Story of Redemption - Bible Study with Bradley

[James Nored]

Hi guys. Last week, I started going through the Story of Redemption with Bradley. Bradley is a man who used to be in loan sale, making $80,000 a year. He lost his job, and he had been living in a van when he came to see us at the church seeking help. One of our members took him in when they heard his story. Read more about Bradley's story here.

Bradley and I met at Starbucks to go through part 1 of the Story of Redemption. Bradley has had many struggles in life, but he has kept a belief in God. He talked about other ideas about how the world got here like the Big Bang theory. He thought that this still did not really explain the origins of the universe, because he had always wondered where the material for the big bang came from. This is exactly what I talk about in the first part of this lesson!

The creation account, where God creates humanity and the world good prior to the Fall, rang true for Bradley, as this story always does. It was a good study. We will pick it up again this Friday.

[Hobby Chapin]

James, I looked over a few of those studies. They look great. I have been thinking that I may use them as a curriculum for my small group early in the year to reinforce the message of the gospel in a way that will help them articulate it and on that note to give them a tool that they can engage a person in Bible study. My small group has some babies in Christ.

I did have a question that I have been thinking about in light of the creation/evolution debate and the use of Genesis 1 to argue it. The context of Genesis would not have been about "is there a God or not?", or even "is there creation or evolution?" It was "which God is the real God?" in light of ANET texts. I assume you are familiar with this issue. I see value in addressing the creation/evolution issue with Genesis 1 in light of our context, but I am debating to what degree I want to make that an issue with people, when I don't think that was an issue for the text. Further, would it complicate or distract to address the issue of Genesis context to contemporary readers who have no Bible background talking about ANET texts, etc? I wanted to know what you thought about finding balance in this as I am sure you weighed this a little when you developed the lesson.

Well done on the study. One last thing, I was trying to see lesson 4 or 5 on the view only lesson and it is somehow linked to another lesson.

[James Nored]

Hi Hobby. I'm glad that you are finding the Story of Redemption series helpful. It is God's story, and when actually told, is powerful and effective.

I included the evolution question because of my own background in science. I don't want people to get hung up on evolution--there are Christians who believe in both micro and macro evolution. I simply want people to think about the fact that evolution and the big bang theory begin with created things/mass and do not explain the ultimate origins of the universe. When I was confronted with atheism, this is something I always came back to as a foundation for my faith. There must be a creator because this world came from somewhere.

95% of Americans believe in God, so I have thought about taking this section out. However, while I don't think that it will make too many inroads, there is a new "aggressive" atheism that is out there with people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Many are looking at extreme Islam and Christianity's history and saying that religion is the problem.

I state at the end of the first section of lesson 1 that most people today are asking not if there is a God, but what kind of God is God. We are heading into a very pluralistic society. This is closer to the original context of Genesis, as you say. And yes, it would be interesting for us to talk about near eastern ancient texts like the Babylonian creation account and compare them. As our culture progresses down the pathway of pluralism, I might rewrite this section.

But for both atheism and pluralism, I just give a little bit of time to these. Mainly, I want them to simply hear the biblical story and see if it "rings true." And, when told and interpreted as it is in the study, I can tell you that this lesson absolutely rings true. Rather than try to prove the authoriy of the Bible (a very modernist approach), I simply let the powerful explanatory nature of the biblical creation account and the experience of reading and understanding this create its own authority.

The Bible assumes creation. This assumption has been challenged in our culture under modernism, which is why I originally included it. However, we are now in a postmodern, even pre-modern mindset for these issues.

Thanks for alerting me to the problem with lesson 4 or 5. Was this on the missional outreach network, or on www.storyofredemption.com?

I would be interested in your further thoughts on this. Thanks!

[James Nored]

Bradley is struggling with alcoholism. He lost his job due to his alcoholism and is back on the street. I have struggled with how to deal with Bradley. i want to help him, but until he hits rock bottom, I am afraid that he will not commit to changing his life.

The last time we got together, I asked him the question Jesus asked the crippled man at the pool of Siloam--"Do you want to get well?" He said yes, and that if he did not change, he would die. He signed a paper saying that he would get a sponsor for AA, attend the meetings, not touch alcohol again, and be with God's people. He then got his van towed and sort of disappeared.

Please keep Bradley in your prayers.