10/26 amd 10/28:: Timelines and Testations

Tuesday's class:



After hearing Trucker Frank's timeline:




(more Trucker Frank videos here)

..we talked about history, narrative and timelines,
and then inserted our own  history, narrative and timelines into the crucial
(literally; the word means "cross")
event of Matthew's gospel "timeline" the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It was interesting to have Michael and Daniel chart out their life timelines on the board.
In the process, we learned about Daniel's former life in the band Thirteen Arrows..

We also noted that Trucker Frank suggested Kingdom life is sometimes more about journey than destination.
We remembered that  according to Cahill, the Jews "invented" history, and Western civilization" that is, the sense that life and history have a purpose; that the arrow of our corporate timeline is going somewhere.
Many ancient cultures and worldviews saw time and history as cyclical or reincarnational.

To offer a visual, we charted out our timelines as a "holy helix"  (You'll remember I brought one to class)
Note there are lines working both directions: one might represent our lifeline (bottom to top, or left to right) and the other  God;s involvement with our life and history (top to bottom, or right to left),  Note how connected and inseparable the two are.

We also remembered that The Kingdom (a la George Ladd) is in a sense "the end times working backwards.  (see bottom of 10/5 post)



The Vander Laan video we watcehd was "Roll Away the Stone".  
Unfortunately, it is not online in any form, but several  Vander Laan audio downloads are here,

Remember, on Hebrew vs. Greek  views on time (and several other categories:   sin, faith, truth ,community, truth over time etc), be sure ti familiarize with the charts linked on this page (also on top of this website under "Thinking  Hebrew") as this will be on the final exam.



Thursday's class:

As we began our discusion on Kryabill's  "UpsideDown Kingdom"  we suggested (along with Ktaybill_
taht teh three "temptations" Jesus met in Matthew 4 were  the same three tempttaions that shiw up throiughtlout Jesus' timeline on earth...righ yoo to, and espcillay includiung the cross.

The Ray Vander Laan video we watched  ( "Jesus Our Desert – The Three Temptations")  offered several examples:

• Jesus put God ahead of family ("Who are my brothers and sisters?"  "Whoveer loves father and mother more than me cannot be my disciple."
• When people reported Herod wanted to kill him, he was not concerned (Luke 13)
• When people wanted to make him king, he walked away
• When the crowds were hungry, the disciples  wanted Jesus to feed them.  He refused.
• The "get behind me, Satan" comment to Peter when Peter suggested Jesus should bypass the cross.
• "go ahead and use Your power; the cross is going to hurt

Vander Laan also suggested that

We moted that VanderLaan prefers to translate "tests" instead of "temptations."
I coined the woprd "testations"  It woulkd seen that in Scriptrure that
God tests, and the devil tempts.



But we found both in the narrative.

And we were tempted to take the  shocking "The devil is God's devil"  test:

• 1.)Who sent an evil spirit to terrorize Saul? (1 Sam. 16:14; 18:10)
• 2.)Who sent a deceiving and lying spirit? (1 Kings 22:22)
• 3)Who authorizes satanic harassment of Job (Job 1:12)
• 4)Who can destroy both body and soul in hell? (Matthew 10:28)
• 5)Who sent a deceiving influence, so that wicked people are damned? (2 Thess. 2:11)
• 6)Who sees to it that a sinner is saved? (1 Cor. 5:5)
• 7)Who is the god of this world? (2 Cor 4:4)
• 8)Who helps keep Paul humble? (2 Cor, 12:7)
• 9)Who teaches Paul not to blaspheme? (1 Tim 1:20)

Qualifier:These verses have "verse-itis," and are out of context, and are meant to over-ehpasize a point (God is incredibly sovereign, and "uses" the devil), but if you look them up, you'll see that the answers to #1-5 are GOD, and #6-9 are THE DEVIL!
---------------------------
Related:

It was also announced that as an alternative to the final exam, you can instead write a paper:

• 1)What were the three temptations of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11, Compare any ways Mark's account,  Mark 1:12-13  and  Luke's account, Luke 4:1-13 differ, and suggest any reasons why.
• 2)How does Nouewen summarize the three temptations?  How do you (use your own words)?
• 3)How do the three temptations connect to the historical and literary world of the Hebrew Testament?
• 4)How do the three temptations connect to the contemporary world of Jesus and the disciples?
• 5)List and discuss several possible ways that versions of the three temptations reoccur and are revisited  throughout Jesus' life in Matthew's gospel?  (How is Jesus tested/tempted elswhere in Matthew, and how are the temptations versions of a similar one (two, or three) that he faced in the original temptation passage?
• 6)What are the three core temptations you face, and how have they revisited you  throughout your timeline?  How would you categorize them using Nouwen's categories?  Using the three categories of the "Shema"  (heart/mind/might) a la  Vander Laan'?  Using Kraybill's three categories?
• 7)What have you learned about passing these tests/resiiting these temptations?
• 8)What does all of this  (the Matt 4 Scripture, and testing/tempting) have to do with the Kingdom?
• 9)Discuss how the passages that deal with Jesus not being immune to temptation( Hebrews 2:17-18, Hebrews 4:14-16,  and Hebrews 5:7-9) affect your views of  "Who is Jesus?" and of Jesus' divinity and humanity.

The video we saw today was so loaded with help for this paper.  But it's brand new and not online or in FPU library yet.  You may want to locate it, rent it, or get notes from a classmate if you had to miss it (I will see if I can get permission to upload it)  It's  episode 4 of Vol 11, here.
For help on question 1, see video and class notes from today, and this chart
For help on question 2, see class notes for 10/12. 
 For help on question 3, see notes from the video and read Deuteronomy  6-8, and commentaries on        Deuteronomy Matthew  4  (see "helpful resources" at right for online resources).
 For help on question 4, see the Kraybill book, first four chapters (tons of info).  For question 5, see video notes above, but come up with some of your own from your reading of Matthew.  For question 6, I would recommend Nouwen's "In The Name of Jesus" book (it's a very short and classic book, and several copies are in the library.  Click here for a fairly thorough summary.


This should be a 7-10 page paper, or a detailed video or power point.
----------------------------------