8 June 2022 | Many Adventists who identify themselves as progressive wonder if they are delusional in dreaming of a more thoughtful and open-minded church—perhaps, especially, after a week like this one when we’ve watched the top body of our church at work trying to chart a way forward. In this class, Dr. Charles Scriven […] Source: https://atoday.org/atss-charles-scriven-are-progressive-adventists-deluded/
Dr Daniel Duda elected as Trans-European Division President
Dr Daniel Duda has been elected President of the Trans-European Division.
Duda has served as the Education Director at the Trans-European Division in St Albans, England since 2005. Since 2015 he is also the Field Secretary and the Adventist Mission Director. Between 2005 and 2015 he was also the Ministerial Secretary of the Division. When he left Newbold for the TED in 2005, he was a Principal Lecturer in Biblical & Systematic Theology in the Department of Theological Studies at Newbold College…Source: https://adventist.uk/news/article/go/2022-06-08/1209/
El auge y la caída de 1844 – Parte 2
Por Norman H Young | 8 de junio de 2022 | Lea la primera parte de esta serie aquí. En sus Cartas a una dama americana, C. S. Lewis escribió: “Nunca he podido descubrir en qué creen los adventistas del séptimo día, aunque el otro día tuve una larga conversación con uno de ellos, un […] Source: https://atoday.org/el-auge-y-la-caida-de-1844-parte-2/
Let’s Make Sabbath School a Bible Study
I actually thought I was the only one concerned about how little Bible study is actually done in Sabbath School. It seems we study the quarterly more than the Bible. Then I found this quote from 1991, and found out I am not alone, and have not been for years.
“Too often I find that what passes for Bible study in many Sabbath School classes is little more than a rehash of familiar sayings, personal opinion, and Ellen White quotations. It isn’t Bible study, but simply comments about the Bible…..Our “lesson study” has the guise of Bible study but isn’t. It is more a study of the Sabbath School lesson quarterly than the Bible.” –Myron Widmer, Adventist Review, September 12, 1991.
During the quarantine I would ask people what they have been finding in their personal Bible study time, only to get answers about what they heard a television preacher say. I never got any direct answers to my question about personal Bible study time. This greatly concerned me. In Acts 17:11 they were not only listening to Paul preach, but they were searching (not just casually reading) the Scriptures (Not a quarterly or periodical) daily, not just every now and then.
This is why I enjoy Michael Fracker’s teaching plans. These plans make Sabbath school a Bible study that may casually reference the quarterly, instead of a study of the quarterly that may casually reference the Bible. Quarterlies are great as they direct us to the Bible, but we need to follow those directions and go to the Bible. By the way, after using Michael Fracker’s lesson plans for twenty years, I have also helped write his lesson plans on occasion and even edit them. In the process I have also developed my own lesson plans, following Michael Fracker’s vision of making Sabbath school time Bible study time. While some use my plans and many more use Michael Fracker’s teaching plans, I talk to several Sabbath School teachers who feel more comfortable making their own teaching plans. That is really best. The suggested plans are just to get you started. What is most important is making sure Sabbath School time is Bible study time.
Amen!
(2)
(2)The post Let’s Make Sabbath School a Bible Study appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/lets-make-sabbath-school-a-bible-study/
Thursday: The Dreams of Pharaoh
Read Genesis 40:1-41:36. How are the dreams of Pharaoh related to the dreams of the officers? What is the significance of this parallel?
The providential character of the events continues. Over time, Joseph is put in charge of the prisoners, two of whom happen to be former officers of Pharaoh, a butler and a baker (Genesis 41:9-11).
Image © Bible Adventure Collection at Goodsalt.com
They are both troubled by dreams that they cannot understand, because “there is no interpreter” (Genesis 40:8). Joseph, then, interprets their respective dreams.
In parallel to the two officers’ dreams, Pharaoh also has two dreams, which no one can interpret (Genesis 41:1-8). At that moment the butler providentially remembers Joseph and recommends him to Pharaoh (Genesis 41:9-13).
In parallel to the other dreams, Pharaoh, like the officers, is troubled, and like them reveals his dreams (Genesis 41:14-24), and Joseph interprets them. Like the officers’ dreams, Pharaoh’s dreams display parallels of symbols: the two series of seven cows (fat and gaunt) just as the two series of heads of grain (plump and thin) represent two series years, one good and one bad. The seven cows parallel the seven heads of grain, repeating the same message, an evidence of their divine origin, just like Joseph’s dreams (Genesis 41:32; compare with Genesis 37:9).
Though Joseph is the one who interpreted the dream for Pharaoh, Joseph makes certain that Pharaoh knows that it was God, Elohim, who showed the king the things that He, God, was going to do (Genesis 41:25, Genesis 41:28). It seems, too, that Pharaoh got the message because, when he decided to appoint someone to be over the land, his argument was as follows:
“Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word” (Genesis 41:39-40, , NKJV).
How fascinating: thanks to God, Joseph goes from ruler over Potiphar’s house to ruler over the prison to ruler over all of Egypt. What a powerful story about how, even amid what looks like terrible circumstances, God’s providences are revealed.
| How can we learn to trust God and cling to His promises when events don’t appear providential at all, and indeed, God seems silent? |
Amen!(1)
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