Browsing Tag:

Bible

In Bible Study, Blog, Genesis on
September 20, 2021

Did God Really Say?

As the popularity of progressive Christianity rises, it appears that more and more “believers” are questioning what God has commanded in Scripture. They ask questions like, Did God really say that homosexuality is a sin? Did God really say that only men can be pastors? Did God really say we should pursue modesty and purity? Did God really say there’s only one way to heaven and those who don’t go to heaven will go to hell? And when those who claim to be Christians continue questioning the Word of God, they tend to move further and further away from the faith until they leave Christianity altogether.

While this questioning of Scripture may seem like a fairly new phenomenon, it’s actually a very ancient temptation from the lips of the devil himself. It goes all the way back to the very beginning, to the story of the Fall in Genesis 3.

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In Blog, Feelings, Theology on
August 16, 2021

My Feelings are Valid, or Are They?

My feelings are valid!

If you’ve followed any female influencer who prioritizes self-love and self-care for any length of time, you’ve probably heard this phrase before. Or perhaps you’ve even used it yourself. We live in a culture that highly prizes, validates, and affirms one’s feelings, whether they be good or bad. And this culture is even trying to train us to always speak in a way that will never leave anyone out, offend anyone, or hurt anyone’s feelings. Rene Descartes, a French philosopher who lived in the seventeenth century, once said, “I think, therefore I am.”[1] But is appears our culture has changed this to, “I feel, therefore I am.”

Many people today find their identity in how they feel, so they want their feelings to be validated because that then validates their identity – who they are as a person. But the problem with this phrase is that not all feelings are valid. Therefore, as believers, we cannot and should not affirm those feelings which are in fact invalid.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Book Reviews on
March 22, 2021

How to Eat Your Bible

The Bible can be a very daunting book. It’s a collection of sixty-six books that were originally written in Hebrew and Greek by over forty different men thousands of years ago. These books fall into all kinds of different genres – from history to poetry, from letters to prophecy. Because of this, many people choose to not read it.

According to Barna’s 2020 State of the Bible report, forty-six percent of Americans rarely read the Bible (if at all) and an additional ten percent of Americans read it sporadically. Only nine percent of Americans read their Bible on a daily basis. There are numerous reasons why Americans are so disengaged with the Bible. The language can be difficult to understand, the stories can be confusing, and the layout can be hard to navigate. Americans don’t understand the Bible’s background, they don’t have time to read it, and they’re just not excited about it.[1]

We suffer from biblical illiteracy. We don’t understand what the Bible says and what it means, and we often are too intimidated to even try. But we, as Christians, must strive to read and understand the Bible because it has the power to transform us and sanctify us and draw us closer to God. We must dive deeper into Scripture, but that’s not as difficult as it sounds! In his book How to Eat Your Bible, Nate Pickowicz provides a simple approach.

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In Blog, Theology, Worldview on
March 1, 2021

A Christian Worldview

I got glasses for the first time three years ago. Growing up, I had great vision and never had any need for glasses. But in high school, I started noticing that it was getting more and more difficult for me to see things like information written on classroom whiteboards, sermon notes on the screen at church, and street signs when I was driving. I went to an optometrist, and sure enough, I needed glasses. When I put on my first pair of glasses, everything was so clear and bright, and it was almost like I was seeing a whole new world.

A person’s worldview is a lot like a pair of glasses. One’s worldview is the lens through which they view the world. Just like different eyeglasses prescriptions or sunglasses tints will alter how you see the world around you, different worldviews will alter what you believe about the world. Whether they realize or not, everyone has a worldview. Everyone, even those who claim to be non-religious, holds a set of beliefs that determine how they see the world. And every person’s worldview answers seven key questions about the world – the question of origins, the question of identity, the question of purpose, the question of morality, the question of the problem, the question of the solution, and the question of destiny.

It is important for believers to hold a Christian worldview, to answer these questions in a way that agrees with Scripture and glorifies God. If we don’t, we can easily fall into belief systems that are sinful and worldly and built on lies. Therefore, we must search the Word of God to figure out what a Christian worldview looks like and how it answers these seven key questions.

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In Bible, Blog, Theology on
February 1, 2021

Bible Crash Course

This blog post is going to be a little different from the other posts I usually write. Typically, I focus on a theological topic, biblical passage, or Christian book in my posts, but no matter what I write about, I always make an effort to center my posts on the truth of the Bible. And I do this because I am passionate about the Word of God, and I want other people to be excited about learning from it and to be in awe of its beauty. This mission is actually in the tagline of my website – “Encouraging Women to Love God’s Word.”

Growing up in church and in Christian school, I had the privilege of learning a great deal about the Bible, and this privilege is something I am deeply grateful for. However, not every Christian today grew up in a Christian home. Not every Christian today went to church every Sunday morning or memorized weekly Bible verses. Not every Christian today is well-versed in theology and knows what big, theological terms, like “inerrancy” and “metanarrative,” mean. On this blog, I talk and teach a lot about the Bible, yet I know that many of you may not even be aware of the basics of Bibliology (the study of the Bible). So, this post will be like a crash course of sorts and teach you the basic things you need to know about the Bible.

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