Highlight of the week:
Here I know. Three blond girls, 5'3 and under.. go on the bus at 7 to downtown Seattle. K first of all it wasn't ENTIRELY a stupid idea. I did bring mace :P. So Marah, Taylor and I are on the bus, so excited because it's all of our first time. We have no idea where we are trying to get to, but we know we're on the right bus to get there. So we're laughing and talking, when these two guys get on the bus. One is in his sixties, the other probably late 30's. The one in the sixties is trying to get the one in the thirties to agree to something. My guess, buy drugs. Anyways, being aware of my surrounding always (just as dad has ingrained in me), I'm semi nervous about these guys, as they are directly across from me and the girls.. a good 3 feet apart. As the ride goes along, I notice the one in the thirties, continuously looking over at us. He then precedes to look at me, and tell me that I have a cute smile. I just smile.. nervously. He then asks me for my name. AHHH. Literally a 30 second pause... of me trying to decide if I can/should lie.. thinking that Marah would definitely yell "Chels that's not your name" if I lied, but I was still calculating the risk... obviously amused by my shock, he explains that he "isn't trying to be too forward, I'm just have a very beautiful smile." :/ I say my name is Chelsea, and ready myself to bolt it off the bus lol. As our stop comes, we get up, and you can tell that this guy is trying to decide if he is going to follow us. : / once we were off the bus, he stands up, and goes to get off the bus. There's a good amount of people in front of him, so me and the girls bolt it into the store and hide for a good ten minutes.
ANYWAYS
Classes are... interesting. I am taking Organizational Behavior for Managers, Marketing & Society, Relationship Development and Christian Scriptures. The business classes are for my minor (entrepreneurship), relationship development is a 2 credit Monday night class taught by Les and Leslie Parrott. AH. Christian Scriptures is one of the university's required classes for transfers.
I don't really like my business classes. It's really hard to sit through a class, and know that you are paying a ton of money to listen to a professor summarize the book and torture you with 25 minute presentation assignments.
I missed my first relationship development class, I had a volleyball game to do stats for, but I've only heard good things about that class so I'm really excited.
Christian Scriptures is awesome. I LOOOOOOVE doing hw on the Bible. Way cool. I don't agree with some of the things I'm learning, but it's been good because it challenges me to really study and find support for what I do believe. I'm really excited to get more into the theology classes, and will choke my way through business for now. The environment for business classes is just so competitive and tense. "You better not be applying for __________ internship" haha you can see them just thinking about it.
Just for a little insight into what I'm doing, I thought I would post my first essay. Cliche I know, but you obviously don't have to read it. The assignment was to write an essay under 750 words talking about "what is the Bible, and how then should we use it". First of all. That's impossible. But here is my attempt :P
Explaining what the Bible is and how it should be used is dangerous. Too narrow in your allowances, or broad in your offerings, the way you present the Bible and its intended purpose can get you in a lot of trouble. The world is full of people. People that are very distinct. Each person needs the holy spirit in the same, but a different way. When we tell people what and how to believe, a lot of times, we can interfere with how the Holy Spirit is working in someone’s life. On the other hand, if we leave interpretation wide open, we are asking for chaos. There’s a fine balance, but no black lined box to stay inside, when explaining the Bible.
Seemingly, in this world full of unique individuals, the Bible is culturally relevant and globally critical. New perspectives and fresh life is being given to the Scriptures across the globe. Because of this, we should use the Bible to find the true nature of God, not prove that our way is the right way. I know that is vague, but a lot of times the church gets so stuck in tradition, that our eyes are blinded to how the Holy Spirit is moving in the world, in a wonderful way. We must study Scripture as to know God, not always to confirm our tradition, our doctrine and denominational preeminence. We must remember Scripture is not “ours”, but the Lord’s.
At the base, the Bible is a book, but more than any other book in so many ways. This book is a collection. A divine intervention and a sought out heavenly reflection. Not only is it the Bible a unique book, but it is a foundational book. It is struggling to be the base of which we build our country, as it has for several communities throughout time. The Bible is strangled by the world, abused by humanity. Where it is the nurturing, disciplining voice to the church, it is treated as a child, needing a path determined for it, and sometimes even dramatic alterations forced upon it. Spina explains the relationship of the Bible to the church when he says, “Reading the Bible as Scripture is finally a means of grace whereby the church keeps its “story” straight, acquires a “grammar of faith”, is made aware of the cadences of its religious expression, embraces the necessity and the delight of being saturated with biblical lore” (Spina 5). In other words, we need the Scriptures, the Scriptures don’t need us.
I believe the Bible, is God’s gift to us. It is his chosen self-portrait, to allow us to grow in faith, love and understanding. It’s how, “the holy God graciously communicates with humanity our “language”: most notably in the Word made flesh in Jesus Christ” (Gallagher 2). On a faith level, the Bible is a relationship. For me personally, what I read in the Bible breaks me down, builds me up, makes me angry, and elates me in joy. It brings about a sanctification process that is only overcome with the dependence on the Holy Spirit. In Spina’s words, it’s “not a matter merely of increasing our knowledge; rather, it is a matter of transformation” (Spina 5). Because it is God’s gift to us, it should be studied with a gracious heart, and open mind. It should be used to understand God, and through that bring glory to him.
The Bible is truth and history braided together into a rope to guide us through the ways of this world. When people try to unravel the intricate dependence of the spiritual and historical in the Bible, we are left with a hopeless mess. Hopeless, here being key. As Koenig explains, “One who reads the Bible as history focused on the latter (history) will ultimately be frustrated and disappointed” (Koenig 11). In of it’s unique dynamics, the Bible should be used as a sacred true text. Not to be torn apart, the Bible should be accepted as a whole, and we should study it as an entirety, otherwise missing out on God’s full intentions through Scripture.
Obviously, the Bible cannot be captured in one small essay written in a span of hours. As this course can only scrape the surface on exposing students to the Bible, this short essay can give a taste to what I’ve learned and what I believe to be true about God’s Word.
Works Cited
Gallagher, Susan VanZanten. "The Bible as Literature." The Multi-Faceted Bible. Comp. Seattle: 2010. Print.
Spina, Frank Anthony. “The Bible as Scripture.” The Multi-Faceted Bible. Comp. Seattle: 2010. Print.
Koenig, Sarah. “The Bible as History.” The Multi-Faceted Bible. Comp. Seattle: 2010. Print.
