Wednesday's Bible study class went very well...
God was with us as we gathered in the chapel to learn more about His word. As I mentioned in my last journal entry, the topic I am teaching on is shame. We discussed what shame is, and what it's not.
The class also saw how sin and shame go together. Whenever sin comes on the scene, shame comes with it. Our first example of this was Adam and Eve. Their disobedience for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil not only caused them to lose their innocence, but it damaged their relationship with the Lord as well.
Filled with guilt and shame over what they had done, and now having the fear of death to add to their plight, our first parents tried to use what they had at their disposal - itchy fig leaves - to escape what they thought was their end. But it was not the end. While their relationship with the Lord was now strained, we also saw God's mercy at work by granting Adam and Eve a second chance.
As the men took turns reading a verse or two from the Genesis account of Mankind's creation and its fall, I would then expound on each verse while allowing the guys the opportunity to ask questions or make comments.
Adam and Eve experienced spiritual death immediately, while their bodies would die later. God had to expel them from the Garden of Eden and prevent them from eating the fruit from the Tree of Life. Because sin separates us from God, had they been permitted to stay and eat, they would have lived eternally in their fallen state, and would have been forever separated from Him, and so would we.
Even though God was disappointed in Adam and Eve for their disobedience, and mankind would live with the consequences of their sin, God already had a plan for us to be restored to Him. This is evident in the very first recorded prophesy of the Bible, in Genesis 3:15.
Although, shame may sound like a negative topic to study and talk about, it's going to have a nice ending. Why? Because when we confess our sins to Messiah Jesus and repent of them, He is faithful to wash away our sins with his own blood, and to cleanse us from the shame our sins and transgressions caused us to experience (1 John 1:9).
All told, sin brings forth shame. But when forgiveness comes, sin goes out, and so does the shame. And that is good news indeed.
D.B.
The class also saw how sin and shame go together. Whenever sin comes on the scene, shame comes with it. Our first example of this was Adam and Eve. Their disobedience for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil not only caused them to lose their innocence, but it damaged their relationship with the Lord as well.
Filled with guilt and shame over what they had done, and now having the fear of death to add to their plight, our first parents tried to use what they had at their disposal - itchy fig leaves - to escape what they thought was their end. But it was not the end. While their relationship with the Lord was now strained, we also saw God's mercy at work by granting Adam and Eve a second chance.
As the men took turns reading a verse or two from the Genesis account of Mankind's creation and its fall, I would then expound on each verse while allowing the guys the opportunity to ask questions or make comments.
Adam and Eve experienced spiritual death immediately, while their bodies would die later. God had to expel them from the Garden of Eden and prevent them from eating the fruit from the Tree of Life. Because sin separates us from God, had they been permitted to stay and eat, they would have lived eternally in their fallen state, and would have been forever separated from Him, and so would we.
Even though God was disappointed in Adam and Eve for their disobedience, and mankind would live with the consequences of their sin, God already had a plan for us to be restored to Him. This is evident in the very first recorded prophesy of the Bible, in Genesis 3:15.
Although, shame may sound like a negative topic to study and talk about, it's going to have a nice ending. Why? Because when we confess our sins to Messiah Jesus and repent of them, He is faithful to wash away our sins with his own blood, and to cleanse us from the shame our sins and transgressions caused us to experience (1 John 1:9).
All told, sin brings forth shame. But when forgiveness comes, sin goes out, and so does the shame. And that is good news indeed.
D.B.
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