care of my own behaviors regardless of what I think someone else should be or do. My job is me.

Unfortunately, some of those claiming to follow the same Jesus I do make it hard to walk in peace. I spend more time explaining the hatred away that those I want to talk about Jesus with see than I do talking about the truth of Jesus. And I am tired of it.

And I am out of step with so much of what I used to think it meant to be a Christian. And that leaves me feeling like I am walking down a set of stairs to the rocks below and right into the sand…uncomfortable and unsteady.

I don’t like it.

I find myself less and less interested in hanging out with other Christians. I told my hubby that and he said, “But what about all the swear words and the foul language?” Right now I would rather deal with that.

I would rather sit with the sinners than the saints.

Blessing or a Curse

Our family has had the privilege over the last year or so of learning Arabic from native speakers who started as friends and are now family.

Our family has had the opportunity to experience how badly your brain can hurt from learning Arabic.

There’s a reason it is considered the second hardest language for English speakers to learn.

Many of the sounds are different.  Sentence structure is often different.  Greetings are very different.

Let’s start with the alphabet.

My girls have been painstakingly working their way through the alphabet as well as adding vocabulary.  My lessons have not involved written Arabic, rather, I am trying to sort out the spoken.

Turns out Arabic has 18 conjugations for almost every noun and verb.  By way of comparison, Spanish has 6 verb conjugations.

And Arabic has these greetings that not only said at specific times for specific reasons but also have particular answers.  I’ll give you an example with it translated into English.

You come home from work and have been busy, I say–“God give you strength.”  You say, “God strengthen you.”  There are many others.  My favorite is “Kaif Halik (how are you)?”  “Alhamdhallah (Thanks be to God) or Ashkurallah (God is good).”

I enjoy seeing how they all fit together, but I find it hard to remember what I am supposed to say when and how.

Yesterday, Caitlyn was struggling to remember her new words for this week’s lesson.  She is used to everything except math coming very easily.  Arabic had her mad.  How dare it be so hard?  I totally relate!

Today in history we were studying the tower of Babel where the people on the earth had gotten very proud and decided that they could build a tower that would reach all the way to heaven.  Rather than letting the people be destroyed by their own pride, God introduced many languages, so the people no longer could talk easily to one another, rather, they had many different languages and communication was instantly more complicated (Genesis 11:3-9).

3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

And it has worked, hasn’t it?  Things are much more complicated than they would be if we had just one common language.

So Caitlyn, building on what she had said yesterday about it being hard, said, “see it’s a curse!!”

But is it?

Yes, it definitely makes things harder, but our language is also part of our identity.  It is part of what makes us who we are.  It is not just a bunch of sounds strung together.  It is how we see the world, how we do things.  It is the respect we show, the respect we expect.

It is also a way to bond with people.  If you even just try a little to learn someone’s language when it is not your own, you have instantly shown them honor, that you value them.  And when the words don’t come out right–you can bond over laughter–like the day I told a lady, I would bring her a house (bayt) when I meant to say I would bring her a book (ktaab).

Yes, learning Arabic is hard.  Really hard,  but that first time I was able to tell one of my friends that I loved her in Arabic, it was all worth it.

So, while Caitlyn may be convinced it is a curse to learn Arabic, it will continue to be part of our

Watching Their Hearts

“Welcome to our world little one.  We pray that you come to know Jesus very young and never let go.”  These were my first words over each of my girls.  And that heart cry has never changed.

We have so many reasons for homeschooling, but this, their relationship with Jesus is always first and foremost.

Bible is a staple in our weekly schooling.  Each day the girls work on memorizing their Awana assigned verses, Caitlyn is in an optional discipleship group, and we have added a daily prayer time.  It is a constant but our desire is not for the girls to just do what they have to do,  but to understand they can have a personal relationship with Christ.  We don’t worship a God who created the world and then walked away, we worship a God who loves us and knows our inmost being.

Psalm 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 
3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. 
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
The other day I found this envelope on my computer area.
And inside I found a jumble of pieces that made this
This heart cry is what I pray my daughters, husband, and I will have.

Stewing

Last night, there was something bothering me.  I went upstairs to be alone.  And started stewing about it.  Then a kid followed me up to my room.  So, I wasn’t alone and I wasn’t making my situation better by focussing on it.  For once, I made a good decision, and headed downstairs to play a board game with the girls–Bible Trivia for Young Readers.

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I figured I was a shoo-in to win.  I mean, I have been going to church for 37 years, I went to Christian Schools for a few years, and I graduated from a Christian College.  This should be a walk in the park… 😉

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Caitlyn was a little upset when she got one wrong 🙂

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Sue had a couple questions give her a challenge.

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And Patrice actually beat us all by one point!

In  my, overly educated defense…the game was set up with a little bit of a twist.  For every time you got a question right, you drew a little card that had a random number of stars and that was your score for each question.  So, I might get a question right and only get one point, while Patrice might get a question right and get 3 stars…and at the end you added up the number of stars you had, not the number of questions you got right…so before you doubt my years of education, I did actually get more right than the girls did, but I had less stars on my cards.

Don’t you feel sad for me?

Either because I lost to my 6 year old by one point or that I am pathetic enough to explain to you how and why I lost…

Bible Blowout

Ah.  It is that bittersweet time where activities are wrapping up for the summer.

The kids are so sweet as they finish their year end projects and work really hard to achieve their goals.

Bitter because this year ends our journey with a child in preschool age range.  Patrice will be a big kintergardner in the fall.  Sue will be in third grade and Caitlyn in 4th!!!!

But last night was time to celebrate all they have all learned in Bible club (AWANA).

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Caitlyn finished  her first book for T&T

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Patrice finished Cubbies

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Sue finished Sparks.

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And we couldn’t be more proud!

 

Palm Sunday Our Style

Too many of us were sick Palm Sunday to go to church–so we had our own service with our own craft.

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Vroom Vroom

Today was the AWANA (Bible Club) annual Pinewood Derby.  This is Sue’s third year and Caitlyn’s fourth.  Each year they work with daddy to make a car.  Next year we add Patrice.  The girls had fun and were good sports.

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Bangladesh Safari

We are using the book Asia and It’s People for our Bible lessons right now.  We are, surprise, surprise, studying Bangladesh right now 🙂  Yesterday we had a matching game to play.  We had cards with animal names and cards with their descriptions.  We had to match them like a memory game.

So we went on a Safari and saw Bengal Tigers, Asiatic Bears, Rhesus Monkeys, Mynah Birds, Jackals, Clouded Leopards.  Patrice found the elephants.  They were everywhere…

🙂

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2015-01-12 11.00.17See, we even had our steamer trunk and safari hats!!!

For the longest game of memory ever, but that’t not this post, huh?

 

The Hills Are Alive

With the sound of verses.

Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name [Jesus] under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.  Acts 4:12

The girls and I had a spur of the moment road trip today.  We drove about 100 miles to spend some time with my best friend of 30 years.  I found out via Facebook she was going to be “near” me and I wasn’t going to miss that opportunity.

We did math before we left and now the girls are practicing their verses for AWANA (Bible Club).

Caitlyn practiced with me.  That verse up there? She didn’t know a single word of it today, but I know by Sunday she’ll have it and the three others she needs/wants to say.

Sue was practicing with her little sister until Patrice yelled, “Know why your popcorn is stinky?  I tooted on it!!”  For some odd reason she was the only one laughing after that.  (Though I will definitely be laughing when I tell daddy about it later!)

For some reason, Sue joined Caitlyn and I after that.  She is currently working on:

But the Angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.”  Luke 2:10-11

Victory is hers.

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Now that is a dance before the Lord.