Field Trip to the British Museum Wednesday March 5, 2014

Wednesday March 5th, 2014

Class field trip to the British Museum

Our study booklet, "God's Amazing Book" asks us to examine the history of the Bible, the validity of the Bible and the formation of the Bible - among other scripture searches.

One of our servant team members has been to Israel several times.  Each time she tours, she says she is surprised at the number of times the guide declares, "well we would see this, but it is now housed in the British Museum".  How lucky are we, in London, thus very capable of going on any given day to see these artifacts!  However, as we know, artifacts that are important for Christians and the historicity of the Bible often don't have large signs nearby stating "Come and See!!  This is an important artifact for Christians!"  We had heard of Christian tour guides who help direct groups to find the important Christian items, and decided it would be a great class outing to do just such a tour ourselves.

Our guide, Fiona Cater, took us on a one-hour and forty-five minute journey to see some of the great items relating to the Bible.

Here are a few examples from our tour:

Room #55 - Assyrian prism

"They said there was no such king as Hezekiah"

Then they discovered:

Sennacherib's Prism Reveals King Hezekiah

This six-sided hexagonal clay prism, commonly known as the Taylor Prism, was discovered among the ruins of Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian Empire.  It contains the Annals of Sennacherib himself, the Assyrian king who had besieged Jerusalem in 701 BC during the reign of king Hezekiah. On the prism Sennacherib boasts that he shut up "Hezekiah the Judahite" within Jerusalem his own royal city "like a caged bird." This prism is among the three accounts discovered so far which have been left by the Assyrian monarch of his campaign against Israel and Judah.

Room 55 - From the time of Daniel 

Critics of the Bible questioned the book of Daniel because of the predictions made in the text.  
The panel shows a pacing, roaring lion and once was part of King Nebuchadnezzar II’s throne room in his palace in the ancient city of Babylon, Iraq. Nebuchadnezzar II reigned from 605-562 BC, and supposedly had the hanging gardens of Babylon built for his queen. Although there is little evidence to confirm his passion for gardening, it is certain that Nebuchadnezzar commissioned other major building projects in Babylon, to glorify the capital of his empire. Inscriptions stamped on bricks reveal the extent of these works. In the city of Babylon, glazed bricks in bright shades of blue, yellow and white were used to create public monuments that emphasised the power of the king and the gods. In Nebuchadnezzar’s throne room the roaring lions emphasized the power and might of the Babylonian king, whose empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean and from the Caucasus to northern Arabia.

Room 52 - glazed tile from the Persian Empire 

Queen Esther would have walked by such a panel in the palace, and jewelry in this room would also represent the style and kind of jewels and adornments she would have worn

Achaemenid Persian, late 6th century BC

From Susa, south-west Iran   

From the palace of Darius I, ruler of the largest empire in antiquity

This panel is made of polychrome glazed bricks which were found by French excavators scattered in a courtyard of the palace built by the Persian king Darius I (522-486 BC). At least 18 figures have been restored. It was part of a larger frieze depicting rows of guards, perhaps the 'immortals' who made up the king's personal bodyguard. The arrangement of the figures may have been similar to the rows of sculptured guards carved in relief at Persepolis. According to a foundation inscription at Susa, the craftsmen who made the brick panels came from Babylonia where there had been a tradition of this sort of architectural decoration.

Linked to the city of Sardis in western Anatolia by a 'royal road', Susa was the most important administrative centre of the Achaemenid Persian empire and the court probably spent at least part of each year there. Darius undertook much building at the site. Amongst his most impressive projects was the Apadana or audience hall and an adjoining palace where this panel was discovered.

Room 49 - the first image of Jesus in Britain

One of the last items of our tour was this wonderful image of Christ from a Roman tiled floor.  Uncovered by a resident of Dorset digging in his garden in the 1960's, this is believed to date to 360AD and would be the earliest known image of Christ in the UK.  Fiona said it could have been used as a way to tell others about Christ - perhaps, yes, the first evangelists in Britain!

Ready to take a tour yourself?
Fiona's information:
http://christianitytours.com/index.html

Wednesday February 26th 2014

The Formation of the Bible

BIBLICAL CANON

NEXT WEEK WE ARE GOING ON A FIELD TRIP TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM!  WE WILL HAVE A BLUE BADGE GUIDE GIVE US INFORMATION ON THE BIBLICAL ARTIFACTS IN THE COLLECTIONS!

Study 8 "God's Amazing Book"
This week we asked the question, "how did we get these books that make up the Bible?"
We all know the Bible didn't fall out of heaven.  We also know that there are some books that have some controversy attached to them - some think they don't belong in the Bible; and other books that are not in the Bible and some people think they should be in the Bible.

Recent years have opened a floodgate of questions about the books of the Bible.  But we can rest assured that our Bibles are just what God intended.

What is the biblical canon?

CANON = the term comes from Greek originally meaning measuring rod, a ruler, the books meet the standard.  From about 170 AD, the church leaders spoke about the Canon of Christian teaching, the canon of truth.

Let’s start with the OT.  The Torah was given to Moses by God.  The other stories, written by divinely inspired kings and prophets, were added soon after they were created, and authorized by the Jews.   About 5 books were disputed for a while - Song of Solomon (human love story?), Ecclesiastes (too negative?), Esther (no mention of God?), Ezekiel (some believe it contradicts the Law of Moses).  Yet most Jewish scholars came to accept these books as scripture.  To their credit, they were cautious enough to raise the questions and do proper examination.

We have 39 Old Testament books in the English Bible.  But the original Scriptures only had 24.  This is because some material was broken up into smaller pieces.  Samuel, Kings and Chronicles were originally one book/manuscript - but it was too long to fit onto a single scroll.  Ezra and Nehemiah were also one book, as was the Minor Prophets.  

After 430 BC and until about 26 AD, nothing more was added to the OT - it was complete.  That began a period called the "intertestament period", a period of silence.

There was a council in 90AD (the council of Jamia) which confirmed the canon - they did not add or subtract any books - just examined and confirmed.

The New Testament!    The OT came to be over centuries. The books of the NT were written all in the last part of the first century, and with an amazing amount of unity, certain texts and books became what we know as authoritative Scripture.  There are 27 books in the NT and of those, 20 have had zero - none - controversy.  There have been disputes, over these 7 books, Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation… there was just hesitation on these particular books.

Why do Roman Catholics have a different canon than Protestants?  The last question has to do with the fact that the early Roman Catholic Church followed a well known bishop's influence (Augustine) in accepting the Apocrypha as canonical.  The other early eastern Christians did not.

Hebrews has been questioned because the author is unknown.  Revelation has been questioned for the same reason.  And yet the books were eventually accepted.  Other books, such as the Shepherd of Hermas and the Gospel of Thomas were rejected.  According to scholars this shows just how careful the church was - they proceeded cautiously and with analysis.  According to one Bible scholar Bruce Metzger, The canon is a list of authoritative books more than it is an authoritative list of books.  The documents didn’t derive their authority from being selected, each one was authoritative before it was gathered together with the others.   He goes on to say that to look at the books now would be like getting academies of musician together to make a pronouncement that "the music of Bach and Beethoven is wonderful" - we know these things are true.

The so called “lost gospels” originated long after the canonical Gospels, and were influenced by a sort of mysticism and Christianity.  Our NT writings were all written with living witnesses, the gnostic/lost gospels were written later by Alternative Christianities/heretical groups rising up.

Some argue that the council of Carthage in 397 determined the books.  But they simply confirmed and ratified the books that had already been authoritative and recognized for the previous 2 centuries.

The books have a self-authenticity that is supernatural.  Some of the books became a common part of Christian worship and therefore organically became accepted use.  

The New Testament has not only survived in more manuscripts than any other book from antiquity, but is has survived in a purer form than any other book - a form that is 99.5 percent pure to the original (Case for Christ)

Around 1227, a professor at the University of Paris divided the Bible into our modern chapter divisions.  This arrangement was then followed in later translations of the Bible and became widely accepted by the 1400s.

It was not until the 1500 that verses began to be numbered.

The first Bible to use both the modern chapter divisions and the verse numbers was the Latin Vulgate edition of Robert Stephanus in 1551.

“other writings”

A whole collection of writings was discovered in Upper Egypt, in Nag Hammadi in 1945.  These writings, although interesting and important, are not able to change the four gospels that we already have and do not fit into the text of the Bible as we know it today. They are not parallel works and were written quite some time after the four gospels of the Bible.  They are different - for example - The Gospel of Thomas reads like a collection of sayings.

If you are interested in these other gospels, go ahead and read them, say the experts, and you will see that they are far removed from Jesus ministry and the eye witness quality testimony and harmony of the other gospels.

How and who decided which books were considered authoritative and which were not (Gosple of Philip, Gospel of Truth, Gospel of Mary, etc).

3 criteria:

1books must have apostolic authority: have been written by the apostles themselves, eyewitness to what they wrote about, or a follower of an apostle.  Mark and Luke were not apostles, but Mark helped Peter and Luke with Paul.

2rule of faith: was the document congruent with the basic Christian tradition that the church recognized as normative?

3was the document used continually by the church at large

There was a high degree of unanimity during the first 2 centuries of the NT.

William Barclay said "It is the simple truth to say that the New Testament books became canonical because no one could stop them doing so."

Bruce Shelley "Church History in Plain Language" writes:

“In one sense, of course, Christians created the canon.  Their decisions concerning the books were a part of history.  In another sense, however, they were only recognizing the writings that had made their authority felt in the churches. The shape of the New Testament shows that the early churches' primary aim was to submit fully to the teaching of the apostles.  In that purpose they shaped the character of Christianity for all time.”  

If you are interested in expanding your Bible translations and editions, get a copy of the Chronological Bible - this lists the books in the order that they happen historically - very different from the order of books we have.  Ours follows a pattern used in the ancient Greek translation of the OT. The Septuagint was completed 2c before Jesus's lifetime! The story goes that 72 scholars met to produce a Greek translation of the OT in 72days - Septuagint became the name attached to this immediately approved and accepted writing of the OT.

As a whole, the Bible is fascinating and frustrating at the same time.  The eclectic collection that makes up the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation is inspired by God, the spiritual explained in worldly ways that we sometimes cannot grasp, holiness written by unholy hands, read by our unholy eye and processed by our unholy minds (paraphrasing from Rachel Held Evans).  For many of us, we love the theme of forgiveness and enemy love in Jesus's teachings, but cringe at the acts of genocide in the book of Joshua and some of the teachings regarding women's roles and slavery.  In fact, back in the 1800s, some Christians used Ephesians 6 to support the institution of slavery, while other Christians used Galatians 3 to support abolition. Only one side seems right to us today.  We managed to work our way around these difficulties to develop a shared sense of right and wrong, in community agreement.  It was not easy, but could it be that God wants us to discuss and grapple with these issues because it's about community, making decisions about faith together.  If God gave us all the answers we wouldn't need to rely on him.

Accepting the Bible is not about being right all the time and being able to interpret every scripture with ease.  It's about loving God, understanding the roots and history of the journey of the Christian faith, and above all:  loving other people - enemy love, unconditional forgiveness, generosity.

The History of the Bible...it’s absolutely massive, incomprehensible, and it’s fascinating.  

Wednesday February 12th 2014

Class announcements:

NO CLASS NEXT WEEK for half-term.

Next class February 26th.

March 5th we will have a field trip to the British Museum to see amazing Biblical artifacts!

From today's study:
MORE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE!!

Why do we believe this book, the Bible, is actually the word of God?

If someone asks you that question, how would you respond?  Would you be prepared to respond?  For some weeks our lessons are examining the authority of the Bible.  Jill gave great archaeological evidence 2 weeks ago, last week we considered the gospels as eye witness testimony, and this week we are looking at the actual physical manuscripts - the actual book itself and its history.

To look at the Bible's validity requires a fusion of many different disciplines.

History-Literature-Archaeology-Science-Spirituality-Anthropology-Sociology

Even scholars are overwhelmed by all the unique aspects of the Bible.  So, when you feel lost, or just like it's too much, take heart - even the academics struggle to take it all in.  Luckily, they do the work for us - but it is massive - the volumes and volumes about it all...but it is fascinating.  In gathering the information today, I decided to give some broad essentials and then look at some specific examples of manuscripts - perhaps which you can go and have a look at for yourself.

Have you ever considered whether or not we are reading a Bible that represents what the original writers intended/wrote?  How many of you are reading an original copy in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek?  None of us.

The original scriptures would have been written in Hebrew (the Old Testament in particular) and on papyrus - what we are reading is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy….etc...how can we trust this version as reliable?

Some vocabulary -

A scroll is a book made of flattened papyrus plant, parchment or animal skins rolled around sticks at both ends.

Papyrus is a tall plant that grows in water, from which paper can be made.  Much of the early biblical material was papyrus.  It was relatively cheap but very fragile and not durable.

Manuscripts - pieces of HAND written text

Codex - manuscript book of an ancient biblical text.  The process was pioneered by Christians to replace the scrolls on which the Scriptures were written, and is considered to be the most important advance in the history of the book prior to the invention of the printing press.

The facts - the facts are that we have a massive, massive amount of manuscripts - they continue to uncover more manuscripts even now. Some 25,000 manuscripts - more than any other ancient text!

Most of the stories would have been orally preserved, originally.  Doesn't that mean that there would have been errors, like in the telephone game? NO!

Not for the Jews - they were commanded by God to Meditate on the law day and night (Joshua 1:8) - most of them would be able to recite the Pentateuch with amazing accuracy.  Just like some kids today could tell you the story of Little Red Riding hood or Jack and the Beanstalk.  If someone told it with error, there would be objections.

The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls proved that the text had not changed over nearly 1000 years.  These oldest fragments of OT that we have date to 200BC.  The story of the Dead Sea scrolls is fascinating.  In 1946, a young Arab shepherd boy was herding his goats. Two of his goats wandered off into a cave.  He threw a rock into the opening and heard pottery breaking, which led him to discover clay jars with scrolls.  That began the unearthing of a massive amount of manuscript in that area - in caves near the Dead Sea. After finding these manuscripts, scholars were able to prove that the text of the Bible had changed very little over the past thousand years.  Not all the manuscripts or fragments are Biblical - some are community scrolls. So it was an amazing find indeed!

"Cave 4" - had over 15,000 fragments

The Isaiah Scroll was found relatively intact and is 1000 years older than any previously know copy of Isaiah, and is almost exactly as the book reads today.

The New Testament was written by 100AD, and we have many many fragments of ancient texts.

One of which you can go and see.

Right here in London.

The Codex Sinaiticus (most of it anyway) is housed in the British Library.  It dates to about 350AD, and is hand written in Greek on parchment (skins of donkeys or antelopes).  It is the oldest complete Bible in the world.  

This book has been examined so scientifically that they can see where the animals (from whose skin the book pages are formed) were bitten by insects.  

Have any of you been to Ireland?  Or will you be going?  If you do, be sure that you go and see the Book of Kells.

The finest medievial book in the world can be found in Dublin, at Trinity College.  The book of Kells is a masterpiece of Western Calligraphy and is considered Ireland’s finest national treasure.  The book was meticulously written by monks in about 800AD, and following a Viking raid was thrown into a ditch, then recovered minus the gold and jeweled cover, and stored in Kells until it was offered to Trinity college in 1661, where it has been housed ever since.  

So we have all these manuscripts, then the stories are true?  If that is our argument, then does that mean, because there are so many copies of Aesop’s fables, that they then are true?  

No - obviously...the PURPOSE of writing is key in all of this.

Well there is the difference in the purpose of the literature.  Why were the stories written?  For pleasure?  Or to make a record?  This is where we connect to last week’s lesson and the importance of understanding that the New Testament was written as Eye Witness Testimony.  History.  Letters depicting what was happening at a certain point in time.  These were records.  Documents.  

From all these manuscripts, we can be certain that the Bible has changed - but not much - over time.  Of course there are a huge number of translations available - variations even between our Bibles - but the overall meaning and intent is the same.

66 books, written by more than 40 authors inspired by God over the course of 1500 years.  And one consistent theme: God’s love for people and his plan for redemption through Jesus.

And it is very much today what is was almost 2000 years ago.

That is unbelievable.  

TIMELESS TRUTH!!

The History of the Bible...it’s absolutely massive, incomprehensible, and it’s fascinating.  

Wednesday February 5th, 2014

Lesson 6 

God's Amazing Book

Is God Really the Author of this Book?

The Witness of Scripture

Eye Witness Testimony - What is it and why is it important when we are talking about the Bible?
When we pick up our Bible, we think of it as a big book.  I think of it as a HUGE book - daunting, sometimes overwhelming, but always, always teaching.  But it is more than that.  We've talked before, in our class, about how it is actually a library.  But that library isn't just one filled with all different kinds of mini-books.  That library actually contains documents, records, and letters.  Many of the documents are what we consider "eye witness testimony" accounts.

So for today's class, we wanted to get everyone thinking about what it means that the Gospels are eye witness accounts.

They tell us what the writers saw, experienced, and witnessed.

In a judicial court, eye witness testimony can be the most powerful aspect of a case.  Calling an eye witness to the stand carries great ramifications for any courtroom trial.

And as we read the Bible, we must consider the Gospels to be just that - eye witness testimony.

This truly can revolutionize the way we understand the Gospel stories.  If you doubt that they represent eye witness testimony, I encourage you to read any of the literature which details the reasons it can be nothing less....

Here are just a few titles to recommend:
Letters to a Skeptic (Boyd)
The Case for Christ (Strobel)
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Bauckham)
Mere Christianity (CS Lewis)

The arguments take up volumes and volumes of literature.
Get one of those books and read it for yourself.

But never, ever forget:  when we are reading the Bible, we should imagine reading hand-written letters, by people who lived with Jesus, people whose contemporaries were there when the writings first appeared, as the story first circulated, as the Good News spread.  The writings that changed the world.

We will NOT have class on the 19th of February because of the school calendar half-term break.
For next week: Study 7
See you then!















.

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.

Wednesday January 22nd, 2014

LESSON 4 

THE NEW TESTAMENT PART 2

Choose Christ

Choose to grow in Christ

Choose to Endure in Christ

The letters and epistles of the New Testament - general information:

An epistle is an artistic literary form that is intended for the public.

Letters are for a specific person or persons

Some are personal in nature, others seem more for a public audience.  

All are from the 1st century, and all were written for a specific purpose….which is curious, we do not always understand the setting in which the letters were intended.  It is sort of like hearing only one side of a phone conversation.  For example, What was going on in Corinth that caused Paul to write 1 Corinthians?  How does he know what is going on there and what is his relationship with the people?

--The Corinthians were mostly Gentiles although there were some Jews, they are intelligent and proud, Paul rebukes them on many occasions - for division within the church, moral issues, and conflicts among believers.

Many of the letters/epistles have a similar format:

--name of the writer

--the recipient

--greeting “Grace and peace to you from God our Father”

--prayers of thanksgiving or wishes

--body of the letter (with advice, cautions, testimonies)

--final greetings and farewells

Easy to interpret and agree upon the MAIN points of this part of the Bible:

All have sinned (Romans 3:23)

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)

By Grace through Christ you have been saved, through faith (Ephesians 2:8)

Walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16)  Walk in the way of love (Eph 5:2)

Regarding some details (ie head coverings, disputes, etc) - remember that even Biblical scholars do not all agree on specific details.  The larger picture and overall points are commonly agreed upon and understood - this is what is important.

These we can all agree upon - that come from these letters and epistles -  with that knowledge, life is good and easy right?  We accept Christ, we learn and study from our Bibles, and all will be well.  Right?  

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Becoming a Christian does not make your life easier, and does not take away your troubles. True, when you have Christ, you are never alone and you have a peace that surpasses your suffering. But you still have the suffering, you still have tough times.  I wish I had known that when I came to Christ.

Phil 4:6-7

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

John 16:33 In this world you will have trouble.  

We are all broken.  We all have times when we question our faith, and we wonder how God can allow certain painful things in our lives.  We may beg God to calm the storms of our life, but sometimes instead of calming the storm, he strengthens us instead.  In our weaknesses, God’s strength is displayed, because we must rely on him all the more.  If all is well and perfect, we may feel we don't need him. We won't rely on him.

Phil 4:12

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

The main point - as is reflected in many of the texts for our study today - whether it be in the Paul’s letters as he Paul house arrest, beatings, imprisonment, loneliness, many a horrific travel across seas and cities. or whether it is in some of the prophecy in Revelation which warns us of difficulties to come - my main point is that as a Christian we will have a cross to bear.  We will have chains that bind us, we will feel imprisoned, we will feel defeated, we will cry out WHY.  

But I would say, it’s in some of our toughest times that God is strengthening our faith.  

Rom 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I know I will have great challenges in my life ahead.  I shouldn’t be surprised when they come.  But I have that faith, I have prayer, I have Christ with me, I have HOPE.  

2 Tim 4:7

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

We have to pick up our cross and carry it, knowing that God will never give us more than we can handle.  And that he will never ever leave us.

Wednesday January 15th, 2014

CHRIST - THE CHURCH - AND YOU

This week I had a revelation of sorts, as I pondered our homework.  I have been feeling a bit removed from the deeper study of the Bible that I am accustomed to - Bible studies which involve a focus on one book or one topic.  It hit me this week that our booklet, "God's Amazing Book" is not at all the kind of study I have done before.  This one sweeps over the Bible like a "fly-over" - an examination of the Bible as a whole.  I'm usually the last one to sort of figure these things out...most of you probably have had this understood since the first lesson.  Well, once I came to this conclusion, I wanted to SEE the Bible from a bigger picture, and for me, that means visuals or charts.  

We are actually looking at an entire library!  

So I bombarded you all with some nice visuals, and here they are:

This one is from hornes.org:

the next one below is from

http://www.somersworthfirstparish.org/library.htm

from parablesblog.blogspot.com

From BibleWheel.com

From scriptureman.com

From today's wrap-up talk:

THE WORD.  We have this word.  This history.  This beautiful collection of writings.  And we have Jesus.  God dwelling among us - deeply personal and approachable.  

How strange and yet how wonderful to call someone A WORD.

THE GOSPELS.

Matthew, Mark and Luke are referred to as the synoptic gospels, ("syn" - together, "optic" - seeing) because they are similar, while John is quite different.  Matthew, Mark and Luke have similar language, material and recordings about Christ's life

See Mt 10:22, Mk 13:13, Luke 12:17

Mathematically, 91% of Mark's gospel is included in Matthew, and 53% of Mark is included in Luke.  Perhaps they relied on a common source - an oral history source, or perhaps access to a written fragment - there are many theories - but it comes down to DIVINE DIRECTION.  God directed the formation of the gospels.

Matthew: was a tax collector who left his work to follow Jesus.  He is called “Levi” in the books of Mark and Luke.  Matthew wants to prove to his Jewish readers that Jesus is their Messiah.  He shows how Jesus's life and ministry fulfilled the OT scriptures.  ¼ of his book is the spoken word of Jesus!  He also bridges the OT and the NT - he referrs to the OT scriptures and prophecy more than any of the other gospels.  This is the only gospel which uses the term “Church” and “Kingdom of Heaven”

Matt 5:17

Mark:  mostly consisting of Peter's preachings shaped by Mark's authorship - it is simple, unadorned, emphasizing more of what Jesus DID than what he said.  There is a sense of urgency as he uses "immediately" many times in his text.  He was writing to a Roman audience and therefore does not mention much of the OT.

Mark 12:17

LUKE: gentile by birth, well-educated in Greek culture and a physician by profession, Luke's book is written to strengthen the faith of all believers and respond to attacks of unbelievers...his hope is that the gospel will reach every corner of the world.  Luke would have been writing towards the Greeks and as a doctor noting the physical and human aspects of Jesus.  He gives a universal call to all people to proclaim Jesus as the perfect Son of Man!  Luke has the best Christmas story version.

Luke 12:34

JOHN:  "the disciple whom Jesus loved" Knew Jewish life well and the customs, written in a way that hints at eyewitness experiences - focusing on the signs of Jesus' identity and mission.  The central theme is summed up on 3:16.  A book of wisdom, John writes to convince us that Jesus is the Son of God who offers eternal life.  The book of John contains the I AM statements.  

John 3:16

ALL FOUR books promote the GOOD NEWS!!  Jesus is divine above all, our saviour and messiah.  

Four ways of looking at the life of Jesus and his purpose among us.  

A book probably intended for Jews, one for Romans, one perhaps for Greeks, and the John offering a truly spiritual, all encompassing gospel.

And the question remains waiting for everyone to respond to -

Will you accept him or reject him?

ACTS: perhaps written by Luke, the story presents a historical account of Christian origins and the beginnings of the Church.  It describes how the church grew and spread and responded to pagan and Jewish thoughts and challenges. Basic principles of Christian life are presented in light of persecution and difficulty, with the stories of Peter and Paul taking center stage.   The book bridges the life of Jesus in the Gospels to the life of the church in the letters (next week).  The story begins in Jerusalem and finds the believers soon scattered and spreading the good news of Christ, the first 30 years of the Christian church!  It’s like reading about the very first missionaries.

Acts 2:38

ALL FIVE:  JESUS!

Jesus was living flesh, both divine and human.  There is no one like him - he is MAN and he is GOD, the world was forever changed.  

He was approachable, compassionate, a miracle worker and healer, a teacher and friend.

He touched the untouchables and remained silent to the accusations of Herod, while responding often in questions to the religious leader's questions.  

The facts, which cannot be ignored, are:

Jesus lived sin-free

He died on the cross for our sins

He was buried

He rose again

What will WE DO with this information?  I imagine, perhaps naively, that we all accept this, but how can we spread the Gospel?  How can we live the Gospel?  That is between you & God….

For next week, complete Study 4, pages 23-26 of our booklet.

Have a blessed week, each of you.

THANK YOU for being a part of our Bible Study, for doing your homework, for coming to class and sharing your thoughts and prayers!!