I wanted to write something about my year in Scripture School. Something long-winded, detailing some of what I learned throughout the year. I may still do that, but yesterday's quote has given me some healthy perspective. Why did I go to Emmaus Scripture School? Why did I sit in front of the same man for over 200 hours, listening to him talk about the Bible? To gain knowledge? Yes, that's part of it. I like knowing things, and I like being able to encourage and challenge people by what I know...or at least by what others know and what I plagiarize. But why this? Why the Bible? Why Christianity? Do I like the information it provides? Sometimes, sometimes not. Does it give what I might consider generally good advice? I think so.
Still, though these might be okay reasons to devote myself to the study of Scripture for a year (and perhaps longer), the thing that makes any of it meaningful is the resurrection. to paraphrase yesterday's quote, if there is no resurrection then who really cares about what is in the Bible? It's of absolutely no consequence, and you're probably better off ignoring it since large portions of it are complete lies. However, if there is a resurrection -- and the very fact that I'm talking about it 2,000 years later stands as at least some kind of proof that there just might be -- then what the Bible says matters. Who Jesus was and is matters. In fact it matters more than anything else. Is it a step of faith to give your life to this pursuit? It is, but is also a step of faith to ignore the claim of the resurrection.
N.T. Wright says, "The message of the resurrection is that this world matters!" Scripture School has been a chance for me to hear and learn about what matters, and this is so because all of what I learned is based on the claim that Jesus died and rose again on the third day. As I dying human being, that sounds like news worth pursuing.
Still, though these might be okay reasons to devote myself to the study of Scripture for a year (and perhaps longer), the thing that makes any of it meaningful is the resurrection. to paraphrase yesterday's quote, if there is no resurrection then who really cares about what is in the Bible? It's of absolutely no consequence, and you're probably better off ignoring it since large portions of it are complete lies. However, if there is a resurrection -- and the very fact that I'm talking about it 2,000 years later stands as at least some kind of proof that there just might be -- then what the Bible says matters. Who Jesus was and is matters. In fact it matters more than anything else. Is it a step of faith to give your life to this pursuit? It is, but is also a step of faith to ignore the claim of the resurrection.
N.T. Wright says, "The message of the resurrection is that this world matters!" Scripture School has been a chance for me to hear and learn about what matters, and this is so because all of what I learned is based on the claim that Jesus died and rose again on the third day. As I dying human being, that sounds like news worth pursuing.
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