School Review -- Week 1

So I've been back in school at SEBTS for a solid week, now. I've been a student here for a year, so I knew that  my classes and professors were going to be great, but what I didn't know is how downright AWESOME this year was going to be! Each of my classes and professors is truly amazing. They are all a blend of incredible things-- both challenging and encouraging, review and new concepts, take what you already know and EXPLODE it. I know that I love school because I love learning and working toward a challenge or a goal, but I especially love seminary because the subject (God) is infinite--I'll NEVER be finished learning about Him! I can't believe that this time 2 years ago, I was so complacent and comfortable with the fact that I had been a Christian for almost two decades and I probably knew everything I needed to know. And, I mean, I knew the requirements necessary to live a "good life" and to be saved and spend eternity with my Father in Heaven, but DANG I had no idea there was still sooooo much to learn and explore. Our God is an awesome God and most worthy to be praised!


Here are a few quotes from a convicting and encouraging week of classes:


1.) "Brutal honesty leads to beautiful repentance." -Dr. Mark Liederbach (Ethics)
(* what we say we believe + what we do = what we actually believe. What do you say you believe about God and/or the Bible and it's authority? How do you behave? Do they match up? This isn't a quote about living your life rightly or ethically, but whether or not you actually do believe what you say you do. Think about that while you're driving over the speed limit. We say we believe the law, but we do not live in submission to it's authority. How often is that the unfortunate truth in our walk with Christ?)


2.) "Jesus Christ did not die to get on your checklist of things to do today. Being a Christian does not mean that you have Christ in your life, it means that Christ IS your life." -Dr. Alvin Reid (Evangelism)
(*I think that this one pretty much speaks for itself. But it's already causing me to see the areas of my life where I do not live like Christ IS my life, and that's pretty convicting considering that I attend seminary, work for a church, and live in seminary housing. Christ is all around me all the time, but it's not about Him being in my life, it's about Him being my life.)


3.) "For some people, the Old Testament is about what God did (a history), but for us, the OT is about what God is doing and what He will do, which means we are to read it eschatologically, meaning we are looking for what will happen, Therefore, it becomes an authoritative theology. It's not just what the Jews believe, but what must be believed to become a Christian." -Dr. Steve McKinion
(*This concept is one I wrestled with for a few days. The OT is often viewed as "old" or "outdated" or "inapplicable to me" because it's a "history" or it's how Jews believe or it's how the Israelites believed prior to the Messiah. If we believe that the Bible is the authoritative, inspired Word of God, how can we chop out the OT and call it irrelevant? But then, also, how can we look at, say, Leviticus and reconcile it with the fact that we cut our hair and shave and wear clothes blended of multiple materials? 
Here are some "don't's" for the OT: 1) Don't write it off as old or inapplicable. 2) Don't view it as a history of different people. 3) Don't search for secret, metaphorical, or hidden meanings. 
Why? 
It's all true, inerrant, and inspired. It has been written for and given to US! Those rules and laws aren't for us (necessarily) to follow-- we have that proof from the story of Jonah; He was upset that the people who converted to Christianity as a result of his work didn't have to follow the Law like he had to, but they were a different tribe and those laws were created out of disobedience of the Israelites in the wilderness. It has been written to show us that those living under the Law are subject to the Law (can you say "YAY Jesus?!") So maybe we don't have to live to the letter of the Law, but that doesn't mean we toss out the OT! We read it to find Christ. Now, this is the concept that I had the hardest time with this week. We do not read the OT with NT eyes (because it was written prior to the NT), with knowledge of the present (because the author had no idea of the present and did not intend his communication to be received in the light of a different world with new knowledge), or with the intent to read Jesus into the Scriptures (there is no hidden meaning! The meaning is in the text of the OT! The text says what it means and means what it says! When we put our own "assumed" meanings into the text, we're making crap up!! Don't do that! God inspired it, the prophets wrote it, and it as it is is true and complete!)--What this boils down to is that the OT (especially the prophetical books, but alllll through the OT) tells of the coming Christ. The NT is the story of Jesus and the NT proves that Jesus is who the OT was describing (I had a hard time separating "Christ" from "Jesus" here...) Therefore, the OT is applicable, it foretells of the One who will redeem the world, and it is to be taken at face value.


Phew!


I feel like I'm seeing the world and reading the Word with new eyes this week. What was life like before this and how did I ever consider it "life"?! I am sooo glad I am here and so thankful for the opportunity that I have to learn and to think about these things!