In our culture, as it seems in most women have been considered to not be as apt in certian leadership positions, and maybe in some cases that is true, in spiritual leadership i don't think it is the case. I know women personally who can better understand and teach the word then some preacher as well as women who are more motivated to serve than deacons.
So i wonder, why the big deal with women leadership within the church. I see it personally as a veiwing the situation in accordance to ephesians where pauls speaks of the family and how it relates to the church. wives submission to men, under the love of the Husband. I believe in love comes consideration and undrstanding where the voice and ministry of women can be heard and listened to in true consideration and even through authority from the Word of God.

Luke 15...huh?

Ever sense I took Bib-Interp I always thought that I understood what the parables in Luke 15 meant: Jesus was talking to Pharisees and he was preaching to them the importance of a soul. Yea, well, kindof. I especially like that in a sense I have been freed to use allegory to try to understand the parables. I definately agree that too much allegory is a wrong, and I suppose no allegory is better than too much, however some is needed. I also am avery interested in the fact that there is three subjects to the prodigal son (father, older son and prodigal) rather than the one that I had always though of (the older son). I think that we need to undestand this in order to understand what Jesus was saying in these parables. I also believe that his initial conversation with the Pharisees in the beginning of Luke 15 is iomportant to the overall understanding of the parables.

Women

I was really impressed with the class discussion on Luke's treatment of women. So many Baptist churches seem to view women as inferior. I found it fascinating to know that in New Testament times, women may have even been church leaders. I by no means think women should rule the roast, but the are valuable in more places in the church besides the nursery. God gives and calls women and men. Luke's gospel is unique because he actually speaks of the women in the life of Jesus, and the women in the church.

It is sad that, so often, passages in the Bible regarding women are taken so out of context that people believe they would always sit silently, humbly, never speaking or teaching. Luke's writings refutes such views.

Still Stuck on the Law

Like the Jewish Christians I seem to be stuck on the concept of the law and how that pretains to Christians. Is it now obsilete? But Jesus followed the law so should we do likewise? but we are free of the law so is the law bad? The audience of Luke/Acts seems to struggle with this concept too. According to the Dictionay, some scholars view Luke's approach to the law as conservative. Others say he is of two minds: Jews should keep it, whereas Christians are free of it. And others even say Luke understands the law is of the old era, but understands that the Jews are gonna take a while to get used to this whole "freedom" thing.
Luke basically shows that the traditions and customs are not required but Jewish Christians can follow them if they wish, as long as they don't drag the Gentile Christians along with them. Luke says that unity is more impotaint than these things, so do and accpet what you must (within the confins of reason) in order to mantain unity.
If the early church was ordered to be unified as a racially diverse community over an issue concerning their doctrine, how much more are we expected to be unified over an issue concerning the carpet color.

Luke and Acts are so interrelated through this portion of the class it almost is like the they were written by the same author. O wait a minute, they were. I find that to be so amazing because growing up in church all my life i have never been so taught that these books went together. i find that there is such need to go back and forth between the two books so that clear understanding of Luke's motivation and how the events in the book of Acts are comprised. Not that I had not learned that Luke wrote both books, but that learning Luke's representation of the life of Christ even through the book of Acts as well.

Luke and Acts are so interrelated through this portion of the class it almost is like the they were written by the same author. O wait a minute, they were. I find that to be so amazing because growing up in church all my life i have never been so taught that these books went together. i find that there is such need to go back and forth between the two books so that clear understanding of Luke's motivation and how the events in the book of Acts are comprised. Not that I had not learned that Luke wrote both books, but that learning Luke's representation of the life of Christ even through the book of Acts as well.

The Three Parables of Luke 15

I think something that is interesting in the three parables of Luke 15 is the use of ratios. In the parable of the lost sheep, you have 100, and one is lost. It seems as if it doesn't really matter because it's just 1/100, yet of course, Jesus cares about that 1 as much as the 99, and He would even leave the 99 in the pasture to go find the 1. In the next parable, the parable of the lost coin, you have a 1/10 situation. 10 coins, one is lost. And as in the first parable, rejoicing takes place when this 1 is found. And in the prodigal son, it gets more personal. It's not 1/100 or 1/10, it's 1/2. "A man had two sons." Again, when the one is found, rejoicing takes place. So with each parable, it seems to hit closer to him and each becomes more personal. Very interesting to me.

Sometimes It Is What It Is

The discussion in class on parables really got me to thinking the other day. I understand that some of the parables Jesus told had obvious allegory. What blew my mind was the allegory that so many of early church fathers tried to "force" into the parable, especially the good samaritan parable. I had almost forgotten about it when I overheard a classmate talking about a story they were reading in an english class. They were talking about symbolism and how sometimes a "cat" is just a "cat". I thought about that in relation to the parables. Sometimes there not some deeper meaning and some try to put more than is actually there into the parable.

Aaron Abbott

Readings in Luke.

When I was in high school, every years we would memorize the Christmas story out of Luke two. (i went to a private school) and we would study the book for a few weeks. I say that to say this, I have read Luke a lot more than any other Gospel. However, since I have been reading Luke in light of the things we have talked about in class, it has opened up a lot of new doors for me. I have been reading in Luke fifteen lately and kind of unpacking those verses. I think the story about the lost sheep is very encouraging, not because I am not a Christian, but because I am on a mission. I do not mean so sort of special individual pilgrimage. I am on the same mission that every other Christian is on and like most other Christians I struggle with that duty. However, according to Luke fifteen verse seven, all the blood sweat and tears that is put into evangelism is not in vain. Jesus is quoted as saying "there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents." Not only does that make me feel special to know that when I was saved there was joy in heaven, but it allows me to share with people that they are not just a number. Even though God is so immense and does so many things at one time, he is still intimate enough to allow heaven to become over joyed when someone gets saved. WOW! The more and more I read in the Gospel's and soak it in, the more I am astonished at God's power.

Parables

As Dr. Foster was talking about parables in class on Monday, it really made me start thinking about things. As I looked at more parables, the step that stuck out to me the most was that we need to look at the objects being used and what they meant back then. For instance, we have to remember what a farmer was back then, compared to what farming is like now. Today, it includes a tractor and is a whole lot easier. There are so many different things that pertain to parables that I began to realize I interpreted wrong. It's amazing how the meaning of a word can vary so much when we compare its meaning today to its history and how it is used in the Bible.

3 Parables Luke 15

On the way out of Life of Christ on Monday Dr. Foster drops the line don't forget to read Luke 15 because we will talk about it in more depth next lesson. I read the chapter which is broken down into three parables that Jesus speaks to sinners, taxcollectors, The Pharissees and other teachers of the law. There is a lost sheep and a lost coin these story pretty much are mirror imagesof one another. The shepherd leaves the 99 to find one and the woman searches the whole house for the one lost coin. They both rejoice when they find their lost possessions and call their friends and neighbours up on their mobile phones to rejoice with them. Jesus says in both of these parables that there is much celebration in heaven when a sinner repents. The parable of the lost son stills gets the same message across however Jesus doesn't talk about heaven rejoicing in this parable. Instead Jesus talks of the angry brother who refuses to party in the wake of his younger brother's return. His father says you don't understand "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." I'm really interested in Dr. Foster's notes on this because sometimes stories that I'm so familar with I just skip over but the class lesson he talked about turning the other cheek. His performance with Abbott I will never forget, I never even considered that take on that passage. Warning to Dr. Foster though, I may steal your story on that for a sermon of mine.

Parables

I've always thought Jesus use of parables is interesting. He could have easily made his point without a creative story, and with a message that didn't require much interpretation. As I read the DJG, it points out that Jesus was not the first to use them. He was, however, the first to use them "consistently, creatively, and effectively." These parables "hold up one reality to serve as a mirror of another." I personally find it interesting to read the parables and find out more about the meaning Jesus had behind each one.

I Can Relate

Every news reporter in the history of the world puts his or her own political slant on a story. Why should Luke be any different? I think the fact that Luke and Matthew potray such different heros only serves as confimation that the accounts are real. I went to summer camp with my best friend and something crazy happened with a turned over canoe and silly middle-aged woman. I was convinced that my boyfriend had saved the day while she swore that hers was the hero (that really happened). The Great thing was no less great and both guys had a hand in the "rescue" but one was not really more of a hero than another. Most things are relative to perspective. This happens in politics especially. One party praises an event while another sees the end of the world around the corner because of it. If I were going to write a story the smart, non-denominational, public schooled, middle-classed, girls from Arkansas would probably be seen in the best light. I don't blame Luke for having a version that appealed to his people and Matthew a version for his; I can relate.

What the heck is that Spirit's deal?

Disclaimer: this probably is not coherent thought and could be with revision but It’s more fun to try to discern my confusion and irrelevancy isn’t it?
In class Foster brought up the role of the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts and we talked briefly about Acts 21 where it appears that Paul blatantly ignores the words of the Spirit through the disciples he was staying with. I tried to speak up in class but as of most times my thoughts do not translate to English so well so I thought I would blog about some of my thoughts. First of all I have to acknowledge that I have no clue, it is a mystery and anything I say past this point is only hypothetical.
The Spirit seems to be sending conflicting messages, first to Paul in chapter twenty when Paul exclaims, “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.” Paul is compelled by the Spirit and then in 21:4 it says, “Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.” I do not understand. Possibly Paul had some crossed wires and misunderstood the Spirit to begin with people have attributed things to God before when they most certainly are not but this is Paul the apostle and it is scripture so that is hard to swallow. The disciples could have only been warning Paul because they knew what was going to happen. The noun Spirit is used as an instrument of urging. They could have been urging Paul by the means of love that they have from the Spirit. The deep compassion given them with the revelation that Paul was going to suffer all came from the Spirit and therefore they warned Paul. They may not have been actually giving him a command from the Spirit. Its all very confusing. Maybe God was giving Paul an option, Paul to can do this or you cannot and that’s why I’m giving you warnings to not go. Paul is not thwarted; he sticks to what the Spirit originally told him. I mean if it is a command not to go from the Spirit then did God change his mind? Paul did exclaim in 20:22 that he didn’t know what was going to happen to him and then he is told by the Prophet later in chapter 21. It seems that Paul’s fate is being revealed to him.
Back to the disciples who urged Paul not to go. They could have received the revelation that Paul was going to be bound but rather than leaving it at a revelation they went to Paul and urged him not to go and it was their urging not the Spirit’s. The text doesn’t support any of my ideas I’m pretty sure but I can hypothesize can’t I. I chalk it up to another mystery of God but some interesting Ideas can be conjectured.

Luke Luke Luke

Luke is such an interesting book to lookat in its structure. I have found through studying Mark and through looking at the other gospels the differences in the gospels that I have never noticed before. Two years ago if i were to read the gospels i would have just read their stories and never looked at the differences that each writer incorporated into their texts, and thats why I find Luke interesting in the aspects of the way he writes and puts more of an emphasis on women playing a role in Jesus ministry. It appears that each writer wanted to bring out different aspects of Jesus' ministry so that the readers would not just see certain aspects of Jesus' ministry but instead all of the aspects such as showing women in the roles they played.