video link: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeBelieve

Many of us are taught to read the Bible like we are going to therapy, mining scripture for passages that inspire us, or help us solve problems in our lives. Though there are strengths of this approach, therapeutic readings can tend to create a transactional relationship between us and God, and can prompt us to read our own wants and desires into the Bible.

This episode continues our critique of modern approaches to reading the Bible, paving the way for a return to ancient approaches to scripture.

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

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Many of us are taught to read the Bible like historians. We read a passage, use the tools of academia to reconstruct its original context, then tease out morals and principles to help us in our current context. While this approach has many strengths, it also has some major weaknesses, as it can lead to elitist, unstable, unspiritual, and unbiblical interpretations.

This episode continues the first part of this season, where we discuss how the ways that we read the Bible are so different from the ways of the early church.

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
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Order Four Mountains: Encountering God in the Bible from Eden to Zion 

Why does our experience reading the Old Testament seem so different than our experience reading the New Testament? Do you long to have those kind of life changing encounters with God not just in the Gospels, but also in books like Number and Exodus? Today we are going to discuss why we can’t seem to vividly encounter God in so much of the Old Testament. We'll chronicle the massive changes that occurred in how Christians read the Bible over the past 300 years, changes that ultimately disconnected Scripture from the life of the church.

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
Facebook: @ThisWeBelievepodcast
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Now on video. Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeBelieve

This special season of This We Believe teaches Christians how to read the Bible like the early Church. It will examine the problems with modern approaches to readings scripture, how the wisdom of the early church can help Christians encounter the Glory of Jesus Christ in every book of the Bible, and practical steps we can all take to read the Bible along the same trajectory. 
This series can be viewed on its own, and as a companion to the book Four Mountains: Encountering God in the Bible from Eden to Zion https://a.co/d/0gUFUdn

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
Facebook: @ThisWeBelievepodcast
Twitter: @We_Believe_Pod
E-mail: [email protected]

In these special episodes, Dr Niebauer discusses how the early Christians read scripture, and how his new book, Four Mountains: Encountering God in the Bible from Eden to Zion can help both new and mature Christians read the Bible in a similar manner. Available here: https://a.co/d/9F3FjzC If your church wants to use Four Mountains for a Bible study, visit http://michaelniebauer.com for discussion guides and to set up a zoom discussion with the author.

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
Facebook: @ThisWeBelievepodcast
Twitter: @We_Believe_Pod
E-mail: [email protected]

What are the vows that we make before God, and how are they different from the promises and pledges we make in the world? What do the promises we make to others tell us about promises we make to God? This episode discusses the teaching of Jesus regarding speech in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:33-37).

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
Facebook: @ThisWeBelievepodcast
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What is the relationship between adultery and the ways in which we gaze upon the images of other human beings? Why does Jesus only permit divorce in the case of sexual immorality? When, if ever, is remarriage allowed after divorce? This episode continues our series on the sermon on the mount by discussing Jesus' teaching on adultery and divorce in Matthew 5: 27-32.

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
Facebook: @ThisWeBelievepodcast
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What are the ways that anger manifests itself in the human heart, and what can we do to control it? Why is it important to deal with conflict before we come to the altar at church, and before we resort to the legal system? This episode continues our series on the Sermon on the Mount with Matthew 5: 21-26.

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
Facebook: @ThisWeBelievepodcast
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What are the moral laws in the Old Testament, and how do we discern which laws are moral and which are not? How can such laws teach us about the love of God?
This episode continues our three episode series on Matthew 5: 17-20 in the Sermon on the Mount, addressing how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament laws known as the Moral Law.

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
Facebook: @ThisWeBelievepodcast
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What does it mean to follow the Old Testament laws that pertain to temples and animal sacrifices, if we do not have these things today? What do these laws tell us about how Christians today ought to approach worship?
This episode continues our three episode series on Matthew 5: 17-20 in the Sermon on the Mount, addressing how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament laws known as the Ceremonial, or Liturgical Law.

Four Mountains teaches Christians to read the Bible through its symbols and story. https://a.co/d/hWzDzYV

If you would like connect further, please visit us:
Facebook: @ThisWeBelievepodcast
Twitter: @We_Believe_Pod
E-mail: [email protected]