Status Updates From Systematic Theology for Beg...

Finished the Epilogue. The author states that the goal of this book is to help Christians gain knowledge while remaining loving to their neighbor. The more we learn about God, the humbler we should become. We should realize that other people are just like us: broken and in need of redemption.

Finished Chapter 23. We read that Heaven is not some boring, static place, but an upgrade. It's a return to the way things should have been from the very beginning. Eschatology is the study of the end of this current world and the beginning of a much better and longer-lasting world.

Finished Chapter 22. We read that the end of this current world is coming to an end. Jesus is going to return one day. This is the Christian Hope. This hope is not uncertainty, it is expectancy. Our redemption has already been paid, and the Holy Spirit is the down payment.

Finished Chapter 21. We read that Church is a place for community with other Christians. It's not a place for people to view others as less than but for those who realize they are broken and need a Savior. If you try to worship Jesus by yourself, your faith will grow cold. We should go to church to have fellowship with other like-minded people and support each other.

Finished Chapter 20. We read that the Church is not a building, it's the people. When Jesus said He was going to build the Church, He was talking about gathering people to Him. Christians all over the world are linked together by Christ.

Finished Chapter 19. We read that the Bible contains many different genres. Each of these genres should be read differently than the others. Also, we must remember that while the texts can be read by us, they were not written to us. We must understand what they meant to those it was written. Context matters.

Finished Chapter 18. We read that the Bible is to Christians what the Constitution is to the United States. It is the final word on which we conduct ourselves. The Holy Spirit guided the writers to write the Bible. Today, we have over 5,800 manuscript copies that are about 98% identical. The 2% is due to typos, spelling differences, added or removed words, etc.

Read a parenthetical about the Apostle's Creed. It is a statement of faith that summarizes the works of each member of the Trinity. The Father planned the Creation story. The Son paid the sin debt. The Spirit applies the materials and is building the Church.

Finished Chapter 17. We read that the Spirit is actively working to build your new nature. It's a work in progress. The 3 Persons of the Trinity can be described with the Father as an architect, the Son as the financier, and the Spirit as the Builder. Another job of the Spirit is to guide us. He illuminates the way for us so that we can see more clearly. He also enhances our fruit and gifts.

Finished Chapter 16. We read that the Holy Spirit isn't just some abstract force that does stuff, He is a person, He is God. What He does is illuminate Jesus in a way that we focus on Him. The Spirit inhabits us and helps guide us on the path of Regeneration.

Finished Chapter 15. We read that even though we (myself included) have been Saved, we still struggle with our sinful nature. Salvation does not get rid of our nature immediately. However, we do start to get transformed. The transformation is a long process. We may have a new nature forming within us, but the old nature is still active. Unfortunately, the old nature will be around until we die.

Finished Chapter 14. We read that God could not erase our sin debt because all debt has to be paid by someone. Jesus' death on the Cross was our debt being paid and His resurrection was the receipt of payment. Not only did God pay our sin debt Himself, but He also wants to reconcile our relationship to Him.

Finished Chapter 13. We read about how Salvation works. It is a 3-fold process in which a person is rescued from their sin guilt, healing process is started, and full restoration. Jesus paid the price for our rescue, we just have to accept to be rescued by Him.

Finished Chapter 12. We read that while our modern tolerant tendencies want us to be able to see more than one way to God, the truth is that Jesus is the ONLY way. This is because it was He who solved the problem with humanity's sinful nature. To be a Christian, you must know Christ.

Finished Chapter 11. We read about why Jesus came. He didn't just come to save us from our fallen nature. He lived for 33 years dealing with the same human desires and choices we all deal with, yet He did not succumb to those desires. He remained sinless. He dealt with human frailty because He hungered, thirsted, got tired, etc. Yet, He also forgave sins, walked on water, calmed storms, etc.

Finished Chapter 10. We read about the person of Jesus. God inserted Himself into the human story he wrote. While some want to see Jesus as 'just a great teacher', His own words and actions prevent this from being an option. He is more than that, He is God Incarnate. Fully God and Fully human.

Finished Chapter 9. We read that while we can 'freely' choose to do anything, our fallen nature prevents us from making choices outside of our desires. However, God still judges us of our sins because we still freely act on them. This is a problem I have with Total Inability that I will address when I review the book in full. In short, if people are able to refuse to believe in God, they are also able to believe.

Finished Chapter 8. We read that God's perfect creation was corrupted by the very first sin by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This first sin, permeated all of creation, corrupting everything it touched. The image isn't gone, but distorted. Sin isn't like a corrupted file on a computer, it's like a self-replicating malware on an internet server spreading to every computer.

Finished Chapter 7. We read that humans were made in God's Image. We are created beings of a higher order than other animals. We are material and spiritual. Secular descriptions of humans highlight one aspect of our humanity while negating another. Additionally, our human rights come from our image bearing. Take away our image bearing and our 'rights' are just government based and can be removed if necessary.

Finished Chapter 6. We learn about the Trinity. God is 3 Persons in 1 Being. People try to explain the Trinity using things like H2O or an egg. However, these explanations misinterpret the true nature of God. What we have to understand is that God is a spiritual Being outside of of physical realm. He exists outside of our 3-Dimensional world.

Finished Chapter 5. We read that God has many facets. In the Old Testament, we see God as wrathful and stern while in the New Testament we hear from Jesus that God is loving and forgiving. These are just 2 sides of the same God. Like a diamond, depending on how you look at it affects what you see. For us to see a more complete picture of God, we have to take His justice with His mercy.

Finished Chapter 4. We read that God isn't some impersonal force or a piecemeal of things put together. There are two categories: Creator and created. God is a personal Being that is the creator of all there is. While created beings need some kind of sustenance to survive, God is self-sustaining.

Finished Chapter 3. We read that our belief system should not be like a buffet and more like a spider web. Any change in any of the main 'files' will affect other 'files' and break the web. This interconnectedness provides us with a stable belief system if used the right way.

Finished Chapter 2. Foster elaborates by demonstrating that Systematic Theology is like a filing cabinet that has many files in it and these different files are labeled by subjects. Each subject has references from all over the Bible. Systematic Theology is the process of organizing the narrative of Scripture into a topic-based system. It turns the library into an encyclopedia so you can find the answers you need.

Finished Chapter 1. Read about how what Systematic Theology does for the Bible is like what the box cover does to a puzzle. It's able to piece together the varied mentions of a particular subject found throughout the Bible and arrange them in a way that makes the subject more relatable or learnable. The author defines the terms in a simplified manner that makes them easy to understand.