Growing up, I used to be terrible at Bible quiz time at school. I just couldn't remember chapter and verse as they wanted us to. I wasn’t great at memorization and that seemed to be a prerequisite for being a good Chrstian. I was so bad that no one wanted me on their team when it came to bible bowls that we often seemed to have in elementary school. We used to have classes in chain referencing scr...  Read More

Does the bible give us a particular type of certainty? And is that what it is supposed to be used for?The great Protestant tradition, beginning with Martin Luther, has always been a great search for the certainty of correct understanding of scripture to answer the questions that we have about God, ourselves, our lives, and our trajectory. But is the Bible set up that way? Is the Bible the “Basic I...  Read More

Deconstruction - how you take your faith apart matters (deconstruction, tools of deconstruction, inspiration, interpretation, what can we really know, epistemology)INTROThe following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPENHave you ever taken apart something that you couldn...  Read More

So is this really a question of truth, or is it a question of what you can know and what you can’t know? Or is it a question of what is possible to know, or is it something else? The philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and belief is called Epistemology, and it is a philosophical discussion that is important. Over the years the idea of studying this area has been rife with arguments, ...  Read More

This is a fair question. If the biblical narrative is not as simple as we have perhaps been led to believe, how can we really know what is happening in the Bible at all? This is one of the reasons we have put together Crosswalk Classroom for deeper study and understanding. The truth is that there is a great deal of information that we can incorporate into our understanding of scripture, but it mea...  Read More

So why can’t we just say that we believe what the Bible says and that we live our lives according to it? Wouldn’t that simply make things a bit easier? Yes, of course, it would.But unfortunately, that is not exactly how it all works. We are all involved in the process of interpreting what Scripture says to each of us. Wouldn’t it be easier if we all just read it and thought of it in the same way? ...  Read More