Nabeel T. Jabbour's Blog, page 4

Gulen and Turkey

In July 2016, there was an attempted coup in Turkey. With everything going on in our lives in general and this event being a world away, events like this often seem irrelevant or they are just not something you have the time or inclination to understand since they don’t affect you directly. But understanding world events is important, especially this event — it hits a lot closer to home than you realize.

Daniel: Historical Background

Recently I finished reading a textbook with the title An Introduction to the Old Testament written by Longman lll and Dillard. In this book, the authors go into every book of the Old Testament and address: The Bibliographies (such as Commentaries that they recommend), The Genre, The Historical Background, The Literary Analysis, The Theological Message and finally Approaching the New Testament. 

Getting Older

I was planning to join Barbara for three days in June on a trip to England and Wales to celebrate the 80th birthday of her sister and her family reunion. While Barbara would stay longer with her family, my plan was to travel to Scotland for a ministry opportunity. But due to health reasons, we had to cancel my trip all together, and Barbara will go alone to England and Wales. 

Evangelicals For Middle East Understanding

In my blog this month I would like to introduce you to a website and to a weekly communiqué that I find very helpful. The website: "Evangelicals For Middle East Understanding" (EMEU).  http://emeu.net EMEU is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocacy and peacemaking between the West and the Middle East.

A Book and a Sermon

In this blog I would like to motivate you and encourage you to read a book and listen to a sermon. The book is by Jerry Bridges, and the sermon is by our pastor and friend Mark Bates. The sermon is the memorial service Mark preached for Jerry. 

A Journey of Learning

Both my wife and I enjoy our callings and gifts. It feels like God designed us to do what we enjoy doing. For me that’s primarily teaching; for my wife, Barbara, she enjoys covering the students and I and the Muslim world in prayer during all the class hours. This past January I had the privilege of working with 17 students at Columbia International University (CIU) for eight hours a day, Monday through Friday.

Israel, Arabs and the Family of God

John S. Piper, is admired by most evangelicals. He is the founder of www.desiringgod.org and he is the chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis. Presbyterians are the ones who are usually associated with Calvin but not the Baptists. Some people refer to John Piper as a Calvinist Baptist author and preacher. His books include Spectacular Sins, What Jesus Demands from the World, Pierced by the Word, and God's Passion for His Glory. His bestsellers include: Don't Waste Your Life and Passion for Jesus Christ. His organization "Desiring God" is named for his famous book Desiring God: Meditating of a Christian Hedonist (1986). 

The Impact of a Novel

There is a novel that was written approximately two hundred years after the birth of Christ titled The Protoevangelium of James. It is good to learn about this novel as we are celebrating the Christmas season. Of course James, the brother of Jesus, cannot be the author of this novel; in those days many wrote books claiming famous people as the authors. The author of this novel was likely not a Jew and did not know much about the geography of Palestine. For instance, he described the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem as a desert when in reality it was rich farmland. 

Heaven

In August 2015, as I was having a physical therapy session, the physical therapist said that heaven will be boring. I agreed that IF her imagination of heaven is like having wings and floating on clouds and attending a church service that lasts forever, then heaven will be mind- numbingly boring. Instead I told her that heaven is enjoyment of deep intimacy with Jesus and our heavenly Father. Then I asked her to go back and remember how she felt when she first fell in love with the man who became her husband, and she responded right away by saying "ecstasy." So I told her that heaven is a sense of ecstasy, of deep joy experienced eternally as a result of deep intimacy with God. From then on, whenever we referred to heaven the word "ecstasy" surfaced. 

A Jolt Into Reality

In the Spring of 2007, I heard an interview on National Public Radio with Dr. Philip Zimbardo, who became famous as a result of the 1971 experiment he conducted known as the “Stanford Prison Experiment.” I had heard a few things about that experiment but never knew any of the details. Perhaps the increased interest came as a result of the obvious similarities between the experiment and the images of depravity in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison—of nakedness, bagged heads, and sexual humiliation.