Thursday, February 01, 2007

Your thoughts...

I want to comment on the balance that I hope to attain with this blog. I hope this is a place you feel like you can come and learn more about God's word. I also hope it is a place you feel safe to write your thoughts and ideas. Here is where the balance part comes in. I hope to have a better balance in the future of practical/application focused Bible study balanced with stories of events in my life or people I know that helped me learn about God or are things I feel I should pass on to help others.

I don't want this to be a place where minutia is the focus (although that is certainly fun from time to time!). We can get so bogged down in pulling things apart that we forget to actually apply the results. I love what Fosdick said about this early in the 20th century - "People do not come to church with a burning interest in what happened to the Jebusites...but with their own questions and problems." I think sometimes I get too interested in the Jebusites and not interested enough in helping myself and others grow closer to God.

So two questions:
  1. Does anyone out there find the posts on the Ancient Near Eastern texts helpful or is that just too much when there is so much in the Bible to explore?
  2. What topics would you like to hear more about. I have had people mention a discussion of the Holy Spirit would be helpful. What suggestions for topics do you have?
I have really been spoiled to have so many people stop by and comment from all over the world. I really feel blessed and I hope it has been a blessing to you. Thank you so much for sharpening me and helping me to grow in my faith. Thank you for correcting me when I have needed correcting. Thank you for opening my eyes to things in scripture I had never noticed were there before, through your comments. It really makes me wonder what is in store over the years. I appreicate you all. God bless,

Matt

4 comments:

Mark said...

Hey Matt,

I hope life is good for you down in FL. Since you're asking for input, I'll give you my $0.02. I read your blog regularly because I want to know what's on Matt Dabbs' mind. I like the stuff that you write about. (I actually just got finished teaching some of this ancient mythology in an OT class last week) I'd say just write about whatever interests you. If it's interesting to you, it will probably be interesting to someone else also. For me, having to write about/verbalize what's on my mind helps me to really think through the subject I'm pondering.

On a side note, are you done at HUGSR? I haven't seen you there in a semester or two.

Keep up the good work,
Mark <><

Matt said...

Hey Mark,

Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate them. As far as HUGSR goes, I finished last May. How far along are you in that process?

Mark said...

You're done? Wow...must be nice. I'm about 1/3 of the way through my MDiv. I'm hoping that in the next semester or two I can start really picking up the pace on how many classes I'm taking, but I've been having to just go 3 hrs at a time up to this point.

I'm glad that everything is working out well for you and your wife, though I'll miss having you as a ping pong opponent. :-)

See you in the blogosphere...

Mark

Matt said...

3 hours at a time is a killer. I do miss the ping pong but most of all I miss the classes and the camadarie (Dr. Burks would be proud!)

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