Htam::Diary.Theme(bible)

This Wednesday, we have the first Ruddock Small Group (RSG) Bible study of the term.  We are starting the first book of the New Testament: The Gospel According to Matthew.  (We studied Malachi last term, but it could just be a coincidence, or it could be one of the reasons affecting the convergence.)  In any case, Bing Huo lead the study tonight.  It was very interesting, as compared to all the other times I studied Matthew 1.  We actually gained some insight into the names of the geneology.

It's been some time since I posted any insights from reading Bible. Here is some:

``Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.''

We are indeed those who need not strive (in some sense) with our own might. Let us trust that the Lord is God. Be still, cease striving with our own might, put our faith in him. Often we feel we need to do certain things in order to earn his love. No, his love is unconditional. We simply need to come and accept his love. He is love, he loves us. Salvation has nothing to do with our deeds; we are incapable in doing anything to prove our worth. Just believe and trust. He will provide.

``For in him we live and move and have our being.''

Let us remember to live and move and have our being in him all the time. Not just some of the days when we go to church. Let our Savior be the Lord of our lives and acknowledge him in all things.

``Now the Bereans [. . .] received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.''

When I go to (academic) lectures, I always have this mindset: ``I might not be as learned, but I might be smarter than the professor.'' This is not to boast, but remember these are from local community colleges. Anyhow, I used to only listen to lecture when I am trying to pick out wrong information. For fun? For classmates benefit? For myself? Who knows. But the point here is, I do not examine to see if the spiritual sharings we hear all around us are true or not. A classic example is the pharse ``One saved, the whole household saved.'' I am tired. I shall post about that phrase and my research/thoughts on that phrase later.

``Explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead.''

This reminds me of Ac 9:22: ``But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.'' Now Charley once talked to me about this, so I still remember. At that time, I did not look at these words carefully. Now I looked at it, it seems like Paul is proving that what Jesus (the person) did was what Christ was prophesied to do, showing that the historical Jesus, who existed in the flesh, is actually the Christ. This is different from us trying to prove that God exist or other stuff that perhaps cannot be proven. Do not use this to think that Paul can but we cannot use our rational mind to accomplish certain tasks. Paul was using the Bible as a basis. Now our small group gathering we actually talked briefly about this. Based on a set of values (or ``assumptions''), we can see certain guidelines that seems right (``logical''). This logical deduction process is not flawed EVEN IF the assumtions were false. The result is simply not valid whenever the assumptions are not valid. The logic process is not itself invalidated by the truthfulness of the assumptions. In this case, perhaps it is futile to attempt to prove our points to non-Christians using the Bible as a basis. However, when discussing issues with believers, it is right to go back to the Bible to seek answers.
The motive of this post is not important, however, I will still mention it: Gary, several months ago, posted a long message on the SCACF forum, which is now dead. One of the questions in it addressed the validity of using the Bible to prove our faith. (Or something of the like.) Causing me to have this question sitting in my head awaiting the right moment to be comtemplated by.

``Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.''

Eh? Does this mean basically to not associate with a fool at all?

``[. . .] None of the disciples dared ask him, `Who are you?' They knew it was the Lord.''

If they knew it was the Lord, they do not need to ask ``Who are you?'' so they would not be afraid to ask him. Contrapositively, since they dared not ask him, they had motivations to ask him, so they actually are not sure that he is the Lord. So they knew yet they did not know. (?)

``I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.''

I think sometimes I try to hard to use my own strength to accomplish works that I am not capable of doing. I must rely more on him. Actually, I must rely solely and completely on him. This still needs to be learned.

``They would not confess their faith [. . .] for they loved priase from men more than priase from God.''

This reminds me of Gal 1:10: ``Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.''

Perhaps this is one of the benefits of memorizing Bible verses, one receives confirmation when reading other parts of the Scripture. We must accept and realize that, sometimes, men of this world is simply not going to approve of our ways. We must stand firm, and follow the Way (i.e. the Lord, Jn 14:6, etc.) and not fall into the temptation of the ways of this world. Even though we live in the world, we are not of the world. May the Holy Spirit guard our hearts daily.