He's Back, maybe...

Well, as you have noticed, I've really been off and on here lately with the blog. Like I said below, the semester has started up and I think this will be busiest yet. Anyways, with my classes in cross cultural living, church planting, the prophets, and Christian ministry I've had many things to ponder and think about, but just no time to get them out there.

Something short that I've been thinking about. How "relevant" or "applicable" is the Bible to other cultures. I was reading a blog today, and the author wrote that he does not liek the terms relevant and churches wanting to be relevant, because he thinks that the Bible is relevant to every culture and everyone. Well, let's say we took a Bible and dropped it into some Masai people of Africa. Let's say that they've never heard at all the Gospel in any form and the Bible is in their language, translated word for word. The Masai, being curious, pick up the book and begin to read form the beginning. Of course, the "relevant" Scripture would only serve as a stumbling block as they read of a a farmer killing a cattle man. (the first murder in Genesis). The Masai, who view farmers as weak and enfeebled to the land, would see this as an attach on their way of life, thus the scripture, would be rendered useless, because it does not speak into the context. I do believe the message is relevant, but we have to be careful to just assume that Scripture is applicable in its present form. We also can't assume that our interpretation of the Bible is "the message."

Culture World Map

I think this is handy and pretty cool.


This resource is found here.

Philosophical Podcast

For those wanting to learn some more philosophy or are just interested in ethics, epistemology, logic, and more savory philosophical musings, check this out.

Metaphor in Cartoon

Check this out.

Jesus Quiz

How Well Do You Know The Words Of Jesus?

Take the quiz, see what you know.

Mistakes

Semester Is In

Well, hello everyone, or two that read my blog. I' ve taken a vacation from blogging and pretty much reading all forms of blogs, but I'm back in the game now. I thought I've let you know what's going on here lately. I've started back this semester and I'm taking 12 hours this semester. On Mondays I'm taking Christian Ministry and Church Planting. For the Christian Ministry I have to take another, more hands on clinical class where we meet on Thursdays at the hospital. I'll find out next week which unit I'll be visiting. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, my main courses are Scriptures 2 (Prophets, Wisdom Lit., Psalms, etc) and Cross Cultural Living and Ministry. Also, this semester I've decided to change my concentration to Missions. Alright, that's what I'll be focusing on this semester, plus this coming Spring mini-term I'll be taking Wilderness Spirituality where we go out into Arizona (I think) and visit a Monastic Community.

What I'm reading this semester:

For my sanity and escape:
The Hobbit and the LOTR Trilogy

For Christian Ministry:
Intro to Pastoral Care by Gerkin
Christian Reflections on the Leadership Challenge by Maxwell

Church Planting:
Planting Churches Cross Culturally by Hesselgrave
Planting and Growing Urban Churches by Conn

Scriptures 2:
Theological Intro to the Old Testament by Birch and Brueggemann
Exploring the Old Testament, ed. Lucas
Theology of the Prophetic Books by Gowan
Spirituality of the Psalms by Brueggemann

Cross Cultural Living and Ministry:
The Church and Culture by Luzbetak
Participant Observation by Spradley
Appropriate Christianity by Kraft