Contents.
Bible lessons and Teaching tips -
Contents.
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Maurice Sweetsur
Contents.
Title.
68. God’s
love.
67. The Stat of
Bethlehem.
66. Helping
children to defend their faith.
65. Keeping
discipline in your children’s class.
64. Did God really create the earth
in six days?
63. God v. Santa
Claus.
62. How many different types of
Christians are there?
61. - How old is the earth?
60. - God's Diary.
59 - Understanding Biblical Miracles.
58 - Developing good habits and
making good choices.
57 - What do children
believe?
56. God's unconditiomal love.
55. Christian
Myths.
54. Playing for God's
team
53.
Discipleship.
52. Getting to know your
children.
51. The road of
life.
50. The Church.
49. What children need to
understand about God.
48. The twelve days of
Christmas.
47. Big bang or big
mess?
46. The day of
rest.
45. Dead to the
world.
44. Using Christian songs to teach
Biblical truths (Part 2).
44. Using Christian songs to teach
Biblical truths.
43. Our amazing
earth.
42. Commitment to Christ - Two
analogies.
41. Symbols of
Christmas.
40. Made in the image of
God.
39. Why Christians praise
God.
38. The progressive revelation of
God.
37. Children are
special.
36. Steps to forgiving
others.
35. Presenting puppet skits and
plays.
34. Religion or
Christianity.
33. Our lives are on loan from
God.
32. Peer
pressure.
31. Teaching children to
P.R.A.Y.
30.Teaching Bible stories as real
history.
29. Memory verses on cardboard
discs.
28. Assurance of
salvation.
27. New Life in
Christ.
26. Head belief or heart
belief?
25. The Ten
Commandments.
24. Knowing Jesus or knowing about
Jesus?
23. The Good Samaritan.
Teaching
John 3.16.
Overcoming discipline problems - by making your lessons fun and
exciting.
1. Getting children to pray in public.
2. How we should pray (A
lesson from blind Bartimaeus).
3. Ideas for teaching the David and Goliath
story.
4. Ideas on teaching about Creation.
5. Developing good
habits.
A. Teaching children how to make right choices.
B. Teaching
children to be generous givers.
6. Use of Balloon modelling in Children's
ministry.
7. Use of Ventriloquism to teach class rules.
8. Leading
children to Christ.
9. Noah's ark and the flood.
10. Use of
storytelling.
11. What is love?
12. The Lord's prayer.
13, Teaching
Memory verses.
14. What's in a name?
15. Telling the C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S.
story.
16. How God speaks to us.
What do children believe?
17. Ideas
for teaching about Zacchaeus.
18. Jesus Understands (Easter).
19. Teaching
Bible stories in context.
Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what
we believe?
20. Creation and Evolution.
21. The lost sheep.
22. The
lost son.
T.T. 68. God’s
love.
An old song entitled “More than
yesterday” is about a girl who asks a boy “How much do you love me?” His answer
is “I love you more than yesterday, but less than tomorrow.” In other words he
was telling the girl that his love for her was increasing every
day.
I wondered if God loves us in a
similar way. Is His love for us growing stronger every day?
The answer to the question is “No”.
The reason is that God already loves us to the maximum extent. He can never love
us any more than He does today, or any less than He does today. God may not like
some of the things we do, especially if we ignore Him or are nasty to other
people, but He will still love us to the maximum because “God is
love.”
If anyone asks “How much does God
love me?” Point them to the cross. You cannot love anyone more than giving up
your life for them.
T.T. 67. The Star of Bethlehem.
T.T. 67. The Star
of Bethlehem.
Matthew’s Gospel records the story
of a bright star that led the Magi (wise men) from the East to Bethlehem, where it stopped
over the home of Jesus. This story has puzzled readers for centuries because the
”star” is ascribed attributes that other stars do not possess, namely that it
was very bright, moved, and then was able to come to a
stop.
Some have suggested that the star of
Bethlehem might
have been a Supernova (an exploding star). These are certainly very bright, but
they don’t move or stop. Others have suggested that the “star” might have been a
comet. These are also bright and they do move across the sky, but they certainly
do not come to a stop. Others have suggested that the star was simply “The Glory
of God” and others that it was a pure piece of fiction, written by Matthew to
add a supernatural element to the account of Christ’s
birth.
In Bible times everything in the
night sky was called a star. Although most of them moved only slowly (we now
know that stars appear to move because the earth is rotating), some did move
relatively quickly. These were called “wandering stars”. We now know that these
“wandering stars” are actually other planets which travel around the sun. This
movement, coupled with the earth’s rotation, means that they appear to move
relatively quickly.
In the 17th century the
German astronomer Johannes Kepler worked out the how all the planets move. This
means that we can now find out the position of all the planets, viewed from any
place on earth, at any time in the past or future. We also know that when two
planets appear to come together as viewed from the earth (a conjunction) their
brightness is added together, thus giving the appearance of a very bright star.
A conjunction of two planets thus
seems to be a possibility for “the star of Bethlehem”. However, there is still the other
problem – how could such a “star” come to a stop? Here again Kepler comes to our
aid. Because of each planet’s movement and the earth’s own rotation and travel
around the sun, planets can appear to slow down, pause (or stop), and then
change direction as they began moving again.
Thus a conjunction appears to be a
real possibility for “the star of Bethlehem”, but did such a conjunction happen
around the time of Jesus’ birth? It is thought that Jesus was born about 4BC.
However, Matthew indicates that when the Magi visited he was in a house and
possibly a “toddler”. So we probably need to be looking for a conjunction a few
years later than 4BC.
As the Magi came from the East,
probably Babylon (modern Iraq), could they have seen a conjunction in the
West (Bethlehem)? Yes they could have. Venus is the
brightest of the planets and Jupiter the largest. We now know that a conjunction
of these planets took place over Bethlehem (as viewed from the East) in 2BC. The
exact date on which this occurred is rather interesting – it was on December
25th!
We don’t know the actual date of
Jesus’ birth, but there are many different traditions and theories as to why
Christmas is celebrated on December 25th..Many believe, however, that it is too
much of a coincidence that the date of our present Christmas happens to be the
date on which this conjunction over Bethlehem occurred. Thus, December
25th. 2BC could well be the FIRST Christmas.
Teaching tip 66. Helping children to defend their faith.
T.T. 66. Helping
children to defend their faith.
In my teaching tip “What do children
believe” (Newsletter 89), I looked at the problem of children from non-Christian
homes being taught Biblical truths by their Bible teachers and then having their
parents or secular teachers contradicting it.
This problem was brought home to me
quite recently. Having completed my “Bible in schools” lesson in a state school,
the class teacher returned and was immediately asked by one of the children “Do
you believe the Bible?” The teacher’s answer was “No I don’t.” What is that
pupil and the others who overheard then supposed to believe?
I have witnessed similar situations
a number of times over the years. Once a 6 year old boy was pulled aside by his
class teacher to have a “one to one” session with her, at the same time and in
the same room as I was teaching the remaining pupils my “Bible” lesson. The boy
asked his teacher “What is fiction?” She replied “Fiction is like myths and
religion. It didn’t really happen.” Her comment was clearly heard by myself and
all the other children. If she could make comments like that in the presence of
the “Bible” teacher, what would she, and others liker, say to the children when
no “Bible” teacher is present?
Although there is no “magic”
solution to the above problem I believe that, when teaching children from
non-Christian backgrounds, we could do five things
:-
- Pray for the
children. Never underestimate the power of prayer and remember that God’s Word
as we speak it is far more powerful than any words of human origin.
- Encourage the children to always use
their minds and think for themselves. Teach the children not to accept any
statement as true, simply because someone says it is - even if that person is
their Bible teacher! Often, if we really examine a belief, the inconsistencies
and falsehoods soon become apparent.
- Teach the children that when a
person says “I don’t believe in God” or “I don’t believe that God wrote the
Bible”, in most cases it is not that the person cannot believe, but rather that
they will not believe. To
believe in God or a Creator means that we have to admit that He made us, and
therefore He owns us. Although He will never force us to do anything we don’t
want to do, He has every right to tell us how we should lead our lives. Some
people don’t like that idea as they would rather do whatever they want to do.
They therefore try to overcome this problem by denying God’s existence, or that
the Bible is “God’s word”. However if the unbeliever were challenged as to why
they don’t believe, by asking such questions as “Have you checked it out for
yourself, have you looked at the evidence?” Or, “Have you actually read the
Bible yourself?”, you will probably find that they haven’t.
- Remind the children that the
evidence of a Creator / God is all around them. We only have to look at the sky
or the many wonderful living things around us to see this. Our common sense and
experience teaches us that nothing can make itself, everything has to have a
creator / maker. Although human beings can make many wonderful things, they have
to have starting materials to do so. We cannot make anything out of nothing, and
we cannot make anything living from anything that is not living. Only God can do
those two things.
- Emphasise the importance of the
Bible. State that Christians believe the Bible is God's Word, and therefore what
the Bible says, God says. If a particular belief or idea clearly contradicts
what the Bible says, it should be rejected. Ultimately it comes down to who we
choose to believe. Do we believe God who was there at the beginning of time,
knows everything, is never wrong and cannot lie, or do we believe people who
were not there at the beginning, only know a tiny fraction of all there is to
know, are often wrong and sometimes lie?
Teaching tip 65. Keeping discipline in your Children's class.
T.T. 65. Keeping
discipline in your children’s class.
As every teacher will tell you, it
is important to maintain discipline in your children’s class. Without proper
discipline, you will not only get frustrated, but the children won’t learn very
much – even those who wish to learn will be distracted by those who
don’t.
I discovered many years ago that the
best way to maintain discipline was to endeavour to make all my lessons fun and
exciting. I wrote an article on this, which I will reproduce below. There are,
however, a few children who will still tend to misbehave, no matter how exciting
your lesson is. What can we do in this situation?
Unfortunately, children’s teachers
are now very much restricted in their discipline options. Even removing a child
from your class is now no longer an option in most schools or churches. There
are, however, still a number of discipline options we can try out. I have found
that one method may work for one group but not for another and vice versa. All
methods are based on either the “carrot” or the “stick”
approach.
The “Stick”
approach.
1. Time out. The familiar
“time out” is still a popular method. Most children don’t like being excluded
from the rest of the group, so you could ask the unruly child to go and sit in a
remote part of the room or, if the children are gathered on the floor, to go and
sit at their desk.
A quite effective variation of this
method is to ask the unruly child to stand up and remain standing until you ask
them to sit down again. The main drawback of this is that some children seem
incapable of standing for more than 1 or 2 minutes and will sit down again. In
extreme cases a child may refuse to stand up in the first place, and this of
course will only cause more problems – Get to know your
children.
2. A rebuke. Sometimes a word
of rebuke is all that is needed to get a child to improve their behaviour.
However, be very carful of how you rebuke a normally well behaved child. They
won’t be used to getting told off, so even a mild rebuke may easily upset them.
On the other hand some children won’t respond to a rebuke no matter how severe
or how often you do it.
3. Exclusion. Most children
love to be involved in class activities, for example being chosen to pray, read
the Bible, be part of a skit a puppet play, or other special activity. Inform
the unruly child that they weren’t considered for this because of their
unacceptable behaviour.
4. An unpopular activity.
This is a method I have recently started to use with spectacularly good results.
If the majority of the class are misbehaved, the following lesson I give them an
unpopular activity for the whole of the session, making it clear that I am doing
this because of their previous unacceptable behaviour. You could even divide
your class, giving the “unpopular” activity only to those who misbehaved, and
having a “normal” lesson for those who didn’t.
In my case, I choose the “unpopular”
activity to be work (activity) sheets. Most children enjoy working on these –
but not for the whole lesson! I have subsequently found that even the mere
threat of an unpopular activity has so far been enough to maintain good
discipline.
The “Carrot”
approach.
Rewards. I am always reluctant to give
rewards as a method of improving discipline, but nevertheless it can be quite
effective.
1. Tell the children that you will
choose the “best behaved” to participate in any special
activity.
2. Take along two or three
attractive prizes to give out to the “best behaved” at the end of your lesson. I
usually use balloon models as they are very popular and relatively inexpensive.
Note. Most schools now discourage the giving out of lollies (sweets /
candy) to the children.
You may find, however, that even the
promise of a reward will not be enough to tempt some children to improve their
behaviour. Experience has shown them that they are incapable of being amongst
the best behaved, so they don’t bother trying. In this case, you could promise
the prizes to the “most improved” rather than the
“best”.
As a variation, I sometimes take to
the class a larger number of prizes (say five or six) I place them on my left
and explain that I will be giving them to the “most deserved” children at the
lesson conclusion – as long as there are still any prizes remaining on my left.
Explain that if any child misbehaves, I will take one of the prizes and place it
on my right. Explain that all prizes remaining on my left will be given away.
Those on my right will be taken home with me.
Even if there is an improvement in
discipline as the children see their potential prize pile being reduced, or if
they plead with you to still give all the prizes away, don’t be tempted to do
so. It is important for the children to understand that you will always
keep your promises, whether “good” or “bad”.
Overcoming
discipline problems by making your lessons fun and
exciting.
There has
been much written about how best to discipline 'problem' classes. I certainly
don't profess to be an expert on the subject, but I would like to share my own
experience in the hope that it will be a help to you.
When I first
started teaching Bible classes, I had my share of discipline problems,
especially from the older boys. I soon realised, however, that many children
were causing trouble simply because they were bored with my lessons!
I
therefore determined to make my lessons more fun and exciting. I believe that
this is something we must all do, otherwise many of the children - even if they
don't actually misbehave - will simply "turn off." Fortunately, there are many
ways we can do this. Here are a few suggestions.
Tell familiar stories
from unusual angles, to keep the children guessing. e.g. The Good Samaritan from
the point of view of the donkey, Daniel, from a lion's viewpoint, Jonah, as seen
by the large fish, David and Goliath from the Giant's perspective. (Don't
mention the Giant's name till the end - to keep your class wondering!). etc
etc.
If your class is well behaved, use skits involving the children -
most Bible stories can be adapted to be told in this way. If your class cannot
be trusted to do this properly, use puppet skits. I record the skit beforehand,
and get children to operate the puppets. Check out http://www.puppetresources.com/ for
an extensive array of skits.
Use ventriloquism. You don't need a special
dummy. A hand puppet will do. And you don't have to be expert. If you use good
material, the children will love it, and won't mind if they see your mouth
moving a little.
Teach memory verses in lots of different ways. The
number is only limited by your own imagination.
Review your teaching with
quizzes. Noughts and crosses (tic tac toe) is a popular way to do
this.
Dress up as a Bible character, and tell his/her story with a
monologue. Nebuchadnezzar, telling about the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace,
and the cripple who was brought to Jesus by his four friends, have worked well
for me.
Use lots of object lessons to illustrate your teaching points.
Better still, use illusions, which are essentially object lessons with "special
effects." Many illusions are very easy to do, but will still baffle your class.
Two excellent sources of illusions are http://www.childrensministry.org/
and http://www.onewaystreet.com/ (which also
has an excellent range of ventriloquism skits). Also, many illusions, especially
those involving paper cutting or ropes, cost nothing to do.
Result ? I
can now say that I rarely have any discipline problems. I don't think this is
because my present classes have generally better behaved children in them, but
rather because I am now better able to keep their attention.
I am not
saying that we should abandon our programs so as to keep the children
entertained, but if they are not happy, they won't learn much anyway and will be
put off the church in later years. We can still teach our programs, but we
should all be continually searching for more interesting and exciting ways to do
it. We owe this both to our children and to the Lord.
T.T. 63. God v. Santa Claus.
T.T. 63. God v.
Santa Claus.
God is a good and generous God who
wants the very best for us. However, it is important to teach children that He
is NOT like a Santa Claus.
Some people seem to think that God
is like a Santa Claus. They only seem to talk to Him when they want something
from Him. Their prayers are usually selfish, such as “Give me.” “Help me.” Give
my mum this.” “Help my dad do that.”
Although there is a place for such
prayers, we need to remember that God does not exist to serve us. Rather, we
exist to serve Him.
The best type of prayers are when we
place God at the centre of them, such as :-
“Here I am. How can I serve You
today?”
“How can I serve you more
effectively?”
“How can I show your love to
others?”
“Help me to know you
better.”
“Help me to love you
more.”
Conclusion.
If our attitude is right and our
greatest desire is to please God, He will bless us and take care of all our
needs.
T.T. 64. Did God really create the earth in six days>
T.T. 64. Did God
really create the earth in six days?
When I first read in the Bible that
God created the earth in six days and then rested on the seventh, I was shocked.
I thought “Why did He take so long, and why did He then take a rest for a day?
For most of my life I was an
atheist, but once I started believing in God then, by definition, I understood
that He was all powerful and could do absolutely anything instantly, and would
never need to rest.
Why then did God take six days to
create the earth, rather than doing it in a split second? I believe that it was
to set us an example of how we should organise our lives. He has designed us in
such a way that we can work (or study) for six days without any harm coming to
our bodies or minds – provided we make it a habit to take a rest, or break, from
our normal activities one day in every seven. That is the reason we have a seven
day week.
In the past some countries, such as
France and Russia,
have tried to abolish the seven day week in favour of a shorter or longer week.
But they have all had to revert back to the seven day week. Any other system
just does not work.
T.T. 62 - How many types of Christians are there?
T.T.
62 - How many types of Christians are there?
The answer is ONE. You need to understand what a
Christian really is. If you ask most people what a Christian is, they will
probably reply something like "A person who goes to church", or, "A person who
prays a lot and reads the Bible", or, "A person who does lots of good deeds and
is always kind to others". All these things are good, but none of them make a
person a Christian. Rather, these are some of the things that Christians do -
because they already are Christians! Real Christians do these things because
they can't help themselves. They are "natural" to them because Jesus has changed
them on the insides, and given them a God-given desire to do these things, which
is simply an outward expression of their new love for both God and other
people.
Of course non-Christians can also do some or all of the above
things, but that doesn't make them Christians. Some people do these things to
try and please God - because they don't understand that God's forgiveness and
acceptance can never be earned, no matter how 'good' they are, or how hard they
try. Others do these things to try and impress people, so that they will think
well of them, or be good to them in return.
One of the best ways of
understanding what a real Christian really is, is to consider the three words :-
CHRIST IN PERSON. When you condense these words into one, you are left with
CHRISTIAN.
Thus, CHRIST IN PERSON = CHRISTIAN.
In other words, a
Christian is a person in whom Jesus Christ is living. And He can only live in
you if you invite Him to do so asking Him to forgive your sins (wrongdoing) and
to come and take charge of your life.
I understand why somebody could ask
the above question. There are thousands of different religions in the world, the
followers of some of the best known being the Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and
Jews. Even among the Christian faith, there are many different Denominations or
types of church. It can all be rather confusing to the
outsider.
The first thing to realise is that
Christianity is not a religion. In fact, it is the opposite of religion.
Religion is all about us trying to please God, to reach Him by doing good works.
On the other hand, Christianity is all about God coming down to us as Jesus and
meeting us where we are. All we are required to realise that it is impossible to
please God by our own good deeds and to accept what Jesus has done for us on the
cross. It is the difference between trying and trusting. (See Figure below).
No matter how hard we try, we can never reach God by our good deeds.
There are two radical differences
between all religions and Christianity.
1. Religions teach that our only way
to God and Heaven is through our own Good works.
2. Religions deny that Jesus is God.
(Many believe that Jesus was a good man or a Prophet, but they deny His
divinity).
At the centre of the Christian faith
is the belief that Jesus is God, and that we can ony reach God and Heaven
through Him (see John 14.6).
Different Christian
churches.
There are three different types of
Christian churches. They differ because of what they have as their FINAL
AUTHORITY for what they believe and consequently the way they
live.
1. The Roman
Catholics.
Roman Catholics have as their final
authority their church leaders, in other words the declarations of their Popes,
past and present. They believe that the Pope is God's spokesman on earth, and
that therefore what the Pope says is what God says. Also, as God is infallible,
so must be the Pope's declarations.
The problem arises when one Pope may
contradict what a former Pope had declared, or what is taught in the
Bible.
2. The Liberal
churches.
This group have as their final
authority human reason. They respect the Bible and what various church leaders
have said, but if this is against what their mind tells them is true, they
reject it. For example, they may deny most of the miracles recorded in the Bible
such as the bodily resurrection of Christ and attempt to explain them away.
Unfortunately, if you remove the miraculous from the Bible, you are just left
with a few interesting stories and some good moral
teaching.
3. The Evangelical
churches.
The Bible is their final authority. They use their human
reason, and they appoint leaders, but when these contradict the Bible, they
submit to the authority of the latter, believing that it is the inspired and
infallible Word of God.
Even among the Evangelical group of churches,
there are many different denominations, and variations in what they believe and
teach. However, many of these differences are 'minor doctrines' and ultimately
not important to our salvation. Such 'minor doctrines' include Water Baptism -
i.e. the Baptism of infants or 'Believers', the present day operation of the
gifts of the Spirit, the method of Church government, the role of women in the
church and the correct interpretation of the 'End Times'.
I would
suggest, however, that there are six 'Major doctrines' that Evangelical churches
have in common, and around which they can have true unity. These are:-
1.The Divinity of Christ.
2. The substitutionary death of Jesus on
the cross for our sins.
3. The bodily resurrection of Jesus.
4. Our need
to be 'Born Again'.
5. God accepts us on the basis of our faith in Jesus
alone.
6. The Bible, as first given, is the divine and infallible 'Word of
God'.
We should remember, however, that true Christians can be
found in all these three types of churches. The type of church you attend
doesn't determine whether you are a Christian or not. A true Christian (CHRIST
IN PERSON) is simply someone with Christ living within them, because He has been
invited to do so.
T.T. 61 - How old is the earth?
T.T. 61 - How
old is the earth?
The only way that anyone could know
the age of the earth would be if they were present when it was being formed. As
only the Creator Himself was present, He is the only one who could tell you when
He made it. Although the Bible doesn't tell us exactly when the earth was
created, by a careful reading of its recorded events and time spans between
them, we can conclude that the earth is about 6,000 years old. It may possibly
be slightly older than this, but not by much.
Contrary to what some people
believe, Science cannot tell us how old the earth is This is because scientific
experiments can only be performed in the present, and not the past. Therefore,
as no human was present when the earth was first formed, we cannot look to any
human to give us a definitive answer.
There are, however, numerous ways in
which people can try to estimate the age of the earth. (For a more
detailed revue, see the Creation Ministries International web site).These
estimates vary from just a few thousand years (which are close to the age
derived from the Biblical record) to about five billion years! However,
all these methods depend upon many assumptions, mainly that the change
processes that we can presently observe happening on the earth having
always occurred at the same rate. No-one can know this.
The fact that different methods of
estimating the earth's age, and indeed different scientific laboratories using
the same method, come up with very different answers, suggest that conditions on
the earth have not always been the same and demonstrate how unreliable such
findings are.
Which earth age-estimation methods a
person chooses to believe will depend on their world view. Biblical Christians
will obviously accept the "young earth" estimates, whereas Evolutionists will
choose to accept the "old earth" estimates. That is because for evolution to be
even remotely possible it would require aeons of time for all the necessary
changes to take place as we evolved from chemicals to a living single cell, and
then into man, not to mention all the many different life forms we find
today.
Most of these methods actually
conclude that the earth is "young", usually giving values of between about 5,000
to 1 million years. The only earth age-estimation methods that give answers of
billions of years are the radiometric dating methods in which the rate at which
one type of chemical element is changed into another is measured. For example,
if we know that element A in the earth is slowly changing to element B, then by
measuring the present rate of change, and the amount of A and B presently in the
sample, we can calculate how long the process has been occurring, and thus how
long ago it was first formed. However, apart from assuming that the rate of
change has always been constant, we need to assume that there was no "B" present
at the beginning, and also that no "B" was leached out of the sample over the
supposed billions of years that this was taking place. This no-one can possibly
know!
Does it really matter whether we believe that the
earth is "young" or "old"?
I believe it does because if we
doubt the accuracy of the very first part of the Bible, what justification have
we foe believing other parts of it, such as when it talks about the resurrection
of Jesus and the means of obtaining eternal life through Him?
T.T. 60 - God's Diary.
T.T. 60 - God's
Diary.
Diaries can be very useful. We can use them to
record things we have done that we might like to remember, or as a way to remind
us of future important dates like birthdays or holidays. We would all agree,
however, that some events in our lives are more important than others. I think
that is also true for God. I think that if He had a diary, six events would
stand out as being the most important of all in his relationship with us. By
talking about these, we can give a summary of the entire Bible
message.
As you talk about each event, you could show a
simple 6-page book, entitled "God's Diary, each page having the name of that
particular event written on it.
1. Creation. In the
beginning God spoke and the earth was formed. (You could illustrate this with a
thumb tip (Object Lesson 77, Newsletter 89). The earth was perfect, and people
were God's greatest creations made in His own image and for friendship with him.
But the very first people disobeyed God, and that act resulted in sin coming
into the world and spoiling it all.
2. God became a man.
God still loved the people of the world, and so He became a man Himself. We
called him Jesus. By doing this, God was able to more fully reveal his nature to
us and demonstrate how passionately He loves us. While Jesus was here on earth,
he was totally human. For example, he could only be in one place at a time and
got tired, hungry, thirsty, etc, just like us. He was still God, but left his
divine (Godly) qualities behind in heaven. Jesus did heal the sick and perform
miracles, but through the power of the Holy Spirit (See Newsletter 80 - "Can
Christians perform miracles?).
3.He died for us. Jesus
didn't die of a disease, accident or old age. No. He died as our Substitute. He
allowed Himself to be crucified by wicked men so that He could pay the price for
our sins by being punished instead of us. (You could illustrate this by telling
the story of the Judge and his friend "A free pardon", Newsletter
41).
4. He rose again. On the third day,
Jesus rose victorious from the dead, demonstrating that He had beaten the power
of death, sin, sickness and every form of evil. The good news is, He didn't do
it for himself. He did it for us, and invites us to share in His victory.
The difference between Christianity and other religions is that
our Leader is alive! Moslems or Buddhists, for example, could take you to the
graves of their leaders and tell you that great or good as they were, their
bones ore now rotting away under the ground. On the other hand, Christians could
take you to a cave just outside Jerusalem and say "Our leader, Jesus died and
his body was placed in that cave. But He is not there now. He rose from the dead
and is alive for evermore!"
5. He returned to heaven. Six weeks
after he rose from the dead, Jesus returned to heaven. That's where he is now,
praying for us and preparing a home for us. However, He still works through His
followers to carry on his work of defeating evil and making this earth perfect
once more. The good news is that in this war against evil, WE WIN - because the
decisive battle has already been fought and won by Jesus when He rose from the
dead.
6. He is coming back again. This is the
only one of the six major events in "God's Diary" that is still to happen. But
as God knows the future and always keeps His promises, it is just as certain to
take place as the first five. One day, Jesus will return to earth for all his
followers. He will instantly change us by giving us a new spiritual,
everlasting, body that will never get hungry, thirsty, tired, sick, etc. And
then He will take us to be with Him in heaven for ever. What a wonderful future
we have to look forward to!
Expiry date.
Just as our diaries have an expiry date on them (Usually
December 31st.), so does God's. One day, God will say "Time up" and the world as
we know it will come to an end. That is why it is so important to make sure that
we are trusting in Jesus, and to tell others that God offers them a free pardon
and eternal life through Jesus Christ. (You could conclude the lesson by telling
the story of George Wilson, and how a free pardon must be accepted, Newsletter
36).
T.T. 59 - Understanding Biblical Miracles.
T.T.
59 - Understanding Biblical Miracles.
One thing that puzzles me is how some people say they
believe in God, but then go on to say that they don't believe in some of the
Biblical miracles because they are "impossible". As most of my readers will
know, I was an atheist for most of my life. However, when I did start believing
in God, it naturally followed that I believed in His miraculous acts. After all,
by definition, God can do anything.
To me, the most significant verse in the Bible is the
very first one "In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1 v.1). You either believe that or
you don't. If you do believe it, it is easy to believe the rest of the Bible.
All the Biblical miracles have been criticised by
skeptics, but it appears to me that in most cases they haven't actually read the
Biblical texts for themselves. Rather, they have just heard an erroneous version
of the Bible story and criticised that.
When giving people a "reason for the hope we have
within us" , firstly it is important to know what the Bible actually says. By
knowing this, it will be much easier to refute critics. Secondly, we need a
clear understanding of how God usually works in performing His miraculous acts.
For His first miraculous act (Creation), God spoke, and the Universe came into
being. However, for nearly every recorded miraculous act since then, we note
that God uses material that is already present. Here are a few
examples:-
Noah's flood. God could have chosen to create new water to achieve
this. But instead He almost certainly used existing water from the canopy that
He had put around the earth on Day 2 of the creation week, and water trapped
under the surface of the earth.
Crossing of the Red
Sea. God could have levitated the Israelites so that they
could walked across above the sea. Instead He used air to cause a wind to blow
the waters apart and produce a land bridge for the Israelites to cross over (See
below).
Feeding the 5,000. Jesus could have created new fish and bread to feed
the crowd. Instead He chose to multiply existing fish and bread that was
willingly given to him.
Note. God still works in the same ways today. For example,
I believe He can heal people without the involvement of His creation, human or
otherwise. However, His usual method is to use the skill of people such as
Surgeons and Doctors, together with drugs or medicines made from existing
sources, all in combination with our body's inbuilt defence and repair
mechanisms.
We will now look at three Biblical miracles more
closely.
1. The parting of the Red Sea.
Skeptics have scoffed at the idea of
a wind being strong enough to part a deep sea. But what does the Bible say
actually happened?
"Then Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night
and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided."
(Exodus
14:21).
According to this clear text, the means God used
to achieve his end (goal) of the Red Sea parting was a powerful air current flowing for many
hours. It’s well known in physics and chemistry that one can often trade
intensity of an effect (heat, electrical current, and in this case air
flow) for time. Because of the long time frame, less intensity was
needed. This would keep the wind bearable for the people on the
ground.
Modern science has caught up with
the Bible, since recent experiments suggest that a long and strong wind could
indeed have formed a land bridge:
Now computer simulations show that
a stiff wind blowing from the east for 12 hours could have given the Israelites
a land bridge that allowed them to escape Egypt over 3000 years
ago.
The 5-kilometre width of the
cleared mud flats might have offered enough space for a few hundred thousand
Israelites to cross, but against winds raging at 100 kilometres per hour, they
probably would have needed most of their 4-hour window to walk the 3 or
4-kilometres to the opposite shore.
2. Jonah
swallowed by a large fish.
Most children believe that the
Bible says that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. However a correct translation of
the Bible reveals that it was a "large fish."
Critics have questioned whether
a whale or other sea creature, such as a shark, could have had jaws large enough
to swallow a whole man, and whether a man could actually survive such an
experience. In response, defenders of this Biblical miracle have produced
samples of sharks' jaws showing that they could be large enough, and have even
cited historical stories about one or two fishermen who have actually survived
such an experience!
Interesting as all this is, it
is really missing the point. What does the Bible actually say?
"And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow
up Jonah". (1:17).
The words imply either a special act of creation, or
of modification of an existing sea creature to accommodate Jonah safely. Thus,
while there are a number of both living and extinct large sea creatures that
could swallow a man whole, the text says that God 'appointed’ or ‘prepared’ the
great sea creature. The important point is that God was completely in
control.
3. The long
day.
One of the most tremendous miracles recorded in the
Bible is the long day described in Joshua 10 vs.11-14. It is stated that the
Lord fought for Israel in their battle against the
Amorites by two related miracles. 1. Causing the sun to stand still
in the middle of the sky for about a whole day to give the Israelites time to
defeat their enemies completely before they could escape and regroup under cover
of darkness. 2.
Sending a devastating hailstorm to slay large numbers of the
enemy.
Since the sun and the moon both "stood still" for an
extra day it seems clear that the earth stopped rotating on its axis and the
moon also stopped its rotation around the earth.
Critics have pointed out that if the earth suddenly
stopped rotating everything on the earth would be violently dislocated and
probably destroyed. However, the Bible does not suggest that the stoppage was
sudden. If a car travelling at a high speed is instantaneously stopped great
damage ensues to its occupants, but if it gradually slows to a halt, they feel
no disturbance.
It is true that if the earth did slow down, the
circulation of the atmosphere would be drastically affected, since it is largely
controlled by the earth's rotation. This fact may well account for the
tremendous hailstorm that accompanied the miracle.
There are evidences that the land surfaces may indeed
have been greatly disturbed at this time. A vision by the prophet Habakkuk
reflects back on the time that 'the sun and moon stood still' when there were
great disturbances on the earth. (Habakkuk 3 vs.
6-11).
Obviously, such a miracle would have affected the
whole earth but, as with the case of Noah's flood, it is significant that
suggestions of a long day (or long night in the Americas) are indeed noted in
the mythologies of many peoples from various parts of the earth at that tine
(about 1400 B.C.) For example, many of the American Indian tribes have a legend
about the theft of the sun for one day.
Note. God could also have
brought about the 'Long Day' phenomenon by two other methods.
1. Some form of refraction (bending) of the light from
the sun and the moon. According to this view, God miraculously caused the
sunlight and moonlight to continue in Canaan for ‘about a
whole day’. 2. A wobble in the direction of the Earth’s axis of
rotation. For a more detailed analysis, check out the "Creation Ministries
International" web site.
Conclusion.
We need to be able to answer two questions:- Can God
perform miracles? and Did God perform a particular miracle?
The answer to the first is given in Genesis,
Chapter1. A God that can speak the Universe into existence can to absolutely
anything. People who don't believe that God can perform miracles certainly don't
believe in the God of the Bible.
Secondly, as with the miracle of the
long day, a careful analysis would show that each Biblical miracle is supported
by both adequate theological justification and by adequate historical
evidence.
