G3

Kai Li and I went for the G³ bible study yesterday. It was basically a missions-oriented bible study programme to prepare us for mission work. I decided to go because I have never went on a mission before, and I thought this would be good exposure =D

It wasn't the first session yesterday, so we actually already covered the biblical history that could be found in the bible. As such, what we covered yesterday was mainly

1. Early Apostolic Church (1st, 2nd, 3rd C) and the Great Persecution
2. Medieval Roman Catholic Era of the Crusades and Colonialism
3. Protestant Reformation

To be honest, if I never went on this course, I would never have learnt or really bothered with Church history. But now that I have, I am beginning to see my faith more clearly in the lens of history. And suddenly what I have seen to be gospel truth has become something that is fluid and changeable with the passing of time according to God's Will.

Take for example our view of salvation as the Messiah coming to save us out of our depraved world. Did you know that such a soteriolistic view was not present in the Old Testament? In the past the Jews saw time as the age here and now and the age to come without any "external time" such as eternity. Such ideas only caught on in the New Testament.

Now, does that mean either of the views are wrong? I don't believe so. Often our perceptions of what is said in the Bible is different from what is actually said. Is heaven a place, or are we called to wait for the Kingdom of God to come when God creates a New Earth?

Suddenly a lot of my assumptions are put into question. Do you really know what you know?