Bible Study

I'm involved in a Bible study that I haven't been too excited about. I almost didn't go last night, but now I'm glad I did. The material we are using was written by a woman who attends our church--nice lady, but I'm not thrilled with her material. I didn't want to go, because I didn't want to be critical; I decided I wouldn't say anything and just see what the other ladies had to say. I was pleased that at the first question, another woman said she really struggled with the verses applying to the questions and felt that some of the verses were out of context and didn't apply at all. I felt better that I wasn't the only one who was feeling like that. Sometimes I feel I shouldn't say much of anything because I am a pastors wife--I don't want to cause trouble. But at the same time, how we interpret scripture is so important. I was able to share quite a bit after she said what she did...

I did find an interesting verse last night. It didn't really have anything to do with the Bible study (again, it was used out of context), but it struck a cord with me and made me think about the word "believe." The verse was Hebrews 2:16, "For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham." That took me back to a conversation I had one time at women's retreat. The speaker seemed to think it takes more than belief in Christ to be saved. She made the point that the "demons believe and tremble." In other words, the demons know the truth of Christ's sacrifice, but their belief doesn't save them. I pointed out that the demons (fallen angels) had already made their choice of who to follow and that Christ hadn't died for them. But she would have none of it. I wish I had quoted Hebrews 2:16 to her. The context is salvation and would have been a great verse to use in making my case.

So, even though I'm not crazy about the material we are using for Bible study, I did learn something... which seems to always be the case when we study God's word!