Hello everyone. In following suit with those prior to me, I'll offer a little introduction - because as was pointed out in the lecture, we all have different perspectives, backgrounds, and testimonies. What I've come to understand through my brief time in ministry is that we often see the Bible and our interactions with God through our own lens and His work in our lives. So here is brief introduction.
My name is Ashley, 31 years old, and my husband and I have a blended family of three girls, 12,11, and 7. My background in ministry is pretty non - traditional, having not became a Christian until four years ago. Since then, without going into a full on testimony, discovering Jesus completely re-directed the course of our lives > to the point where I now have the honor to serve as the Campus Pastor for our Saline location of Unite Community Church. Outside of ministry, I own personal training studio/ have been a trainer for almost a decade. I'm slightly anxious to be back in the academic setting after spending time writing so many sermon outlines in a stream of consciousness format...but excited all the same!
Coming from my perspective, what I find to be the most compelling is the idea of better serving the church and this world. Combine that with the idea of mistruths circling in this world, and coming from the perspective that can still vividly recall walking in the world without Jesus, I find joy in being able to translate scripture into examples and real world experiences that are relatable to the non - believer. My mind often still refers back to a time when I did not know Jesus > that lens creates a desire to understand the Bible in order to refute the doubts, answer questions, and create open dialogue with the person who would never want to step into a church because of misinformation. My heart is for the gospel to be displayed in its fullness, in a way that any person, at any time could understand, relate to, and get curious about discovering who Jesus is/was and how He is still active today.
However this is also, the part that is most challenging to me. The more "mature" of a Christian I become, the more I learn and grow and connect dots between scriptures > the more difficult it is to balance out serving mature Christians without losing the application to non Christians or relatively new believers. In discovering commentaries, language translations, and even words that are common only in a church setting, it becomes easy to navigate teaching to both groups and every group in between.
To answer which reason is least understood by Christians today - this is difficult for me to answer. My experience within the Christian family has not been nearly as long as some. However, what I believe is least understood is having an authentic faith. From observing, it is easy to get distracted by what the latest self help guru or motivational speaker is selling. Add on the half truths that exist between New Age/Humanistic theologians and Christianity, many people are walking around identifying as Christian but are actually blending these theologies together while thinking it's truth! Our societal options tend to want to be able to say "God is love" without acknowledging "God is Truth". I do not think people have a negative intention associated with these beliefs - sometimes (and here's what's scary) - it's just easier! Easier to catch snippets, combine half truths, and to easily piece together content that we enjoy hearing (it's just EASIER to even listen to our favorite preacher's, pastors on Youtube than it is to dive deep into the Bible ourselves). Studying the Bible takes time, energy to understand context, translations, not to mention theological arguments, and sometimes it's just easier to not.