This Crossing Bridges website was created as a form of online Christian outreach to provide Bible Studies
and an email contact service (reach-out) for people of all ages, in all their diversity and complexity,
in support of their personal Christian growth and spiritual well-being.

From time to time, Bible studies will be provided on this site.
These studies generally follow the teaching series presented within the Sunday evening services (6PM) at St Paul's Anglican Church

- directly in front of the Birkinhead Bridge -
1 Church Place, Port Adelaide in Adelaide South Australia.

You can always join us in person on Sundays.
If you would like to come along, why not email us beforehand so that we can look forward to welcoming you especially.
Don't hesitate to email us on "wrphilp@gmail.com.au"

 

(Locum Tenens) Parish Priest

Father Peter Simmons  0419 803 630
The Reverend
B.Th.

(Honorary) Parish Deacon

Brother Wayne Philp 0419 800 542
The Reverend Doctor
Ph.D., M.Mental Health, B.Th., B.Sc.

Click below to visit
www.stpaulsportadelaide.com

CLICK HERE

You may need to view this study on a computer screen rather than on a mobilephone
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This week's Bible Study:
Seven OLD and NEW deadly sins…
Bible Study 1 – An introduction

^{Mark 7:20-23} Jesus said, What comes out of a person is what defiles them.  For from within, out of the heart, comes  kakos ho dialogismos (evil purposes)  and ponēria (evil deeds): ^reordered
                        ACEDIA: dolos (deceit), aphrosynē (inconsiderate folly)
                        ENVY: ophthalmos (jealous selfishness)
                        VAINGLORY: hyperēphania (arrogance), blasphēmia (blasphemy)
                        WRATH: phonos (murder),
                        LUST: porneia (sexual immorality), moicheia (adultery), aselgeia (sensuality)
                        GLUTTONY: pleonexia (excessive self-indulgence),
                        GREED: klopē (theft),
                                    All these evil things come from within, and they are what defile a person.

Q1.  Discuss why Jesus specified these particular sins?  Can you map the Ten Commandments against these?
What were the main social evils within the Jewish/Roman world and culture?  Are they any different today?

ACEDIA:         Polluting: Reaping what you did not sow
                        – destroying or raping God’s Creation, or just not caring enough to make it stop
ENVY:                         Genetic Engineering: Wanting what you have not been given
                        – corrupting “The Image of God” by ignorantly playing with the human genome
VAINGLORY:  Obscene Riches:  Prosperity, power and prestige
                        – seeking uncountable wealth far beyond the reality of the common-mind
WRATH:         Abortion: Doing violence out of intention or opportunity
                        – elective murder of inconvenient or unwanted unborn children
LUST:              Paedophilia: Wanting illegitimate sex
                        – sexualizing and sexually violating-abusing infants, children and youth
GLUTTONY: Drug Trafficking: Feeding own & other’s insatiable hunger
                        – fostering drug addiction in your own, and in other’s, body and soul
GREED:          Causing Social Injustice: Profiting by ill-gotten gain
                        – exploiting and socially violating-abusing the marginalized, poor and powerless

Q2. These are the seven NEW deadly sins presented by the Vatican in March 2008.
They claim to reflect the emerging effects of globalisation on western society.  Do you agree with my match of OLD and NEW?

^{Genesis 1:28} God blessed them, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.  Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

^{Genesis 2:15} The Lord God placed the man in the garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.

^{Genesis 2:18-20} The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now, the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So, the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for the man, no suitable helper was found.

Q3. What was Adam tasked by God to do? What was the task given to Adam for the animal kingdom?

ABOUT THE LAND

^{Deuteronomy 20:19} When you besiege a city, don’t destroy the trees. Eat all the fruit you wish; just don’t cut down the trees. They aren’t your enemies who need to be destroyed!

^{Leviticus 25:23-24} The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for “The land is mine”. You are the strangers and sojourners with me. In all the land you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.

^{Exodus 23:10-11} For 6 years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but on the 7^th year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

^{Proverbs 27:23} Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.

^{Proverbs 12:10} A righteous person has regard for the life of an animal, but even when they try to be kind, the wicked are cruel.

Q4.  Discuss the relationship God outlined between mankind and the land (and its animals).

ABOUT THE SEA

^{Isaiah 19:8} The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water, will pine away.

Q5.  What does this tell us about the lives of fishing communities?

ABOUT THE LAND SEA AND AIR

^{Zephaniah 3:1} Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city!

^{Jeremiah 2:7} I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.

Q6.  What does this tell us about what God thinks about our polluting the earth?

Q7.  Pollution was not a big issue in ancient times, but it is today. It is a NEW problem caused by globalization. What is globalization?  Is it possible for 8 billion people to inhabit the earth and not have a negative impact?  Talk about what you have seen by way of gross pollution and reflect on how you think this pollution stands in the face of God and his “very good” creation.

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