She gives a few reasons to a better Bible study for women.
We need a better definition of Women's Bible study. We have a tendency, Jen says, to call everything a Bible study. Not everything in a Christian bookstore is a Bible study. Devotionals or topical studies (i.e. anxiety, fear etc) are not Bible studies. If we spend time on topical studies or devotional books, we'll only spend time in those few scriptures. In doing a Bible study, she says, we are reading through scripture and allowing topics to present as they occur in the text. These are not bad, but they're intended to be layered upon a foundational understanding of scripture. We need to understand the difference between devotional, topical and those that are building a foundational base (building our Bible literacy and comprehension of scripture).
We need better resources. We need resources that focus on God first and us second. Many questions in the studies we do ask questions that reflect on "who I am" first rather than on "who God is". It's a good question, but shouldn't be the first question we ask. The first question should be "what does this passage teach me about God?" After we answer that question, we have the foundational base to ask ourselves "how can I adjust myself to what this passage is teaching?" We also need resources that target our mind not just our emotions. Jen stated that a lot of books out there for women target only the emotions. The thought card is never targeted. We are to love our God with our mind, scripture says. Our intellect should be engaged in our pursuit of knowing God. We shouldn't be spoon-fed with the answers. We should be better students of the Bible and be more comfortable with our Bible at the end of a study.
I found this very helpful. If you desire to hear the 10 minute talk by Jen Wilkins, you can find it on youtube under "what women need most for Bible study, Jen Wilkins."
Review by Sharon Garner
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete