Sola Scriptura Conference - what I learned

Sola Scriptura Conference, held Sept 22-23, in Toronto.

The church building was a good size, as was the parking lot which was quite nice. Easy to get in and out. :) We stayed at a friends place, well...we ate breakfast with them and we slept out in the van. Jim wanted to test out the van to see how it would work for when he goes to a men's campout in November. He'd rather not pull the trailer if he doesn't need to. It works really well. Found out that it gets hot quickly!

Anyways, the Friday night program featured Derek Thomas and Bruce Waltke.

Derek Thomas spoke on: "the Holy Spirit in Interpretation".
Excellent message. He spoke on how the Holy Spirit is active in helping believers understand the word of God. The Holy Spirit was active when the word of God was written. He is actively present as we read to understand it. He actively interprets it for us.

He ended his talk reminding us that
1. We must pray to the Holy Spirit for his aid in understanding scripture EVERYTIME before we start to read it.

2. We must not forsake

• assembling together
• bible study
• asking questions
• putting scriptures together

3. We need to always appreciate that the Holy Spirit makes scriptures real. We can't get so locked into routine of "now I do this, and then I do that" when it comes to bible study. We need to be aware of what the Holy Spirit is doing.

We took a break. I discovered an old Friend of mine was there! wow.... what fun! I've known Anne since college. We lived together for a semester, reconnected through work and have maintained a good friendship since. It was fun. She's in school in Toronto getting her medical lab degree. Gets to take blood and analyze all kinds of stuff now. Not my thing, but I"m thrilled for her. It was so nice to be able to chat for a bit.

Bruce Waltke spoke on: "Reading the Psalms".
So appreciated the fact that he gave handouts! Wow! For someone who gets easily distracted, handouts are just wonderful! Yeah! :)

He went through all the different approaches people take to reading the Psalms. Approahes like: literary form, historical, rhetorical, messianic and so forth. Interesting. Showed me things I hadn't considered before. I really appreciated how he made the historical come to like.

Showed how David did not just pray...God help! But...showed how in scripture David prayed God helped, but he also took action. It was just fascinating. You just have to get the CD/MP3. Go to these fine folks to get them. They don't have them posted yet, but hopefully will have them soon. Dr. Waltke had WAY too much information so did the last part of his message really fast, this disappointed my hubbie because he was like "oh...now I know how to preach the Psalms!" and "I want to know more!". :) My hubbie...the ever-learning preacher. :)

Check out Joshua's site for more info on this lecture.

That finished Friday night for us.

Then Saturday came. Ah... now we heard from a new to me fello.

James White. Now I have to admit, we got there a wee bit late so I had a really hard time following his first message. he talked about "Issues in Contemporary Hermeneutics". Yeah.. right. Hermeneutics....what????? It's all about how people study the bible. Okay..got that.

I did appreciate though how he advised us that scholars aren't the end all and be all. That is doesn't matter how smart or educated someone is, we still need to carefully examine their words to see if they line up with what scripture is really saying.

He did two lectures right after each other. During the break I found three books for Justin. Two were board books on stories not commonly found for children, and the other was a good book that I thought Jim and I could use during family worship time when Justin gets a bit older. Has memory verses and everything.

The second lecture started with him reading about Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. He explained how Jesus took the time to show these men who he was throughout all of scripture (that just being the Old Testament at the time).

People like to pick apart scripture. To follow "Jesus' words only" or to say that Paul didn't really write this, that or the other book. Or did Moses really write this, or this contradicts that.

When Jesus explained who he was in scripture he was showing that "the answer lies in knowing that God's truth is in the whole of the Bible, not just in one part." (james white) we need to know ALL of scripture. Not just one part, not just one area, not just Jesus' words, but all of scripture. Makes me think of that passage where people are saying...I follow Cephas, I follow this fellow, and Paul chimes in with....But I follow Christ, and him crucified.

This folks is what we are to do with the bible. Not pick and choose, but to follow God and his son throughout the whole of scripture. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit helps illumines our minds to understand this.

We took a break for lunch. Bloggers ate lunch at Swiss Chalet. I have to admit, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of eating there as EVERY TIME I have ever eaten at a Swiss Chalet my food has been burnt. Wonder of wonders...this time it was different. I ordered the two leg dinner...and it came out perfectly. No complaints. Unfortunately.....my bad Swiss Chalet "charms" were transferred to James White and to my hubbie. "ALL MY FAULT" James White said. :) Made me grin. :) but my food was good so... life was just fine. :)

It was a good time by all. Lots of laughter and discussion. Jim got to talk with Tim Challies for a bit, he enjoyed that. Carla turned out to be nice, and not intimidating at all. James White LIKES guns. Really does. Me...I don't get it, but hey...works for him.

Bruce Waltke picked it up after lunch. Once again, he provided handouts which, for an after lunch crowd, was a really good idea. He spoke on "reading historical narratives". It was a good lecture. The thing I remember most from his lecture was when he explained that when we read and learn the biblical narratives, we are connected to our history. We are able to see how God worked in lives past and see how he works for us today (within that history). Helped me with teaching my Sunday School class. :)

They had a Question and Answer period which I listened to but didn't get a thing out of. :)

Derek Thomas closed off the day talking about "Apocalyptic Literature" His main point was that we need to see the big picture before trying to see all the details.

It was a good conference. Lots of good things learned. Time spent in God's word. Time spent praising God. Time spent with God's people. Everyone should go to a conference like this at least once a year.

Just so you know, Sola Scriptura, has another conference coming up. It's in London...half an hour from my home. November 3-4, 2006. Why don't you come?