I Am An Evangelical - Are You?

 

In their own words defining evangelicals: "Lifeway Christian Resources is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, a collection of like-minded churches who share a common bond of basic biblical beliefs and a commitment to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in every nation."

The National Association of Evangelicals puts it this way: 'Evangelicals take the Bible seriously and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The term “evangelical” comes from the Greek word euangelion, meaning “the good news” or the “gospel.” Thus, the evangelical faith focuses on the “good news” of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ.'

A little wordier than the SBC, but with the same meaning when it comes to characteristics, from NAE evangelicals have:

• A serious approach to the Bible
• A focus on the "good news" of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ
• An emphasis on the authority of the Bible
• A relationship with Jesus Christ
• Conversion
• A belief in the necessity of being born again
• An emphasis on the importance of evangelism
• Affirmation of traditional Protestant teachings on the authority and historicity of the Bible

Lifeway's list is a bit shorter, but hold the same characteristics:

• The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.
• It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
• Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.
• Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation.

I was baptized into a Southern Baptist associated church following my profession of faith, and remained a member through marriage and the birth of three children. Some physical moves resulted in our visiting a number of churches, some not Baptist, until we ended up closed to an evangelically active Baptist church identifying itself as Fundamental and Independent, basics of the early New Testament churches set up in specific cities. I did not, and still do not, find doctrinal issues - except in the divisiveness within the SBC. 

They are no different, though, than the schisms in any other Christian denomination. Half of America's Christians are excepting into their congregations members living in situations sinful as defined in the Bible. Note that when I started my blog, I began my beliefs with:

"I believe the Bible is Holy, the divinely inspired and preserved Word of God, the final authority for all faith and life. I place this belief first, not because it is the most important, but because it explains and provides answers for so much of the following. Without the Bible, there is not a foundation for believing ...", and then I go further into specific beliefs, including explanatory scriptures. I know what I believe, why I believe it, and have expectations based on scripture. 

As to having sinful people in the congregation, we all sin. Often people respond with scripture:

Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1 KJV)

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: (Luke 6:37 KJV)

Never accept single scripture without context. Matthew 7:1 leads into verses 2 through 6, which explains we are to work with the person being judged after we work through our own sinful nature. Lots of scripture available to help us do that. As for Luke 6:37, you will need verses 38 through 45 - and maybe 46 would be helpful, too. Scriptures were not originally written with verses - those were added years later for reference purposes.  While I love and appreciate them, I won't single out a verse without studying what's next to it.

Now - bottom line: Are you an evangelical? Do you believe the God who inspired the Bible exists, 

- that the Bible carries His truth, 

- that it is historically accurate, 

- that Jesus is God Son and eternal life is through Him,

- that Jesus' life is the gospel, the good news,

- and that He, Himself, asks us to to tells His story, to join us in eternity?

If so, you, too can be an evangelical by sharing that message. Is there any reason you do not wish to do so? Why?

To encourage readers - and those they speak with about Jesus - I write this blog with my own thoughts after Bible reading. If you have a moment, would you leave a comment (anonymously if you wish) stating your thoughts about evangelicals, and about your interest in reading your Bible.

I Don't Belong to a Church

 

This may seem off topic as I begin with David before he became king, hiding in a cave from the anointed king, Saul. We know what was on David's mind because he wrote it down in what we call Psalm 142 - Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.

I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. (Psalms 142:1-2 KJV)

That Psalm does not end with a miraculous intervention by God to keep David from feeling such aloneness. Instead David offers a bargain:

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. (Psalms 142:7 KJV)

That was part of a sermon our pastor gave in January of 2021. I take notes during the service in a spiral notebook, creating my own short Bible lessons. We joined this particular church after visiting in 1999. We remain active members - but we don't "belong" to the church, though we consider ourselves a part of it. My reasoning goes back to Paul:

For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:4-7 KJV)

I firmly believe God's word that God does give the increase. We are not saved by the name of any preacher, church, denomination, according to the Bible:

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12 KJV)

Peter's sermon in answer to healing a man not only explains that what happened was due to his belief in Jesus as God's son, but the whole world was included in God's salvation story. Peter and the disciples were given the Holy Spirit to continue God's work:

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. (Acts 4:8-10 KJV)

Jesus' resurrection was included as proof as to how the man was healed. Jesus' resurrection is the reason there is none other name whereby we must be saved. Many had died for their belief in God. One was prophesized and fulfilled. Through God's planning, this is how we are saved from our sinfulness:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV)

God provides the salvation with works - not belonging to one church in this world, but by becoming a part of believers in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the propitiation of our sins.  Paul, at the end of a list of what we should not do, mentions the price tag for our salvation:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV)

As believers of the biblical history of Jesus, God's promised Messiah, we belong to God. God is not defined nor confined by mankind, but by how He describes Himself by inspiring His written word:

From Moses' doubt and God's answer:

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. (Exodus 4:14-16 KJV)

Through Jesus' response to Satan's temptation:

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:3-4 KJV)

To His descriiption in Revelation:

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:15-16 KJV)

We need to study what God has said, to whom it was said, why it was said, and what we are to do about what God said. Pick up a Bible and start, right now.

From The Mouth of God

 

By de:Benutzer:Thetawave, Speck-Made - Image:Lippen.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, 

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4 KJV)

No - God's mouth can't be diagramed as our is. The Bible was written by men - inspired by God:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16 KJV)

Paul included the "why" God inspired writers of the Bible:

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:17 KJV)

What God gives us in His word will provide what we need to do the good works God wants us to do. Those works are not essential to salavation, they are a result of the turn around in our lives when we commit to doing God's will in our lives:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8 KJV)

Agaiin - as he often does - Paul goes the next step and tells us "why":

Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:9-10 KJV)

"Not of works." Because it would not of God. The works we do as Christians are to come from God. The choices we may should glorify God, never mankind. Being omnipotent, God already knows how we will truly work for Him, and He has ordained specific work for us. Paul explains what we should do, what happens when we do it, and what happens if we don't:

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3:9-15 KJV)

Like Paul's witness as to why he became a Christian (Acts 26), while inspired by God, these are Paul's own words learned at the feet of expert Pharisee teachers. His words contain his previous experiences in life as well as carry God's inspirational Spirit.

As usual, too, God's word repeats itself, as Jesus quoted scripture to Satan:

All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. (Deuteronomy 8:1-3 KJV)

Just as saved by faith is repeated:

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (Romans 4:16 KJV)

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. (Acts 15:11 KJV)

Isn't that simple?

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:3-4 KJV)

I've Missed and Have Been Missed

It began two weeks before Christmas. I was already behind in posting, but then we became ill on a Saturday, and missed two Sundays. The following week we both had a new cardiologist appointment, and I received a prescription for new medication. Four side effects hit me - it caused changes to my eyesight (which meant no driving while I was taking it), added to my dizziness (thankfully, not full scale vertigo, though!), it added depression to my mind, and we won't discuss the fourt h(which caused the most discomfort.)

The medication was preparation for, and lasted a month before, a scheduled transesophageal cardioversion - that made no difference to my A-Fib. Apparently, my heart has a mind of its own. All I ended up having was a very painful jaw after three shocks, at least getting rid of the medication!!

My worship attendance came down to our church's YouTube live stream (fortunately you can also stream previous services!) But other activities were not comfortable for me.

That's basically my confession. I let my physical difficulties keep me from doing what I not only enjoy, but what I wanted to do. Paul's words became so very meaningful:

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. (Romans 7:19 KJV)

When I do not respond to God's will, my own conscience will convict me. There is no happiness in doing going against God, and He has given many specifics. Non-believers may on their own do what God has laid out for believers, but Christians should understand the sinful nature, and always strive for the holiness working within God's will offers us.

No, I don't feel guilt over not attending worship services. I did get the messages through live streaming. I did feel sorrow over the missed fellowship with believers, the opportunity to welcome visitors, and the general compliance with:

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25 KJV)

I do miss that exhortation that comes with fellowshipping with Christians. I'll be doing that this coming Saturday with our Outreach program. I've mentioned it before - members will do a wide variety of contacting people new to our community, those who have visited, members who may be ill and unable to attend (yes, I was contacted by a number of members while home bound), with letters and personal visits.

Then Monday there will be a prayer time for submitted prayer requests. Those who are able will join in pray by physically attending or through Zoom connections. When I was ill, I knew my name was on people's lips and their lists. I have several that are on my prayer list - and more that come to mind as God places them on my heart.

We do it out of love. Especially our "salvation" lists - the names of people who have specifically stated they do not believe in God, or who question the need for salvation, or have questions about how to be saved, or those who do not understand much of the terminology Christians use.

If any reader has a need for prayer, feel free to place it here anonymously. The same for explanations of terminology, specific Bible verses, or general questions. No, I don't know it all, but you'd be surprised at the number of people in our congregation who are Bible scholars and don't mind requests. Feel free to join in at any time!

Two Pharisees

 

This is from my Amplified Bible, published in 1958. I really did like John 18 from this version:

He who believes  on Him - who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him - is not judged (he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation; he incurs no damnation).  John 3:18a

This is the Amplified Bible today from Biblegateway:

Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation] John 3:18a

And from e-Sword:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: (John 3:18a KJV)

Finally, from e-Sword, the King James version with Strong's Greek Numbers:

He that believeth (G4100) on (G1519) him (G846) is not (G3756) condemned (G2919) (John 3:18a)

Here's G2919 - do you see the "condemned" that translators used:

• 62919
• κρίνω
• krinō
• kree'-no
• Properly to distinguish, that is, decide (mentally or judicially); by implication to try, condemn, punish: - avenge, conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, judge, go to (sue at the) law, ordain, call in question, sentence to, think.

Two different Pharisees came to understand Jesus and His message.  We meet the first one in John 3. Nicodemus was a ruler - a leader and authority - among the Jews, and he had questions. Jesus had answers - among them:

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (John 3:9-10 KJV)

Both Nicodemus and Saul were Pharisees - one came to Jesus for answers, Jesus came to the other with blinding light and commands:

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Acts 9:5-6 KJV)

Nicodemus is mentioned only in John - chapters 3, 7, and 19 - when he assisted Joseph of Arimathaea in placing Jesus in the never used sepulchre. Saul - as Paul - permeates the New Testament.

Which one are we?

Are we the one who believes in God, but doesn't know the Savior personally? Maybe we do come asking questions, then saying we don't understand the answers. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have almost the same teachers available in Jeruslem that Saul had. They would have studies the scriptures - written down by scribes for centuries, subject to changes, words, punctuation, readability, all the things that are possible results in the old "Gossip" game children played.

I remember the story of an early computer translation test from English to Russian and back again. The quote used comes from Matthew 26:41, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." It returned as "The wine is good, but the meat is spoiled."

What I want you to see is that for millennia, the Bible remains sufficient when you study, research, and pray for God's word to be openly understandable. The Bereans heard the message from Saul - after his life was so changed that he was called Paul. He gave his life over to what God planned for him to do.

Nicodemus' questions brought us one of the most beautiful chapters that most of the world has heard, read, or repeated these verses:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18 KJV)

Paul's work in the book of Acts, as well as his letters to the churches, tell of how he testified to kings and commoners what he and the Bereans found in the Old Testament that led them to live and write the New Testament, as inspired by God:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV)

I have a question for those who do not believe: "Would you please take time to pray and seek God for what the Bible offers mankind, and what it means for you?" And, another question for those who do believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind in God's planning: "To whom are you explaining why you believe this?"

 

That photo shows how much better our digital cameras are today. It was taken at the turn of this century (wow! Amost quarter of a century ago!) and after years of storms and winds, no replacements. That's a sign of good workmanship. My husband built it because we had a new gymnasium/fellowship hall on the left, and our sanctuary and classroom building on the right. We also had a beautiful young lady in a wheelchair that needed to go across. Our children were all involved in pouring the concrete. I have a beloved photo of them pouring concrete for the ramps.

Now, let me ask you - What is "church"? Which building? Is the pass through part of the church. It might surprise you that the Greek word translated "church" in our New Testament dose not refer to any of the buildings involved in our church meeting. Here's the Strong's definition from e-Sword:

G1577

ἐκκλησία

ekklēsia

ek-klay-see'-ah

From a compound of G1537 and a derivative of G2564; a calling out, that is, (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both): - assembly, church.

Total KJV occurrences: 115

 But it's a bit deeper in Blue Letter Bible online:

Outline of Biblical Usage [?]

1. a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly

   1. an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating

   2. the assembly of the Israelites

   3. any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously

   4. in a Christian sense

      1. an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting

      2. a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake

      3. those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body

      4. the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth

      5. the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven

There is no part of a "church" in the above photo. However, all the people involved in building that pass through are a part of the church because they fit under 1.D.ii. At one time both my husband and I, and our three children were a part of the congregation that meet in the buildings, a part of a congregation of baptized believers of Jesus, Christ, Son of God.

Everyone who does believe John 3:16-18 will be happy to tell you about Jesus and their eternal life. They've made a commitment to Him to follow in His steps, even if it takes the same path. That's part of following the most important commandments:

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 KJV)

There is a lot of work for everyone of us to keep those two commandments. Yet doing so, we are working within "all the law and the prophets." Christian was the label given to people in Antioch, not by their fellow believers, but by non-believers who recognized they were different. Christians should be different because they are in the world but not of the world. One of the things Christians are to do is:

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25 KJV)

Thus we gather - for some on the Sabbath, for others on the first day of the week to worship our rison savior. For centuries it has been a tradition to call the building where the congregations meet a "church." I don't have a problem with that, along as it is understoon that people who look to Jesus as their savior are the true church, the body of Christ:

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:5 KJV)

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12 KJV)

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Ephesians 4:12 KJV)

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17 KJV)

Teach Thy Children

Do not save/use this graphic - it has a copy right

Doesn't she look studious? She is. I know this young lady, and while I wasn't much of a teacher, she is excelling in her studies. It is a blessing to know her, and her family. For awhile they lived just a few miles down the road. We've had the pleasure of dining with them, enjoying the pleasure of their hospitalitiy. Her mother participated in all of our Ladies events and traveled with us to retreats. Their hospitality was well shared and their company was uplifting.

This is a family who believes:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:5-7 KJV)

Her father dedicated his life to sharing the gospel, the good news that Jesus was born, was Christ, was crucified, and is risen! The family's children just got a bit more of the rest of the story, which is how to honor and serve with those who love the Lord.

She, as all other PK's (preacher's kids), also discovered that Christians are the same as other people - they make mistakes. PK's find that their parents are very good at owning up to errors and correcting them. Any parent that does that is extra helpful to their child. It is always a blessing to others when errors are corrected, especially by the people who make them.

Spiritual Christians are much better at than that what can be termed "carnal Christians." There are times a person thinks being a Christian is a label applied for attending church services. It's not. A carnal Christian has been defined by Paul:

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3 KJV)

Carnal Christians as described keep doing things that people who are not believers continue to do. Here Paul lists envy, strife, divisions - which in the Amplified Bible is described as:

For you are still (unspiritual, having the nature) of the flesh - under the control of ordinariy impulses. For as long as [there are] encying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and more like mere (unchanged) men?

We need to go back to other verses, beginning with:

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24 KJV)

Jesus spoke those words to a Samaritan woman He met at a well. Actions with our body do not always show what is in our mind, our thoughts, the spiritual part of us. We need to be changed from impulsive actions that do not reflect the reality of our worship of God with our heart, soul and might. The flesh comes easily. The spirit must be sought and taught, as again Paul wrote in Romans 10:8-17, and sums up with:

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 KJV)

That faith is an absolute necessity for believing God's salvation is needed and given:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

In Romans 10 Paul explains to us tht someone must be sent to teach/preach, and someone must hear/learn. That graphic above shows a young woman who purposed in her heart to learn. I know that she has been given the teachings of Jesus, I also have witnessed her faithfulness in action as well as her testimony to serving the Lord. I do admire that faithfulness at her age, and pray the young people in my own family would do as well.

The book she is studying here is not the Bible. She is as dedicated to learning skills and career choices for her future. She has a future and is preparing for it. She also has an eternal, spiritual future and is as spiritually prepared as she is academically. I encourage both for all young people. It's much easier to "find yourself" if you've already found Jesus as Christ, our Savior. Ask me - I'll share more good news of Him. Read your Bible, all you need is a desire to learn with a prayerful spirit seeking God and truth.