Summary of the Bible: Brock Heller
February 28, 2011 By 2 Comments
For the past couple weeks, our men’s Thursday night Bible study has been going through Tim Keller’s Reason For God DVD and study guide. There are six half-hour sessions with study questions relating to each session. So far we’ve covered the following topics:
- Isn’t the Bible a Myth? Hasn’t Science Disproved Christianity?
- How Can You Say There Is Only One Way to God? What About Other Religions?
The study is geared towards knowing your faith rationally as well as existentially (i.e. based on faith). We’re learning the intricate arguments against Christianity so we’re better able to defend the gospel (Phil. 1:7). As a homework assignment one night, we each agreed to write a 3-minute summary of the Bible. This was an assignment proposed by Tim Keller. As you may think, it’s hard to pack the entire contents of the Bible into a 3-minute summary, yet we resolved to try. We read these aloud during Bible study but also agreed to post them on this blog. I will be posting several of these summaries over the next couple weeks.
First up is Brock Heller. Here is his summary:
In the beginning God created everything. He created man, animals, trees, water – everything. God gave Adam and Eve instruction in the garden. They did not follow that instruction. Satan was the first to sin against God, and Satan tempted Eve to sin against God. This was the start of sin in this world.
During the Old Testament you see people continuing to sin. God destroyed everyone except Noah’s family through the ark. The destruction came due to man’s sin. Moses led God’s people out of Israel. Even though you see God saving His people time after time, The people continued to rebel against God. It seems like God had made it so clear to them that He is God, but they continuously worshiped their idols. I think God’s glory is so present in today’s time and it just makes me think of how many times we rebel and worship our own idols.
The Old Testament goes through generation after generation until God chooses to send his son Jesus into this world through the virgin Mary through the same genealogy of David and Abraham. Jesus was brought into this world to save us from the bondage of sin. Jesus walked the earth healing the blind, deaf, sick, crippled, and rose people from the dead. He taught in the synagogues, temples, and to many people. Jesus was God in human form. He came into this world in human form, taking the form of a servant. He humbled himself to the point of death on a cross. This death on a cross is the greatest gift anyone could receive. It’s grace he has given to us if we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts, and choose to live for God. Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead conquering death, and was then taken up to heaven.
God then spoke through Paul and others what it means to be a follower of Christ. Paul wrote several letters to churches of that time. Christ will return again someday to bring judgment on the world. Believer or not a believer God will be glorified through everyone (italics added). Every knee will bow down and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Those who chose to walk with God will spend eternity with the creator of everything, those who chose not to walk with Christ will still declare Jesus is Lord and bow at his feet. God will be glorified, but these people will still be thrown into eternal damnation. There are two roads we can take. One to eternal life, and the other to eternal damnation.
More From Tim Keller
September 6, 2010 By 1 Comment
From Jen Velencia:
Tim Keller on God’s mercy in not allowing us to live “perfectly” mapped-out lives, without failures or disappointments:
People who have never suffered in life have less empathy for others, little knowledge of their own shortcomings and limitations, no endurance in the face of hardship, and unrealistic expectations for life. As the New Testament book of Hebrews tell us, anyone God loves experiences hardship (Hebrews 12:1-8).
Tim Keller on Humility
August 31, 2010 By 2 Comments
“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. “
Rejoicing While Repenting
August 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
“Rejoicing and repentance must go together. Repentance without rejoicing will lead to despair. Rejoicing without repentance is shallow and will only provide passing inspiration instead of deep change. Indeed, it is when we rejoice over Jesus’s sacrifical love for us most fully that, paradoxically, we are most truly convicted of our sin. When we repent out of fear of consequences, we are not really sorry for the sin, but for ourselves. Fear-based repentance is really self-pity. In fear-based repentance, we don’t learn to hate the sin for itself, and it doesn’t lose its attractive power. We learn only to refrain from it for our own sake. But when we rejoice over God’s sacrificial, suffering love for us – seeing what it cost him to save us from sin – we learn to hate the sin for what it is. We see what the sin cost God. What most assures us of God’s unconditional love (Jesus’s costly death) is what that most convicts us of the evil of sin. Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves. Joy-based repentance makes us hate the sin.”
-Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods
Redeemed Sinners and Sinners, Redeemed
February 4, 2010 By 1 Comment
I read on a blog recently that the Christian should always be aware that he is redeemed, yet a sinner. Yes, a common and simple idea, I know. But, consider these words from Tim Keller on this subject:
“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less. I don’t need to notice myself – how I’m doing, how I’m being regarded – so often…His grace both humbles me more deeply than religion can (since I am too flawed to ever save myself through my own effort), yet it also affirms me more powerfully than religion can (since I can be absolutely certain of God’s unconditional acceptance).”
-From The Reason for God (p. 181)
