January 2009 Blog Posts (23)

New Video: Ways to Interpret Scripture

The Book of Faith Initiative invites us to read Scripture in many different ways and approach it from all sides. In this video, Sarah Henrich discusses the importance of this as we engage more deeply with Scripture. Watch the video here.

Added by Book of Faith Social Network on January 28, 2009 at 4:21pm — 3 Comments

Recent Removal of Content

In the past few days we have had to remove some of the forum content from this site. This is in response to complaints about abusive and offensive comments, the posting of copyrighted content, stolen identity information (including the unauthorized use of someone else's photo in the creation of an alternate online identity for product solicitation purposes), and spam.

We do our best to monitor and remove these types of content quickly. We are saddened that some would use this Book of… Continue

Added by Book of Faith Social Network on January 28, 2009 at 3:29pm — 5 Comments

How Dare You Ask That!

You may have noticed in the Gospels that Jesus is asked a lot of questions. "How do I earn eternal life?" "If a widow marries 5 times, who is her husband?" "Which commandment is the greatest?"

Sometimes these questions were meant to be a trick, but most of the time these questions were part of the Rabbinic tradition. What would happen is a student would ask a rabbi a question, then the rabbi might answer that question with another question, and this back and forth would begin. The… Continue

Added by Pastor Justin Johnson on January 28, 2009 at 10:03am — 2 Comments

No Words: Review of Night by Elie Wiesel

There are no words that I can utter that will describe the experience of reading this book. There are also stories in this book that I will not attempt to recount. There are atrocities that I simply have not found in the depth of my soul the ability to give voice to. Elie Wiesel tells his story of the Death Camps of World War II in his 120 page autobiography of that portion of his life in Night.

If you are not a survivor of a Concentration Camp, you must read this book. I waited… Continue

Added by Bobbie Steinhauer on January 27, 2009 at 1:37pm — 1 Comment

Naomi, How amazing was your friend?

Her name means “my joy.”

Ruth1, 4:13-17

I have been excited about getting to Naomi and Ruth. It is a rare story in the Bible that is about women, from a woman’s perspective. Naomi is married with two sons who are married to Orpah and Ruth. All is well, until all of the men die. Without men, the women are left to themselves and one another to find their identity.

This is a time of famine in the land that they were living and a time of male dominance. Without the… Continue

Added by Bobbie Steinhauer on January 26, 2009 at 2:42pm — No Comments

Opening the Book of Faith, Continued

We have our adult education area full to capacity on Sunday mornings for the study, and the Thursday evening group continues as well. Today we did lesson two, and the conversation was so lively that time ran out with much needing to be discussed. This is a high-energy high-enthusiasm study.

The assertion that we teach the plain sense of the text, as opposed to trying to answer the ever-present "literal or non-literal" distinction, was really warmly welcomed. We talked about the times… Continue

Added by Ladd Bjorneby on January 25, 2009 at 9:57pm — No Comments

Delilah, What were your motives?

Her name may mean “Dainty one”

Judges16:4-22

Delilah is another story that I can barely recall from my youth. What I do recall is a catchy tune by Bruce Springsteen called “Fire.” A song about sexuality and misrepresentations, who knew Bruce had such insight?

The story of Delilah leaves us as much in the dark as before her story began. What we do know is that Samson fell in love with Delilah. There is no mention of them marrying. She could have been a prostitute, as… Continue

Added by Bobbie Steinhauer on January 22, 2009 at 10:46am — No Comments

New Video: Why is the Book of Faith Initiative Important?

In this new video, Sarah Henrich of Luther Seminary, discusses how the Book of Faith Initiative engages Scripture, which provides us with stories of faith and ideas about how people encounter God. Watch it here.

Added by Book of Faith Social Network on January 20, 2009 at 3:08pm — No Comments

this is me!

Hi!

I'm just learning the Lutheran perspective on the bible. My back ground is a mixed bag. Catholic, UCC, PCA. In both UCC and PCA churches I attended bible school with each having it's own denominational slant and with the Catholic chuch way back in my time (before conformation age of 13) I'm not even sure the bible was used it was all in Latin back then. With all the differences the one thing that is always the same God loves us. I have always found that He is the one to provide what I… Continue

Added by carol goulet on January 20, 2009 at 1:51pm — 2 Comments

New to this Book of Faith

my leader just wrote: Sola scripture "word alone"

Q. Did the phraise understand the bible ?

Tools to understand the bible

It explained me as see things differently.. So it was more understanding than first chapter..

at least to find Where to know "god" five tools to understand the bible

Law and Gospel

* it tell about us

* tell about god

scripture interprete scripture

plain meaning- orginal leter… Continue

Added by Laura J Dymkowski on January 19, 2009 at 8:44am — No Comments

A Hard Day for St. Timothy

My church lies at the bottom of two sizable hills, one greater than the other. It is not a shock to have a car accident at this particular place, but it's never a good thing, and today it was particularly bad.

Church had just let out. There were several of us still mulling around, children's choir rehearsing and youth group gathering, offering being counted and preparations for Monday night service being made. I was in my pastor's office trying to get things together for the Women of… Continue

Added by Bobbie Steinhauer on January 18, 2009 at 11:14pm — No Comments

Monday Night Talks With Jesus

For the past couple of weeks at Monday Night Praise and Worship (6PM) Georgia has led the worship with this phenomenal experience. It begins with deep breathing relaxation, continues with story telling and culminates with a conversation with Jesus. It requires simply relaxing and detailed visualizing of yourself in a Bible story. I have really enjoyed these opportunities to experience God in a new and different way.

The amazing thing is that those moments allow such clarity of God’s… Continue

Added by Bobbie Steinhauer on January 16, 2009 at 8:30am — No Comments

Jael, aren't you full of surprises?

Her name means “a wild or mountain goat.”

Judges 4-5

So, here I am again, with my limited Biblical knowledge. I don’t remember Jael at all. I must say I was a bit stunned to be reading along and I am picturing this demure, oppressed woman. How could she do anything, but be kind to Sisera when he shows up at her tent? She is obligated and ignorant of her power…or maybe not.

Sisera comes to her tent to hide from Barak and his army. Jael greets him, gives him a covering,… Continue

Added by Bobbie Steinhauer on January 14, 2009 at 8:30am — No Comments

New Video: Rediscovering Scripture

Engaging Scripture with others allows us to find new meaning in it. Even opening a different Bible to read can change how we read Scripture. John Mann of Luther Seminary discusses this and more in this video. Watch it here.

Added by Book of Faith Social Network on January 13, 2009 at 11:49am — No Comments

Opening the Book of Faith

Zion will begin the course Opening the Book of Faith on Thursday evening, January 15 and Sunday morning, January 18. Our record-breaking winter is making it challenging for some folks to participate, so we will probably repeat the course in the summer.

Added by Ladd Bjorneby on January 12, 2009 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Bible Shopping

The initial idea for this blog involved me sitting on the floor of a Barnes & Noble surrounded by all of the different versions of the Bible. I would be touching the pages, being inspired by the words and the writing, sipping my chai. I’m sure something inspirational would be playing in the background.

As life would have it, things have worked out a bit differently. With the cost of gas, I don’t get up to Barnes & Noble as often as I used to. When I am up there I’m often… Continue

Added by Bobbie Steinhauer on January 12, 2009 at 12:50pm — No Comments

So, What am I?

I know this seems like a loaded questions which could have a ton of answers, but as many of you know today (Jan 12) is my birthday and I have officially jumped a bracket. For those of you who don't know what I mean by that, take a look at a survey the next time you fill it out. It is usually broken down like this:

Under 5

5-9

10-14

15-19

20-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

So as you can see, I have jumped from one survey bracket to another. Looking at the… Continue

Added by Pastor Justin Johnson on January 12, 2009 at 7:30am — 1 Comment

Deborah, Why “Mother of Israel”?

Her name means honey bee.

Judges 4-5

In my history of Christianity, I missed some things. One of them was the role of the prophetess. First Miriam and now Deborah. Deborah, however was more than a prophetess (as it that’s not enough). She is also someone whom the community (including men) come to for disputes to be settled. She is a judge. This is a powerful and well-known woman in the community. The Israelites were doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

Deborah sends… Continue

Added by Bobbie Steinhauer on January 9, 2009 at 2:34pm — No Comments

Never Change These Words

After a little bit of a hiatus from blogging and from the Book of Faith, I come back with a question that came up in my class study of the Small Catechism.

I decided that if I am going to try the Lord's Prayer study during Lent, then I want to do the whole Small Catechism. I also thought that if I am going to teach the Small Catechism, I wanted to teach the WHOLE Small Catechism, including the introduction.

Some great ideas were presented in the introduction of the Small… Continue

Added by Pastor Justin Johnson on January 9, 2009 at 8:11am — 2 Comments

New Video: How Do We Make Sense of Scripture?

In this video, David Lose of Luther Seminary discusses how questions about the human dimension of Scripture enrich our study of it and help us begin to make sense of Scripture. Watch the video here.

Added by Book of Faith Social Network on January 6, 2009 at 5:27pm — No Comments

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