cultural context of the Bible

Some of the blog posts that stood out to me this week:

Who Christ Says I Am: Embracing My Identity. “I don’t know about you, but one of the biggest things that makes me feel loved is how I’m spoken to. What a person calls me has great power to make me feel cherished and to affect the perception of my identity. That’s why it’s so important to look for identity in the right places. I should say the right place because the One who made and redeemed me is the only One who can give me identity.”

Teach Your Kids What to Think, HT to Challies. “You say, ‘But I don’t want to teach my kids what to think, I just want to teach them how to think.’ Yes! You should teach them how to think. But not teaching them what to think communicates something to them. It communicates something about truth. If I’m not willing to teach them what to think, then I am most certainly teaching them that truth is something that can be decided on.”

Scheduling Hospitality: Making Space for Others In Our Calendars. “Most of us acknowledge that hospitality is a wonderful thing. We desire to do it. But if we wait until it’s convenient or feel like doing it, we probably never will. That’s why there was a time when my husband and I decided to invite people over every other Sunday. If we put it on the calendar and invited people, we couldn’t back out.”

Is the Cultural and Historical Context of Scripture Necessary, Helpful, or Distracting? “Yes, depending on the text being studied and the background information being used, historical and cultural context can be necessary, helpful, or distracting. On the whole, I think that it is normally helpful. Sometimes, in the rarest of circumstances, it is necessary. When theologians and academics are careless or ideologically driven, it can be distracting or worse.” The author shares some examples of each.

Softly, Softly, Break a Bone, HT to Challies. A couple of sweet stories about how “a soft tongue will break a bone.” (Proverbs 25:15).

It’s OK to be Obsessed with Something. “Parents of young children can often scold themselves for getting distracted over things like these: little side trips into things that interest them for one reason or another. But I want to encourage you: it’s good for you to be curious. It’s good for you to be interested. Maybe it’s good for you to be a little bit obsessed with something or other.”