I am going to see the arcade fire tonight in Louisville! it should be really good, i'm excited. Life has been really good lately. I have a great group of friends and God has been teaching me a lot. I am taking an understanding the bible class this semester, and my teacher has really challenged me. Not in a way where i see Jesus more beautiful and believable, I get that at chruch and ruf, but she teaches that the old testament isn't reliable because it is old and people back then told these stories orally and memorized them so that makes it fallible. And she says that christians look into the old testament too much and put Jesus in there when he isn't. That as humans we long for things to be meaningful so we look into it too much. So it has challenged me to find answers to these important questions and has been very fruitful.
here is a question i had:
"Do i take the old testament literally?"
answer: i found in luke 11 Jesus talks about the sign of Jonah, the guy that got swallowed by the whale. I mean that is a hard story to believe... but Jesus is teaching here as though he existed in real time and that story happened at a certain time in history. So i think we should take the old testament literally.
"Is Jesus in the Old Testament?"
answer: of course, yes he is, John 5:46-47 Jesus says, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"
Yesterday in class she talked about Prophecy. She asked the class,"How do you know if someone is a prophet?" I found the answer in Hebrews 1:1-2, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world."
The key words are has spoken, which is past tense, there is no need for prophets "in these last days" because God spoke to us through his son.
So even though when i leave her class i am usually upset with what she was teaching, it has challenged me to find answers in scripture to important questions.
I am so ready to be done with school. Please pray for me that I would have patience and be a diligent student.
2 comments:
thats cool that you are using the things she's questioning and seeking out truth. God will definitely and obviously is honoring that in your life.
im kinda confused about the prophet thing..do you not think that there are prophets today? do you think you can have the gift of prophecy and not be a prophet? (im not saying i think one way or another, im just asking bc i dont know the answer..not in a defensive way:))
1 corinthians 14:1 says to "follow the way of love and earerly desire spritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy."
rev19:10 says that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
joel2:28 "and afterward, i will pour out my Spirit on all people. your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.." (talking about the end times)
i dont even know if this is what you're talking about. but thanks for challenging me. i definitely think scripture clearly talks about there being the gift of prophesy, i guess i dont know what classifies someone as being a "prophet". umm..
Those are good questions. I do think there are prophets today and prophecy is a spiritual gift. But I think we must be careful when we think about prophets because there is a difference between the Old Testament prophet and the New Testament. I think it will be helpful if we look at the context of the prophets. In the Old Testament man was separate from God; we didn't have Jesus as our mediator. So God used the prophets as a link to speak to the people.
Here is what God himself says about prophecies:
"If at some time I announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it" (Jer. 18:7-10).
In the Old Testament prophecies were always conditional. Out of God’s grace, he chose to speak through the prophets to his chosen people (kingdom) to warn them about how they were living. Because of the people’s lack of faith, not being faithful to God, he would punish them. But his grace was that he warned them and if they changed their ways he would be merciful. God gives them a warning and then if they repent God will relent. But if the people do evil then he will reconsider and not do the good he promised.
So in the Old Testament the prophecies were always to a specific group of people in a specific region. Not personal about specific events in a single persons life. I don’t know if personal prophecy is any where in the bible. Do you? But this reinforces what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 14. He talks about how prophecy is better than tongues because it edifies the church (specific group). Paul is emphasizing how important understanding each other is and "v3 prophecies speaks to people for their building and encouragement and consolation." and goes on to say "v19 in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue." The line about “to instruct others” makes me think prophecy is the teaching of the word. Prophecy is better because it helps bring God’s Kingdom and unites everyone, where as tongues causes separation and confusion cause no one knows what each other are saying and Paul uses very strong language 1 Corinthians 14:11 for that. “If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me. V12 …try to excel in gifts that build up the church.” Paul calling some one in church a foreigner is a huge deal because in Ephesians 2:19 Paul says, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
All that is meant to say that I think prophecy today is something that destroys barriers and brings God’s people together. To me that sounds a lot like preaching truth and community in the church. So I think in a sense anyone who preaches the truth about God is blessed with the gift of prophecy.
So in the Old testament God’s promises were given on the condition of our faithfulness. Which is bad news because we aren’t faithful to him. But the good news is in the New Testament Jesus came to “Revive” the covenant and our responsibility to be faithful is placed solely on Jesus who lived it perfectly in our place. So that is when Hebrews 1:1 comes in, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of majesty in heaven.” Jesus the High Priest takes our punishment and crowns us with his righteousness. In Christ Jesus, we have now received everything we could ever need. Everything has been said, God spoke his final words through Jesus Christ, and now we wait for God’s kingdom to come to full fruition.
So my understanding of prophecy is proclaiming the truths about God. But it is tricky because if you think about Mormons who think Joseph Smith was a prophet but clearly he wasn’t and people consider Mormons a cult. So be careful when people talk about prophets because I don’t think there are in the Old Testament sense. You have to think about how Jesus coming changed our responsibly and relationship with God. So things in the Old Testament don’t necessarily apply to us now. Does that make sense? Let me know if you have any more questions or want to talk about something because I am still figuring things out and I’m sure I have a lot of holes in my thinking.
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