“Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world; In the Name of God the Father Almighty who created you; In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you; In the Name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you. May your rest be this day in peace, and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God.”
Update (April 2017): I’ve gone back to update/clean-up the formatting in this wonderful June 2013 guest post on the basics of inductive Bible study from my friend **Amy Elizabeth Chase Ashley,** one of the most gifted students of Scripture with whom I’ve been privileged to study. She blogs at . --- Jeremiah 29:11 When I accepted the invitation to speak at my parents’ church, I immediately started thinking about what message I would deliver. I decided to give a message on something that is very important to me after my four years at Cedarville and something I am very passionate about. I hope it will be engaging; I hope it will make you think; and I hope it will bring glory to God. If I can accomplish those three things, I will be satisfied. ...
Great news! The first ever guest post on this blog is coming soon from my good friend Amy Chase, an incoming student this Fall at Asbury Theological Seminary. Her post? A sermon titled “Jeremiah 29:11, Scripture: Handle with Care.” Stay tuned!
(TEXTS: Jonah 3:5-10; 4:1-11; Nahum 1:1-8) INTRODUCTION A great green theologian of old claimed that anger is based on fear, that it leads to hatred, and results in suffering. And while I do not wish to disregard the wisdom of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I would like to take a closer look at anger as discussed in Scripture, and to consider what makes certain instances of anger righteous or unrighteous, legitimate or illegitimate. ...
Since my [previous post](https://joshuapsteele.com/2012/09/12/my-unforgettable-cedarville-experience/ "My Unforgettable Cedarville Experience"), quite a few things have happened at my alma mater. Here’s a [Storify overview](https://storify.com/fiatlux125/cedarville-2012-2013/) of my crazy final year at Cedarville University.
(Originally posted in The Ventriloquist. Go check out the rest of Issue 10!) “A Farewell to Cedarville” – Joshua Steele As what was once a vision for the future has become an agenda for returning to the past, the list of people who no longer fit the Cedarville mold is growing. I contacted former vice president of Student Life, Dr. Carl Ruby; former professor Dr. Michael Pahl; current professors Dr. TC Ham, Dr. Shawn Graves, and Dr. David Mills; and former trustees Dr. William Rudd and Rev. Chris Williamson to see where things stand as this academic year comes to a close. ...
Yahweh and others have been too good to me. Today I received two awards at Cedarville University’s 49th Annual Academic Honors Day Chapel. The first: The Oxford University Press Award in Preseminary Bible, given to the graduating senior with the highest cumulative GPA in the preseminary major. The second: The Daniel Award. “Established in 2001 by David and Jean Heyd, this endowed award was created to honor their parents, Charles and E. LaRue Wilcox and Elmer and Kathy Heyd. The scholarship assists a graduating full-time male senior student who has been accepted by a conservative evangelical seminary. The recipient must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3, demonstrate the spiritual qualifications and godly leadership skills necessary to excel in this ministry, and plan to serve as full-time pastor of a church. […] The Department of Biblical and Ministry Studies faculty select the recipients.” ...
DISCLAIMER: there’s a fair bit about the Church that frustrates me. However, I’d like to address those frustrations in a way that builds bridges, not burns them down. Especially since sin and justice are both relational. It does no good to flee the former for the latter in a way that creates more rifts than it heals. Therefore, any criticisms I level against my sisters and brothers in Christ, (many of those criticisms coming from outside the walls of the Church), I’d like first to aim them at myself. After all, if I want to witness self-righteous pride, xenophobia, misplaced anger, etc., I need look no further than the mirror. ...
**Please read: Let There Be Light – Leadership Transfer** Until further notice, I hereby rescind my use of the Let There Be Light platform (including blog, Facebook, and Twitter) to protest recent changes at Cedarville University. The LTBL platform will now be exclusively alumni-run, and I encourage everyone interested in developments at the University to follow their posts and make subsequent judgments regarding Cedarville’s identity and vision. My goal in all of this is to honor my Messiah by following him well and furthering his Kingdom with justice, unity, and true peace. ...
To whomever the following concerns: I’d like to apologize publicly to any persons I may have offended during the past few months of my student activism efforts at Cedarville University. After all, I recognize that some of my statements/claims about the perceived injustices at my University have seemed quite shocking, especially without further context. So I apologize for the times when I put pithiness before precision and unwittingly ostracized many good people whom I was not intending to criticize at all. ...
Have you ever been extremely frustrated with someone/thing you love? That’s been my experience during my final year here at Cedarville University. See, I love this place. And that’s why I can’t stand it sometimes. There are still so many good and godly women and men here, so much potential for God’s Kingdom. And that’s why recent decisions made by Cedarville Admins and Trustees are so heartbreaking. I’ve written about this before (Open Letter). ...
Deuteronomy 6:1-15 (NRSV) Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. ...
Without context, words can mean anything and everything, and therefore mean nothing. It is only through the delimiting influence of context that words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs have any meaning at all. Although this seems simple enough, it is often forgotten when interpreting the Bible. Due to influences as simple as our versification of the biblical text and as complex as the historical/theological developments which have dictated how we teach and interpret the Scriptures, many interpreters (wittingly or unwittingly) ignore context when trying to ascertain the meaning of particular biblical texts. ...
To my sisters and brothers in Christ, entrusted with the arduous task of leading and directing Cedarville University: greetings, grace, and peace. Allow me to thank you all for your countless hours of service to this institution. I do not want to underestimate your care and concern for this place. In fact, I want to reassure you that I share your passion. Here at Cedarville I have been blessed with the opportunity of meeting, falling in love with, and marrying my wife. Even more importantly, at Cedarville I have fallen in love with the Gospel. Thanks to godly men and women here – whose vision of God, his Word, and his world I’ve been privileged to catch – my eyes have been opened to the richness, complexity, and scope of God’s redemptive mission. ...
(NOTE: I wrote this essay for my Senior Seminar/Capstone at Cedarville University. You can download the original undergraduate thesis PDF.) Introduction: Reconciliation and the Lack Thereof The impetus for this study is a seemingly unanswered prayer. “[I pray] that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.” (John 17:21 NET). Ever since Jesus of Nazareth first uttered these words, his followers have done what appears to be an increasingly-worse job of being one. A simple count of the various denominations and sects within Christianity at large—starting with the three prominent branches of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism—reveals the troubling truth that, although claiming to follow the same Lord, Christians around the world are often divided. In fact, it could be argued that the modus operandi throughout church history has been to pursue unity in orthodoxy through division.1 When dissenting voices arise, the group decides which option is “orthodox,” banishes the “heretics” (who often then form their own camp), and proceeds as the “pure” and “united” bride of Christ. Whether in 1054, 1517, or 2012, followers of Jesus the Messiah have often judged it more important to be correct than to be one.2 ...