The Synoptics: Matthew, Mark, & Luke

The first three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are synoptic, meaning that they have the same point of view on a subject; in this case, it is the life of Jesus they are narrating. They all tell many of the same stories. One example of the similarities of the three Gospels is Jesus's baptism, when The Son comes up, out of the water, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him, like a dove, and The Father speaks. Another example is that many parables and miracles, such as the Parable of the Sower and the feeding of the 5,000, occur in all three books. Of the many more I could write about, this one is probably the most significant: Jesus's death and resurrection. In each of them, the Son of Man's death and resurrection is the climax to the Story (although Luke goes into more depth telling it). Because of these three reasons, and many, many more, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the "Synoptics."

Darkness and Death, Light and Life

Image it: darkness, emptiness…death. Then, Someone spoke in a commanding voice, “Let there be light.” And there was light. God just spoke, and it happened. He spoke, and the sky, the waters, and the land were separated – space was filled. It was good. He spoke, and there were plants and trees – life. He spoke, and there was a light to rule the day and lights to rule the night – more light. He spoke, and there were birds of the air, and animals in the waters and on land – more life. And it all was good. He spoke, and made, in His own image, Man, and Woman, the only living things to whom God gave breath directly, to rule the Earth and everything in it. “And God saw all that he had made, and . . . it was very good.” (Gen. 1:31a ESV).
On Earth, man was to enjoy God and his presence. It was purposed to be the home for humanity as well as a place for God to dwell.  And the man and woman messed it up — but that's another story, for another time. . . . 

God's Story and My Life

Our understanding of the story of the Scriptures greatly affects our daily lives. If we do not know what to do with our lives according to the will of God, how will we please Him and bring others to the realization of their need of a Savior? We are in Act Five of the Drama of the Bible. We are now called (Israel was first) to spread the Good News of Jesus' victory to all the nations (the Great Commission). 

Alluding to Tyler's creative post, how will we know our part in the drama if we haven't read and understood the script? How can we learn from its history (the Old Testament) if we do not read and understand it? Warren Buffett (no idea who he is :) ) said, "What we learn from history is that people don't learn from history."

The same with the New Testament: if we do not read and understand that, we cannot bring others to Christ and glorify God. Then we will not be fulfilling our call. 

Well, that was on my mind today for my second blog post. I hope it challenged you and made you think!

Signing off (with exactly 100 words), Zack

A Conjecture About Jesus

In Geometry last week, Mrs. Velloney taught us about conjectures, deductive reasoning, and counter examples.  Conjecture: an unproven statement based on observation. Deductive reasoning: a process of looking for patterns and making conjectures. Counter example: an example that shows a conjecture is false. She gave us this example of using deductive reasoning and making conjectures: consider Jesus. He heals people, brings them from the dead, is killed and rises from the dead, walks through a wall, starts rising from the ground into the clouds, without a jetpack or invisible wires or something, and many more things (See John 21:25.) So, we can use deductive reasoning to make the conjecture that Jesus is NOT a normal human being. As of yet, absolutely no one has made a legitimate counter example to pronounce this to be a falsehood. Other than Jesus and his disciples, there has been no one to raise anyone from the dead or levitate and ascend into the clouds, or came alive again by their own will. We have prophesies hundreds of years before Christ, foretelling what Jesus would do and the place He would be born. We have physical accounts of Jesus's acts and miracles. The splendor and glory of God is all around us, from the tiny ameba, to the intricacy of the human body, to the biggest star outside Hubble's powerful sight. If you believe that we came to be by random chance, or that Jesus isn't God's supernatural Son, then you need to seriously consider were your faith lies. Second Peter says to make your calling and election sure. Are we sure of our faith in Jesus Christ? I am, and I hope you are, too. I'm pretty sure you all are.   :)

And to get two hundred ninety-nine words: that's all folks! 

1st blog post. duh.
Um, what should I post? Oh, I just did.