Introduction and Alignment
It has been said if a person consistently reads the Bible, it will begin to read them back. This means that it is a collection of books that is truly divinely inspired and will begin to answer for the reader some of the most important questions they have about the world and their own lives and purpose. We believe this to be true.
The Church of the Nazarene believes in the inspiration and authority of scripture. We believe the Old and New Testaments perfectly reveal everything we need to know to be saved by Jesus and to be in a right relationship with God, ourselves, others and the world around us.
However, many people do not know the basics of the Bible nor do they understand the power it can have in their own lives. So, throughout this course, we are going to be crafting an illustrated letter and then delivering the message to a fictional someone who has had no exposure to the Bible or the Old Testament.
This week we will be explaining to our fictional friend the importance of God creating in the Bible and the covenant God made with people and the way these beginnings impact us even today. This important conversation should be intended to teach but to also inspire your friend to be a reader of the Old Testament.
Upon completion of this assignment, you should be able to:
Summarize the important elements of biblical beginnings to tell the story of the Old Testament and apply this to today’s cultural context.
Articulate ways in which and reasons why the Bible has caused you to live better (stewardship) and to serve others.
Resources
Read: Chapters 3 and 4 in your textbook. Varughese, A., Branson, R.D., Edlin, J. & Green, T.M. (2006). Discovering the Bible: Story and
faith. Beacon Hill Press.
Writing Resources
Purdue OWL – APA formatting informationLinks to an external site.
Assignment Instructions
Write a minimum of a 2-page letter (not including title page and reference page) to a fictional character who has never read or even heard of the Bible.
Ensure the following points are addressed:
Give the fictional person you are writing a name and start the letter, “Dear…”.
Explain where the stories of Creation are in the Bible (Book and Location) and how there seem to be more than one account of Creation.
Briefly describe these two accounts of creation and how important they are to people who believe the Bible is God’s word.
Talk to this person about the idea of Covenant and how and why it was crucial to getting a picture of who God was and how God interacts with people.
Point out the importance of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph) and where they lived and how God’s story became clearer by observing their lives.
Close with a closing line that says a few things about the beginning of the Old Testament and what you think about it.
