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The Spark: How did this all begin?Divorce among Christians is at an all-time high. Sexual misconduct among Christians is commonplace. Teenagers in rebellion has become normal. Societal ideologies are growing increasingly hostile towards the Christian world view, and these pluralistic and humanistic views have even begun to infiltrate the Church. Christians are more influenced by our culture than we are our Bibles. Our great need is not more civil and criminal laws. Our great need is not more books on marriage or child training. Our great need is not another self-help class. We stand in great need of one heavenly provision--the sacred Scriptures. My philosophy aligns with the Reformers in that I feel a pressing urgency for people to get into the Word. If Christians will focus their daily meditations in the Scriptures, they will reflect the strength God intended. Heretical theology will lose its place. Sin will be corrected. Fear will turn to boldness. Weakness will transform into strength. If Christians will be healthy, they must study the Bible. They cannot depend exclusively on their pastors' sermons for their spiritual nourishment. Each person must be regularly reading the Scriptures for himself. If we really love the Lord, we will want to please Him. If we want to please Him, we must know His will. Early in my study of the Scriptures, God blessed me to realize the difference between my responsibility and His. It was and still is my responsibility to learn what the Bible says. It is God's responsibility to reveal what the Bible means. So, I began to prayerfully read--starting with Genesis 1:1. The Scriptures were hard to frame up and analyze during my first reading of the sixty-six books. It was easy to overlook the significance of key events, figures, and commands during the first reading. I was like most Christians in that I lacked a basic working knowledge of the books of the Bible. Years later when I began to teach others, I wanted to help people understand the basic elements of each chapter. Balancing the Sword was designed to aid the Bible student in identifying the key points of every chapter. In 1995, I wrote most of the questions which are found in volume one. In 1996, I wrote the majority of the questions which are found in volume two. Click on BTS's Development if you wish to understand the chronology of how the material amassed after this initial spark. |
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