Review of "Reading the Bible Again for the First Time"

In Chapter 2 of Encountering the New Testament the author talks about a few of the different practices that unified the Jews as well the different religious groups that had different beliefs. Judaism was unified in the beliefs that they had been chosen by God, they were waiting for the messiah to come, they respect the synagogues, they shared the same laws and traditions of elder. Although these beliefs were unifying there were seperate religious groups and leaders that held different beliefs. Probably the most well known group of religious leaders were the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a small group of religious leaders that believed in God, and the coming messiah. Although many of the Pharisees did live good lives many of them were

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and enlarge his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. He wanted to understand what changed her like this. He wanted to relate with his wife so he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel began his journey and interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament. Strobel splits the case for Christ into three basic sections: Examining the Record, Analyzing Jesus, and Researching the Resurrection.

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and expand his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once declared atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. To relate with his wife he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament.

We have now come to the fourth and final book of Mere Christianity. In this book, the author takes us to the place in our Christian growth where we begin to rely more heavily on the power of God and less on ourselves to become the being that God originally intended for us to be — a son of God. He begins with an explanation of the difference between “making” and “begetting.”

apposed the church do not have the same rights. Not in the sense that they could not bear arms or

A Reflection on Borg who writes “the Bible is not to be interpreted literally, factually, and absolutely”

In the sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", Jonathan Edwards includes rhetorical devices such as repetition, rhetorical questions, and allusions to persuade his audience to not sin and repent.

"Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, we are free at last" (King 6). Martin Luther King Jr. and Jonathan Edwards both use strong words and tone. Jonathan Edwards is an American preacher, philosopher, and congregationalist protestant theologian. Jonathan is born in 1703 and gives the "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" speech in 1741. Edwards has strong feelings for what he believes in about congregation. Early settlers are persuaded by Edwards sermon because of the tone and word choice Edwards uses throughout his sermon.

Jane Austen once said, “My style of writing is very different from yours, ” which reveals how every writer uses different writing styles in order to express their individual intended messages. Writers use numerous stylistic techniques to communicate a particular message to their audience. Jonathan Edward’s Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, especially, is a powerful and strong example of a writing piece with stylistic techniques that enhances the intended message. Jonathan Edwards first delivered this writing piece in Enfield, Connecticut in 1741. During the time he wrote this sermon, an event called the Great Awakening had sparked, which was a series of religious revivals. Edwards played a major and important role in the Great Awakening

From 1734 to 1750 a religious revival called the Great Awakening swept through New England. Jonathan Edwards was an influential portion of this movement. By giving sermons and informing his congregations about the repercussions of their self-satisfaction, Edwards was considered to be America’s greatest religious thinker. On July 8, 1741, Edwards delivered his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. In this sermon, Edwards uses repetition, imagery and pathos to convince his audience that if they did not turn to God, they would have to deal with his wrath.

Most Christians would assert that the Bible has importance for their faith and understanding in how to live out their beliefs. However, there is great diversity in how exactly this takes shape. At issue is one’s perspective on how to read the Bible and the authority that is granted to Scripture. Differing viewpoints can be placed along a continuum ranging from conservative to liberal perspectives on the role of Scripture. Sparks (n.d.) highlights the hallmarks of different traditions based on a number of factors such as how the Bible is read, views of inerrancy, and the authority of tradition. Both Protestant Fundamentalists and Conservative Evangelicals hold to biblical inerrancy as a hallmark of their faith. However, the two diverge regarding

If you recall, we met last Sundy after Bible Class and we briefly chatted about a book that my child was given to borrow from the libary. The book was on Thomas Jefferson. I asked you how/if this book was related to Bible Class and how it would help her learn more about God, Jesus, or the Word and you mentioned that you had a very hard time finding age-appropriate reading materials for this particular class so you determined to share books on the "founding fathers."

The Bible contains sixty-six books, written by approximately forty authors, over the course of two thousand years. God created and loves humans despite their rebellious attitude towards Him, and God wants to reunite humans to Himself (Poythress, 2008). The Bible is a record of the sinful rebellion of humans and it still declares God’s love for humanity through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. This foundation prepares the way for Jesus Christ to fulfill God’s entire promised covenants.

He believes that if we consider the bible both a divine and human product then we would be harder to separate the divine aspects from the human. I would have to agree with Borg’s stance. For example, he presented his stance by using the Ten Commandments. People who believed that both the bible is a divine and human product would believe that it came from God in that they are his laws, however, the Commandments are written from a male’s perspective. Being that they are written from a male perspective, it presents the idea that they are human made. But, I do not agree with the questions Borg stated towards the end of the section of human products. Borg believes that we should not ask “What is God saying?” but rather ask, “What is the ancient author or community saying” (28)?

Yes, I agree that the Bible is a divine-human book. God uses various authors and genres over an extended time period to bring His Word to humankind. Though this special book has several authors and is written over a considerable time span, the completed book is still one with a cohesive message regardless of the fact that it had multiple authors in different societal structures, political climates and time periods. God allowed these authors to capture the revelations that He gave through His Spirit and preserve it throughout the generations. Additionally, the Bible has not only been substantiated by ancient sources, modern day archeological findings, but also by the prophecies that have been fulfilled and are still being fulfilled today.