It’s easy to miss the point of a particular passage of Scripture, and teaching Bible stories to children is often the most susceptible. We can tend to focus on elements of a story that we think will interest or impact children and as a result miss out on what the text is actually trying to tell us.

John Walton lists five hermeneutical fallacies to avoid when teaching Scripture to children:

Seminaries and grad programs that train pastors, and the academics who teach in those programs are very concerned about proper hermeneutics. We want pastors to have the very best training so that God’s word is handled properly and that preaching proceeds from the authoritative teaching of the text rather than from human cleverness or tangential ideas. This is as it should be since we seek to teach with the authority of God’s Word. My question is, why do we not show the same interest in assuring that children are taught with the same care?

It has been my practice over the years to work with the Children’s education program in my church to evaluate curriculum and train teachers for the pre-school through elementary grades. What I find in curricula is consistently shocking from a hermeneutical standpoint. I should hasten to say that curricula are often excellent from an educational standpoint—for that is the expertise of those producing curriculum. In the area of hermeneutics, however, the violations of sound method are frequent and obvious. I have identified five basic fallacies that appear repeatedly: (keep reading)

A few TheoForum updates and then we’ll get to the big announcement:

1. There’s no TheoForum meeting on Aug 8.  We’re postponing that meeting to Aug 15.
2. The next week, Aug 22, will bethe Synergy Exam (small groups collaborating then individual team members giving oral responses to essay questions from the chapters).  So TheoFellows should get some study/review time in on the week of Aug 15th.
3. August 23rd is somewhat tentative but will likely be the PreachIt session.

Alright, so to the book.  Here are the teasers from the back cover:

“He suffered imprisonment for twelve years, even when a simple promise to cease preaching would have gained him freedom..  But Bunyan’s steadfast belief that God ordered every trial would not allow him to relent, and moved him to rely even mor upon ‘Him who is invisible’.”

“Even when his own sky was filled with clouds of dread, Cowper’s poetry was a reflection of the sustaining character of God - music for the mind that led him to endure, and to worship more deeply.”

“So great was Brainerd’s desire to honor God that he joyously cried, ‘Oh for holiness!  Oh, for more of God in my soul!  Oh this pleasing pain.!  It makes my soul press after God.”  Through the loneliness of wilderness ministry and the agony of tuberculosis, he pressed on, transforming world missions forever.”

The summary statement next to those vignettes reads as follows…

“Great privilege.  Great pain.  God’s design.  This is God’s way: to take the privilege of faith and strengthen it with trials so that we worship and witness with a greater passion for God.”

Ready to read and be stirred by some of that?

The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd by John Piper.  Coming to a comfortable, coffee scented living room near you.

Strengthen your theology of suffering.  Begins September 5.

I’m trying to finish up reading Donald Whitney’s Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health before the Sovereign Grace WorshipGOD conference next week.  I’ve noticed that one of his most frequent refrains is to encourage the reader to pray the Scriptures, primarily - as he often goes on to say - the Psalms.  He has mentioned this at least three times in my reading up until now.

I’ve done some Psalm praying - though I probably have done more spontaneous Psalm singing during private worship than Psalm praying.  Last night, I ventured into both.  But from time to time I was wondering in the back of my mind whether I was doing it “right”.  I’m thinking, “Alright so David is running from Absalom in this chapter.  Is it legit to just name x circumstance ‘my Absalom‘ and pray that God strikes it on the cheek and shatters it?”

Well, the timing was perfect to come across this today over at the Desiring God blog.

By the way, the book is excellent.  I highly recommend it, as I would anything I’ve ever read by Donald Whitney.  His books blend years of Christian maturity and pastoral experience with thoughtful, robustly biblical, and accessible writing.  He does a masterful job of reaching both the bottom of a truth as well as putting handles on it and speaking on very practical levels about how to apply truth to everyday life.

Even though we just started reading the next section (three) in Grudem’s Systematic Theology, we’ll need to order our new books very soon.  This section is very short - I want to say it’s not even 100 pages.

All official TheoForum 2008 classmates have decided in advance that they will participate in every study.  But if you have ‘audited’ a particular book and are considering joining us for the next one, you’ll want to come back late next week for the unveiling of the next study title.

I’ve already given a hint that we’ll be reading biographical material on some great dead guys from church history, but I’ll leave it at that for the time being.  Soon we’ll announce it and make the book orders for everyone.

6am. Roberts house.  Taking down Grudem chapter 23 (Systematic Theology).  Can’t wait.  Call office for directions if interested.

Since the last time I read something in this vein and wrote an e-confession, let me say, I’ve seen some growth - by God’s grace!

But, sanctification is progressive and the techno-demon dies hard, so I was glad to see this reminder article from John Mark Reynolds.

I started reading Tim Keller’s Reason For God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism over the weekend.  So far, I think it is superb and would highly recommend it.  This Manhattan pastor is one of the most winsome communicators I’ve encountered.  He is also one of my most frequent lawn-care companions.  [Aside: I never do lawn work without my ipod.  My primary lawn care ‘assistants’ this past year or so have been leaders from Sovereign Grace (CJ Mahaney, Bob Kauflin, Josh Harris), T4G guys (mostly Duncan & Dever), John Piper, Tim Keller, J.I. Packer (lectures on Puritans, sweet!), Mark Driscoll and, most recently, Andy Naselli.]

But I digress.

Keller’s book addresses many tough and frequently asked questions posed to Christians.  Here, one of my favorite bloggers, Justin Taylor, lends perspective on one of the big ones.

Can’t wait to see all of you Pivoters again this Sunday night.  Our study in Philippians continues this Sunday night.  We have a surprise guest speaker.  He has never spoken for Pivot before so I’m very much looking forward to hearing from him.  Before that, Erik Schmaltz and the band will lead us in exalting God in song.  We finish up with time just hanging out, meeting new friends, and eating pizza (free and in large supply).

Hope to see you there.

Justin Taylor sat down for a talk with J.I. Packer recently.  Here’s one of the things he took away.

This note from Pam Bloom, the wife of Jon Bloom, Executive Director of Desiring God Ministries, is stirring on many levels.  It’s provoking to see how she is able to commend his passion for God, diligence and hard work, gratefulness, willingness to risk, and the beautiful way she is inspired to submit by watching his joyful submission to his boss.

I’m so grateful to God for Desiring God Ministries.  I love the way their mission statement finds so many concrete expressions in everything from a wife posting a blog to honor her husband to giving away sermons and offering their books and cd sets to eager learners with their “whatever you can afford” policy.  If you aren’t familiar with their website, check it out.  There you will find a hundred different means by which your passion for the Savior might be fueled and your vision of God expanded.

I plan to refer to one resource in particular as it has been especially encouraging to me during our most recent trial, namely John Piper’s biographical sermon on John Calvin.  Things have been a bit crazy lately, so I’ll try to post something on that as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience with the blog.  Posts have been scarce I know.  I think we’ll be back up and rolling soon, though I’ll be out of town at conferences (WorshipGOD in Gaithersburg, MD, and The Clash in Grantham, PA) from July 30-Aug 9.