Wednesday January 29th, 2014

LESSON 5

God's Amazing Book

Is God really the author of this book?

2 Timothy 3:16-17
"All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness"

Today's lesson examined the authority of the Bible.

Our wrap up talk beautifully shared many of the critiques of the Bible and then gave archaeological evidence that has been discovered - most of it in the past century - which disproves those critiques.

Paraphrasing from the wrap up talk:
"The more they dig up out of the ground, the more evidence is found that the Bible is true".

"When someone wants to challenge you regarding scripture, a Christian belief, or argues the Bible just isn't true or Jesus was just some legend, challenge them to read it for themselves, and then set aside a time to discuss with them.  We don't need to defend ourselves, the Bible does just fine on it's own."

....wonderful thoughts about the authority of the Bible.

We were also encouraged to visit the Holy Land in Israel as well as go to see artifacts here in the museums of London from Biblical times.  In fact, we are going to plan a "field trip" during an upcoming class where we will have a guided tour of the Biblical artifacts in the British Museum.  Don't miss it!!

Finally, this is an excellent time to be reminded that we welcome all backgrounds, denominations, nationalities, ethnicities and all women to be part of our group.  We also encourage questions and we know that sometimes we may not agree on certain points.  Our servant team is made up of humble women - none of who have any sort of seminary background or training in religion.  We are just women who want to study God's word.  We do not pretend to be perfect, in fact, we can boast that we are full of faults and unequipped to be running this class.  It is God's class, not ours.  We simply do our best.  That is all we can ask.  If you have any concerns or issues, please do not hesitate to ask, inquire, and disagree.  When an individual, who is part of our group of women, speaks on a topic, gives a devotion, shares her testimony, or gives a wrap-up talk, she is speaking only of her own experience, and her opinions do not always represent the group as whole.  We are made up of a variety of very diverse women!!  Please respect our differences.  We pray that everyone will feel welcome, and when you sense differently, we appreciate you letting us know so that we can become sensitive and more Christ-like.

After all, the greatest commandment is:
from Matthew 22:37-39
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.  This is the first and most important commandment.  The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.”

We want you to feel loved and welcomed!

I'd like to paraphrase/summarize a great point from an author I respect who says:
People today do not necessarily want historical evidence in support of the life of Jesus and the truth of the Bible; they want, more importantly, to see some signs of life and love among his followers.