February 06, 2008

Questions about the Bible

At the beginning of February the students from the hilltribe Bible school came into town to start studying with me until the end of March. It is a good opportunity to get to know them better and teach them essential doctrines. I love teaching the Bible, especially to people of different nationalities because they ask questions that I have never thought of because they come from a different mindset. I always get asked about speaking in tongues, but I am sure that is a common question no matter where you are. Other popular questions are is it okay to eat blood (since a few Thai dishes have blood in them), is it okay to eat food sacrificed to idols (since Buddhism is the predominant religion here), and my personal favorite, is it a sin to get a vasectimy (don't know why they ask this question but the way some verse is translated must lead to this question).
Today in class I spent an hour teaching on Matthew 23:24 where Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and Scribes about their tendency to strain out the gnat and swallow the camel. As a foreigner, the verse seems pretty straight forward but the students had no clue what the verse meant. I had to come in from all different angles in order to get them to understand. After the light went on, they all really liked this verse.

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