Rachel Starr Thomson

Besides overseeing the schedule and volunteers, my big job at SDG Ballet and Arts Camp earlier this month was teaching Bible class for older and younger kids. For the older class, we started each day by looking at principles of study.

For me, one of the most important principles of study is obedience. A quote from Eugene Peterson summed it up pretty well, so I included it in our class time:

Obedience is the thing, living in active response to the living God. The more important question we ask of this text is not, “What does this mean?” but “What can I obey?” A simple act of obedience will open up our lives to this text far more quickly than any number of Bible studies and dictionaries and concordances.

Not that the study is not important. A Jewish rabbi I once studied with would often say, “For us Jews studying the Bible is more important than obeying it, because if you don’t understand it rightly you will obey it wrongly and your obedience will be disobedience.”

This also is true.

- Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book

Paul wrote:

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both [Jews and Gentiles] one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two . . . For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:14–15, 18).

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many (1 Corinthians 12:12–14).

The fact is plain: Christians are one.

Our oneness does not come from our efforts. It is a spiritual reality, one that is enacted when we become members of Christ upon trusting in Him for salvation. Our oneness is in a Person, and it is a miracle.

It’s probably too much to ask that whole denominations and congregations will suddenly get serious about the biblical call to unity — acknowledging each other as brothers and sisters and committing to walk together in love, despite our differences, for Christ’s sake. But that’s OK, because like most things, unity starts with individual hearts.

Hearts like mine.

Practical unity, a real relationship with other Christians even if they are outside of “our” circle, starts with what I believe about you and what I do with that belief — it starts with what you believe about me and how you live that out.

Some might cry foul at this point: “We can’t,” they would say, “throw out truth and conviction in the name of love and solidarity.” And they would be right. Doctrine is important. So is practicing righteousness. But our unity is not based on these things. Statements of faith are not the Spirit of God who makes us one. No one denomination has cornered the market on truth. Our standards are not always God’s. And personality conflicts are no excuse to disown your own family.

If you are trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, no matter where else our beliefs may diverge, we are family. We are “one new man,” we are “baptized into one body”; we all “drink of one Spirit.” And God asks us to live as though this is true.

Read the rest of the article here.

Origins matter. Few answers are more enlightening that those that tell us where something—or someone—came from. Origins give us insight into the shape of reality, answering not only the what but the why.

Even if you are a literalist* Bible reader (which I assume most of my readers are), you’ve no doubt heard people—maybe even other Christians—refer to the “Genesis myth,” regarding the Eden story as an attempt by ancient people to explain who we are by means of fiction. Even some traditionalist* Christian scholars see heavy symbolism in Genesis and question whether the Bible actually portrays Adam and Eve as real people rather than symbols—the archetypal “man” and “woman” who represent our tendency to sin and our separation from God but are not figures in real history.

Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?: Who They Were and Why You Should Care (Crossway, 2011), by C. John Collins, examines this question from a scholarly perspective, applying scientific, literary, and cultural considerations to the reading of Scripture. Its answer to the question is a resounding yes, primarily because Collins posits that without Adam and Eve as real people standing “at the headwaters of humanity,” the storyline of Scripture—which has now swept us, in Christ, into its flow—makes no sense.

Collins also presents as a central premise the idea that the Adam and Eve story, taken as history, explains something about our state as human beings that cannot be explained any other way: namely, that we universally conceive of sin and death as “wrong” in some way, and that we all have a sense (almost a nostalgic one) that at some point in the past creation was truly good, and so were we. This theme particularly resonated with me; it’s one I’ve explored in my writing, both fiction and nonfiction, maybe more than any other.

Like many scholarly books, this slim and readable volume does not exist in a vacuum. It enters a conversation that has been going on among biblical scholars for some time. Although the author does identify himself as a traditionalist scholar, many of his conclusions and premises may be uncomfortable to readers of a more literalist bent. (He is not, for example, a “young-earth” creationist—and I would include myself in the “literalist” category!)

Yet, I found the book to be a valuable read, giving insight on the importance of the Bible’s storyline, on the necessity of reading historically and not just devotionally, and shedding light on what such a reading means to the gospel. A fault I see in literalist readers, including myself, is a tendency to just read the stories, accept them as true, and fail to think through their implications in our lives. This book does not allow us to do that.

I also enjoyed the appendices, particularly Appendix 1, “Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Genesis 1–11,” which compares Genesis to myths and legends from the ancient Near East (many of these discovered relatively recently). This is a fascinating look at the cultures and times that surrounded the writing of Genesis, helping us to see what is unique about the Bible and how God worked in ancient Hebrew culture.

For readers interested in the ongoing question of whether Adam and Eve really existed, this book may provide valuable and thought-provoking insight. For readers who consider the question settled—but who are willing to listen in on a scholarly debate—the book may likewise prove thought-provoking and valuable, even if in unexpected ways.

*There is no question that the Bible does at times use symbolism. Borrowing the terms from Collins, both “traditionalist” and “literalist” refer to Christians who believe that God inspired Scripture and that its authority must be trusted. However, literalist readers will shy away from interpreting symbolically any passages but those which are most obviously symbolic, while non-literalist traditionalists may feel more comfortable debating things like whether the first several chapters of Genesis are symbolic or not. To my mind (although I think the literalists are right, which is why I am one), both of these are acceptable Christian positions.

(Note: I was provided with a free review copy of this book from Crossway.)

Anita Mellott is a homeschooling mother and a regular columnist for Home School Enrichment, an excellent magazine which I’ve been copyediting for the last five or six years. Anita’s columns are always encouraging, authentic, and marked by devotion to the Lord first and foremost. When she contacted me about permission to include some of my homeschool grad experience in her upcoming book, I was excited to hear that she was making the leap from “columnist” to “author.”

Anita’s book, School Is Where the Home Is: 180 Devotions for Parents (Judson Press, 2011) is a devotional book specifically designed for homeschool parents, especially mothers. It’s written in the familiar devotional style with a line of Scripture, a short, personal story from Anita’s homeschooling experience that applies the Scripture, and a “digging deeper” follow-up question and Scripture.

The stories Anita tells deal with issues of teaching, character, parent-child and husband-wife relationships, and especially keeping Jesus Christ at the center of our homeschools, as well as the rest of our lives. The book is delivered with Anita’s trademark authenticity, encouraging tone, and smooth writing.

One thing I did pick up while reading the book is that the stories and lessons will be most applicable in families where homeschooling is on the formal side of the spectrum, with the mother or father actively involved in teaching, reviewing, and grading. For families like mine, where education was much more informal and student-led, there are fewer spot-on insights—but the overall principles of exalting the Lord, gaining our vision from him, and using homeschooling as in-home discipleship hold true for everyone.

Yes, I know, this post is REALLY late. I am pulling a late night in the office because I have so much to do today: besides “normal” work, I’m preparing to run a week-long arts camp next week as part of the outreach of Soli Deo Gloria Ballet. I am scheduling, arranging travel for, and confirming various workshop teachers, volunteers, and students.

The job requires perseverance. But I’m not actually going to draw today’s post from it :).

As I was reading the Bible this morning, a phrase jumped out at me. When God delivered his people from Egypt by the hand of Moses and gave them the law, he commanded them not to “depart from it,” but to keep it in their mouths, their hearts, and their lives always. If you know Old Testament history, you know how well that went! The people departed from God’s ways within two generations of entering the Promised Land. And ever after, God sent judges, prophets, and the occasional righteous king to bring them back.

In 1 Kings, the people of God were split into the nations of Israel and Judah after Solomon died, with David’s grandson Rehoboam ruling Judah and a military leader named Jeroboam taking over the kingship in Israel. Jeroboam was actually called and anointed by God to head this rebellion–it was a judgment on Solomon’s idolatry (and, one can’t help but feel, Rehoboam’s nitwittyness). But God called him to walk after God’s ways, to “not depart” from the law.

Well, Jeroboam looked at circumstances and got scared. He figured that the people would continue to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice at the temple as God had commanded they do, and that, since Jerusalem was the capital of Judah and the Davidic kings were ruling there, this would eventually cause him to lose his kingdom. So he set up two golden calves (hints of the exodus, no?) in Bethel, anointed a lot of non-Levites as priests, and declared “There are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.”

Ouch.

Well, Jeroboam lost his throne via another rebellion. And while the Davidic line continued steadily on, Israel went through generation after generation of coups, rebellions, and new dynasties, all until the day they were completely conquered and sent into exile by the Assyrians.

And here is why the Bible says Israel was judged so harshly: because in all of that time, in all of that upheaval, and with the witness of some of the mightiest prophets ever to live, Israel “did not depart” from the sin of Jeroboam in worshiping the false gods in Bethel.

Think about that! For generation . . . after generation . . . after generation . . . after generation . . . the people did not depart from idolatry and sin. But God’s law? That, they departed from almost as soon as Moses and Joshua died.

What do I learn from this? A couple of things: first, that sin is not something to mess around with. It’s addictive and enslaving. God will let us exercise free will and walk away; sin will not–not without the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

And two, perseverance only counts if you’re persevering in the right things.

With that, good night. I’m back to work.