Expand Your Daily Bible Study

In the recent years, polls have shown that Biblical knowledge is at an all time low.  Mainstream Christianity is going towards a humanist-centric religion, based on how we feel, what we think, what others tell us outside our religion, what other religions do, and what popular consensus is with the masses.  Quite honestly, I wish these groups would stop calling themselves Christians because they hold true to almost none of the tenants of Christianity and those that they do, they have seriously twisted.

New Posts Starting Monday!!!

 

Join me next Monday for the start of a new blog series that will last for several weeks.  I also have some other posts that will pop up in the next couple of weeks as well.

See you Monday!

through His grace alone!

Sarah

No, I do not know everything!

If you were to ask me if I am very sure in the beliefs that I have, it would be a resounding “Yes!”  It’s not that I think I know everything, but that I have spent many years reading amazing works by the saints, studying my Bible, and listening to godly men preach the Bible.  I am most assured of the most important doctrines of faith and salvation; I know my salvation is secured.

And if you were to debate me on many other things, you would have to do a mighty job of convincing me with the Bible that your conflicting view is the correct one.  This does not mean that I am not open to admitting that I am wrong, but I have spent much time learning about the things that I speak of to be able to be almost sure that what I believe is correct.

There is a term that you probably haven’t heard: seminoid.  It describes a person who enters seminary.  Their whole focus in life becomes learning about theology and how to accurately argue those points.  However, this particular person becomes so puffed up with pride that they argue and often cause problems based on their attitude of arrogance and condescension.

I don’t think that this just applies to people within seminary but to anyone who makes it a goal to really study theology.  It is a pitfall that must be avoided when trying to learn more about the things of God.

“Never be wise in your own sight” (Romans 12:16b).

While I love, love, love! theology and discussing theology, I am also very aware that I don’t know everything.  There are parts of the Bible that I am not as familiar with as other parts.  Just like most people, there are certain books of the Bible that I gravitate more to than others.  And then there are other books that are harder for me to deeply understand (I’m calling out you, Isaiah and Revelation!).

I also have certain presuppositions that I am not always aware of consciously.  Recently, one of these presuppositions came to my awareness.  Many times when studying theology, you will come across two opposing view points.  The particular ones I came across, I couldn’t understand why each side thought they opposed each other.  I also didn’t understand how either could be correct.  Part of this, I believe was because I didn’t (and still don’t) understand fully what each was trying to purport.  However, as I searched for the answers to my many unanswered questions, I realized that I had some presuppositions that were clouding my very honest search for the truth.

Now, let me be very clear.  I do NOT define my beliefs on what theology is out there.  When I look into and learn about theology, I try to understand how my beliefs fit with what many others have agreed on is the Truth.  This is a way for me to try to “prove” what I believe is true to myself.  If many other true saints have decided that this one truth is the Truth, and I disagree… Well, how do I know what I believe is the Truth?  It’s not that I then change my belief, but I had better be able to back it up with Scripture.  It is a way to check out what I believe, and not to just keep believing something I heard from someone somewhere that I really can’t remember.

Now, this particular presupposition had no affect on my beliefs of salvation, the way I should live, or anything of utmost importance.  However, as I read the Bible, I see now that some areas have more meaning or are more understandable now that I am aware.  So, while I am always trying to provide only the Truth on my blog, I understand that I am not perfect.  I don’t get everything.  I don’t understand everything.  And for that matter, I will never get everything.  It is just a fact of being a human in this fallen world.  This is why discernment is still important.  Please understand that while I try to keep my beliefs and my interpretation of the Bible as pure as humanly possible, I am still that, human.  And that is also why I would love to hear from you if you disagree with me on something!  Please, don’t keep silent if you don’t believe exactly what I believe.  While I expect all comments to be made respectfully and with Scripture to back it up, I welcome what you have to say.  I hope that my blog becomes a place of learning, of challenging, and of understanding.

And for those of you who think that all you have to do is just read your Bible some and that’s it, I challenge you to consider looking into theology.  I challenge you to read some books by the true saints (beware, there are many out there right now that are false teachers, who spin Bible verses to fit what they want or are bringing in beliefs from other religions to affect their version of Christianity).  Yes, you can get everything that you need out of the Bible, but you come with your own culture, your own upbringing, and your own presuppositions that may cloud how you interpret the Bible.  Use it as a way to challenge yourself to know that what you believe is the Truth.

through His grace alone!

Sarah

Walking the Path in 2015—Part Three

 

Last week, I wrote about the specific areas that I was going to work on for 2015.  My hope through this short series was just to show you my way of trying to be intentional in my life.  God has His plans for my life, and I know that I usually uncover them as I walk with Him.  However, that does not mean that I can’t have a plan for my life to help me follow what He wants.  And I am always ready for all of my plans to go out the window, if He so chooses to change my course.  Actually, by not thinking that these plans are set in stone and coming back many times throughout the year to re-evaluate, I make sure that I am first seeking what He wants and then setting my goals to do what He wants in my life.

And that brings me to my last category, which is health.  For me, this is a big one.  As Mark loves to say, I “play disorder bingo where no one is the winner.”  For years, I have been trying to find ways to either eliminate or improve health issues.  This has been hard, since most medications make me much sicker than the actual disorder.  I have been left to find natural ways or just deal.  I choose to try to improve my health.

Walking the Path in 2015—Part Two

Last week, I shared with you how 2014 went.  Part of what helps me to decide what I want to work towards for the next year is to see how God has worked in my life in the past year.  Then from there I try to make goals that will guide how I want to live the next year.  These goals are flexible and I revisit them several times throughout the year.  They always change from the beginning of the year to the end as God guides me on my path.

My goals really fall into four categories each year: God, husband, home, and health.  Could I come up with more things?  Yes, but these are really the four areas that I want to be intentional about.  I will go over each one of the areas, and then tell you one or two of the many goals I have set for each to give you an idea.  If you would like to do this too, your categories and subsequent goals will obviously look different, but this should give you a general idea how to set goals that will work with how God works and changes your life.

Walking the Path in 2015—Part One

 

Now that it is a new year, I wanted to share a little bit about our previous year and what we are looking forward to in this new year.  Our lives look much different than they did (and oddly the same) at the beginning of 2014, and we have certainly changed ourselves.

Every year for the past several years I have taken the time at the beginning of a new year to examine my life and set goals that I want to work towards.  I don’t call them resolutions because they are not as firm or as concrete as normal “New Year’s Resolutions.”  They also tend to be about the same every year, not because I don’t accomplish goals, but more of the fact that it is a continuation on working to be a better person, wife, and Christian.  There is no end point to my goals and they are definitely fluid in the fact that I revisit them every so often through the year and adjust to fit where I am in life and correct what may not be working.

Why we write, when we write…

Not only do I write for this blog, but I also like reading several blogs.  Some are about homemaking, some are about homesteading, and some are about Christian topics.  When Mark and I talked about starting a blog, we talked about what we wanted to write and why we wanted to write.

Out in the “Christian” sphere of books and blogs, there is a spectrum of ideas and beliefs.  Most of the problems stem from if you believe the Bible is true and what percentage of it you believe is true.  The other set of problems comes from incorrectly interpreting the Bible by either pulling verses out of context or not correctly interpreting them from the style that they are written in.  That’s how you can call yourself a Christian and believe completely opposite things from someone else who calls themselves a Christian (among other reasons).

One of our foundational beliefs is that the Bible is 100% true and that we believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible.  That means that we believe that every word in the Bible, as it was put together with 66 books in the original language, is true and that if the style it was written in speaks of it as an actual event, then we believe that it truly did happen sometime is the past.

Because of this belief, and the many beliefs that are not lined up with ours, we wanted to start a blog.  We wanted a place to encourage other Christians to be built up and at times to be challenged to a deeper walk in their faith.  And we do this all for the glory of God.  We do it because it is what He has commanded in His Word.

This is also the reason why we do not write regularly.  We’ve read all the articles that say if you want a successful blog, you must write regularly.  While we would love to do that, and hope to someday get ahead of schedule so that we can post on a regular basis, that is not where we are in our life.  And we would rather have an unsuccessful blog in terms of number of hits to our sites than post information that was written in haste just to make a deadline.  Usually in haste is where mistakes will be made or unclear writing will make it seem like we are saying something that we are not.  While these will still happen because we are human and make mistakes, we do not want to be careless in what we write.  Also, we both read every blog post that is added to either of our blogs.  Sometimes this too adds a delay of when a post is added.

What we also want to say is that we appreciate everyone who does check into our blogs for our posts.  And if you are a person who doesn’t want to check to see if there is a new post to either of our blogs, then look to the right of this webpage for the “Follow by Email” box; if you enter your email, you can get posts sent directly to your email when we put up a new one.  And it’s really easy to unsubscribe to it at any time.  Just click the “unsubscribe” at the end of any of the emails you get from our blogs.

Also, we will begin with new posts to each of our blogs this month.  We have a little lull in our schedule right now that we intend to start writing again.  And we are preparing for when things get busier within the next few months.

Thanks for your understanding of our reasons for the sporadic writings.  And we absolutely love your comments, even if you don’t agree as long as it is respectful.  We hope that you find our blogs an encouragement and at times a challenge to live more for Christ each day.

through His grace alone!

Sarah