Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Men of Whom the World Was Not Worthy, part 1

Turns out that I am perfectly incapable of keeping a simple, 3-4 page paper down to well, 3-4 pages. So because there is so much more that I desire to learn from these passages, and because part of that learning process that helps me commit what I have learned to memory is writing, I have decided to post the sections of my paper that I have written thus far, and to "continue to write" my paper, so to speak, because I'm not sure if my professor would appreciate it if I turned a 3 page paper into a 12 page paper.

Here is the first installment, the introduction; I have chosen to title my paper, "Men of Whom the World Was Not Worthy"

The American culture today suffers the pervasive and strikingly self-centered, dim-witted notion that just because something is "old" it is rendered useless; this can be seen in Americans' treatment of most anything: ideas, cars, houses, and sadly, even people. Even more distressing is that this way of thinking has crept its way into the church, as evidenced by the fact that many Christians have neither read the Old Testament nor see its necessity, beauty and usefulness. Many Christians seem to think that while the Old Testament is good for a few juicy stories, it is mostly boring history that could hardly pertain to a new covenant believer as much as the commands and instructions of the New Testament. However, nothing could be further from the truth; new covenant believers can and should study the Old Testament, for it is full of riches and hope and wonders for those who take the time to delve into it. One such treasure is the example of those who have suffered righteously. The Old Testament believers teach those under the new covenant how to persevere through trials while at the same time genuinely crying out to God; and more than that, they teach the secret of their perseverance.