Interpreting the bible-

7 Criteria's for the common person to interpret the word of God:

1. You must be born again-

• 1 Cor 2:14 "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
• If you're not born again, then the actual truths in the bible will remain a mystery to you. An unregenerate person may have an interpretation of the bible, but most likely it'll be the wrong one.

2. You must work at it-

• 2 Tim 2:15 "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
• It takes time, effort and work to interpret the bible correctly.
• Minimal time and effort=minimal understanding -  Maximum time and effort=maximum understanding -

3. You must want it-

• 1 Peter 2:2 "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.."
• A baby desire milk. We may give him other things, such as toys, warm cloths... etc. but he will always desire milk! We are God's children, and should want and desire to know the truth just as babies desire milk. If we do not have that desire, we must ask and pray for it.

4. You must be holy-

• 1 Peter 2:1 "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking."
• We must constantly be reading the word. The lack of reading the word is not because the word is not exciting, but rather because you are not excited about reading it, therefor creating a sin.

5. You must have no idols-

• Ezekiel 14:4 "Therefor speak to them, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols."
• Sin has the ability to guard godly men of the truth.
• You must learn how to interpret the scripture, because even preachers, and Sunday school teachers can have wrong interpretations of it [Acts 17:11]
• God will give us what we want [our idols] just in order to show us that we "don't need them!"

6. You must be Spirit-Controlled-

• 1 John 2:26-27 "These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him."
• Some people interpret 1 John 2 to say that "the spirit guides them in all truth and they don't need teachers, and don't need to study the word of God and learn how to interpret it." But, they themselves are interpreting this passage wrongly by saying that. In this passage Paul is "teaching" the first century church that they need to be careful of gnostic teachers, he is not saying that they shouldn't listen to any teachers at all [after all, Paul was a teacher]. He also wasn't saying that all you need is the spirit abiding in you and you will know all truth. Paul was simply saying that you must be controlled by the spirit and confided by the boundary's set by the scripture. The spirit and the word go hand in hand!

7. You must be a person of fervent prayer-

• Eph 1:15-18 "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of you understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints."
• Paul was even praying for understanding. He was an apostle of Christ, he wrote many of the books of the bible, and yet he prayed for understanding and for those whom he was writing to. How much  more then should we be praying!?!
• "There's no true prayer without the study of the word of God, and there's no true study of the word of God without prayer." -R.A. Torrey
• Prayer is vital for good bible studies! Psalms 119:145 says "My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word." 

-Destiny

Quote: R.C. Sproul

“I dream of a new reformation, a reformation that is not simply a renewal of life but a new vision of life: a vision that yields new forms and structures in society and culture. As long as Christians restrict their Christianity to a religion, a faith that is compartmentalized and isolated from life, they can have revival but never, ever reformation. We need to hear and do the Word of God in all of our lives.”

~R.C. Sproul

Stay Tuned!

Yes, next week we all are starting The Holiness of God. It should be very exciting. I will try and keep you up to date on what we are reading and learning. And if you didn't see my last post, we are finishing Omnibus I in two weeks. So keep an eye on this blog. So long. Over & out.

-David A. Kruse

Is the idea that one sin is as bad as another biblical?

To answer this question we must go to scripture and reason it out. James 2:10 says, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." In this passage James is telling us that if we break the law, even in just a small thing, we are accountable for as if we had broken all of the law.

Although this is true, it is not necessarily saying that all sins should be looked at on the same level. Some sins are worse then others. But, even in one small sin it is an offense to God and His law. To break the law is to disobey the law-giver. Every man is born with a sinful nature, we have inherited it from Adam. Sin, no matter how big or small, can lead us away from God. Only one tiny sin is able to condemn us to hell.

However, God has send His son Jesus to die for us. Through His death our sins are forgiven. No matter how small or large our sins are, Jesus took them upon Himself and payed the punishment. We need to now repent of our sins, believe in God and walk a Christian life.



-Destiny

Roman Philosophy and Dogs and Cats

While the popular religion of Rome served a large, complicated pantheon of gods and goddess, we can more fully look at their culture by looking at two main Roman philosophies- Stoicism and Epicureanism.

• Stoicism- Stoics believed that reality is material. There is a cosmic force or that they call the Logos, which is their version of god or fate. The Stoics main goal in life is to live in harmony with this force, by practicing justice, wisdom and courage. They thought that the most important thing was to know your duty and do it well. Stoics emphasize the importance of submitting to fate, whatever it may be.
• Epicureanism- Epicureans, on the other hand, deny that gods exist at all, or if they do, they have nothing whatsoever to do with the world. Because no gods of fate direct the world or ones lives, the actions of our free wills determine history. Epicureans believe strongly in their own free-will and that ones own actions determine fate.

An easy way of remembering these two philosophical ideas, is to look at dogs and cats. Dogs are Stoics, and cats are Epicureans. A dog is ever faithful to his masters and his commands. He knows his duty and you can depend on him to follow it, even unto death. Now picture a cat, he is friendly, but he basically looks out for number one. He has his won free will, and thinks he does not need a master to boss him around. Stoics are defined by their faithfulness to virtue and their duty. Whereas, Epicureans are completely self dependent, and rely only on their free will.

By knowing the philosophy of the Romans, we can better understand the context of the Bible. It equips to know what the apostles were up against, and to know the world that Jesus came to live in, and to die for.
Acts 17:16-21- "Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new."

By learning about the culture that the apostles lived in and preached too, we can better understand the Bible, and better apply it to our lives!

Julius Caesar and the end of Omnibus 1

We are almost finished now with the Omnibus I Curriculum. I'm excited to move on but regretful to leave it after so many months. Anyway, we are just starting Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. It is more enjoyable, than not, to read because, well, it's, SHAKESPEARE!

As of now, we are reading Shakespeare (as mentioned above) and The Screwtape Letters written by C.S. Lewis. After that we'll read The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul and the book of Revelation in the Bible. Then we're done. Yep, it is indeed a victory and I cannot wait for Omnibus II. This year's course has taught me so much and I look forward to more study.

In Christ,
-David A. Kruse

Faith and Works

We have been going through this awesome curriculum for a while now and just recently have finished the books of Galatians and Romans. We are now just beginning the book of James. Anyway, what is really neat is that Paul and James both are so much alike in their writings. Paul believes that we are saved (justified) by faith through Christ.

But it seems that James contradicts Paul when he says that we are justified by works. You must realize that James is not speaking of the same justification as Paul was. That is the key to understanding these two men. Neither are wrong, it is just that both are coming from different points of view.

Paul is true when saying that in faith alone (sola fide) are we justified. James agrees to that but puts in another aspect of our salvation. He says that without works, faith is dead. He knows that although you believe in Christ through faith, it is only dead faith without the works to justify it. So James is telling the truth in saying that we are justified through our works because without works we have no true faith in us at all.

In closing, we have believed and now are living out the Salvation given to us. If we are of the true faith then we must display that faith through our works. We cannot say, "Lord, save me" and then sit around just waiting for Christ to return. No, we are justified by our works.

Grace and Law- are they Separate?

Many people today make the mistake of thinking that law and grace are something separate, that they don’t work together but rather against each other. From this presupposition springs such a question- Is an attempt to follow God’s moral law denying His grace? But I hope to show that such a belief is wrong and unbiblical.

The principle of salvation by grace through faith cannot be a contradiction of the law. Some dispensationalist have held that Christians live under a dispensation of grace not law, and therefore believer that keeping the moral law is not necessary for them.

But Romans 3:31 says, otherwise - “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” This clearly shows that keeping the law is a continually obligation for the Christian.

When we become regenerated and washed clean, we start a path of sanctification. Prov.6:23 “For the commandment is a lamp and the law a light.” The law shows us, after we have been justified by Christ and then sanctified by the Holy Spirit, how to live, so that we may continue to live a life of good works. But we can only do that with the Holy Spirit working through us.

Also it is by the law that we are sanctified. John 17:17 “Sanctify them by your truth; Your Word is truth.” Christians need the law in order to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness, because it is by the law that we know what sin is.

But back to the question. The law of God is not opposed to His love or grace, but rather shows what it is in action. Obeying God’s moral laws is not denying His grace, His laws are an action of His enduring grace.

-Kaila A.

Hospitality

Odysseus arrives at the island of the Cyclopes (a giant with one eye). While there his men are trapped in its cave with no hope of escape. To add to their misery and despair the Cyclopes decides to have them for dinner. So for three days Odysseus has to watch his men be eaten, two at a time. They eventually escape but not without great loss.

Throughout this book Odysseus prevails upon the hospitality of many people and beast, whether it was good hospitality or not. All the while men are at his home, unwelcome, eating, drinking and partying, all at his expense, and he doesn’t even know about it, only his wife and son have to watch their home be torn apart. This brings me to the subject of hospitality. Where is hospitality in our culture? Why is it so important? What does your family do to show hospitality? Or are they to busy to welcome the stranger to their door?

“It is useful to limit the meaning of “hospitality” to benevolence done to those outside one’s normal circle of friends, as is implied in the literal meaning of the Greek word meaning “love of strangers.” Tyndale Bible dictionary

Hospitality has been lost in our culture. It has been broken down in many ways. We have lost the art of feasting, the concept of it. Why? We are to busy. We fill our days with ways to benefit ourselves, ignoring the man with the cardboard sign. We run here and there putting off the invitation to have our neighbors for dinner. We fill our day timers, yet have less time. Hospitality is lost because we make no time except for ourselves.

What happens in our culture when true hospitality is given? Because “self” reigns in our culture, hospitality is viewed with skepticism. Say you’re invited over to a friend’s house, but you think they only want you over so that they could get something out of you.

Instead of thinking of what the person might wish to give you are focused on what they might want from you. We must change this view and go back to what the Bible requires of us concerning hospitality.

“So he (Abraham) lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” Gen. 18:2-5

This is a prime example of true hospitality. Abraham accepted these strangers, with no thought to who they were, he just knew that they were in need of refreshments.

“Be hospitable to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9)”.

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach.” 1 Tim.3:2

Clearly God wants us to be hospitable. We need to take the time to have people over to treat them kindly, and to do it all with a glad heart. But why is it so important? What is the reason behind hospitality? There are two reasons that we should be hospitable.

“You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Ex. 22:21. Israel was a slave a stranger in the land of Egypt, and they were unwelcome by the Egyptians as time moved on. Yet God delivered them, He delivered His people, out of His good grace. So hospitality is an important aspect of showing gratitude, because of the grace shown to us by God.

Another reason for showing gratitude is found in Heb. 13:2- “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” This is seen in Abraham’s case that we read earlier. Three angels had come to tell him that he would have a son, the chosen seed of Israel. Not knowing this Abraham still welcomed them to his tent, fed them and washed their feet. We must take care, though, to not make this our main reason for showing hospitality, this is an added bonus to our reward, not our main motivation. Our main motivation should be to glorify God through our actions, to show gratitude for what was shown to us in days of old.

Christians should we radically different from the Cyclopes whom Odysseus encountered. The Cyclopes ate those in his household; we should feed those who enter our home. People today are starved for true hospitality, but do not take the time to show it, we Christians need to bring it back.

-Kaila Anderson

C.S. Lewis's Narnia Books (And the Chart I Made)

This is a chart I made for the Narnian years and our years that happened in C.S. Lewis's Narnian Books. It is pretty cool stuff and I'm sure you have all read the books!

You see, we have to read through these books in our Curriculum.

What is goodness?

What is goodness? The only thing that can define goodness is our triune God! He is good and therefore is goodness. For Christians goodness is a person, and sin is a personal affront to Christ who died and bled and bought us. For pagans goodness is just something that comes to you when you are smart and have a good education. But, we know that this isn’t true.
God gave us His laws so we could strive to become like Him, because He is good. His laws reflect Himself and shows His perfect nature. Matt 5:48 says, "Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven in perfect."
Our God is a just, righteous and holy God who shows goodness and we need to try and reflect this. We as Christians, are to be a light to the world, and by following God's laws are able to do so. God will always stay the same and never will never change. He will always be goodness, and His laws will never change. In Heb 13:8 is tells us that, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." Our triune God will always be goodness.

-Destiny

A cool quote... hope you like it:o)

"The rain it raineth all around

Upon the just and unjust fella;

But chiefly on the just because

The unjust stole the just's umbrella.

-Anonymous

What is the purpose of understanding history?

In understanding history we learn from our mistakes. We see different things that people did that we don’t want to repeat. We also can be inspired because throughout history we see how everything works out according to God’s plan. During hard times we know that God will always win in the end. We also see how Christ is in the center of history, we learn from the nature and character of God. We can see God’s providential sovereignty throughout history and Christ is the focal point in it all. That is the purpose of understanding history!

-Destiny

Can We Change Ourselves?

I believe that we cannot, in the least, change ourselves unless God allows it to happen. Only God has the power to do change us. Though we may choose to break our old habits and read our Bible every day, which happens only by God’s good grace, we cannot change ourselves unto Salvation. We cannot want to know God because man is inherently sinful. Rom. 3:10 - “…None is righteous, no, not one.” We don’t want to know what God is; who he is. We hate him. Without God first changing our hearts inwardly, we will never desire Him or want to learn more about him.

If you went up to an Atheist and began to ask him what some of his core beliefs were, he might tell you, “I don’t believe in absolutes” or, “I don‘t believe in God.” Now, if he doesn’t believe in absolutes than he is contradicting that belief by saying it because if he says there are no absolutes than what does what he just said mean? He is saying there are no absolutes by laying down an absolute! The Atheist also probably will say that he does not believe in God. And yet when you ask them how this world was made they would say, most likely, “well it evolved into what it is now.” But what if you asked, “how do houses come about? Did they just evolve? How did your billion‘s of microscopic cells evolve?” It just doesn’t connect. His worldview crumbles. They don’t want to acknowledge God & because they do not they become fools. They know that if they did believe in God they would then have to be subject to His Law. So they suppress the truth. An unbeliever cannot suddenly believe in God unless God puts that burning, that desire, into that someone’s heart.

Man is sinful and corrupt. He is dead in His sins. Rom. 6:23 - “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Man cannot do anything for himself. He is wholly incapable. But God is holy and righteous and pure. He is alive and well. He imputes His righteousness on us and He takes our sins upon His Son, Jesus Christ. He pours out al of His wrath, wrath meant for us, upon His Son while we receive mercy and grace. We cannot save ourselves unless God resurrects us. We cannot change ourselves unless God allows that change to take place.

This painting is beautiful!

When I look at this picture I am drawn into it and I feel the hurt that this mother must be feeling. She has a little girl on her lap who looks sick and helpless. They don’t look very wealthy and probably don’t have much food. Perhaps it is very cold out and maybe the mother and daughter don’t have much heat and are barely making it through the winter with rags as their clothing. I can’t help but feel sorry for them and want to help them. I’m in suspense whether or not the little girl is going to be all right.
The painter did an extraordinary job on the painting. The colors make the painting come to life and the viewers are in awe of what is happening. The painting is beautiful!

This is a thing we had to do in Omnibus. Each one of us kids had to find a picture and sort of do what I did with this picture. It was pretty fun!

-Destiny

Loyalty

In the book The Odyssey of Homer, Homer portrays a picture of a very faithful wife in the character Penelope. Though her husband has been gone for 20 years and all say that he is dead, she continues to believe that he is out there and will return soon. The result of this is that she continually refuses the suitors request that she marry one of them. She will not give up on her husband. This brings me to the subject of loyalty.

In many ways our culture has turned away from the true concept of loyalty-friends, marriages, pastors, politicians, and business agreements. Everyone is full of greed, ambition, and selfishness, the three things which destroy loyalty. Companies and businesses do whatever it takes to build themselves up. More than 60% of today’s marriages end up in divorce. Friends will turn around and stab you in the back for their own gain. All these display a lack and loss of loyalty.

One of the greatest examples of disloyalty is seen in Israel. God had delivered Israel from Egypt and had shown them many signs. He made a covenant with them and gave them His law’s. While in the wilderness He provided and protected them through all dangers. When they had no water, He provided it from a rock. When they had no food, He poured down quail and manna. When their enemies were great in numbers, He delivered them into their hands. Continually He kept them under His wings. Yet Ps. 78 says “In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe…Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.” Israel rejected God and His covenant! No matter what He did and showed them, they were a stiff-necked people and rebelled.

Now look to vs. 38 and 39 “Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.” God never gave up on us, though He punished us He still atoned for us. It says that He didn’t show all His wrath…just enough to where we were still allowed to live. Then He sent His Son to die for us. We have been given the New Covenant and we must strive to be faithful to it, and not be the Israel of old.

So when you say the words “as long as we both shall live” remember that you are entering into a life long covenant. Marriage is a covenant instituted by God and one must stay faithful to it. Remember Penelope, the ever faithful wife of Odysseus.

-Kaila Anderson

The Odyssey of Homer

Here is a basic outline of the book the Odyssey of Homer. This is one of my favorite books that we have gone through so far. It's amazing to see the whole different world that our ancestor's lived in, and what they thought about everything, is eye opening!

After being trapped on Kalypso’s Island for 10 years, Odysseus finally gets away. He meets the Phaiikan king and recalls all his adventures after the Trojan War-the Cyclopes, lotus eaters, the cattle of Helios, Scylla etc…

In the meantime his house is being invaded by men who wish to pay court to his faithful wife, Penelope. She continually refuses them and they continue to eat his house and home out. Telemachos, Odysseus’s son is growing up during all this and begins to wander where his father is. So he goes on a search only to come home and find his father returned. The return of Odysseus results in a killing of the suitors and a restoring of peace to all!

-Kaila Anderson

HI!

Hello everyone! We will be starting Omnibus pretty soon! We haven't done it for a long time and I'm really excited to get back to it! God bless!
-Destiny