Book Review: The Blue Parakeet

Posted by Matt in BooksJun 1st, 2009 | No Comments

I just got done reading a wonderful book by Scot McKnight, called “The Blue Parakeet“. This book really grabbed my attention from the very beginning. The basic idea behind this book is figuring out how we read the bible; or rather how we should read the bible. One of the main concepts, and one that I had never thought about before, was the author’s explanation that God spoke to Moses in Moses’ ways in Moses’ days, to David in David’s ways in David’s days, to John in John’s ways in Johns days, etc. Basically, the idea that God speaks to different people throughout the bible in their ways, in their days. When we don’t understand this concept, we struggle with trying to understand what the heck God is doing in certain situations in the Bible and how we are supposed to apply that to our own lives today.

This really fits in with the class I am taking on Hermeneutics. One thing that I think we as Christians need to be doing is really trying to understand how to read the Bible. Though I’ve heard it brought up before, this book really does a fantastic job of explaining the need to read the Bible as story. When I say that (and the author as well), it is not talking about reading it as a fictitious tale, but rather as an accounting of the history of humanity and it’s relationship with God throughout the ages.

First Bite Complete

Posted by Matt in Classes, SeminaryMay 19th, 2009 | No Comments

Question: How do you eat an elephant?
Answer: One bite at a time.

I’ve always loved that quote, though I’m not really sure where it comes from. What it means for me today is that I have completed my very first seminary assignment. That’s one down with about a million more to go. Okay, so I might be exaggerating a little bit on that one, but who knows. Either way, I’ve just finished my first bite. Now it’s on to the next bite.

Herme – What?

Posted by Matt in Classes, SeminaryMay 19th, 2009 | 5 Comments

Hermeneutics. That’s the new word in my life. While I have heard this word before and thought I understood it’s meaning, the very first reading in my BI 501 course really blew me away. Why should it, though – it’s just a word, right? Not if you really think about it. You see, so many times we read the bible and take what is there at face value without any consideration of the time in which it was written, to whom it was written, by whom it was written, under what circumstances, etc. etc.

Is that the proper way to read the bible? I read a great article on this just yesterday on the Parchment and Pen blog (I am an avid reader of this blog). This article along with what I read for class yesterday has really challenged me. One of the quotes in the class I heard yesterday really puts this into perspective:

“Wonderful things in the Scripture I see. Most of them put there by you and by me.”

New Beginnings

Posted by Matt in Classes, SeminaryMay 16th, 2009 | 6 Comments

I start my first seminary classes this Monday. Did I just say that? Am I really in seminary? If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be going to seminary, I probably would have laughed; yet that is exactly what I am now embarking upon. When God gets a hold of your life and leads you to where He is calling you, it might surprise you where you end up.

So I started this blog to communicate this spiritual and educational journey. So how did this all start? Well, I knew that I was being called by God to go to seminary. It was either I listened to that and act on it now, or choose to not do what God tells me and just keep on keepin’ on. But, didn’t Jonah do that? In the end, he ended up right where God told him to go, right? So, I am now registered with Denver Seminary and signed up for my first 2 classes.