Tonight was our kick-off for our summer study. We went over the importance of why we should have an answer to people's questions. 1 Pet 3:15 "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect," A familiar passage to most but It was so good to be reminded that our job is to be faithful to provide the answers, and that our job is NOT to change people's minds. Changing minds and harts is thankfully the job of the Holy Spirit.
During our time together I felt we had some good discussions and shared our questions and concerns we had related to the subject. One of the students brought up similarities of the Biblical worldwide flood account to many other stories of floods in ancient cultures and writings. Many people would like you to believe that that similarities of the flood stories therefore points to the Bible being a copy of ancient writings. However, another student shared how that would completly make sense since the flood was an actual event. These various writters did not copy each others writings but rather each wrote about an actual event as it was passed down and in some cases changed from generation to generation, hence the differences in the accounts as well. However, where as the other flood accounts are vague and at times non-nonsensical the biblical account is direct, detailed, informational and has direct ties to the whole thesis of the book. The Bible shares the flood account in almost textbook like detail compared to the other flood accounts.(for more info on these flood accounts)
It was so cool though to talk through things like this with the students tonight. I loved it!