inductive Bible study | Stray Thoughts

Here are some of the posts that caught my attention this week:

Hard-Pressed: The Soul Anguish of Christ. “Gethsemane. The word comes from a Hebrew term that means ‘oil press’—appropriately named, because that night, among the olive trees, the Son of God would be ‘pressed’ beyond anything we can fathom.”

How to Do an Inductive Bible Study, HT to Knowable Word. “Learning to read and study Scripture is an important part of the Christian life. And while pastors and teachers are essential gifts of Christ to his church, individual Christians should also be able to pick up any passage and read it with basic understanding and application. How do you do that? The inductive Bible study method is one reliable way.”

We Who Have Few Talents and Sparse Gifts. “The fact is, the God who used spit and dust to cure a man of his blindness can most certainly make use of you. And I assure you that if you had great talents, you would simply compare yourself to those who have more still.”

Six Simple Ways to Handle False Guilt. “God has given each of us a conscience, and this conscience guides us in doing right. When we become a child of God, we are gifted with the Holy Spirit, which fine tunes our consciences to align with the will and view of God. If we choose to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we’ll be chided. This is true guilt. . . . False guilt is the opposite. It’s what we feel for imagined wrongs or for past wrongs for which we’ve been forgiven.”

My Body Reminds Me. “Every day as I live within my body, care for it, and consider my reflection in the mirror, I am faced with a series of undeniable realities.”

Am I the Quarrelsome Wife? HT to Challies. “Rather than being a haven in the storm, the contentious woman is the storm. She is, herself, the poor weather conditions; her presence is an inhospitable place.”

Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. C. S. Lewis

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Here are a few noteworthy reads discovered recently:

Is an Unborn Child a Parasite, Living off Another Person’s Body without Permission? HT to Challies.

Chinese Christians Memorize the Bible in Jail: “They Can’t Take What’s Hidden in Your Heart.”

Ten Steps for Getting Started With Inductive Bible Study.

Understanding Narrative Passages of the Bible. Sometimes it’s easy to breeze through Biblical narratives, especially familiar ones (David and Goliath). This post has an excellent worksheet for getting more out of those passages.

Small vs. Insignificant. It isn’t the size of the task or the reach that’s most important.

7 Things You Should Never Say to Your Aging Parents.

Creativity for People Who Think They’ve Lost It. I used to think I wasn’t creative because I wasn’t “artsy.” But creativity involves much more than art.

Christianaudio is having a great sale on audiobooks.

Meet the Irishman Who Takes the World’s Best Animal Selfies, HT to Laura. These photos are so cute! Here’s a short video of his attempts to get some of the shots. He’s braver than I am!