Barnabas File

Every believer has struggled with some aspect of the biblical story.  It may be the slaughter of Israel’s enemies at the direction of God.  Perhaps it is the parallel accounts in the Hebrew Bible that seem to conflict with each other.  Most often, we wonder how the four gospel writers could see things so differently. Scholars take various approaches to these challenges.  Some deconstruct the writings and, in the process, deconstruct God.  Seeing inconsistencies between the written word and their concept of God, they end up rejecting God.  In The Bible Tells Me So , Professor Peter Enns take a different perspective.  Although he addresses major questions about the Bible, he never gives up his faith in God.  It is God who is holy, not the book about God.  The book represents the efforts of God’s servants to construct meaning out of past and present events in their culture.  We should not al...

As I read the story of the Good Samaritan during my devotional today, I was reminded of the times that I have heard the story in the Christian education setting of the local church--as a youngster in primary and intermediate classes (old terminology), as a young adult in college classes, and then as an adult, often teaching the passage myself.     The characters and story line are very familiar due to these experiences of Christian education. These are challenging times for Christian education in the church.  Like so much of what is happening in the church today, the old forms do not seem to support present needs.  What once worked no longer seems to be effective.  Christian education or the formation of believers is in a state of flux. In an article on ethicsdaily.com , retired professor Colin Harris addresses this issue. He points out that the period of the 60’s and 70’s  “saw the beginnings of a loss of vitality within the educa...