CategoryBible Class

Bible class audio for July 18, 2010: [audio:http://www.gregchaney.com/wordpress/audio/0718_092104.MP3]

Bible class audio for July 25, 2010
[audio:http://www.gregchaney.com/wordpress/audio/0725_091856.MP3]

1.  Elephant and the Rider (monkey) from the Happiness Hypothesis Jonathan Haidt (University of Virginia psychologist)

Weakness vs Strengths
Elephant (Emotions):  lazy and skittish, quick payoff over long term gain (ice cream vs thin)
Rider (Rational) :  think long term, think beyond the moment, to plan

Strengths vs Weaknesses
Elephant:  Compassion, sympathy and loyalty, protection instinct, love
Rider:  overanalyze, over-thinks, spins wheels, mechanical, no passion

When rational thinking and emotions disagree…emotions always win.

Plato:  In our heads we have a rational charioteer who has to rein in an unruly horse that “barely yields to horsewhip and goad combined”

2.  Understanding the blessing of Jesus

• The first four deal with our own state of being, the second how we deal with others
• They build on each other
• Are about our heart (emotions) not our head (rational)
• Don’t look for a list of commands to follow but a way of approaching God

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Bible class audio for June 20, 2010: [audio:http://www.gregchaney.com/wordpress/audio/0620_092004.MP3]
Bible class audio for June 13, 2010: [audio:http://www.gregchaney.com/wordpress/audio/0613_091627.MP3]

We interpret the blessings of  Matthew 5 through the eyes of materialistic and superficial Americans.  In our modern world happy has come to mean a conscience state of a feeling well or ecstatic.  If WE are happy WE feel good.  I’m not doubting that if we love God and obey his command we will be internally happy, but I firmly believe the emotions Christ was trying to evoke were much deeper.   Speaking to Jews he was asking them to recall familiar passages from the Torah (Deuteronomy 28) in which the Jews were brought into a state of blessedness because of their obedience.  They were blessed because they were reconciled to God into the peace (Shalowm) He intended.  The opposite state was cursed or separated from God.

Each beatitude pronounces the person who possesses that quality as “blessed.” We need to understand this word because, as some have rightly noted, the Greek word used by Matthew,makarios, can also be translated as “happy.” Happy, however, is not the correct translation in this context.Happinessissubjective; the same things do not always make everybody happy. And we can certainly rule out mourning as a producer of happiness. Instead, Jesus makesobjectivejudgments about the state of the citizens of God’s Kingdom. He declares, not what they feel like, but what God thinks of them. People with these qualities gain His approval. Because God thinks well of them, they are “blessed.” God’s blessing is far broader and exceedingly more important than merely being “happy.” From Ritenbaugh, John W. Forerunner “Personal” February 1999

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