Friday, March 29, 2013

Seventeenth Link Year Recap 3/26-3/28

Hello peeps. I feel like the word “peeps” is appropriate considering Easter is this Sunday. Yes, that was funny and you may laugh now at it. I'm pretty proud of that joke. It wasn't premeditated or preplanned in any way, it just flowed from my mind to my fingers and then onto this digital platform from which you are now reading. Go ahead, clap for me. It was impressive. Anyway, moving on now. This week was pretty great. I know I know, you all are saying, “But Timothy, you say that about basically every week!” Well you exclamatory reader, you would be correct. That is because basically every week is “pretty great”. So there you have it, my explanation. But as I was saying...it was a pretty great week.

We had Joe White talk to us for about an hour on Tuesday morning and then for the rest of that class, and throughout the rest of Wednesday and Thursday, we had Joshua Straub. Joe White spoke about Biblical Prophecies. Specifically about the 70 weeks period that it talks about in Daniel. Joshua Straub (officially Dr. Joshua Straub, he has a Ph.D in Psychology) talked about attachment in relationships, with God and others.

So I shall go ahead and give you my five things that I learned this week or that stood out to me. Really most everything Joshua Straub had to say was really interesting and fun to hear for me so I'll try to keep it limited to only a few for him.

  1. The whole thing Joe White went over with the 70 weeks period. Eschatology has always been an area of interest for me and seeing the viewpoint Joe put forth was really interesting. I don't know if I have a set view of where I stand on Eschatology but I lean toward Partial Preterist Amillennial but that's neither here nor there.
  2. Joshua's main overarching point was “Attachment Theory”. Which is basically, “how relationships shape our brains ability to regulate emotion and learn to participate in close, intimate relationships.” He also talked about “Emotion Regulation” which is, “The ability to tolerate and manage strong negative emotions and to experience the wide range of positive emotions as well.”
  3. He (Josh) gave and example of Johhny Cash for one of his examples. The following is taken straight from God Attachment by Dr. Joshua Straub (Published in Christian Counseling Today Magazine
    Vol. 16 Issue 4).
      In the award-winning movie about him, Walk the Line, there is an interesting scene that brings to light what it means to live (and sing) from the heart. With meaning. Purpose. And passion. Having scored an audition with record producer Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash and his band chose to sing a gospel tune originally sung by Jimmy Davis—Were you there when Jesus saved me…saved my soul…the moment he forgave me…made me whole…
      No more than a few verses into the song, Phillips stopped Cash and asked if he had something else to sing. Cash was offended. He asked Phillips, “Is it the song or the way I sang it. Phillips said, “Both.” Cash, noticeably irritated all the more, piped back, “What’s wrong with the way I sing it? Phillips replied, “I don’t believe you.”
          This is convicting for me. Do I really believe the song my life is singing? Do I have passion in
          my life for Christ?
  1. Two good quotes on suffering that I really enjoyed.
    The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt.” - Thomas Merton.
    It's doubtful that God can use anyone greatly until he has suffered greatly.” - A.W. Tozer
  1. He (still Josh) spent some time at the end of Thursday talking about how you can walk/get away from past mistakes and tough situations in life. Using the example of Ruth he put forth this system: Ruth leaves her past in four different ways, she leaves it residentially, relationally, spiritually, and permanently.
    Also he talked about how God can use bad decisions and situations for His glory still. Example of this was also shown in Ruth. She is the great grandmother of David. The lineage of Jesus. A nation that was started out of incest (Moab) had a key role in the lineage of Jesus. God can redeem what has happened in your life. It only takes one person.

Well guys I tried to figure out a way to close out this post as brilliantly as the way I started it. But I just don't think I can. But that's okay. I'll live. Alright every-bunny, have a great Easter!


Thursday, March 21, 2013

Sixteenth Link Year Recap 3/19-3/21

This week we got the amazing privilege of hearing from Ben Williams. He was a pretty great teacher and conveyed his messages to us well, with sound knowledge and humor, everyone seemed to enjoy him. He used to teach college but now teaches Worldview's and Apologetics in Kansas City. Anyway, the main thing he talked about this week was different Worldview's and how to defend the historical accuracy of the Bible not using the Bible itself. But the best way to tell what he was teaching on is by letting you know the five things I learned this week or that stood out to me.

1) He talked about the five basic things Worldview's have. Five Basic Beliefs: Origin (where did everything come from), identity (what is a human being), meaning (what is the purpose of life), morality (who determines right and wrong), and destiny (what happens when we die). These are all questions that a Worldview answers and that we should know the answers to in our own Worldview.

2) I thought it was really interesting that how in the Eastern religion there is no concept of repentance. Who are you to repent to? If each and every person is a "god" than there is really no one person better than the other. So why would you need to repent? You just have to work and have good karma. That way in your next life you can get a "rank up" in the Caste System. 

3) Buddhism teaches four things. 1st Noble Truth: There is pain and suffering in the world. 2nd Noble Truth: Desire is the cause of suffering. 3rd Noble Truth: Suffering will cease when desire ceases. 4th Noble Truth: Desire can be extinguished by following the Eight-fold-path.  

4) We do not have the original autographs of any book of the Bible. We almost have no original copy of any ancient document. The Papyrus doesn't last. The copying process became very important. When interpreting any ancient text they use the criteria of quantity, quality, and time interval. 
Quantity - How many say the same thing?
Quality - Is the paper good condition? Writing legible?
Time Interval - How much time has passed between manuscripts or documents?

5) New Testament letters started to be written from 50AD - about 80-85AD (maybe 120AD). Oldest NT manuscript we have is Rylands - 138AD. 
     1. We have 5700 Greek Manuscripts.
     2. 10,000 translations in Latin.
     3. All told we have 20,000-25,000 translations. 
     4. We have more than 1 million quotations from a group called the Patristics and Early Church.    These show up in hymnals, letters, books. 
If we lost the first three things, we could still accurately comprise the NT with the fourth.
We have 10-15 manuscripts from within 100 years of the conclusion of the NT. Within two centuries we have approximately four dozen. Of the manuscripts produced prior to 400AD we currently have 99.

These are all really cool things that were taught this week and I am really grateful for the speaker. We learned a whole lot more but this is just a short amount of it. But now it is time for me to go and do more work, thanks for tuning in!


Thursday, March 14, 2013

Fifteenth Link Year Recap 3/12-3/14

Well guys it's been awhile since the last time I wrote up a blog post so this should be interesting. And by interesting I mean you'll probably fall asleep while reading this. Sorta like this video exemplifies...





There now that I've supplied you with the obligatory entertainment. Which, by the way, it took me about 20 minutes to actually figure how to embedded a video like that on this blog. It's harder than it sounds, don't judge. Alright so now onto the actual speaker from this week, sorta the point of this blog post.

We had Bret Christopher Jenson (he seemed to like his middle name) teach us this week, he was pretty good. I agreed with and enjoyed basically everything he had to say. He communicated well and knew how to relate to us. Although I think it was tough for some people to focus since it was the first week of class since January. That being said here are some of the things I learned or that stood out to me this week during Bret's teaching.

1) The first day, Tuesday, Bret emphasized being enamored with the Gospel. He pointed out how in verses like 1 Peter 1:3-12, Ephesians 1:3-19, Ephesians 3:20-21, and in other places the language seemed really poetic and just that the author was so enamored by Christ they would even repeat themselves over and over again. Emphasizing points with there awe.

2) He asked us a question on Tuesday that was really good to think about. What would be the price tag or the consequence of a community losing its fascination or enamoring of salvation? I don't remember Bret answering his question, I think his main point was for us to actually think about it. For me I can see it having devastating consequences. If you lose site of salvation (basically the Gospel) then you lose sight of grace. Without grace what do you have?  That's just a short thought but there you go.

3) Bret brought up many issues that needed to be remedied. One of which was "Elementary Gospel". Kinda what I was saying in the previous point, but not fully understanding the implications of the Gospel. It's stinking amazing if you think about it for long. God's wrath poured out on Christ for us! The cup of His wrath was drunk by Christ in our place! It's crazy to think about.

4) Another issue was called, "Gospel Displacement". Meaning that as Christians we tend to think of the Gospel as 'step 1' in our Christian journey. Like the ABC... but the rest of the letters are different steps. But that's not correct, the Gospel is A-Z. It's every single step. If a Christian loses sight of the Gospel they lose sight of the point behind the New Testament. Paul, Peter, James...etc. These were all mature Christians yet they kept constantly pointing to the Gospel throughout their letters.

5) Bret also asked why most modern day churches and community groups (or whatever you want to call them). My thoughts were that they don't truly understand what the Gospel is doing. It's a present tense thing, the Gospel is active and moving. Hebrews 4:12 makes that pretty clear. God still speaks and moves! Why would you forget that? Hold tight to that and believe it!

Well everybody, that's it for this week. Glad to get back into the swing of things. It was good to type up this one. Looking forward to next week's speaker and blog post. Until then, peace out.