“Bible study” in the 21st

Century?

“Bible study” in the 21st

Century?

Mark Twain

“Our Bible reveals to us the character of our god

with minute and remorseless exactness... It is perhaps the most damnatory biography that exists in print anywhere. It makes Nero an angel of light…by contrast.”

“To trust the God of the Bible is to trust an irascible, vindictive, fierce and ever fickle and changeful master…”

Richard Dawkins

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Bill Maher

“Why doesn’t He [God] just obliterate the Devil and therefore get rid of evil in the world?”

Crick: “The God hypothesis is rather discredited…People like myself get along perfectly well with no religious views.”

Watson: “Every time you understand something, religion becomes less likely…[Religion is a] myth from the past.”

Keep the law Church attendance Tithe Bible reading Mission work Sabbath

“Then the Jews, since it was the day of Sabbath preparation, and so the bodies wouldn’t stay on the crosses over the Sabbath (it was a high holy day that year), petitioned Pilate that their legs be broken to speed death, and the bodies taken down.” (John 19:31 MSG)

Abel Job Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel John the Baptist James Peter John Paul

“Once a man came to Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what good thing must I do to receive eternal life?’

…Keep the commandments if you want to enter life.’ ‘What commandments?’ he asked. Jesus answered, ‘Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ‘I have obeyed all these commandments,’ the young man replied. ‘What else do I need to do?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was very rich.” (Matthew 19:16-22)

Romans: “For merely listening to the law doesn’t make

us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in His sight.” (Romans 2:13)

“For we conclude that a person is put right with God only through faith, and not by doing what the Law commands.” (Romans 3:28)

James: My friends, what good is it for one of you to

say that you have faith if your actions do not prove it? Can that faith save you?... How was our ancestor Abraham put right with God? It was through his actions, when he offered his son Isaac on the altar. (James 2:14,21 GNB)

“This is what I require”

“Believe this:” A…… B…… C…… “Do this:” A…… B…… C……

“Signed…..

Catholicism – 1116 million Protestantism – 590 million

Historical – 340 million Baptist – 110 million Calvinist – 75 million Methodism – 75 million Lutheran – 70 million Anabaptism – 4.5 million The Vineyard, Calvary Chapel

Pentacostalism – 105 million Assemblies of God – 51 million

Seventh-day Adventists – 14 million Latter-day Saints – 13 million Jehovah’s Witnesses – 15 million

Eastern Orthodoxy – 225 million Anglicanism – 73 million Oriental Orthodoxy – 72 million

“I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.” H.G. Wells, British author (1866-

1946)

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, (1898-1963)

“This is a false trilemma. It overlooks a fourth option - lord, liar, lunatic, or legend. How do we know that the gospels are an accurate record of events? What if Jesus’ words and deeds were greatly exaggerated or even outright invented by later writers?”*

Historical 1st hand account “We proclaim to you the One who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This One who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that He is the One who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard...” (1 John 1:1-3 – NLT)

Historical 1st hand account “Dear Theophilus: Many people have done their best to write a report of the things that have taken place among us. They wrote what we have been told by those who saw these things from the beginning and who proclaimed the message. And so, Your Excellency, because I have carefully studied all these matters from their beginning, I thought it would be good to write an orderly account for you.” (Luke 1:1-3)

Things that would have been left out (were they not true!) – “embarrassment factor” Ancient records Women

The Samaritan woman at the well The Canaanite woman The Woman caught in adultery The Women at the tomb

Embarrassment factor

“Why do you call me good?” (Mark 10:18)

“He has a demon…” (Mark 3:22) Hanging out with tax collectors,

prostitutes “He was not able to perform any

miracles there…” (Mark 6:5)

“The eleven disciples went to the hill in Galilee where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him, even though some of them doubted.” (Matthew 28:16-17 GNB)

“…the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve…” (Matthew 20:28)

“When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying, ‘He’s gone mad!’” (Mark 3:21)

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me”

The Disciples

Peter “Jesus turned around and said to

Peter, ‘Get away from me, Satan!’” (Matthew 16:23)

Thomas “Love your enemies”

“Shall we call down fire from heaven on them?”

The Disciples Jesus feeds 5,000 (Mark 6:30); Jesus

feeds 4,000 (Mark 8:1) “Then the wife of Zebedee came to

Jesus with her two sons (James and John), bowed before him, and asked him for a favor. ‘What do you want?’ Jesus asked her. She answered, ‘Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King.’” (Matthew 20:20-21)

Details and names

“On the way they met a man named Simon, who was coming into the city from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus' cross. (Simon was from Cyrene and was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)” (Mark 15:21)

“Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the wife of Zebedee.” (Matthew 27:56)

“…a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son of Timaeus…” (Mark 10:46)

Details and names “It was now two days before the Festival

of Passover and Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the

Law were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death…

Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded

skin disease. While Jesus was eating, a woman came

in with an alabaster jar full...” (Mark 14:1-3)

Details and names It was the fifteenth year of the rule of

Emperor Tiberius; Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip was ruler of the

territory of Iturea and Trachonitis; Lysanias was ruler of Abilene, and Annas and Caiaphas were High Priests. At that time the word of God came to

John son of Zechariah in the desert.” (Luke 3:1-2)

“What about those eighteen people in Siloam who were killed when the tower fell on them?” (Luke 13:4)

Superfluous details

Characteristic of eyewitness account “They were in their boat getting their nets

ready…they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men...” (Mark 1:19, 20)

“The people sat down in rows, in groups of a hundred and groups of fifty.” (Mark 6:40)

“Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore full of big fish, a hundred and fifty-three in all…” (John 21:11)

“I have been reading poems, vision-literature, myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know that not one of them is like this.” (C.S. Lewis)

“Lord, Liar or Lunatic?” (C.S. Lewis)*

“No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is Himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.” (John 1:18)

“The Father and I are One.” (John 10:30)

“If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father” (John 14:9)

“I AM”

“This is eternal life: To know you, the only true

God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do…

I made your name known to the people you gave me.” (John 17:3-6)

“You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me!” (John 5:39 – The Message)