Jim Preisig

The Bible: God Breathed

Paul wrote to Timothy in his second letter, the third chapter:

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work."

 

What does that mean? How does that work?

Mmm. Consider these examples -

We live in a culture that teaches us to worship the god of wealth, materialism, greed and money.

    Yet the Bible teaches: "For what does it profit a person to gain the whole world and love their very soul?" (Mark 8:36)

 

We live in a world where we are tempted to worship the god fame, power, prestige and celebrity.

    Yet the Bible offers reproof, "The first shall be last and the last first." (Mark 10:31)

 

We live in a society that teaches us to look out for #1, to worship the god of selfishness.

    And yet the Bible corrects: "It is more blessed to give than recieve." (Acts 20:35)

 

We live in an age when we worship the god of lust and pleasure, believing that anything that feels good must be good.

    But the Bible offers training in right living: "Do you not know that you body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." (I Cor. 6:19-20)

 

In short, because the Bible is "breathed of God," it is always relevant for life.

Put it to the test and find out for yourself!

 

What passages of scripture are most relevant to your life of faith?

Guest Post by Lisa Stoddard

I would read the Bible but...

Jim asked me to do some research on the Bible Reading Plans that are out & report to all of you what I found. Wow – did I find! I seriously do believe that there is a plan for everyone – and what’s great about most of them is that you can do it all completely online or of course with your old fashioned pages with a cover Bible too – that’s what I use. Here is a quick rundown of what I found:

The first place I went was YouVersion. YouVersion has over 150 free applications that you can choose from. You can read the Bible in a year; read the New Testament in 30 days; study the Psalms; the Bible in 90 days (!) and on & on. I think my favorite is Life Application Study Bible® Devotion. In this one, you will receive a quick devotional that features a Scripture verse & note taken from the Life Application Study Bible every day. Seems like this could really help you apply the Bible to your life – what a difference that would make for all of us! Another application that I really like is the fact that you can read the Bible in any translation you want. The Bible comes in so many different translations that it is confusing to know which one to pick. With YouVersion if you don’t understand what you are reading in one version of the Bible, you can switch to another one (I do that a lot with the Message Bible – when I don’t understand what the scripture says in one translation, I check out the Message – it seems to be able to explain scripture in “normal person words”.)

Then I went to Zondervan. The reading plans on Zondervan are geared toward where you are on your Spiritual Journey. You can pick out how long you want to take to read the Bible & there are also reading Track Plans where you have options to spend time studying about such things as the 2 weeks in the teachings of Jesus or Paul or the Old Testament. So many choices! You can also pick the translation of the Bible you want to read, but they don’t have as many versions as YouVersion does.

There are several different studies that you can purchase if you are the type of person who wants a book to read from. I think to find the best ones of these you should go to a Christian Book Store where you can thumb through the pages to see if one would work better than another for you. Google them first so that you know which ones you want to explore further & usually the employees at Christian book stores are a wealth of information.

I think what I am most impressed with is that there are so many different options out there that we really have no excuses (or Big Buts if I want to tie in to the sermon series) – we all need to read the Bible every day. You can get it on your phone, your laptop, you can buy books on it, you can read it in any translation, read it while waiting for your kids to finish soccer practice, in the doctor’s office, while you are on hold with the phone company – not while you are driving please – the possibilities are endless people! Hmm – think I will sign up for one today – how about you?

PS – so I showed Jim this post, & he says “which one did you sign up for – let everybody know.” So I took the leap – I’m starting small with the New Thru 30 – the New Testament in 30 days. If you see me, ask me how I’m doing…

The Marine Ball - 2011

Stephen Preisig and his fiancee, Chelsey Bamesberger

at The Marine Ball, October 28th, 2011

(Posted by a proud dad)

Insights on the Bible

Did you know that the Bible holds two incredible distinctions:

    It is the best selling book of all time.

    It is the most shoplifted book of all time.

        Does that make any sense to you?

 

What about this - 

For some people, the Bible is an icon - they seem to worship the Word rather than God. Isn't the Bible inspired by God in order that we might know Him?

 

For other folks the Bible seems to be an Ouija Board - they flip it open randomly in hope of insight straight from God. Sounds dangerous to me. You could flip open to one page and find the account of Judas' suicide, and then turn to a different page and read: "Go and do likewise."

For a few people, the Bible is source of evidence to underscore their position and win arguments. That feels like making the Book of Books a weapon - not a gift.

 

So what is the Bible?

 

The Psalmist said it best, perhaps,

    "Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and light for my path."

                                            Psalm 119:105

 

Join me this weekend to find out how God leads us and ilumines our path through His Word.

Faith Knowledge Survey by the Pew Trust

Under what category would you file this?

 

The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life published results of an extensive survey of religious knowledge in United States. Specific questions covered the topics of Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Islamic core beliefs. When the surveys were tallied the results were astounding.

 

Atheists did the best.

 

In descending order of high scores, this how respondents ranked: Atheists, agnostics, Mormons, and Jews – in that order. Evangelical Protestants were notably lower in scores; Mainline Protestants were significantly lower.

 

Here’s the question: why are we so illiterate about our own faith? What are we doing wrong – as families, as churches, as a culture?

 

According to the Pew Trust study, those who self indicated a high priority of faith scored lowest on religious knowledge.

 

Mmm. What’s wrong with this picture? And how do we correct it?

 

What needs to change?