Term 1: Under the spotlight ...

Well, it has been quite a while since I posted (two whole months!). There are good reasons for this ... I've been busy with college life. Here are some of the highlights ...

Hebrew ...
Along with Greek is one of my favourite subjects; often wish that the Masoretic priests were a little more imaginative when they added vowels to the text; discovering that gel pens are the best invention for writing Hebrew.

Greek ...
Translating Mark's gospel and finding interesting things in the text; flows with our New Testament lectures (we're doing Mark, then we start Romans next semester).

Mission Foundations ...
Looking at a definition of mission; how evangelism relates to works of compassion; hearing more about social justice and how Christians should be involved.

Doctrine ...
Understanding the knowledge of God, the trinity and how God speaks; has helped me think through the reliability of the Bible and the idea of extra-biblical revelation (languages has helped with this as well - the fact that the text of the Bible is accessible, tangible and historically reliable is a fantastic provision of God).

Assignments ...
1) Comparing what Josephus (a Jewish historian) and the gospels record about John the Baptist. While some bits are the same the big thing that Josephus misses is that John is the promised forerunner to Israel's expected Messiah and that's pretty important!

2) Who is Paul speaking to in Romans 2:1-5? A details question so I liked it alot. There were two main issues here: Jews or Gentiles? Real or hypothetical? I concluded Paul was speaking to Gentiles and Jews who were a part of the Roman Christian community (because they had experienced the kindness of God) and who were judging those in Romans 1 while doing the same things themselves. I didn't find anyone with the same opinion. Trials for heretics don't begin until second year so I'm safe until then!*

Best effort at procrastinating so far ...
Spending 2 hours on the internet searching for origami patterns the Tuesday before my Greek exam.

Other highlights ...

• being involved in speaking at Da Vinci Code night and leading a women’s Bible study group through an overview of the Bible on college mission
• chapel on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I’m being challenged about how to apply God’s word to my life by fellow students
• cooking the infamous Chunky Chocolate Cookies for some college friends on Friday
• watching Qld win the first State of Origin match with a bunch of NSWers
• great Thai food, great live music (at The Vanguard), good coffee shops, great times card making and cross stitching ...

* Note: this doesn't actually happen!