The Challenges Facing Biblical Teachings in Our Modern Society : Third Edition

By Ken Kapreilian

This new revision for 2021 contains several additional chapters. These revisions will enhance your understanding of this subject. The third edition is a must have for all those who are interested in teaching the Bible.


Comments from readers:
I just finished your book. Very very interesting. I read it slowly because I wanted to digest every morsel. So when is the next one coming out?
Mack H.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781105349867

Book preview

The Challenges Facing Biblical Teachings in Our Modern Society: Third Edition

Ken Kapreilian

Copyright © 2018 Ken Kapreilian. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced without prior written permission from the author.

ISBN 978-1-105-34986-7:  $9.99

Introduction

With a topic as vast as this, how does one go about presenting this topic in a way that will convey a message to those who read it? I have searched for an answer for this question and here is what I have settled on. It must be done in a way which is real and personal. Also, it must reflect the writer’s experiences, beliefs, and feelings about the Bible, Christianity and society. First and foremost I acknowledge that this project came to completion only through the grace of God. While you are reading this book, if just one word ‘speaks to your heart’, please acknowledge that feeling by giving credit to the only one to whom the credit is worthy by saying, Praise God, Amen.

Our Modern Society’s Acceptance and Rejection of Absolutes, It Just Doesn’t Add Up

When children begin to learn arithmetic, they are taught basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. These basics include the concept of absolutes. These absolutes exist as a foundation of mathematics. Therefore, with the acceptance of absolutes, a child can then understand that (3+1=4). Now then, consider that if our child were to come home from school and say that the teacher told them that while some people believe that (3+1=4) other people do not. Any parent who cares about what their child learns in school would immediately question the teacher because we accept these basic rules of mathematics as absolutes. They would be outraged if the teacher were to respond;

While some people believe (3+1=4) that is just one point of view and there are other points of view. Furthermore, I feel that all other points of view are to be given equal weight with your beliefs regarding arithmetic. Also, as a teacher, I like to have an open mind and I teach my students to have an open mind. Therefore, I do not believe in any absolutes.

Many people would find the previously mentioned method/style of teaching as unacceptable. Yet when we study the Bible, absolutes also exist. These are Biblical absolutes. These absolutes also include the New Testament teachings about Jesus Christ and morality. However many people refuse to accept them. In my experience, (gained through teaching classes in Biblical studies) I have observed that many people who accept the absolutes of basic arithmetic and are unwilling to compromise on those absolutes. Yet often times those same people take a completely different viewpoint when dealing with the absolutes of the Bible and Christianity. One common refrain is that,

"There are many roads that can lead to the same destination."

Another refrain is,

That is just your opinion or interpretation and all other beliefs must be weighed as equal.

Yet those exact same statements are met with resistance and would not be tolerated when dealing with basic arithmetic. That just doesn’t add up. Why is it that many people in our modern society, who will accept the idea of absolutes in secular studies, refuse to accept the idea of absolutes within the Bible and Christianity?

Challenges for the Church

The primary obstacle for the church has been between the powers of the Holy Spirit vs. the spirit of man (the human spirit or the flesh). These following verses help to illustrate those obstacles;

For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. (Galatians 5:17)

For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. (Romans 7:19) 

9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)

19This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.(John 3:19-21)

Therefore, we come to understand that lives can be destroyed when evil activities do not see the light of day. Why do these evil activities occur? They occur because we live in a fallen world that is flawed. So then by extension, we must acknowledge that the practice of religion is flawed because humanity is flawed. But even within this flawed and fallen world, we see that such is the way of life and death and there will be trouble;

Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. (Job 14:1)

The society, in which we now live, is also reflected in the following excerpt from Brave New 1984: We Live in the Orwell|Huxley Hybrid

"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.

Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism.

Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.

Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.

As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.

In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."

Summary

The driving factor for writing this book was to examine the man challenges throughout history and how those challenges are presents in our daily lives. As you well know challenges can be religious, secular or a combination of the two. I feel that one of the issues facing any church is the false underlying premise that there will not be any conflict within the Christian Community.

If you look at the letters that Paul wrote to the various different churches he was constantly addressing conflicts. The conflicts seem to be