Every now and then I try to take some time and reflect on why the intentional teaching ministry of the church remains important. Whatever shape it takes, why is equipping and a teaching in the church, for the church, and by the church valuable? 

At least one reason is the growth of secularism, pluralism, and "indifferentism" in America. Very simply stated, secularism is a worldview that pushes God to the margins. It's fine to believe in God on your own, the secularist may say, just don't bring any religious ideas or reasoning into the public square. Pluralism flows out of the reality that we are surrounded by people who believe very different things than than us - and it often goes a step further to say the no one religion can be exclusively true. "Indifferentism" (this is my term, I think) tries to explain the religious apathy of the "nones" and "dones" - those who adhere to no single religious expression (the "nones") or those who have "tried out" some religion and - for whatever reason - didn't stick with it.

So what does all this have to do with catechesis - an intentional and systematic approach to teaching in the local church? Here's what:

Every now and then, a new word or phrase is coined that takes on a certain life of its own.  Sometimes, the word or phrase catches on because of its novelty or popular appeal - think of "yada yada yada," for example.  

Other words catch on because they accurately label something that people have been experiencing, but don't yet have a term for - hence the words "tween" and "emerging adult" are now commonplace.  Other words in this category may not be as widely used as "tween" but they're nevertheless very important, because of how they accurately and succinctly describe something that seems to be going on around us, that we need words for.  This is where I'd like to introduce you to one such term (if you've not heard of it already), Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

It's tough to overstate how important of a term "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (MTD) is.  In an article on Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, sociologist Christian Smith suggests it is the "de facto dominant religion among contemporary teenagers in the United States" (p. 46).  In other words, MTD is the default, often-unconsciously held, religious perspective/worldview among many teens and emerging adults.  Even if you've never heard the "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" label before, it's likely you've encountered one of the many ways MTD sends ripples out into many different areas of society.  You may have experienced some variant of MTD in a religious service, a conversation with someone else, or in your own default perspective on things.

If Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is so prevalent and is such a big deal, there are at least two important follow-up questions that readers of this post are invited to ask:  What exactly is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism?  And how does it stack up against biblical Christianity?  Let's dig more deeply into each of these.

As Brookside Church has been reading through the Bible in 2016, one of the questions I've gotten numerous times relates closely to this question: "What's Up with All the Violence in the Old Testament?"

Earlier this week, I taught a Brookside Institute seminar on this topic - giving others the opportunity to dig more deeply into it and interact about it.  Below I've included the audio from this seminar. 

As part of Brookside's plan to spend time daily reading through the Bible in 2016, the Institute is offering a series of seminars that will line up with what we're reading and dig deeply into certain topics.  

​And as we've been reading through the first five books of the Old Testament, one of the remarks/questions I've heard repeatedly goes something like this: "What's up with all the violence in the Old Testament?!"  I've gotten this question enough times to think that this will be a good topic to devote a seminar to!

People who are antagonistic towards Christianity (and/or religion in general) often use some of the "violence passages" in the Old Testament as ammunition against religion.  Famously, Richard Dawkins has said

Even if you only understand half of those words, you know that Dawkins isn’t being complimentary.  And from this language that Dawkins uses, we see that a large part of his critique is directed at how he understands the violence we read about in the Old Testament.  Does the violence we read about in the Old Testament mean that God is a bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser?  Is he sadomasochistic, and a divine bully?

How should followers of Jesus Christ who maintain the authority of the Scriptures think about this violence that is obviously evident in the Old Testament?  

​This coming Wednesday evening - on March 30, 2016 - the Brookside Institute will be offering a seminar that wrestles with this question and offers a way forward.  Whether you're an attendee of Brookside Church or are simply in the Omaha area and want to dig into this in a gracious, respectful way, we invite you to join us.  There's no cost to attend, but you can help us know how to plan by signing up here.  

Interested in other seminars that the Brookside Institute will be offering this year?  Or do want to see some things we've already done that line up with what Brookside Church is doing as we read through the Bible?  Click here to see more.

Late last week, I was able to present at a Teacher In-Service for Cornerstone Christian School.  The topic I was asked to teach on was "The Importance of the Christian Worldview."  After studying for the talk and interacting with the teachers, I'm as convinced as ever that Christians need to understand what worldview is, why a Christian worldview is so important, and how we grow in our understanding (and embodiment!) of the Christian worldview.  

This topic breathes purpose and perspective into how we think about the different "arenas" of our lives (e.g. jobs, entertainment, family, etc),  and it prompts us to think well about God and His Word, the Bible.

Keep reading to see the talk I gave (in a somewhat modified, abbreviated form) on Christian worldview.  At the very end of this post, I've included an "answer key" version of the handout I made available to the teachers.

A few weeks ago, my oldest son got a 3D Wooden Puzzle called the "Prisoner's Ball" - check out the pictures at the top of this post to see what it looks like.  The goal is to disassemble the interlocking wooden pieces in such a way that the ball in the center can be freed.

My oldest son worked diligently on it for quite a while (he's usually pretty good at these sorts of things), but with no luck.  Then I tried my hand at it for longer than I'd care to admit - also with no luck.  Even with devoted attention and lots of effort, we didn't unlock the puzzle.  It was kinda confusing, discouraging, and frustrating.  A couple of weeks later, I ended up "cheating" and searching for clues on YouTube (insert simultaneous smile and *head of shame* here - ha!).  (Spoiler alert: Here's the video.)  In about 5 minutes, the guy on the video explained how to work through the puzzle in such a way that the ball could be released.  The puzzle that was initially disorienting and discouraging became doable.

In my experience reading through Leviticus and talking with many others reading through it as well, I wonder if our reading of Leviticus can often feel like my attempts at figuring out the Prisoner's Ball Puzzle.  We apply attention and spend our effort,  but we end up confused, frustrated, and discouraged.

But let's not resign ourselves to feelings of defeat, or feel like we need to forecast "trigger warnings" every time we talk about Leviticus or begin reading it ourselves!  While there is much in this book that can be disorienting to 21st century American readers, that's doesn't mean we should avoid the book.  After all, this book is part of God's inspired Word, the Bible!  The message of Leviticus would have been something Jesus meditated upon as an observant Jew.  And Leviticus is certainly included in the "all Scripture" that is inspired by God that Paul mentions in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - "all Scripture" (including Leviticus!) that is useful for "teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Just like a few tips helped me figure out the Prisoner's Ball Puzzle, so too a few tips can helps us move into and through Leviticus in such a way that we understand and appreciate its message (and live accordingly) - even if  parts of it still sound foreign and stretch our understanding.  

With all that said, then, let's briefly introduce ourselves to a few important tips that can help you move into and through Leviticus in a right way: