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THE HOLY BIBLEINSTRUCTIONAL GOALS (ME) To offer an overview of the content that is found in Scripture.To assert the Bible is accurate in terms of times, events and places.To proclaim the accuracy of Scripture based on fulfilled prophesies concerning Jesus Christ.To affirm that the Bible is without error since God is speaking through the biblical writers.The Bible was written during a span of 1500 years by 40 writers. It is a factual account of real events,places, people, and dialogue. The one central message of Scripture is that God is our Creator and seeks to have arelationship with man in spite of his sinful nature, that Jesus died for our sins and has prepared a heavenly homefor all who believe and trust in Him. Within this message, Scripture shows us how to live a God-pleasing life.The Bible is comprised of 66 books, 39 written largely in Hebrew during Old Testament times before thebirth of Christ and 27 New Testament books written in Greek about the time that Christ fulfilled his promise tocome to Earth and save man from his sinful condition. Old Testament books include the law of God, history,poetry and the writings of the prophets. New Testament books include the Gospels which tell us about the life ofJesus Christ, history in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s letters to the churches and also general letters.The stories, laws and poetry of the Hebrew people were passed on from father to son, generation togeneration before Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. However, some claim that Moses could not havewritten the Pentateuch, Genesis through Deuteronomy, because writing had not been invented at that time.However, in 1901 archaeologists discovered the Black Stele which used wedge-shaped characters and containedlaws of Hammurabi. This document was actually written about 2000 B.C, before the time of Moses and Abraham.Others claim that the Bible has been copied and translated so frequently that it contains many changesover time. However, the translations are actually made directly from the original languages, namely the Greek,Hebrew and Aramaic. In 1947, ancient writings coined "The Dead Sea Scrolls" were found along today's WestBank in Israel. They contained Old Testament Scripture dating 1,000 years before than any of the previousmanuscripts. When comparing these manuscripts to our current Bible, they were in agreement 99.5% of the timeand variances were only minor in nature. The truth is that the Jewish scribes copying the biblical text went tophenomenal lengths to maintain accuracy of the original biblical writings.Archaeology is the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysisof artifacts and other physical remains. Archaeologists have consistently discovered the names of governmentofficials, kings, cities, and festivals found in the Bible even when historians didn't think such people, places orfestivals existed. With the incredible amount of detailed information found in the Bible, not one archaeologicalfind has conflicted with the biblical record.One example is that biblical scholars claimed that Caiaphas, the high priest at the time of Jesus, neverexisted since no historical record of him had ever been found. However, in November of 1990, while excavatingfor a swimming pool south of Jerusalem an ancient burial cave typical of the Second Temple Period wasunearthed. Six ossuaries or bone boxes were uncovered; one was of a man about 60 years old. This ossuary was abeautiful and ornately carved. It had the inscription, “Joseph, son of Caiaphas” and is believed to be the Caiaphasof Scripture. The Bible is quite different from other “holy books” such as the Koran which is not scientificallyaccurate for our time in contrast to the consistent accuracy found in the Bible.There are 668 biblical prophesies that foretell events that will occur in the future; none have been provento be false. Over 400 of these prophecies are about Jesus. The almighty God used these prophecies to tell us thatHe was the real author of the Bible. One of the best known prophesies was found in Micah 5:2. Here 860 yearsbefore his birth we are told that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Passages such as II Timothy 3:16,All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, tell us that the Holy Spirit used man to tell God’s story of God’senduring love for man in sending Jesus to save us from our ct9

THE HOLY BIBLECCO Public Domain ImageThe Bible tells the story of man and the love of God for man, the crown of His creation. Godcreated a perfect world for man and could have made man captive to serving Him, the Creator. However,God made man with a free will so that man would love, worship and have a relationship with God.However, the devil, a fallen angel chose to reject God and deceived man into rebelling against God, thusseparating man from God. This rebellion brought disorder to the Earth and disease and death to man.Man’s first sin has been inherited by all mankind and called original sin. However, God chose to buyback or redeem man from his sinful state. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world as true God andtrue man to lead a perfect life in man’s stead. God promised that if we believed in Christ as our Savior,God would forgive our sins and when we die he would take us to heaven to live with Him forever.POINTS TO PONDER What is the most basic story that we find in the Bible?What is the main content of the books found in the Old Testament?Who wrote the first five books of the Bible?What is the main content of the books found in the New Testament?What tells us know that God loves each and every one of us very much?In what way did God originally make man like himself?Sometimes things happen that make us unhappy or make our life difficult? Are this a result ofsin or a result of God no longer loving us? Please explain.What are some of the many events happening in the world that are the result of sin?Why did God make man with a free will?What reassures us that the Bible is made up of true stories?What are some of the things that remind us of the accuracy of the events found in the Bible?What does the term, “inspiration of God” mean?10

SCRIPTURE, THE INSPIRED WORD OF GODINSTUCTIONAL GOALS (ME) To place Scripture into a historical context in terms of a theological perspective.To define and stress the inerrancy of Scripture.The Bible was written over the course of 1500 years and contains 66 books written by 40 different writers.However, the love of God is Scripture’s only theme. This story started with creation of God’s perfect world, ofman sinning by rejecting God’s rule, of God’s promise of sending a Savior as told in the Old Testament, andChrist’s keeping God’s law perfectly and suffered and dying to redeem fallen man from his sin of rebellion.A critically important doctrine of Scripture is inspiration. It means that although men of faith wrote thecontent found in Scripture, the Holy Spirit was active in this process. With the Spirit’s guidance, every word of theoriginal writings of the biblical writers was a perfect and an errorless recording of the exact message God wishedto offer to man. II Peter 1:21 explains this idea in the following words, “For no prophecy was ever produced by thewill of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”History abounds with challenges to God’s word. At the time of Christ, the Sadducees and the Phariseeswere at odds with each other. Under Pompey, Judea came under the rule of the Romans who expected that thepeople would worship the Roman Emperor as God. This was quite acceptable to the Sadducees who, in nameonly, accepted the books of Moses; however, they did not believe in the supernatural, angels or the resurrection. Incontrast, the Pharisees rejected the worship of the Roman emperor, believing only in the God of the OldTestament. However, they added 613 man-made rules for the people to follow, leading them to a religion of workrighteousness. Ultimately, the Sadducees were made the ruling religious class and placed in charge of the temple.At the time of the Apostles many heresies arose. One of these false doctrines was Gnosticism. It taughtthat a hidden knowledge was necessary to escape this evil world. As time went by, other heresies arose claimingthat Jesus was not true man. The Nicene Creed refuted the heresy promoted by Arius denying the divinity ofChrist, claiming that he was not God. The Athanasian Creed, written during the 4th century, written in support ofthe trinity described in detail the relationship between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.In the 16th century, Martin Luther known for his protest against the false dogmas of the Catholic Churchclarified the doctrine of salvation. Luther understood that salvation depended on faith alone, the grace of Godalone and Scripture alone. This was contrary to the Catholic Church’s doctrine of work righteousness which statesthat we are saved by good works, which Luther strongly rejected. Proponents of the 17th century Enlightenmenthad the goal of destroying support for Scripture. This was achieved by elevating the reasoning of man andrejecting the supernatural God as the creative force of the universe. By introducing this philosophy, man hadsubstituted nature for the God of the Universe.During the 20th century, attacks on the authority of Scripture have come from both within and outside ofthe church. In America, secular humanism, having its basis in the belief that there is no God, continues to secureits hold on America. Within the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod during the 1930’s, there was a tendency to flirtwith merging with other church bodies not having our stand on the inerrancy of Scripture. During the early 1970’sthe St. Louis seminary had “evolved” theologically, and was supporting the use of non-scriptural writings tointerpret God’s Holy Word. This was referred to as the historical-critical method with stress being placed onprimarily the Gospel and the downplaying of the importance of Genesis and the Old Testament. Ultimately, thesecrises were thwarted by Lutheran theologians including Franz Pieper, Jacob Preus and Walter Bohlmann.A primary attack at undermining Scriptures is typically aimed at the Genesis narrative. Many Christianchurches in America marginalize God by undermining the creation story. Since the writing of The Genesis Floodby John Morris and Henry Whitcomb in 1960, there has been a surging defense of Genesis coming fromapologetic ministries such as Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation.A Ready Defense, Josh McDowell Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville 1993 p.177-17811

SCRIPTURE, THE INSPIRED WORD OF GODCommonswikimedia Image 2 Samuel 23:2 - The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me, His words are upon my tongue.(David)II Tim. 3:16 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God . (Paul)II Peter 1:21 – But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (Peter)POINTS TO PONDER Explain “inerrancy of Scripture” as offered in the above passages.What is the Holy Spirit’s part in the inerrancy of Scripture?How long did it take to write Scripture?What is the dominant theme of Holy Scripture?Describe the religious belief system of the Sadducees at Christ’s time?What was the religious belief system of the Pharisees at the time of Christ?What are the two basic heresies regarding Jesus Christ?What were the three points of salvation as offered by Martin Luther?What is the position of the Catholic Church regarding salvation?How did the Enlightenment harm Christianity?What is the higher-critical method of interpreting Scripture?What book of the Bible is attacked by those who would wish to undermine God’s message?Why is the inerrancy of Scriptures so important?12

THE FOUNDATIONAL NATURE OF GENESISINSTRUCTIONAL GOALS (UE-A) To explain some of the attacks used on to undermine Genesis, the creation account and Noah’s Flood.To clarify the evolutionary idea of gradualism, namely uniformitarianism.To explain the basic problem with undermining the truth of the creation story of Genesis.The Holy Bible has endured attacks throughout history based on the reasoning of man which has thepurpose of undermining the revelation of a supernatural God. The most basic theology of Scripture is found inGenesis 1-11 which deals with the creation story and the global flood. Many have viewed these chapters asmythical or allegorical, instead of historical narrative or true events in history. This subjects Scripture to man’sfallible powers of reasoning.Baruch Spinoza of the 17th century launched an attack on Scripture claiming that Moses did not write thefirst five books of the Bible. His lead was followed in the Enlightenment or Age of Reason which placed man’sanalyses above Scriptural authority. In the middle of the 19th Century Charles Darwin championed the theory ofevolution and Charles Lyell popularized the idea of “millions of years” as a powerful tool in destroying thebelievability of Scripture. This “deep time” precept was supported by the philosophy known as gradualism oruniformitarianism, which claimed that changes in the Earth’s crust during geological history have resulted fromthe action of very slow, continuous and uniform processes. This perspective is typically supported by the phrase,“the present is the key to the past.” This notion has the effect of saying that any evidence for God’s creation or thecatastrophic Genesis Global Flood needs to be disregarded as false. It is a classic ploy for proponents of evolutionto use an unreliable and unprovable definition to uphold their false theory and deceive the uninformed.One of the primary attacks on the truth of Genesis is to simply say that it is either poetry or allegory.Hebrew poetry uses parallelism which is characterized by making a statement and repeating or contrasting it foremphasis. For example in Psalm 1 states “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked norstands in the way of sinners.” Hebrew scholars Steven Boyd and Robert McCabe, in studying Genesis 1:1-2:3point out there is no poetic parallelism in the text and that statistical research techniques using grammaticalstructures overwhelmingly support the Genesis text being historical narrative. Others claim that Genesis 1-2contain two different creation accounts when, in fact, these chapters are complementary.Due to the “millions of years” offered by proponents of evolution, many church theologians haveproposed a middle ground between Scriptural and evolutionary themes. One of the typical ploys is placing“millions of years” within the six days of the creation even though Scripture clearly states that the days of creationwere each 24 hour days. This insertion undermines Scripture since the addition of “deep time” into the creationaccount requires the acceptance of death, suffering, disease, and bloodshed prior to man’s fall into sin. For if deathoccurred before the sin of man, then God saying that man would “surely die” because of his sin establishes that theBible is not true and God is not holy. Furthermore, in addition to the creation account, biblical genealogies, theaccounts of the Genesis Flood and the Tower of Babel are often marginalized or totally dismissed. The fact is thatthe Earth is a young Earth in the range of being about 6,000 years old as supported by biblical genealogies.Merging “millions of years” with the creation account is commonly referred to as theistic evolution andundermines God’s clear revelation and theology of Scriptures. Such a practice only leads to a distortion of thetrue biblical account and its related theology.The words of Christ as found in Matthew 19:4-5 and Mark 10:6, “ Have you not read that he who createdthem from the beginning made them male and female?” clearly states that God created man at the beginning oftime, not after “millions of years. At least 25 New Testament passages referring to the early chapters of Genesistreat creation as real history. Additionally, the Gospel writers, Paul and Peter describe the Genesis Flood as beinghistorical orical-narrative/13

THE FOUNDATIONAL NATURE OF GENESISCommonswikimedia ImageDOCTRINES OF GENESIS The creation of the universe and all living things.Our living relationship of obedience to God.The Trinity with the word for God, Elohim, being plural. The Spirit of God is mentioned inGenesis 1:2 and the prophesy of Christ is stated in Genesis 3:15.God, the Creator and law giver, told Adam not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden.The marriage of one man and one woman.Man’s fall into sin accompanied by suffering, disease and death.The promise of a Savior from sin, the Redeemer sent by God.God, the judge, as seen in the stories of Noah’s Flood, the Tower of Babel.POINTS TO PONDER What is the most basic theology in the creation story of Genesis? What are some of the doctrines found in the creation story? How did the Enlightenment or Age of Reason marginalize Scripture? What did gradualism do to reject the idea of the catastropic Genesis Flood? What perspectives does man typically use to attack the truth of the book of Genesis? What typical maneuvers are used to claim that creation took long periods of time? What is a problem with “millions of years” in the creation story from aperspective of theology? What is theistic evolution? What is meant by man loving and being obedient to God? How were some of the many ways man was affected by his fall into sin? How does Scripture demonstrate God’s love for -christian-doctrine14

MARTIN LUTHER, THE CHURCH’S REFORMERINSTRUCTIONAL GOALS (ME) To provide a basic introduction into the life of Martin Luther.To develop an appreciation of Luther’s contribution to Christianity.To grasp how God used Luther as a powerful witness in sharing his message of salvation.Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483, in southeast Germany. His parents were poor and his fatherwas a miner. Wanting a better life for his son, Martin was sent to the University of Erfurt to pursue a law degree.In July of 1505 Luther was caught in a horrific thunderstorm. Fearing for his life, Luther cried out to St.

Jesus Christ. Images – Many of the images used in this document are either taken from a site that offers only free images or a combination of free and commercial images. In those cases, the site of origin is designated. In other cases permission has been rece