๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐บ๐๐๐ฒ๐๐บ, ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ?
In a world where university professors and media shout from the rooftops that the Bible is myth and religions – but definitely ๐ก๐ข๐ง the Word of God and definitely ๐ก๐ข๐ง relevant to today …
… a lot of people coming from families with religious backgrounds have new doubts planted in their minds where, perhaps, they had few or none before.
They’re left wondering if the world is right – if their believing family members are uneducated cavepeople – and if there’s any relevance or personal meaning to be found within the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh/Old Testament) and the New Testament.
๐ฆ๐ผ, ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐’๐๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ, ๐ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ.
Scripture was written to meet you where you are.
First, God made a promise.
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ; ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ตโ (๐๐ฒ๐๐. ๐ฏ๐ฌ:๐ญ๐ฐ).
The New Testament echoes it: โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆโ (๐๐ฒ๐ฏ. ๐ฐ:๐ญ๐ฎ).
If it doesnโt feel alive, the issue isnโt your IQ. Itโs usually your approach.
I feel you should always show up with questions.
๐ง๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด.
Ask three things:
๐) ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐บ?
๐) ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ?
๐) ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ?
King David modeled this: โ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ดโ (๐ฃ๐๐ฎ๐น๐บ ๐ญ๐ญ๐ต:๐ญ๐ฑ).
The sages add, โ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต.โ (๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ถ ๐๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ:๐ฎ๐ฎ).
Actually talk to God about whatever you read. You have questions and things you don’t understand?
Yes, take it to people who are knowledgeable. Absolutely talk to your rabbi or Pastor. Take your questions to your believing friends and family.
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ.
If you trust Him for an answer and keep on trusting, there will come a time when you’ll hear Him reply.
Donโt just skim. Take your time. Read aloud. Underline sentences.
Find something small to do – and do it.
โ๐๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ.โ (๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ญ:๐ฎ๐ฎ).
Study with a friend (chevruta). Share one honest question, one insight, one action.
Ecclesiastes reminds us, โ๐๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ.โ (๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐น. ๐ฐ:๐ต).
๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐๐ต๐๐ฎ (๐๐ฒ๐๐๐) ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ, ๐พ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐๐น๐ณ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ.
If you’re gonna follow him, then follow his example ….
