Saturday, January 28, 2006
Reading The Whole Bible
Over at the Thinklings Alan is talking about how much, or more accurately how little, the Old Testament is cracked in the reformed tradtion.
I am consitently shaken by the presence of God when I read the prophetic literature. "Everything old is new again" is the most apt cliche. Again and again I encounter situations in the prophetic literature that I feel like I am in the middle of today.
And then, well, Elijah at Horeb (I Kings 19) is the place I turn everytime I feel God is absent to be reminded of the still small voice.
Jesus said that He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. It would behoove those of us that call on the name of Jesus to know well the laws and traditions that He came to fulfill.
I, like Alan, long to hear the Old Testament word preached. A year in Jeremiah could, I think, change the world.
Related Tags: Christianity, Old Testament, preaching, Jeremiah, prophetic literature, wisdom
Now, I think it's great to study the book of Romans. And I think it's even better to take a book of the Bible and study it in-depth, getting to know it intimately, as opposed to skimming over the surface. But I have to ask: why do we seem to spend so much of our time in the book of Romans and similar books? And in doing so, do we really get a balanced study of the scriptures?Now I have to modify this some, I think evangelicals do spend a lot of time in Psalms - they never think about them, they just sort of enter into a "Psalm trance" of some sort, but at least they do spent some time there.
I have this image in my head of these guys around a table at Modern Reformation headquarters brainstorming ideas for the upcoming year. What should we write about? I know! Out of all the books in the Bible, the one we neglect and need to spend more time in is the book of Romans! All the Calvinists who read our magazine have God?s law, the praise of God in the Psalms, the wisdom of God in the Proverbs, the prophetic exhortations, and the history of God?s people mastered. But they really need to dust off the book of Romans for a change.
I am consitently shaken by the presence of God when I read the prophetic literature. "Everything old is new again" is the most apt cliche. Again and again I encounter situations in the prophetic literature that I feel like I am in the middle of today.
And then, well, Elijah at Horeb (I Kings 19) is the place I turn everytime I feel God is absent to be reminded of the still small voice.
Jesus said that He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. It would behoove those of us that call on the name of Jesus to know well the laws and traditions that He came to fulfill.
I, like Alan, long to hear the Old Testament word preached. A year in Jeremiah could, I think, change the world.
Related Tags: Christianity, Old Testament, preaching, Jeremiah, prophetic literature, wisdom
