Hi Ray,
?
What a great way to start Term 3!? I don’t know about others in the
class, but this is what I took home:
?
1.? By pointing out the relationship of John (So Who was
John?) to others it had a profound effect on how I thought about how John,
the disciples, his brothers, foster-brothers, and especially Jesus’ parents
perceived Jesus in their day-to-day experiences with Him.? When Jesus was
12 and left his parents to speak with the Priests in the Temple, Mary
must have experienced the sobering thought that here was GOD, the WORD, in
flesh.? The same baby and young child she had reared, a human and yet
GOD.? As the disciples chatted to him daily, did they really appreciate
that they were talking face-to-face to the Great GOD, the living WORD, not just
a human prophet.? It is something to really ponder about.
?
2. John reinforced this thought in his Gospel – trying to tell us plainly
that HE really was GOD “See His Godship” – every day He walked on earth, it was
GOD walking so close to them day by day.? What an experience!
?
3. The manner in which you explained the Tenses in different languages
certainly adds more to how powerful the Bible was, is, and always will be.?
In learning Spanish I gained valuable insights into different tenses – many
beyond the usual 3 – past, present and future.? We use more than those in
our current daily English language, but don’t consciously think about what tense
we are expressing at the time.? You explained the impact of tenses
beautifully on Wednesday.
?
A lot to ponder on last lesson .... Thank you, Ray.
Blessings,
Merlene?
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From: Ray via groups.io
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2021 3:37 PM
To: [email protected] ; Jocelyn Swanston ; Patricia Van Den Camp ; Jenny Frost ; Peter Wornham
Subject: [b4uc] U3A Zoom Course R09, What the Bible is About: Notes
for Session 1 of Term 3 are now posted
?
G'day everyone,
?
The course notes for our first session of Term
3 held today on the Introduction to the Gospel of John are now posted on our
unofficial website
?
As always, your comments or queries will be
most welcome.
?
For your information, although our Zoom term
has already started, the Qld Government today announced an extension of current
COVID face mask and occupancy restrictions by a further week to Friday 23rd
July. This means that face-to-face indoor classes will be delayed a further
week. Term 3 start date now becomes Monday 26th July and it will become a 9-week
term.? This, of course, does not affect our R09 course.
?
Blessings,
?
Ray
?
Ray Sarlin
U3A tutor,
R09
|
Hi Merlene,
Thanks for the kind comments.??
We'll never know, but it would be an interesting psychological study to examine how the concept that Jesus was God in the flesh developed in the Apostle John's mind, or in the minds of the other characters as well.? To paraphrase your email, when did they start to realise that Jesus was more than simply just another human, no matter how gifted? Did awareness grow over time, or did it come in a Eureka moment?? My guess would be that it came in a different way to each disciple.? Wouldn't this be a great plot for a Christian fiction book?
At the end of our first session, John has only begun to unveil the messages in his gospel.? There may be more surprises in each session.
Regarding the relationships of the characters, I set out to do a genealogy chart of the disciples but almost immediately ran into difficulty because of the plethora of secondary sources.? Just like the confusion regarding the six (or seven) women in the New Testament named Mary, lots of speculation has joined with dogma and even doctrine to muddy the clear waters of the Scriptures.??
There are, for example, several Roman Catholic answers, with that by Augustinian Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774 – 1824),?one of the great catholic mystics and ecstatics of?the last centuries, providing seemingly one of the better-accepted perspectives. A book of her visions (available at ) gives an extremely detailed, profound, and beautiful account of the life of the biblical characters around Jesus that goes well beyond the Bible.? Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" used some of the information from her visions to flesh out the film script.??
That said, there are a few details from her version of the genealogy that I'm not fully comfortable with, but that's all part of Bible study, trust but verify.? What we don't immediately understand hides tremendous blessings if we choose to look deeper into the Bible to find the answers.
In Session 2, we'll be with Jesus in the first week of His ministry as He gathers His disciples.? As we learn who they were and how they were chosen, the inevitable question that will arise is "why them?"? That week will culminate at the Wedding at Cana when Jesus will perform the first "major" miracle that John's Gospel records, but all along the way we'll see glimpses of Christ's character and witness too many tiny miracles to be a coincidence.
Sorry, but I tend to get carried away.? Thanks again for your observations and insights.
Blessings,
Ray
U3A Tutor, R09
On Monday, 19 July 2021, 04:55:59 pm AEST, Merlene <merlene@...> wrote:
Hi Ray,
?
What a great way to start Term 3!? I don’t know about others in the
class, but this is what I took home:
?
1.? By pointing out the relationship of John (So Who was
John?) to others it had a profound effect on how I thought about how John,
the disciples, his brothers, foster-brothers, and especially Jesus’ parents
perceived Jesus in their day-to-day experiences with Him.? When Jesus was
12 and left his parents to speak with the Priests in the Temple, Mary
must have experienced the sobering thought that here was GOD, the WORD, in
flesh.? The same baby and young child she had reared, a human and yet
GOD.? As the disciples chatted to him daily, did they really appreciate
that they were talking face-to-face to the Great GOD, the living WORD, not just
a human prophet.? It is something to really ponder about.
?
2. John reinforced this thought in his Gospel – trying to tell us plainly
that HE really was GOD “See His Godship” – every day He walked on earth, it was
GOD walking so close to them day by day.? What an experience!
?
3. The manner in which you explained the Tenses in different languages
certainly adds more to how powerful the Bible was, is, and always will be.?
In learning Spanish I gained valuable insights into different tenses – many
beyond the usual 3 – past, present and future.? We use more than those in
our current daily English language, but don’t consciously think about what tense
we are expressing at the time.? You explained the impact of tenses
beautifully on Wednesday.
?
A lot to ponder on last lesson .... Thank you, Ray.
Blessings,
Merlene?
From: Ray via groups.io
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2021 3:37 PM
To: [email protected] ; Jocelyn Swanston ; Patricia Van Den Camp ; Jenny Frost ; Peter Wornham
Subject: [b4uc] U3A Zoom Course R09, What the Bible is About: Notes
for Session 1 of Term 3 are now posted
G'day everyone,
?
The course notes for our first session of Term
3 held today on the Introduction to the Gospel of John are now posted on our
unofficial website
?
As always, your comments or queries will be
most welcome.
?
For your information, although our Zoom term
has already started, the Qld Government today announced an extension of current
COVID face mask and occupancy restrictions by a further week to Friday 23rd
July. This means that face-to-face indoor classes will be delayed a further
week. Term 3 start date now becomes Monday 26th July and it will become a 9-week
term.? This, of course, does not affect our R09 course.
?
Blessings,
?
Ray
?
Ray Sarlin
U3A tutor,
R09
|
Merlene