Bible Study Notes for Saturday 8:00 AM PDT 09/13/2025

Hello All,

We have arrived! This is the last lesson in the Christian Culture series. In many ways it seemed as if we hit only a portion of the material available on this topic. But from another perspective we covered the essentials and elements of redundancy began to appear. Just last night I was reading a theologian's interpretation of the audience that the writers of the first four books of the New Testament were trying to reach. It was a lesson in understanding culture, though the author did not articulate that.

Some of our study notes for 09/13/2025 are taken from notes saved over a long period of time. The sexual revolution is the most significant event of my lifetime. The study notes are a reflection of those old notes. Our task today is to attach ourselves to God's word, pick up our crosses and follow Jesus. We are to follow Him in faith and action.

There will be no Bible study on 09/20/2025. Susan and I will be in Washington, DC and we will have absolutely no control over our time. We will resume on 09/27/2025 when we will begin a study of Paul's Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. What is fundamental about these letters is that Paul is addressing a range of issues and in each one of the letters he is addressing a different societal culture. Thus one could say we are now studying a practical application of our cultural journey over the past six months.

We continue to pray for our world leaders. However, today may we focus our prayers on a national leader Charlie Kirk. Please pray for his family: his wife Erika and their two young children. Pray for their comfort and peace. Pray also for the legacy that Charlie leaves us. It was refreshing to watch and listen to the way that Charlie dialogued with young men and women on college campuses. He met them in their environment, where he talked with them as equals. He brought to those students, their campus and professors a clear discussion of Christian truths. His challenge to all who approached his microphone was, "Prove me wrong." He was not an academic, he was a college drop-out. Pray continuously - Stop the killing.

Please join us, our Zoom Link and Study notes below are for this Saturday's session at 8:00 AM PDT 09/13/2025. 

Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy Spirit bring you His comfort and His peace. Join us!!!

Zoom Link:
For Study, Prayer and Fellowship - 8:00 AM PDT 09/13/2025:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82968961343?pwd=LzcwVjJKcWVESDRURlhDcXlNV0JUdz09
Meeting ID: 829 6896 1343
Passcode: 77299ere:

Study Notes:

09/13/2025 – Prologue – This will end our study of Christian Culture. It is the message of Jesus taken to heart by the saints, - that God will save the world, through them. It will be via the saints,  by their words and deeds, that God’s truth will be heard. It is clear who God has selected!

 

C. S. Lewis was a Christian so it is assumed that he agrees with the teachings of Jesus. He wrote Specifically – in order to be saved and to go to heaven the Christian must repent. Thus, you cannot repent if you do not believe in sin. You cannot believe in sin unless you believe in a true moral law, which is defined by our disobedience. Moral relativism eliminates that law, thus eliminates sin, repentance, and salvation. We understand that based on the authority of Jesus. “I did not come to call the self-righteous, but to call, sinners, to repentance.” [Luke 5:32] Let us be very clear – moral relativism will make it difficult for our species to survive. That may seem harsh, but moral relativism is spreading throughout the world because the world is becoming more westernized. We could call it: Western culture imperialism. 

 

How do we counter this metastasizing of American culture? It is the power of truth that will do it. It will not be the power of a person. It will be the power of light. Some may try to counter our assertion by claiming America is a Christian country, Yes, there are more Christians than any other group. But we must make the observation that America on a world-wide basis has the highest rate of gun ownership, illicit drug use, and by far is the largest producer of pornography. In one third of the homes, with children, are being raised by a single parent. Half of our marriages end in divorce. The rate of cohabitation in lieu of marriage is growing. We perform between 900,000 to 1,000,000 abortions per year. These are numbers that seem to indicate that religious folks are as morally relativistic as their non-believing neighbors. A god made in the world’s image cannot save the world.

 

There is one clear observation: If we are sinking in quicksand – we are unable to pull ourselves out by our bootstraps. Man made religion cannot lift man a single inch. If man makes his religion, we will only spread the contagion we are trying to defeat. If we are using a needle made by man, we know it is already infected. Some will ask what religions are man-made? Over several millennia we have turned toward: Babel, Baal, Babylon, paganism (ancient and modern), witchcraft, the Prosperity Gospel, and the message that Jesus is not God. Man wanted to reach heaven, but the tower of Babel could not bear the weight. [Gen. 10] Then cometh God down to Abraham; the real tower comes down, from God - out of heaven. God’s tower works because its foundation is in heaven. Flash: Heaven can build a tower down to earth; earth cannot build a tower up to heaven.

 

What does this imagery tell us? Moral relativism denies an absolute law for man. It says good and evil are man-made. Man’s morality and religion are about as stable as the Tower of Babel. Thus, those who seek will find. [Matt. 7:7-8] The seeker has taken the first step by the act of seeking. (Seeking – to try to find something , especially something that is not a physical object. Cambridge dictionary) The highest non-physical object is love and the heart (will) does the loving. Man’s heart is already in love with goodness and truth. (Imago Dei) Seeking is the first step and the second step is finding, which is a conversation of the head. (If, and only if, step one is in place.) A believer who has the true and the good in his head, but does not love in his heart, his life will not submit to it. He wants to make it relative to what his heart really loves, wants and seeks. This will cause him to lose even the truth and goodness he already has by making it relative to himself. Recall the essence of all true religions: submission of the heart to truth, to God, to what God is: truth and moral goodness. For example, an honest and moral atheist is a religious man and the relativistic nonbeliever is not. The atheist wants to submit to the truth, he just does not know what the truth is. The nonbeliever, by choice, has had the truth given to him and he does not like it. He does not want to submit to it, he will not convert his heart nor his life to it, usually through pride. He wants to sing: “I did it my way.” Many in this group claim they do not want religion they just want God. That is why Jesus said seekers find. That is why Paul, in Athens, told the Greek philosophers they were already worshipping the true God, whom Paul would now reveal to them. These pagans had false gods and idols yet, they were still seeking the true God. They had already submitted their hearts, now their minds would follow. This is the “first thing” principle: put first things first and second things will follow. Refuse to put first things first and the second will be lost as well. The first thing is the love of truth. The second is knowing it.

 

The love of true morality, objectively true morality, the moral truth – that is what relativism rejects. Moral relativism denies the very first thing, the foundation of all morality. It is not just an inaccurate theory of morality or a mistake. It is a refusal to submit to the truth! The concept of ‘your’ truth is self-contradictory. It is not simply a matter of accepting or rejecting moral absolutism as a theory or philosophy. Our eternal salvation depends on it. We are submitting to the absolutism of truth, or simply submitting to the truth. That is fundamental, for daily honesty and a requirement for salvation. The first moral law is, “Seek the Truth.” The second moral law falls into place with adherence to the first - if you want  it. 

 

We close this study on Christian Culture with Jesus speaking about - Prayer: ⁵ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹ This then, is how you should pray: 

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. [Matt. 6:5-15]

If, I were bold in my prayer, I would add a [10b] “your kingdom come, my will be undone”                                                                                                                                   AMEN

 

09/13/2025 - End Christian Culture Study; Sections 24; Pages 48; Words 29,565

09/20/2025 – No Bible study 

Love, hank

 

Hank Hohenstein, OFS

Land Steward

161 Osprey Vista

Shady Cove, OR 97539
Cell: 541-973-5442

hankhohenstein@gmail.com