Conversion & Calling, Student Workbook, SW01

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C O N V E R S I O N A N D C A L L I N G

A Denial of the Faith?

In a science class at school, one of the students in the youth group is having to write a term paper on the theory of evolution. This same student has been learning at church how God created the worlds through the Word of God, and even more specifically, through Jesus Christ. He believes the Scriptures, that the Bible’s teaching on creation is correct, and yet the Bible does not appear to address all of the issues that he is encountering in class about science. He does not want to turn his science class into a religious discussion group, but he is struggling with finding a way to talk about the Bible’s view of creation in his high school science class. If this young brother came to you for advice, what would you counsel him to do or not do? Serious disagreement and conflict has arisen in one of the church’s home Bible studies over which translations are okay to be used. One faction of older believers has asserted that the only Bible we should use in the group is the King James Bible, a tried and true translation that has long been revered and treasured in the church. A group of younger folk are insistent on using some of the “modern” translations, because they find them so much easier to study and memorize. To those of the older faction, when verses are read from the newer translation, it is as if the entire meaning of the verse has changed. Both sides know that the Bible was not written originally in English, but no one in either faction understands Hebrew or Greek. As pastor, how would you resolve this dilemma in the home group? After hearing a teaching on television that said no one can understand the Bible without the aid of the Holy Spirit, one of the deacons at church is deeply concerned about his own lack of understanding of the Bible. While he understands that the Holy Spirit has indwelt and sealed him once he believed (e.g., Rom. 8.1-18; Eph. 1.13; Gal. 5.16-23), he doesn’t knowwhat it means to be “taught” by the Holy Spirit. He is deeply skeptical of going through a lot of emotional exercises in order to say that he is being taught by the Spirit, and everyone recognizes this dear brother to be a mature, godly, and Christlike servant in the church. Still, he wants to understand what it means to be taught by the Spirit. How would you instruct this brother to understand the role of the Holy Spirit’s teaching ministry in his ongoing understanding of the Bible? God’s Word according to King James of England You Need the Holy Spirit

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