Apologetics Prep – Week 1 – Student Responses

Below you will find the responses that were received from the questionnaire sent out Monday, February 9th. (Week 1 Prep)

A quick review of the purpose and plan for this online series and exercise in studying the art of apologetics.

RECAP:

Here’s how it works…

You will be given a scripture to investigate – Basic Level investigation. Using the Interlinear and Biblegateway.com, answer the questions as best you can.

For those of you who did not attend the class, try present day skills out and see what you find – and hopefully learn!

At the end of the week, I will post the answers and provide snapshots of the interlinear pages so that you will be able to follow the information presented and gain a few – hopefully new insights.

Either way, see how well you do!

Leave me a “code name” for your self in the summary” Question #4 what did you learn? – and I will post all results with code names only so you can see how well you did.

If there are more responses than expected, just keep note of your answers and I will post ALL RESPONSES without names and you can see how you did in comparison to your peers. In any case, responses will be anonymous.

NOTE: THE LINK TO THE ORIGINAL EXERCISE FOR WEEK 1 IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED: Questions and Student Responses posted below.

Four Question were posed. The questions and the responses are listed below.

Interesting fact: In the last week approximately 400+ people have stopped by to check in to this site.

As you will see, ONLY 2 of them took me up on the challenge; 1 is a previous student (Betty) and the other (I won’t give their name without permission) is a first time participant in studying with us. I’m very surprised about this! While at the same time, very pleased that these brave souls accepted the challenge and made the spiritual declaration that they want to uncover MORE in the Word of GOD.

I will do as much as I can in this series to help you by outlining a process and plan for your personal study time.

LESSON #1 – ALWAYS KNOW WHOSE SPEAKING

The WORD of GOD is very meticulous and GOD is very specific. We love saying things like, “GOD is in the Details.” Now we are going to apply that principle consistently every time that we open our Bibles to study.

We are going to examine the details! To do this effectively, we have to be able to answer some questions. For Example:

• Always be certain that you know who is speaking in the text you are studying; Verify who is speaking and who they are speaking to.
• Is the Speaker GOD, JESUS or the HOLY SPIRIT?
• Is the speaker named or unnamed, i.e., “There was a certain man…”
• Is the speaker friend or foe?
• What is the speaker doing? Are they aligned with GOD?
• Are they saying one thing and doing another?
• Are they for GOD or against GOD? Is this His loyal opposition speaking?
• Does the speaker have an agenda? What is the agenda of the speaker?
• What is the prophetic agenda of the author of the Book? i.e., the passage we briefly examined in week #1 was John 4:24. Later I we will gravitate to understanding the prophetic agenda of the author and to identify various points to consider as we do that.

The study of Torah is about asking questions. Along with our list of questions that we need to ask…this is what we need to avoid.

• Make No Assumptions or rush to Snap Judgements (John 7:4).
• No jumping to conclusions (John 7:4)
• Never read your “presuppositions or biases” into the text. Be aware of when you are doing that. Stay vigilant and watchful on this point. It is very easy to do if you are not careful.
• Cast down every vain imagination and high thought that creeps in attempting to exalt itself above the knowledge of the Most-High. (2 Cor 10:5).
• If you came to learn of Him… (Matthew 11:39) allow the voice of GOD to speak without interruption. You can speak afterwards. (After fully examining the text).
• Tip: As we move forward, write down what you think you know about the passage or the verse- before you study it. Write down what you’ve been told; What you think or believe it means or what you think or believe it is teaching… list them as bullet points in your journal. Label them your ‘Preconceived Notions or Ideas.” Then set your preconceived notions, biases, judgements, assumptions, etc., aside until you have completed your study of the verse or passages of scripture. Once you have completed your studies, come back and review them. then do as Luke 10:26 instructs… ask yourself, ” What is written in the Torah?” Now, what sayest thou?

Then answer the question waiting for you at the end of every investigation… What did you learn in this exercise? (see below)

Question #1 RESPONSES…

LESSON #2 – IDENTIFY IF THERE ARE ANY DISCREPANCIES Between the ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND THE ORIGINAL HEBREW or GREEK

By incorporating the Interlinear into your studies – this one simple act– can take you to a higher level of understanding the Biblical Text. It will be a major step in your education. Stay with me in the next few weeks and I will show you what I mean. You need to learn how to extract essential information from the interlinear bible. We will use the online resources so that we can all see the same information from the same source. Eliminating any confusion and taking ALL of our personal opinions out of the dialogue.

The discrepancies that I am speaking of result from the differences between the definitions, meanings and application of words in the English Language verse the original definitions, meanings and application of words in the Biblical Hebrew or Greek.

Suffice it to say -for now- that Biblical Hebrew and Greek are meticulous languages – FAR MORE SO than English.

As you stick with this, you will begin to see the way in which we lump our terms together in English. That does not occur in the Biblical Hebrew.

There is a precision in Biblical Hebrew and Greek that does not exist in English.

NOTE: I am emphasizing BIBLICAL Hebrew and Greek, because this is an important distinction.

BIBLICAL Hebrew and Greek are not the same as Modern Hebrew or Greek.

Question #2 RESPONSES…

LESSON #3 – COMPARE AND CONTRAST – INTERTEXTUALLY

Scripture Confirms Scripture.

Scripture does not go off on rabbit trails. The message is consistent throughout. The New Testament echoes and reinforces the Hebrew Scriptures. The test of accuracy in our understanding is whether or not our understanding/observations in the Word are in sync with the consistency of scripture…. meaning, “Are we going off in the wrong direction? Do you understand what GOD is saying?

Should we discover something that “appears” to be a contradiction… (an accusation that is being tossed about a great deal lately – in apologetics), we have more work to do, because scripture does not contradict itself.

It’s easy to blame the scripture for our lack of understanding, rather than do the work and search the scriptures as we were told.

I plan to show those who want to learn… how to search the scriptures for themselves. If for no other reason than this… to identify false teachers and false teaching.

I am approaching the topic a completely different way than the norm, so bear with me. I am confident you will grasp the art of apologetics much faster by following the steps that I will outline for you in this process.

Amen.

Question #3 RESPONSES…

LESSON #4 – Did you learn anything new?

You learned 3 basic simple steps in examining scripture. We will build on this foundation as we move forward, but at all times – no matter which verse of scripture you are studying – employ these steps every time.

Ask the same essential key questions – every time. With practice they will quickly become automatic and they will help you stay focused on the essential elements of the conversations and the teachings.

In this method, you will be connecting the dots. Better yet, you will be able to show others how to connect the dots and uncover the honey in the rock! (Which is revelation).

A friend of my showed me a video just yesterday of a young lady who left the faith because she felt so lied to and no one had answers for her. She was so sick of the rhetoric and falsehood, that she threw her hands up- took her bat and ball and went home- walked out and said, “Never mind.”

She felt betrayed and that everything she ever learned was wrong. No one had the tools to show her how to study. Being a Christian is about studying to show yourself approved… a workman, worthy of his craft.

We have to search the scriptures for ourselves and we need to know how to do that. I regret that she trusted in man more than GOD in her attempts to learn His Word. She wound up (temporarily, I pray) walking out on the faith because of it. But she’s young and I’m believing she will recover her faith.

For this reason alone, the equipping of the saints is one of my highest priorities.

Question #4 RESPONSES…

You have 3 key steps in your arsenal now in your quest to search the scriptures. Practice them.

Remember this phrase. I will say it often:

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition.

• ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT POINTS:
• Remember what time zone you are operating in... We are studying in the 21st century, examining text from the 1st Century and beyond. Whenever we treat the scriptures as if they are from the 19th, 20th or 21st Centuries, we disrespect the message and the messenger. The Scriptures speak into our centuries, the centuries do not speak into them!
• Your objective is to see the scriptures through the lens of the culture, history, times and traditions from which they emerged. When studying the New Testament, if you lose your focus on the fact that ‘Jesus was a Rabbi” you will begin to drift toward. the 21st Century mindset and take Him out of his culture, history and times and strip Him of His Identity.
• Jesus is Jewish. Something we ought to be proud of! and we hopefully desire to get to know Him as a “person” in His Jewishness. When we read His Words from His Jewishness, we recapture important aspects of our Jewish roots and heritage in the Word. If we blot out His Jewish heritage, we do violence to the text and we’re automatically reading in bias, judgment, assumptions, etc.

What justifies the above statement? Let me ask you this… If I say I want to get to know you, but I want to get to know you without any knowledge of or references to your history, culture, family traditions, customs, heritage, roots and how they have shaped you into the person that you are…. would you even want to get to know me?

The people that gravitate to the teachings that I present here in this site, want to know the authentic Jesus, in His Character and Nature as the Messiach of Israel. As we study together our primary goal – MY AGENDA- is to add Him back into His Message and to remove all they various ways that our history, culture, traditions and times have misrepresented Him and show anyone who wants to know Him, how to get to know Him much better. This begins with dispelling the rumors and innuendo that contribute to the misidentification of Jesus.

I hope you found this information useful and interesting. I will post the answer key to the questionnaire #1 at the same time I send out the Apologetics Questionnaire #2.

GOD BLESS

The Rabbi’s teach us that Torah Study is the Highest form of Worship…  (cf. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 30a)

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES and See if these things be true!