May Connect by Bethel Sarnia

CONNECT BETHEL CHURCH

WELCOME TO BETHEL Welcome to Bethel! We are so glad to have you here! As you look through this Connect Bulletin, we trust that you will quickly find that Bethel has something for you and your family. Our hope is that you will take the next step into our community and get involved. As you do, you will begin to see that Bethel is more than just a Sunday service, it is a family of everyday people following Christ to bring hope and change to the world one life at a time.

WWW.BETHELSARNIA.COM

MAY 2019

MISSONS

THE PREGNANCY OPTIONS AND SUPPORT CENTRE As part of our Missions effort, Bethel is pleased to provide financial support to The Pregnancy Options and Support Centre. This local ministry provides compassionate support and education for individuals and families impacted by unexpected pregnancy and related issues. This is done through pregnancy education, parenting education, support groups and post-abortion care. As a faith-based charity, The Pregnancy Centre depends on the donations of businesses, individuals and local churches. One fundraising effort is through the Baby Bottle Campaign. You are invited to participate by picking up a Baby Bottle on Mother’s Day May 12th. For the next 5 weeks, you are to fill the Baby Bottle with loose change or bills. Returning the money-filled bottle to the church on Father’s Day, June 16th. A good number of churches and individuals participate in this fundraiser every year, making it one of The Pregnancy Centre’s most successful fundraiser. Your participation in this campaign is greatly appreciated in support of this good work in our community.

KIDS / STUDENT MINISTRIES CHILDREN’S MINISTRY NURSERY There is a volunteer staffed Nursery open for babies 0-2years (down main floor hallway). TODDLER 2-4years are welcome in our Toddler class (upstairs). We play, sing songs, read a story, eat a snack and make a craft. This month we continue our stories about the life of Jesus. PRESCHOOL JK and SK children are welcome in our Preschool class (upstairs). We are learning how children can know God through the Church. ELEMENTARY Grades 1-5 are welcome in our Elementary class (upstairs). We are learning the Names of God and this month we will learn the names Jehovah Shammah (The Lord is there), Jehovah El Emeth (The Lord God of Truth), Jehovah Maginnenu (The Lord our Defense), and Jehovah Or (The Lord is Light).

STUDENT MINISTRY RESCUE Rescue is our program for grades 5-8, we meet on Wednesday nights from 6-7:30pm. Rescue exists to create a fun place for pre-teens to learn about God and build relationships while having a fun time. You can look us up on Facebook by searching Rescue @ Bethel Sarnia (group) REVO Revo is our high school program that is geared toward grades 8-12. We meet on Thursday nights from 7-9pm. Revo is a great place for students to belong to a youth group family while growing in their relationship with God. You can look us up on Facebook by searching Revo @ Bethel Sarnia (group) and follow us on Instagram @revosarnia May 3rd (Friday) REVO & Real Youth: Break & Enter May 9th Small Group Night May 16 (No Revo) May 17-19 Overflow May 23rd No REVO (Encounter Week) May 30th Service night

HOW DO I RESPOND TO BIBLE CRITICS? While the Bible is the bestselling book in history, it’s arguably also the most criticized. There are, of course, different kinds of biblical criticism. Some are considered scholarly disciplines and, at their best, seek to bring to light valuable insights about the biblical manuscripts and their meaning. But more often than not, critics of the Bible are not out to praise it, but to put it down. The next article in this series – “How do I handle Bible difficulties?” – will offer specific tips on dealing with common critical approaches and passages meant to confound Christians. But this article is more about how to go about responding in general to criticisms levelled against the Bible. As such, we’ll look at some common criticisms of the Bible and offer an overview of some of the more scholarly objections. Christians believe the Bible contains God’s words to us – words that contain ideas related to the nature of God, the nature of Christ, the nature of human beings, the nature of salvation, and more. All of these topics are of great significance. If the Bible is in error in any one of these areas, then the insights of the critics are of supreme importance. But if the Bible is trustworthy in what it says, then we’d do well to heed what it says. What, then, do the critics claim and how can we respond?

What About Miracles? The first criticism we will address has to do with miracles. Contemporary critics sometimes claim that since the Bible contains so many miracles, it just can’t be true. Either these are just made up stories, they argue, or simple people were just tricked. In reality, just one miracle is too much for the modern mind. Why? Unfortunately, much of Western thinking in particular is grounded in naturalism – a worldview that believes that only the physical or material world exists. Based on this perspective, anything supernatural such as a miracle, is immediately suspect. As a result, this sort of critical approach to the Bible immediately casts doubt on key Christian beliefs such as the bodily resurrection of Christ. There are many ways to respond to this sort of critic. It will be helpful to point out that it is the presupposition that naturalism is true that rules out miracles. But if God exists, then miracles are possible. Another approach involves turning the tables, so to speak, and casting doubt on naturalism. What are the reasons the critic believes in naturalism? This is also a helpful time to offer positive arguments for the existence of God. It may also be beneficial to take the resurrection of Christ as a historical example of an event that cannot be explained reasonably by any other means other than by calling it what it was – a miracle.

Is the Bible “full of contradictions?” Another popular approach of Bible critics is to claim that since the Bible is full of so many contradictions, it just can’t be trusted. At this juncture it is often helpful to ask for a specific example of a contradiction. Often, causal critics of the Bible will just claim it is “full of contradictions” as a rhetorical method. In other words, they may not have any specific examples in mind, but are just posturing and hoping no one will challenge them. If the critic does not have a specific example of what they consider a contradiction in the Bible, then politely ask them to offer one, otherwise they are making claims without proof. But what if they do have one or more specific contradictions that they can cite, chapter and verse? This is where it is helpful for the Christian to have a good understanding of what they believe, why they believe it, as well as some general knowledge on interpreting the Bible correctly. If a critic points out a specific apparent contradiction and you are not able to resolve it on the spot, be gracious and admit that you don’t have an answer right away, but will look into it and get back to the person. Rest assured, Bible scholars have spent years studying alleged contradictions and discrepancies in the Bible and have offered reasonable answers. There are no instances of such alleged contradictions that would negate the foundations of Christianity or its essential beliefs.

Continued from Page 7 What About Academic Criticism? Academic criticism in and of itself is not hostile to Christianity. It is merely a field that studies the biblical texts and tries to interpret them or make sense of them. Such criticism becomes a problem when it casts doubt on the reliability of the Bible. For instance, scholars who question the authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament hold to what is called the documentary hypothesis. This calls into question the authorship of portions of the Old Testament traditionally attributed to Moses and instead argues that several authors wrote the text. The end result is usually to weaken the force of what the Bible has to say by claiming that it is not really divinely inspired, but a product of many different people and ideas that don’t always agree with one another. Biblically speaking, Christ established the authority of the Old Testament repeatedly not only by often citing specific passages,

but by general statements such as Matthew 5:17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (NIV).

New Testament Mythology? Another academic criticism of the Bible has to do with the New Testament. These critics claim that the New Testament documents can’t really be trusted as true history, but are more like legends or myths. Rudolf Bultmann (18841976), for instance, sought to demythologize the New Testament, meaning that since modern people cannot accept the sorts of miracles and supernatural stories contained in the Bible, they must be made relevant. The end result, however, is to cast serious doubt on the biblical record and its claims. But is the New Testament legendary or mythological? Hardly. The Gospels, for instance, record real places, real people, and real events in historical context. They

do not read as myths or legends, but as historical records. The New Testament writers were familiar with contemporary myths and knew the difference between what they believed and the myths of their day, prompting Paul the Apostle to warn against “godless myths,” for instance (1 Timothy 4:7, NIV; “worldly fables” in the NASB).

“Always Being Ready” First Peter 3:15 calls every Christian to always be “ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” This means that we all need to be equipped to some degree to respond to Bible critics. Not everyone is called to be an expert in this field, but we should all be ready to make a defense of the truth of Christ as recorded in Scripture.

Written by Robert Velarde for Focus on the Family.

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MAY 2019 Wed WED

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Fri FRI

Sat SAT

6:00PM Rescue-Final

10:30 AM Service Pastor Tim Gibb

6:00PM PrayerBoardroom

7:00PM REVO

6:00PM PrayerBoardroom

7:00PM REVO

6:30PM Bible Study & Hymn Sing-Prayer Room

6:00PM PrayerBoardroom

9:30AM Prayer GroupSanctuary 9:30AM Paint GroupCafe

6:30PM Service Pastor Tim Gibb

6:30PM Bible Study & Hymn Sing-Prayer Room

12 Mother’s Day 10:30 AM Service Sharon Davy 6:30PM Service Pastor Tim Gibb

20 Victoria Day Office Closed

10:30AM Service Ted Shuttlesworth

9:30AM Prayer GroupSanctuary

Encounter Services with Ted Shuttlesworth Monday May 20th to Saturday May 25th each evening at 7PM

6:30PM Service Ted Shuttlesworth

Overflow Youth Conference Waterloo May 17th-19th

10:30AM Service Ted Shuttlesworth Jr.

NO EVENING SERVICE

6:30PM Bible Study & Hymn Sing-Prayer Room

6:00PM PrayerBoardroom

7:00PM REVO

9:30AM Prayer GroupSanctuary

OUR PASTORS PASTOR TIM & KIM GIBB

Lead Pastor pastortim@bethelsarnia.com

PASTOR TRICIA GIBB Connections Pastor tricia@bethelsarnia.com

PASTORS KEITH & PATRICIA PATRICK

PASTOR JENNIFER WINKLMEIER

Pastoral Care pastorkeith@bethelsarnia.com

PASTOR BROCK & KIRSTEN WRIGHT

Youth Pastor brock@bethelsarnia.com

Children’s Pastor jennifer@bethelsarnia.com

1565 London Line Sarnia, Ontario N7T 7H2

/bethelsarnia 519.542.7731 bethel@bethelsarnia.com

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