Cultivate | A Good Soil Discussion Community

I’ve been back from the Good Soil seminar for two weeks.  One of my first goals has been to get some experience with The Story of Hope and The Way to Joy.

On my first Monday back, I got a call asking for a meeting with a young man who had questions about spiritual things.  I met and talked with him and sent him home with TSOH.  This Monday I met with him and went through the forty lessons in my own words.  At the end he expressed his appreciation for the quick overview.  He has had the basic information of the gospel for a long time, but up until now he had not seen it in its context.

Last Thursday, I met with a new believer I am discipling.  At that meeting I introduced him to TWTJ.  For this week he memorized John 3:16 and studied through page 2.  As we discussed it he came out with all his questions about evolution, the timetable of the bible compared to the billions of years of evolutionary theory, etc.  It was a great discussion and lasted an hour and a half.  How long is a day?  Doesn’t adaptation prove evolution?  Can’t both evolution and the Bible be true?  How can we know that these things written so very long ago are accurate?  It is great!

My observations:
1) With the unbeliever I am going to need to take him step by step through the whole process until he catches fire a bit.  But, the material is interesting to him as long as I do the work.
2) I worried that these materials might be too simple - even condescending - but am finding that there is no such perception with the people I am teaching.  To them this is brand new.
3) I am delighted with the great questions that are coming up.  Intelligent people will ask intelligent questions about the material.  You better be ready to field the questions.

Now my only question is: Will this forum work?  So far, I’m the only person I can find on the forum.

It’s a great idea (and practice) to get some experience with TSOH and TWTJ as soon as possible after attending the seminar. 

Regarding the questions about evolution, I had the same questions when I was saved as a senior in high school.  I had never questioned the theory of evolution that I had been taught in school until I was saved and became interested in Bible study.  For me, the key issue was the authority of Scripture.  As a new believer, my personal commitment to the authority of God’s Word set the parameters for my thinking.  But I still wanted to understand the issues better, which led me to study the Bible.

It’s great that the new believer that you are working with is asking these questions in the context of discipleship studies.

Just returned from a Good Soil study, it was attended by an 81 yr old lady and a 4 year old boy and two women in their 40s/50s. I used the laminated poster/cards…. we covered a review from the beginning all the way up to the annoucement of Christ that he is God - new stuff this week was the 10 commandments through Christ’s declaration. It is fascinating to see the interest and intensity from everyone - it is really amazing. I am enjoying using the posters as the little boy can’t read and the elderly lady has poor eyesight making using the book nearly impossible. I was amazed to see that she new John 3:16 as I explained the Nicodemus story. That was a surprise - not sure where she picked that up.

The stuff with evolution isn’t coming up on this one. I find it helpful to ask questions and make observations when this issue arises - such things as… “I am no scientist, but I do find it interesting that there is a complete absence of transitional species anywhere in the world that we know of,  that mutations are nearly always lethal, and micro-evolution within a species is not at all the same as skipping out of the genome box to a new genus. And the fossil record is no help either, as transitional forms do not exist in the fossil record.  So, at this point, I don’t have a problem accepting what the Bible clearly teaches regarding a fully developed creation from the powerful word of God.” 

This isn’t addressing the age of the earth. I think it is imoprtant that we come at this issue from two sides. First, that our faith is in a soveriegn, powerful, loving and honest God who doesn’t deceive. Second, that it is unwise to assume His word to be incorrect when we do not have any definitive proof of any inaccuricies based on real science. It may be well to mention that there are scores of scientists in all the disciplines who accept the Biblical account as accurate and not in contradiction with scientifically proveable facts.

Adios, Ron

That’s a good question! We will have to wait and see. But I am confident that as people come to discover the opportunity, more and more will get on looking for answers, advice, and interaction.

You did a great thing in getting at it right away. Dave Arch, a trainer friend of mine, says that if you do not use what you learned at a seminar within 30 days of taking it, you will lose it! Use TSOH and TWTJ right away and several times so you get more familiar with them and can get “others-focused.”

When we start anything new we are “self-focused.” We have a feeling of uneasiness because we are lacking experience and unfamiliar with the message. We’re nervous!

After a while, we may become “message-focused.” We know it now—so much so that we wax eloquent and don’t let our hearer speak.

We want to get to where we are “others-focused.” We want to get to where we are committed to listening to our hearer and keeping our material relevant to their needs. Allow the presentation to be a dialogue—true communication. The more sensitive we become to our hearers, the more effective we will be.

Gil Thomas