A Bible Timeline Offers A Graphical Representation To Help Teach Bible Events And Characters And Facts
In our Bible study some years ago, a woman who had been a Christian and been involved in the local Church for years, made this statement,"Yes, but Abraham had the Law and so he understood about......" (they were not talking about the pre-mosaic law) I wonder just how many Christians would actually notice the error in this assertion. Moses lived 500 years after Abraham and so it is not possible. I have since then put together a Bible history timeline and shown in a more graphic way the chronology of individuals and events.
Regrettably, a numerous preachers and Bible teachers in our churches go on and preach superficial, flimsy, shallow, light weight messages and their Church members scarcely grow in Bible knowledge. Preachers love to preach'moral essays' and'warming affirmations' because supposedly, if we really love people this is what we'll do. Regrettable it seems, if God's people are falling through the cracks'for an absence of knowledge' as long as we're positive and loving to all. In truth, the more relevant we become to this world, the less relevant we're to this world.
Some time ago, I was teaching on the burial, life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, and a retired pastor and strong preacher of Scripture, who had been a pastor for 40 years, came to me and reproved me vigorously over some interesting points I made and he said 1Ti 1:4'Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.' I quietly asked him if I was saying anything of a heretical nature in any way, to which he answered"No". I continued to spell out that in the case of that particular verse, it wasn't speaking to exploring Scripture but to the false teaching and philosophy of the Gnostics, but he would not accept it. So, how can a 40 year minister & worker in the Gospel, not understand and know about something that probably half the books of the New Testament relate to?
How can he study and teach the Bible clearly without being familiar with something that was so influential in the New Testament church? And then how can the congregation hope to understand these things and be able to understand their Bible well, if they are not informed?
Why is it that we get stuck in a rut of our pet topics and feel good discourses?
We teach on a text from Song of Songs and a passage about Isaac and a topical from the book of Phillipians and then the obedience of Joshua or the miracles through Paul - parts from here and everywhere, but we do not put it all at once in a plain understandable, simple to remember, perspective with a good Bible TimeLine with Church History as well. Constantly we're bombarded with new books, modernist ideas, a number of them dangerously leaning toward Liberal theology, but if we were to be taught the basic principles of Church history, we then would not be so doomed to repeat it.
Let's us as tutors and preachers stitch together the aspects of the Bible and God's plan into a complete picture that our people can draw on for the remainder of life, to help them to understand God, His Eternal Plan, the role of the Church and how to better interpret the Bible to live by.
It is not hard to do, and it's not boring if we're prepared to put in a bit of study and prayer and fervor, and just possibly you can utilize a Bible Timeline too.
For added info about a Bible TimeLine check out our Bible TimeLine Chart site and consider the Bible study resource.
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