Post your case study below in the response area 300-500 words.
This is going to be a “real life” case study. You are to find a person who would be willing to sit down and talk to you for an hour or two. It would be good if this person was a seeker, unbeliever, or a skeptic, but he or she can be a Christian. With notes in hand, the topic of your conversation is going to be explaining why we believe the Scriptures are inspired.
• Ask these questions before you begin:
1. Do you believe that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God? If so, why? If not, why?
2. Do you believe that God expects Christians to simply trust that the Scriptures are inspired, or do you think He want Christians to take a critical approach to the Scriptures?
• Proceed to explain the entire “Proving Inspiration” section in your notes.
• Now ask what evidence they found the most convincing concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures.
• Then ask what evidence they found the least convincing concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures.
• If they are still doubtful concerning the Inspiration of the Scriptures, ask them what evidence short of God shouting from heaven that they would accept to verify that the Scriptures are inspired.
After you are done, write a half page to a page summary of the encounter and hand it in. Online student are to post their summary in their class forum. Grades will be based upon the completion of the assignment, not the effectiveness of the presentation. Everyone who completes this will receive credit for the case study.
Powered by FireStats
November 5th, 2008 at 10:38 am
B&H—Fall 2008
Case Study #2
My friend, Katie, had some pretty Christian viewpoints.
She believed that the Scriptures were inspired by God. I asked her how she knew that the Scriptures were inspired by God. Katie stated that it was because the Bible says that It is inspired and It has proven It’s validity.
Katie thinks that God expects Christians to be critical in their approach to the Bible. She then said that maybe God expected both: trust and critical thinking. She didn’t believe that God would just want us to mindlessly accept the Bible and Christianity. God asks us to love Him with all our mind, too. God wants faith, but He doesn’t want blind faith. There is evidence through the prophesies and archeological evidence. The Bible wouldn’t be true if It wasn’t inspired.
After I went through the seven different evidences concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures, Katie said that the most convincing evidence was the life-changing ability. She said she believed that the evidence in her own personal life was the most convincing thing to her. The least convincing evidence in Katie’s opinion was the self-attestation. Muhammad said he was a prophet, but she doesn’t believe that’s true. So, in her mind, just because you say something is true, doesn’t mean that it is. Katie also stated that if she was speaking to other people about the Bible, then she would use the historical and prophetical evidences to try to convince them.
It was an interesting interview. It made me think again about which evidences were convincing to me.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Case Study 2: Essential and Non-Essentials
Kwesi Williams
My subject for this Case study was my wife, Tania. We’ve been having many discussion based on the course and I figured it would be appropriate. My wife is a Christian for the record.
With the aid of the class materials we discussed the essentials and non essentials. Tania had a great grip on what she believed to be essential and why. She has been listening! LOL
Walking through the quadrant of Objectivity was fun and made sense for Tania. Her comments were that she would definitely remember “the Quad”.
Upon viewing the concentric circle of importance, she interrupted me and said this is self explanatory. So, there was not much discussion there.
Finally, we discussed the chart of certainty and had a lot of fun with that. When we started many items on the list she claimed to be a 10 on. I pressed her and explained the question was not do you believe? Or how much do you believe? Refocusing on the certainty of her beliefs then yielded a very different result.
There was great discussion about the Garden of Eden and Adam and eve, the afterlife and the literal 7 day creation.
Tania was appreciative of the information, especially “the quad”. She really liked that a lot.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Okay forgive me wrong room, wrong case study. My apologies.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Here’s the correct one.
Case Study 2: The theological Process
Kwesi Williams
My subject for this Case study was my wife, Tania. We’ve been having many discussion based on the course and I figured it would be appropriate. My wife is a Christian for the record.
Tania believed that Scripture to be inspired and gave the reasons of Manuscript, archeology, prophesy and statistics as reasons.
She definitely thinks that a critical approach is needed because we need to be sure. We need to use that knowledge that is available and we need to be good witnesses.
I spent a bit of time going through the “Proving Inspiration” section. In the end historicity far outweighed any of the other proofs for her.
Self attestation was seen as important but of she had to do without on it would be that.
Again, the discussion was very enjoyable. Great way to open up a discussion, thanks TTP.
November 12th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Case Study 2
This study was completed with a church member.
1) In response to the first question she stated:
she had always been taught that God’s word is His word and
to question God’s word did not feel right. She accepted the teaching of her
parents and decided to settle the matter at that.
When pressed for a follow up question, “What if they were wrong?”
she stated well I would need some compelling evidence to the contrary.
2) In response to question the second question she stated:
God expects us to trust in His word. Associating trust with faith
she didnt think there was any other way to accept Scriptures inspiration.
Ask asked her to define inspiration for me. Here Response was that
God inspired the Bible for mankind.
I then went on to demostrate inpiration from the lesson.
The most convincing element was the honesty of the Scriptures.
She didnt feel any of the proofs were least convincing.
Overall it was fun to hear from someone who is not schooled in these matters
to offer an honest opinion.
November 15th, 2008 at 7:39 am
I sat down with a new Christian named, Matt.
1. Do you believe that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God? Matt thought some of Scripture was inspired but said that he was not convinced that every word was inspired.
2. Do you believe God expects Christians to simply trust that the Scriptures are inspired, or do you think he wants Christians to take a critical approach to Scripture. Matt said he wasn’t sure what he thought about that question. Giving little thought to the question, he said I guess God expects us to have faith in Him and his word.
After explaining the “Proving Inspiration” section of our notes, Matt said he was very impressed withe the uniqueness of Scripture. However, what was the most convincing to Matt was the historicity, specifically the external evidences. Matt said he was overwhelmed by the amount of external evidence available.
Matt then said he was least convinced by the self-attestation. He said that anybody can claim to be inspired and it doesn’t make it true. He also felt the same way about life-changing ability, saying anybody can claim their life has been changed but it does not make it true.
Matt said that he would surely accept a shout from heaven as evidence
but said that he was more convinced now after our discussion. He said he was almost there but needed to go through some things in his head and would get back to me.
Matt called me this morning (approximately 12 hours after our talk) and said he thought it through and he was convinced by the combination of the evidences we discussed the Scripture is inspired.
I enjoyed this case study and felt I learned a lot from sitting down with Matt
Thank you
November 16th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
The Theology Program 16 Nov 08
BIBLIOLOGY & HERMENEUTICS
CASE STUDY 2
Proving Inspiration (of Scripture by God)
by
Ted Pickerrell
Last Friday I sat down with a friend, Ed, whose wife is a Charismatic believer and feels like the Lone Ranger in her faith within her household. She and I have had many theological discussions. However, this would only be the second discussion that I’ve had at any substantial length with ED. I have no idea what his relationship is with the Lord Jesus Christ or His Word.
As usual, the first question wasn’t answered until I provided clarification of the meaning of the terms used. I was delighted when Ed asked me to explain what I meant by the word “inspiration”. This is a great start for effective communication. I’m convinced that most conversations, debates, etc. these days are devoid of any communication because the people involved use the same words but with different meanings.
Fortunately, page 87 of our workbook provides a clear, succinct definition of inspiration.
Ed agreed with the definition. Then he answered the question of whether or not he believed that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God with: “God can inspire. Therefore, I believe that He did.”
When asked if he believes that God expects Christians to simply trust that the Scriptures are inspired or to take a critical approach to them, Ed replied: “God gives you a choice. He wants you to analyze the Scriptures to know and understand them better and thereby make the better choice.” How’s that for clarity and simplicity in thought? This was becoming a refreshing exercise.
After proceeding with Ed through an explanation of the “Proving Inspiration” section of my notes, I asked him which of the seven evidences for proving inspiration did he find the most convincing. Interestingly, he said “the Holy Spirit speaking to me and answering questions that I have.” He went further to say “Therefore, His Word answers my questions and leads me.”
This choice is very interesting since it is possibly the most difficult one to explain to others, especially to non-believers. Nevertheless, he does it simply and clearly. What a delight!
ED thought that the least convincing proof for the inspiration of Scripture is the “irrelevant” details aspect of the honesty inherent in the Scriptures’ historicity.
The glorious outcome of this meeting was that I discovered that Ed has no doubts concerning the inspiration of Scripture and that He is sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading.
November 22nd, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Marsha Johnson
B&H, Fall 2008
Case Study #2
I did this case study with a 29 year old Japanese woman who is in Canada to learn to speak English. I explained what a case study was, how it is done and what Theology is. Before we began I asked her the two questions.
1)Do you believe that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God? If so, why? If not, why?
Her answer was: “I don’t know much about Bible, I never read, just I go to church to hear Bille when I came here in July of 2008. I felt, it makes me correct way or the God give me things (information about) of my life. I I have to choose your (question), do you believe or not, I believe. Actually though I don’t know much about God or Bible.”
2)Do you believe that God expects Christians to simply trust that the Scriptures are inspired, or do you think He wants Christians to take a critical approach to the Scriptures?
Her answer was: “I think He want Christians to take a critical approach to Bible.”
It took us two hours to get to this point due to language difficulties. I explained the meaning of the words and list in Lesson #7 “Evidences for the Bible’s inspiration.” Then we were interrupted and had to stop.
In conclusion she said: “I am sorry Marsha, this is much to understand.” I said I understood and that I was grateful to her for her time. I only got to self-attestation and uniqueness. I gave her a copy of my lesson section on historicity to look at and read on her own because we had discussed some of that section. She was agreeable and willing to read it and discuss it another time.
She then said: “little understand history, little understand getting information/knowledge, but not enough yet. Now I can’t say exactly what I think.” We agreed to meet again to discuss these issues. It is enough that she was open and willing to talk to me about my faith. She has seen how important it is to both my husband and me.