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Fresh Life Series
Live Relationally: Lessons from the Women of Genesis
Quick-name your favorite Bible character! Is it a woman? Chances are it's not, even though women are central to God's story-and His plan. Genesis alone is peopled with women who experience death, marriage, divorce, rape, and family tragedy. And if that sounds like something out of yesterday's headlines , it just goes to show that the Bible has a message for you-today. In Live Relationally , you'll discover the vivid lessons and rich wisdom of Israel's founding mothers. From the complicated Tamar to the often oversimplified Eve, they are wives and mothers, slaves and owners, sinners and saints . and each woman's story will touch your heart. Perfect for every age, appropriate for groups or individual study, and intended for today's on-the-go woman, the Fresh Life series of Bible studies requires just 20 minutes a day for a meaningful contemplation of God's Word.
- GenresChristian
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Lenya Heitzig
19 books9 followersLenya Heitzig is an award-winning author and popular Bible teacher. She and her husband founded Calvary Church of Albuquerque—one of the fastest-growing churches worldwide. She is the author of Holy Moments: Recognizing God's Fingerprints on Your Life and also contributed to the best-selling New Women's Devotional Bible. Heitzig serves as Executive Director of She Ministries of Albuquerque, overseeing weekly Bible studies and yearly retreats. She and her husband Skip live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 1, 2009
Living Relationally by Lenya Heitzig & Penny Rose is terrific entry in their Fresh Life series. This volume offers lessons gleaned from the women of Genesis. From Eve's temptation by the serpent to Potiphar's wife's temptation of Joseph, there are important teachings that the authors reveal by encouraging readers to read the Scripture, reinterpret it in their own words, and then find ways to apply it to everyday life. Their books are filled with terrific anecdotes and quotes that bring the stories to life along with indepth information about life in the time of the patriarchs that gives new understanding to stories that are very familiar. I hope to read more of this series!
April 15, 2019
Lazy writing, poorly researched, and politically biased.
This was a terrible study. My group ended up just reading the pertinent Bible passage and answering the strictly factual questions. Rather than fostering introspection and repentance, the life-application sections consistently encouraged the reader to think of evil things OTHER people had done, and focus on that. For example, and I quote: "In the appropriate columns, record some situations in which you were good but others treated you poorly." Column headings are "YOU WERE RIGHT" and "THEY WERE WRONG." Because Bible study really should be all about finding the faults in others, am I right?
Beyond that, this entire book is error-ridden and feels completely phoned-in by the authors. I probably should have known this immediately, since the cover says "A Twelve Week Study," while in fact it is only ten. (I'm assuming they just copied the cover design from the other books in their series.) In one chapter a woman is referred to by her father's name due to a simple reading comprehension error on the part of the authors.
Worse than any of this: if you're not a die-hard right-wing republican evangelical Christian, you're gonna have major issues with basically everything the authors have written from their own point of view. Because apparently there's only one political party for Real Christians, and the authors aren't afraid to say it. Explicitly.
Here's a few quotes to illustrate. From the chapter on Noah:
"Family values is a term first used by conservatives to support Judeo-Christian ideology. These supporters contend that the nuclear family is the core of society. They oppose abortion, pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, some aspects of feminism, cohabitation, and depictions of sexuality in the media.
"In contrast to the view of family values held by conservatives, liberals have sought to co-opt the term to support unbiblical lifestyles. Their ideology promotes such practices as sex education that excludes abstinence, abortion on demand, teen access to contraception, same-sex marriages, and gay parenting."
In a chapter on Sarah:
"Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man" is one of the most covered songs in country music history. Sadly, as the feminist movement gained popularity during the 1970's, many women denounced the song as well as its singer. However, Wynette defended the son. On a talk show with Jay Leno, she insisted the song was not a call to give in to the old double standard but was instead pointing out that they should be willing to forgive. She also said that a husband should be willing to stand by his wife as well. Tammy's son truly elevated the sanctity of marriage, while feminists sought to tear it apart." (The authors have major issues with feminism. Sorry, but I kind of like being able to own property and vote.)
Predictably, the chapter on Sodom and Gamorrah illustrates both this study's completely unbiblical attitude toward (not) welcoming strangers as well as its complete lack of scholarship:
"The Los Angeles Times ran an article entitled "For Gays in Las Vegas, the Welcome Mat Is Out." ...Las Vegas consistently ranks second--behind New York--as the most popular place for gay and lesbian couples to visit, according to Community Marketing Inc., a San Francisco company that researches gay and lesbian travel habits. In Lot's day, the welcome mat would have been out for the gay community in Sodom as well. But a DO NOT ENTER sign should have been posted." (The authors later cite the verse which explicitly states why Sodom was destroyed - spoiler, it's not homosexuality, it's lack of charity toward the poor and needy. LOL. Unsurprisingly, the authors missed that.)
If you're fine with these quotes? You'll absolutely love this study.
This was a terrible study. My group ended up just reading the pertinent Bible passage and answering the strictly factual questions. Rather than fostering introspection and repentance, the life-application sections consistently encouraged the reader to think of evil things OTHER people had done, and focus on that. For example, and I quote: "In the appropriate columns, record some situations in which you were good but others treated you poorly." Column headings are "YOU WERE RIGHT" and "THEY WERE WRONG." Because Bible study really should be all about finding the faults in others, am I right?
Beyond that, this entire book is error-ridden and feels completely phoned-in by the authors. I probably should have known this immediately, since the cover says "A Twelve Week Study," while in fact it is only ten. (I'm assuming they just copied the cover design from the other books in their series.) In one chapter a woman is referred to by her father's name due to a simple reading comprehension error on the part of the authors.
Worse than any of this: if you're not a die-hard right-wing republican evangelical Christian, you're gonna have major issues with basically everything the authors have written from their own point of view. Because apparently there's only one political party for Real Christians, and the authors aren't afraid to say it. Explicitly.
Here's a few quotes to illustrate. From the chapter on Noah:
"Family values is a term first used by conservatives to support Judeo-Christian ideology. These supporters contend that the nuclear family is the core of society. They oppose abortion, pornography, premarital sex, homosexuality, some aspects of feminism, cohabitation, and depictions of sexuality in the media.
"In contrast to the view of family values held by conservatives, liberals have sought to co-opt the term to support unbiblical lifestyles. Their ideology promotes such practices as sex education that excludes abstinence, abortion on demand, teen access to contraception, same-sex marriages, and gay parenting."
In a chapter on Sarah:
"Tammy Wynette's "Stand by Your Man" is one of the most covered songs in country music history. Sadly, as the feminist movement gained popularity during the 1970's, many women denounced the song as well as its singer. However, Wynette defended the son. On a talk show with Jay Leno, she insisted the song was not a call to give in to the old double standard but was instead pointing out that they should be willing to forgive. She also said that a husband should be willing to stand by his wife as well. Tammy's son truly elevated the sanctity of marriage, while feminists sought to tear it apart." (The authors have major issues with feminism. Sorry, but I kind of like being able to own property and vote.)
Predictably, the chapter on Sodom and Gamorrah illustrates both this study's completely unbiblical attitude toward (not) welcoming strangers as well as its complete lack of scholarship:
"The Los Angeles Times ran an article entitled "For Gays in Las Vegas, the Welcome Mat Is Out." ...Las Vegas consistently ranks second--behind New York--as the most popular place for gay and lesbian couples to visit, according to Community Marketing Inc., a San Francisco company that researches gay and lesbian travel habits. In Lot's day, the welcome mat would have been out for the gay community in Sodom as well. But a DO NOT ENTER sign should have been posted." (The authors later cite the verse which explicitly states why Sodom was destroyed - spoiler, it's not homosexuality, it's lack of charity toward the poor and needy. LOL. Unsurprisingly, the authors missed that.)
If you're fine with these quotes? You'll absolutely love this study.
August 16, 2018
I loved reading about all the women of the Bible and how God was able to use them in various ways, how even though they are women of the Bible they were still imperfect like we all are. The lessons were thought provoking and the stories beautiful and heart breaking. So many more stories I did not know that now I know and can learn from.
January 21, 2018
It was an okay Bible study. I worked on it for 3 months. Some were more interesting than others.
December 11, 2009
This was the book we used for our fall women's Bible study, though it would work well as just a personal devotional too.
What I liked: the way it took an in-depth look at different women from the book of Genesis and in each case showed how God was intimately involved in their lives and destinies, and how the men would have been nothing without them :-) It also showed His love for them and us, i.e., Hagar (Abraham and Sarah's slave who gave them a son, then was sent away when Sarah finally had Isaac at age 90). She was alone in the wilderness, thinking she and her son would die, and God came to her and provided water, food, and comfort. She called Him "the God who sees". Or Leah, the unwanted wife of Jacob (he wanted her sister Rachel and got her too through her father's deceit). "The Lord saw that Leah was unloved, so He opened her womb and gave her 4 sons. With each baby she kept hoping her husband would love her too, but by the 4th one, she had learned to trust in God's love first. Women who you don't think of as the "main players" in the Bible, but God saw them and loved them. It was a fresh look at some old Bible stories.
What I didn't like so much: the authors had a fair amount of what I would call "pat Christian answers" in the book that I didn't quite agree with. But I don't think any Bible study book is meant to be gospel in and of itself, since the Bible is inspired by God through men's writing and this isn't. It made me think, and I don't need to agree with all the conclusions they came to for it to open my eyes to what God wanted to show me through it. The group discussion of it was great in this regard, since a lot of us had different ideas than the authors as we studied it.
What I liked: the way it took an in-depth look at different women from the book of Genesis and in each case showed how God was intimately involved in their lives and destinies, and how the men would have been nothing without them :-) It also showed His love for them and us, i.e., Hagar (Abraham and Sarah's slave who gave them a son, then was sent away when Sarah finally had Isaac at age 90). She was alone in the wilderness, thinking she and her son would die, and God came to her and provided water, food, and comfort. She called Him "the God who sees". Or Leah, the unwanted wife of Jacob (he wanted her sister Rachel and got her too through her father's deceit). "The Lord saw that Leah was unloved, so He opened her womb and gave her 4 sons. With each baby she kept hoping her husband would love her too, but by the 4th one, she had learned to trust in God's love first. Women who you don't think of as the "main players" in the Bible, but God saw them and loved them. It was a fresh look at some old Bible stories.
What I didn't like so much: the authors had a fair amount of what I would call "pat Christian answers" in the book that I didn't quite agree with. But I don't think any Bible study book is meant to be gospel in and of itself, since the Bible is inspired by God through men's writing and this isn't. It made me think, and I don't need to agree with all the conclusions they came to for it to open my eyes to what God wanted to show me through it. The group discussion of it was great in this regard, since a lot of us had different ideas than the authors as we studied it.
June 25, 2009
I am very impressed with these bible studies. This book about the women of Genesis has been deeply researched and thoughtfully presented. They are not the fill-in-the-blank kind but rather real thinkers. The lessons are laid out clearly and succinctly. The ladies have great insight into today's woman and have shown a deep knowledge of the people in the bible to bring their lessons into today's world. They have what they call the 5 elements per lesson, I call them the 5 L's. 1. Lift up: a short prayer that brings the learner front and center into God's world. 2. Look at: the Scripture for the day using questions that ask us to dig deeper into it's meaning. 3. Learn about: sidebars that explain the times or the culture. 4. Live out: how we can apply the scripture and what we've learnt to our own personal lives. 5. Listen to: quotes from others to help put in some perspective. The questions for each lesson use such words as explain, describe in detail, compare and contrast, what do you think. All words and phrases that are designed to make the student think and then put their thoughts into words. In the Live Out section references are made to other books in the Bible which helps to reinforce and expand the lesson. Then it goes on forward to today and brings the principle home to your own life. These studies definitely make one think down deep and bring a whole new aspect to studying the Bible. I highly recommend the series for beginners and advanced learners, individuals and small groups.
February 9, 2010
Wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst study I've done. Our women's discipleship decided not to finish the book and started with something else, although I'm not sure why. I wouldn't be opposed to finishing it in the future, if I was looking for a Bible study.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews