Core belief #6: When Jesus took on humanity it wasn’t that big of a step down.

He who is spiritual discerns all things and how that applies to current events. Some puzzle pieces to consider in discerning what's been happening this past year. 

Core beliefs continued. #2 Believing God is different than Believing in God. #3 The universe is not eternal. What are the implications of that? #4 Christians need to play offense as much as defense. #5 The only thing that will keep you from understanding something is laziness.

Understanding the philosophical foundation of the US Constitution. Who was the Father of America? Reading from Christianity and the Constitution by John Eidsmoe.

Continuation of discussion of core belief #1: The Bible is the Word of God. Prophecies of Jesus' birth and death prove the supernatural nature of the Bible.

We discussed the theology of the tribe and the nations.  We pointed out that in heaven there are people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Rev 5:9). We concluded that there is no racism, as its expressed in our current culture, in heaven.  Neither is there “inequality” in heaven.  We discussed what actually makes all people equal.

Continuation of discussion of core belief #1: The Bible is the Word of God. Role of prophecy in confirming that with focus on prophecies in Daniel.

We continue to discuss the biblical model for carrying out God’s creation mandate to humanity to rule the earth as His image (Gen 1:26-27).  We discuss the underlying principle of authority (cf. e.g., Matt 28:18).  We point out how the authority granted to Adam as the image was distributed first in the context of the family and then in the context of the clan.

Continuation of discussion of core belief #1: The Bible is the Word of God.

We discussed the Biblical theology of the community.  This lead to the discussion of seed of the serpent versus the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15) and its outworking in Gen 4, first with Cain’s murder of Abel and then with the genealogies tracing the line of Cain and the line leading to Noah.  We discussed the hermeneutical principles of reading genealogies.