This is the easiest way for us to be in dialogue about what I'm teaching Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday's. I'll throw out some ideas of what I'm thinking about teaching, and you give me some feedback. After I finish a lesson or series, that's another time for your feedback. You could even feedback part way into a series. Let's you be part of the lesson prep process!
posted by The Carters at 8:21 AM
Born in Anaheim, CA moved to Hesperia (a town smaller than Lompoc!)my 6th grade summer and lived there through High School. Graduated and went to The Master's College in Santa Clarita, CA. Finished that in 1996. in 1995 I married my college sweetheart and eventually had two daughters (so I live with all women). I've been a Youth Pastor now for nearly two decades in some capacity (volunteer, intern, part time, and full time). In July of 2000 I moved to Lompoc CA where I did Student Ministry at Calvary Baptist Church for 11 years. In that time I also finsished two MA degrees (Religion and Religious Education. In July 2011 I became the Student Life Pastor at Northpointe Community Church in DeWitt, MI.
91 Comments:
Okay, Ashley, let me just take a small stab at what you were talking about. As far as angels go, it seems like you doing just fine with the homework. you've found a ton of stuff, and are processing through it... keep at it. I do tend to think that Angel sightings were more common in the OT and NT times than they are today for the main reason that we now have Jesus. Something about Him being the ultimate makes it unnecessary for Angels to visit much (Angels were God's messengers, tasked to usually bring people a message from God. Jesus was the ultimate message... combine that with the Bible and I'm not thinking Angels are out of a job - they still exist to worship God- but that they function less here). All that to say God could send them down if He wanted to.
As far as Eden... check out the book "Where God Was Born" by Feiler. He actually goes to where scholars think the Garden of Eden is toady. (Although I'm not sold on how accurate it is)
ok, im not sue if im allowed to comment on other people's questions, so stop me if my opinions get carried away... yeah. anyway, the other day i was reading in gen. and i tend to have the same question when i come across the description of eden: where is it and what happened to it? as far as where is it, the bible doesnt say much. Gen. 2:10-14 gives a full on description of the location of eden, but i tend to think that the flood changed the face of our earth so much that it makes the location harder to find. as of today only two of the rivers mentioned in the gen. passage still exist: the tigris and the euphrates, which make up the eastern boundaries of the fertile cresent. now this is my opinion, but i tend to think that eden was located somewhere near where the tigris and euphrates meet, which happens to be fairly close to the persian gulf. the verse says that one river flowed out of eden and then divided into the four rivers. it seems to me, just by studying the few maps i have, that where the tigris and euphrates divide would be a logical place for eden to have been located. the flood may have washed out the other two... thats where i think eden is. as far as what happened to it, it seems like such an amzing part of creation, that i cant really imagine God destroying it in the flood. he obviously though it was worth protecting, since he sent the cherubim and the flaming sword to gaurd against humanity. but it may be that he let it get washed away in the flood, since the purpose of the flood was to start over with humanity... he may have thought it would be better if we never discover the location because of how the world would react. God works everything according to his plan, so maybe eden would have screwed up the plan. just like noah's ark, why is that still hidden? we know where to find it at least... but its not part of God's plan for our world today. what about the ark of the covenant? why is that still missing? how did the most important artifact in the jewish culture get lost? its a mystery, but its the plan God has...boy, i talk too much... yeah so thats my opinion...i got lots of em'
-circusboy
Ok, i have a question for you Chris. It's kind of random, because I'm almost certain it would never happen to me, but, what if your parents told you to lie to someone, what should you do, because God said don't lie and at the same time honor your mother and father. So if you could answer that, that would be great. See ya later.
Ricky, I'd ask you a question first. Where does the Bible say to "not lie"?
Work on that one while I answer your question. I think you honor and obey (Eph 6) your parents until they tell you to do something that is so obviously against what God says in the Bible (not like they won't let you go to youth group until after homework is done. That doesn't break God's law... He doesn't command anone to go to youth group!). Then you don't obey them, but you still need to honor them. A couple nuggets to chew on. When you get married, do you still have to obey your mom? What if as a married 30 year old your mom tells you to go to bed at 9:00? Do you have to obey? I don't think so. I think that's where the comments in Eph 5:31 come in, that in marriage you leave your parents authority and cling to your wife. At the same time, I think you still honor mom. Maybe something like, "I appreciate your caring about my sleep habits mom, and I'll take into account that I probably need more sleep. Thanks for loving me." But still go to bed well after midnight...
To circusboy (AKA Joel AKA UC AKA intern)... you can have your own opinions no matter how wrong they are. No actually they (read: smart guys who have way to much time on thier hands to be studying maps and such)think -best guess- that Eden was in Middle east, something like Iraq. that book by Feiler I recomended to Ashley, the author actually visits the park in Iraq(?) set up in memorial to Eden... chainlink fence and all. the point is that we can't really find it because that would defeat the purpose of why God removed man from the garden.
ok so about the burning coals thing. i think your answer was helpful in a way but for some reason everything has to make perfect sense to me(which isn't always the best thing sometimes). so, why would your enemies be sorrowful/mournful/repentful (is that a word?) by you being nice to them. ok the repenting one makes some sense sort of. and another thing that is probably me just being really annoying but it says "burning coals" not "the remainders os burning coals." so, maybe thats just me not wanting to accept your answer fully. sorry. ha ha real funny with the 7-12 days thing. thank you for answering all of our complicated questions.
i have been looking for more metaphors and i looked up "almighty" in our concordance and of the likie 50,000 reference it had only like 15 of them were in the NT. Revelation 1:8 says "I am the Alpha and Omega" says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and whos is to come, the ALMIGHTY." i think it's a metaphor but your rules are strict. so... let me know what you think.
thorughout the NT it says "God is the Righteous One"
ha ha ha ha!!! i found one and you can't say no to this one. in 2 Thessalonians 1:6 is says plain and clearly "God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you." 5! not 4, but 5 metaphors.
i agree that we wont find eden, but its still an interesting thought...i wonder if we'll ever find any of the other missing bible artifacts... and just to concur with what you already said, the euphrates runs right through iraq, and actually, along with eden, many people believe that the location of ancient babylon is close by, just up the river in fact. there is actually a ton of ancient history located in or very near iraq... lots of cool stuff that im sure bores everyone else to death, but i find ancient world history to be very riveting...
-circusboy
Exodus 20:16 clearly states "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." I can't tell if that was just trivia you were asking me, or if I have the meaning mixed up, but I really think it's the first one.
Thank you for the info, this question was brought up at my old youth group by a non-believer, whose parents are also non-believers. He attends youth group and church, and is searching.
Amanda, you're not anoying in the least. Something about the "burning coals" was the way they would have phrased ashes for mounring back then.
as far as the 5th metaphor... I an so impressed at how hard you're looking. all the ones you log here, "almighty, alpha/Omega, rightteous One, Just" I'd really say are more descriptions as opposed to direct metaphors. but you are right, my 'rules' are pretty strict. I found where I got the whole idea about four metaphors, it was in a commentary on John, and frankly who knows if it is only four. you're definately bringing out some good stuff.
Ricky, I agree that Exodus cleary states to not bear false witness. But that's "witness" as in a witness called to testify in a trial. What about just plain old lying? Does God ever condemn it? Abraham does it at least twice (says his wife is really his sister) and never seems to get busted for it from God? And what about the whole "If you were hiding Jews during the holocost and a German soldier came to your door and asked if you were hiding Jews... what would you say? Would you lie to protect them, or tell the truth and sentence the Jews to death?"
No this isn't just a trivia question, it's a moral one. And don't worry, I'm not trying to encourage you to lie, just want to work your thinking a little. So dig me up a better verse. but good try!
chris, i don't care about the other ones cuz i admit that they're kind of iffy but you have to have to have to accept 1 Thes. 1:6. cuz it is a METAPHOR. my ankles are cold. ha ha ha. anyways, of the 4 gospels 3 of them are very similar (Matt., Mark, Luke,) but then John is quite different. why? was John like extra special or something. even though that wouldn't make sense cuz God doesn't show favoritism and all that stuff.
God doesnt show favoritism?... hmmmmm... then why did he love and bless jacob more than esau?
i dunno. but in Acts 10 Peter's whole vision was showing him that God loves everyone the same. "Don't call anything impure that God has made clean." and then he goes and gives a big speech thing that jews and gentiles should associate with each other.
I'm thinking that saying "God is just" is simply a true statement, like saying God is kind, or God is loving. They are merely things that are true about God, not comparisons of something we know applied to something we don't know so well. If it said "God is Justice" as in the definition of Justice then you'd be on to something. At the same time, it's no 'hill to die on'.
As far as John goes... check out John 13:23. Factor that into this whole discussion.
i don't get it. it's an anonymous disciple leaning against Jesus.
Pretty sure it's John. Elsewhere (I'd have to look it up) it calls John the "beloved" disciple. and what about the fact hat it seems a lot of places in the Gospels Jesus seems to spend more time with only three of the 12 (check the Gethsamane story)?
why is John called the "Beloved Disciple?" and if Jesus spent most of His time with three of the disciples wouldn't John be one of them since he is the "Beloved disciple?"
The three are Peter, james, and John... and you should be outside! Walk away from the computer!
i'm leaving soon. ha ha ha today is birthday! and i'm going to a concert. i'm leaving soon. and i haven't been on the computer all morning. so why exactly is john the beloved disciple? does it have something to do with the fact that he's related to Jesus. or is it just because he was like a good disciple or something?
Happy birthday!
Don't know why he was called that. Why does it seem like Jesus spent more time, or "special" time with the three than the 12, then the 12 verses the 70, then...? Maybe Jesus/God doesn't play favorites, but maybe some people chase after a deeper relationship with jesus than other people. Maybe that's was Peter, James, and John verses the rest?
thank you. you have very logical explainations to things. none of my answers are ever from logic. i can't think of anymore questions at the moment. but trust me, i'll be back with more.
So I checked out Crosswalk.com bible study tools and looked for the exact phrase "God is..." in the NT. It found something like 60 references, and a couple grabbed my attention. "God is holy" and "God is good". While not Metaphors exactly, they are definately descriptions of God. So I'll say at least 4 metaphors in the NT, or at least four blatent ones! Thanks for thinking this through with me!
It's Thanksgiving!
...and I'm on the computer?
Me too! We sooooo sad.
Hey, check out the new post, and tell me what youi think
Yah, good question. Some Jews believe in Jesus as Messiah, they be called Messianic Jews or Jews for Jesus or something like that. they used to be a pretty small group but are growing larger.
The rest of the Jews, however, break (as far as I can tell) into two catagories:
1. "Jews by culture" meaning they are ethnic Jews but don't really practice their religion. They don't go to Synagogue, probably only celebrate Hanakuah and not the other feasts, don't spend time reading Torah, etc.
2. Religious Jews (who would break into catagories of religiosity) who do involve themselves in the practice of their religion. they can do really everything the OT talks about, except sacrifice because that has to be done at the Temple... which was destroyed in 70AD. The place the Temple should stand is currently occupied by a Muslim Mosque (In Jerusalem, Israel. It is the supposed site of the original temple, you would know a piece of it as the Wailing Wall). So that is why all the Middle East Peace/Fighting stuff is important, Jews want to land to rebuild a Temple and begin to worship/sacrifice again, while Muslims want it becasue it houses one of their holilest sites - Dome of the Rock Mosque.
I have another random question for you Chris. I just went to mass with my grand parents the other day
and wanted to know what Catholics believe that Baptists don't.
For instance, why do they burn inscence(that is spelt right, right?)?What is the point of that horrible smell going through the church the whole time?
And another thing. Why must they bow next to their seats every time they enter the building?
And another thing. Why do they get on their knees after they bow next
to their seats?
Ashley,
Good question. typically Jews would have to make the pilgrimage back to the Temple at least once a year. So check out Acts 2. That's why so many people were in Jerusalem it was Passover (think Easter!) and Jews from all over the "world" were there.
Ricky,
You should ask mom and dad about Catholocism. But as far as the insence (don't know how to spell it either) it has something to do with a visual of prayer rising to God. The bowing and kneeling is signs showing respect for God. As far as the differences between Catholics and 'Baptists' I'd say are a few.
1. Catholics believe in Purgatory. a place you go when you die to work off your sins before you can get into Heaven. Problem is, it doesn't exist and the Bible never mentions it.
2. Baptists (and all other Christian denominations) believe in a concept called 'priesthood of the believer' which is a really fancy way of saying you can go straight to God. Catholics believe you're not good enough to do that so you have to go to God thru the Priest (confession) or thru a Saint (like praying to Mary).
Now all that said, every individual Catholic is different so it would be good to ask your grandpa those questions too. Tell me what he says
am i allowed to answer other peoples questions? ... oh, well. just delete this if im not. the dome of the rock is like the second holiest site in the muslim faith because it is where mohammed reportedly ascended into heaven. jews are allowed to step foot on the grounds, but there is to be no prayer or worship taking place, other than muslim. and they have guns to enforce it... mecca is the obvious first holy site, or city i guess because it was like muslim ground zero or something. muslims, good muslims at least, ar required by their faith to make at least one pilgrimage to mecca year, to worship allah in his city. as chris already said, jews do the same thing around passover. remember when the child Jesus was left behind, because his parents thought he was with the relatives they were journeying with? that was passover. or when he [Jesus] came to jerusalem to be crucified, it was also passover... back on the whole temple thing, the jews believe that with the reconstruction of their temple, the messiah will come, and save them. they [jews] have everything in place to rebuild the temple, its just a matter of securing the temple mount from the muslims. it would take a lot of fighting and bloodshed, or a miracle of God for the muslims to give up their sacred site... it will be interesting to see how God works that out, and hopefully we'll be around to witness it... who knows what God has planned though? ...
well, I would ask my grandpa that, but he always critisizes(is that spelt right? geeezz)us for what we believe, so my family doesn't usually ask anything spiritual or about the church around him. And just for the record, every time I ask my parents they say "not now" or "another time." So I thought I should just come to you Chris.
ok, i would really like someone to explain to me who melchezedek is, please. i'm quite confused about the whole no geneology or beginnning of days or end of days thing. and also is jealosy a sin? since like God is perfect and it says he is a jealous God.
Wait, the Ten Commandments say do not covet your neighbor. And covet means to passionately want something that your neighbor has. God has everything. He couldn't be breaking the His own Commandments, because he is perfect.
I don't know if I answered your question about the "jealous God thing," but I know he is a jealous God, because Exodus 20:5 says it very clearly. Ok, just wanted to fume. I hope i helped.
um... well, so is it ok to be jealous but not covet your neighbor??? and chris, can you please tell me who melchezedek is and why he has no geneology and no beginning or end of days??????
I'm lost on the whole "jealous God" conversation... what was the original question?
Melchezedeck... um, well... here's what I say Amanda, get a concordance or use the one on www.crosswalk.com and look up all the references you can find on the guy. Tell me what youi find and I'll try to fill in the holes. So far I think you've got that he was a priest (Abraham gives him a tithe) and thtat he was "without mother and father". What else you got?
first of all, i was spelling it right the first time, m-e-l-c-h-i-z-e-d-e-k. ok, so in gen. it says that he is "Priest of God Most High." in Ps. it says "You, (talking about Jesus) are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." that is repeated over and over throughout hebrews. in heb. 7 however it says that he is so great that abraham gives a tenth of evrything to him. and that the name malchizedek means "king of righteousness," and that he was king of salem (jerusalem) and king of salem means "king of peace." also it says that "he is without father or mother, without genealogy, no beginning or end of days, like the Son Of God, he is a priest forever." and that is the part that confused me the most. how can it be that he is like, forever? and then in chapter 8 of hebrews it talks about how melchizedek is like Jesus in a lot of ways. the original question about the whole "jealous God" thing was, would jealousy be considered a sin??? i've been wondering about that for a long time but when i asked i never really got a definite answer.
Aha! good work on the Mel thing! He's a pretty difficult character to nail down because we know so little about him, but what we read seems pretty strange. Basically he was a priest during the time of Abraham (worshiped with Mel), but a priest who was very faithful to God and therefore built a reputation for being a really great Godly guy (I'm doing the Cliff notes version). So other places Jesus is campared to Mel becasue over time he had becomea character of legenday proportion, especailly to the Jews. So comparing Jesus to Mel told the Jews some specific things, and caused them to have to view Jesus differently than (maybe) they wanted too. For example, in Mark 6:1-3 the people try to dismiss Jesus as "just the carpenters son" meaning he wasn't even of noble birth, or that his parents weren't anyone special or well known, just normal people so how could Jesus be all that special? So the comparison was that Mel's parents weren't all that special either (written something like 'was without mother or father') and he turned out to be huge! Jesus was 'in the order of Mel' becasue 1)He was a normal dude who turned out to be way more than imagined and 2)he was a priest-- someone who communicated God's mesage to us-- that needed to be listened to.
That help at all?
On the "is Jealousy a sin" issue. What if I were to say 'no' but a lack of contentment is? Boy I bet that would wreak havoc on this conversation?
i don't get it, they're like almost the same thing. jealousy is a sin but a lack of contentment and coveting is... they all sound the same to me.
Okay, then call them all sin!
but God is perfect and he is jealous. can you tell me who melchizedek is?
Then maybe Jealousy and un-contentment aren't the same.
Mel was a priest of God during the time of Abraham.
oh sorry bout that last question, i failed to read your very long explanation about melch. thank very much, that makes so much sense and is "logical." your so smart.
ok well, if you really think about it, un-contentment and jealousy aren't the same. wow, this whole time i thougth jealousy was something defferent. i looked it up in the dictionary and the definition was "watchful in guearding, resentfully suspicious of." sooo, that changes everything. so, un-contentment is wanting more than you have, and that's totally different from my new understanding of jealousy. so, jealous, i guess it's not a sin, as long as we are careful of how much we are "watchful in guarding." so in conclusion, jealousy is not a sin.... right??? i'm still kind of confused.
I would say that Jealously could be a sin, for example:
1. You always have to get the new thing your friend has... that's not good.
2. You hate other people becasue of what they have... bad.
3. Your jealously causes you to steal (something) or someone (adultery)... I think that's where the whole "coveting your neighbor's wife/servant" comes in.
Make sense?
and I'm not all that smart... just old and well read!
so the fianl answer to my original question is yes and no. how sad, but there is good explanation behind it. well done chris. anyone who can answer my questions has to be patient and um... (in your words) "old and well read."
oops, i mean final, not fianl. ha ha...
so if jealousy is (in some cases) considered a sin how come adam's sin was the first? wouldn't satan's jealousy be the first sin?
Well, does satan's sins ever count as sins if he is always sinning anyways? I mean, the guy is the definition of sin.
well, sin is sin. i think all sin should be counted. chris, happy late (or whatever) anniversary.
Back to the lying topic Chris. Look up Romans 6:16-19. That will prove that God says He hates lying. So, should we do something that God hates? How about that?
i think it's illegal to be up this early on a saturday morning. when you said "we should do something God hates" were you talking about we should talk about what God hates? cuz why would we WANT to do (as in actually DOing it) something God hates? but going through the things God hates that are listed in Romans would be interesting.
so as i re-read your answer to my melchizedek quetion i was wondering, how do you know that melchizedek's parents weren't special or anything? wouldn't they emphasize Jesus' non-known-parents more since he was like way better? and can you explain why Jesus was in the order of melchizedek again?
ha ha ha, chris, check this out http://media.putfile.com/WizardsofWinter-SM
Ricky: Are you sure you got the Romans verse right? Nothing about God or lying?!?
Amanda: they think Mel's parents weren't "special" in the sence that dad might not have been a priest (Mel become one on his own) or maybe he was a priest, but just a normal one... didn't do anything that would have earned him a famous reputation. Something like that.
Although... some scholars say that Mel wasn't a man at all but that he was a Theophany (an OT appearance of Christ) and so being without parents really meant that, that he appeared one day, no parents, to save Israel from sin... sound like someone else you know (JESUS!). I struggle with that theory a little, but some smart guys take it.
ok, so all the ideas on melchizedek are really just theories that people think that could possibly be true but aren't really positive about? that's kind of cruddy. well, i have another question. are we supposed to be real good friends with non-believers? cuz i've heard a few different people say we're not supposed to be close with non-believers. in 2 corinth. it clearly says "do not be yoked together with unbelievers. for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common..." and some more. but does that mean we're not supposed to marry unbelievers or that we're not supposed to be close to unbelievers at all?
I'm sorry Chris, I meant PROVERBS 6:16-19. Sorry about the confusion!
About being close to "non-believers": who did Jesus hang out with? His disciples (believers?!?)... right. Who else? Prostitutes, tax collectors, lyers, theifs, etc (non-believers?!?).
I agree that the 2 Cor. passage talks about not being tied closley ("yoked together") with unbelievers, and it is always used to talk about mariage. but if you catch the context, Paul is talking about business situations. No I tend to think that if a believer and a non-believer shouldn't be tied together in a business, marriqge is a way more intimate relationship and so it applies there too! I think that's the implication, that intimate relationships should be between believers. So can you be "good" friends with a non-believer? Absolutely! Wasn't Jesus?
oh ok thank you. cuz i know that some churches teach that you're not supposed to be close to non-believers. and that's kind of messed up. no more questions. for now...
Go back to my question Chris. Look up Proverbs 6:16-19!
no one ever answered my question about Satan's sin. if Satan was jealous of God, wouldn't that be the first sin? but then adam's sin is considered the first sin. why? i'm so full of questions.
Amanda, do you ever go to sleep? Your comment was posted 7 minutes after midnight! Go to bed girl!
yes, as a matter of fact i do sleep. just not til 1:00 or so. i'm taking advantage of my break and staying up to my pleasing. ok, when is someone gonna answer me, chris.
Yes, where art thou Christopher? Or should I say Christina? I like the 2nd one.
Christina?
I'm taunting Chris with that ever since he called me Richard, even though it's my real name.
Ha ha! I can call you Richard because there is no embarassing names for me.
How 'bout I just call you man.
or A-man
A-man-duh.
Well, those don't count Richard!
Sure they do.
Yes, I do still live... we had this thing called a holiday so I wasn't around so much. Now i come to bring order to the lawless Blog it has become... Ricardo!
While Satan's 'sin' might have been the very first sin, it wasn't representative of mankind's sin. In other words, Satan didn't sin for us, He didn't pass his sin on to humans... He was an angel (or something non-human). On the other hand, Adam/Eve's first "people sin" was what get's passed on to us, screwed up the perfect creation and basically made it so the world sips at times!
Ok, now that we have that answered, go back to my question! PROVERBS 6:16-19!!
I say "Good job Ricky!" You get an extra gold sticker star on your chart!
Thank you for finally answering my question and now it makes total sense that things that don't usually make sense are now clarified so little ol' me can understand. I'm thinking of a question.... and you have to guess what it is!
YES!!! I beat the man!!
Chris, you never answered me about my numnbers question. It's been more than 7-12 days.
I forgot, what was your nemubers question?
A lot of things in the Bible are in seqences of 7 and 12. I guess 7 is like supposed to be like God's wholeness and greatness. Is there anything behind that, or is it just a random number? Also, there's a bunch of things in 12's. Again, is there anything significant about it?
yah. some people think numbers are significant. I don't reall know much about it though. Numbers that appear aften in the Bible are: 3, 7, 12, 40, 70. some are more representative about time (for example when Jesus says to forgive your brother 70 x 7, He didn't mean 490. H meant an infinate amount of times using both numbers of completion (7). Uh, don't know much more
Ok, so it's like one of those mysterious Bible things that man will probably never understand because we're too unitelligent and sinful. OK.
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