In The Word

Reformed Theological Seminary has posted many of their course lectures online for free:

itunes.rts.edu

(HT: Desiring God Blog)

HT: Parchment & Pen

I posted earlier about how teaching our children scripture is a double blessing: we are teaching them the word of the Lord and we are learning it better ourselves, having the opportunity to recite it and explain it to them. In our nightly routine my 5 year old and I also spend a few minutes going through a catechism for girls and boys. This has been an amazing experience for both of us for the same reason. She opens up with all kinds of questions and I’m put on the spot to try to explain theological truths in a manner she can understand.

Drinking from the Fire Hose

This is not to say she understands all that we talk about, or even 10% of what she has memorized, neither is it to say I do a great job explaining it, but as she gets older these things begin to sink in. Recently she has been very interested in how “God is spirit and has not a body like man” and how “God is everywhere”, which has led to many long discussions about how God is always present and knows everything yet is separate from his creation. She is totally blown away by this concept and we’ve talked about some of the many implications (he is always there when you are afraid, he knows every thought, he can hear prayers, etc.)

Here are some techniques I’ve been using when dealing with her questions:

1. Think through your answer
   Does it make sense to her age? Is there something about it she is obviously going to misunderstand? Is it theologically accurate? When we blurt things out without thinking it through, we may cause more problems than we solve.
2. Keep it simple & age appropriate
   Remember, you don’t have to expound on every aspect of theological significance. Summarize it and boil it down for her.
3. Don’t be afraid to tell her you need to think about it.
   If it’s a doozy (Daddy, where do people go who don’t beleive in Jesus?) and you just don’t know how to answer. Tell her you need to think about how to explain it and that you will talk about it later. This will buy you some time to work out a good answer, but do not use it as an excuse to avoid the question.
4. Never deliberately misrepresent scripture to your kids.
   We’re dealing with the Word of God. Difficult subjects don’t give us an excuse to twist scripture. If you misrepresent scripture to your kids not only are you a false teacher, but you’re undermining the authority of scripture to your kids, which could be devastating to their Christian walk later in life.

How firm a foundation

This kind of theological relationship with my daughter is one that I hope to cultivate through her life. When she gets older she is going to get the dose of real world and when she does I pray that this time spent with her discussing the word of God becomes her foundation for the decisions she makes as she grows up.

While browsing the sermon illustrations for “Bible” on bible.org I came across this very helpful excerpt:

Norton Sterret, in How to Understand Your Bible, states very concisely some of the major principles that need to be adhered to when building a theological system from one’s own study of the Bible:

1. Base doctrine on the literal statements of the Bible rather than on the figurative portions.
2. Base doctrine on plain statements rather than on obscure ones.
3. Base doctrine on the didactic (teaching) passages rather than on the historical ones.
4. Base doctrine on all the relevant passages, not on just a few.
5. Do a word study to learn some doctrines.
6. There are doctrines which have no one word in the Bible to describe them.
7. There are passages in which a doctrine is presented but the actual word does not occur.
8. Some doctrines have more than one word to express them.
9. Be sure that each passage is understood through the general principles of interpretation.
10. Be cautious in formulating doctrine by inference.
11. Beware of doctrinal speculation.
12. In forming, holding, and teaching doctrine, emphasize what the Scripture emphasizes.
13. Seek the practical import of the doctrine.

Hans Finzel, Opening the Book, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1987), p. 318

If you’re like me, when reading through the Law portion of the Old Testament you were uncomfortable and somewhat confused, and frankly glad that you don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore. Unfortunately if you’re like me then you probably don’t have good thinking about the purpose of the law in the OT which can make NT theology difficult and incomplete. For example, consider the question “How were God’s people of the Old Testament saved”? If the answer is by following the Law, then we have some issues with Paul’s doctrine in Romans (among other things). If the answer is by faith, then what is the purpose of the law? I recently listened to a lecture by Daniel Block which he gave at the 2005 “For all its worth” conference. This lecture was one of those huge “Ah-Ha” moments for me where all of a sudden disjunct and seemingly unrelated ideas, concepts and contradictions gel together. I started a rough outline of the main points of the lecture . If you decide to listen to it and want to add to the notes, send me an email and I’ll add you to the list of collaborators.