Numidia Mennonite Bible School - Reflector Yearbook (Numidia, PA)

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ROMANS Can you give a good d-efinifion for fhe word propifiafion? Do you know fhaf God's love is so greaf fhaf He onged fo acf foward fallen mankind in mercy and grace, buf be- cause of His holiness and iusfice He couldn'+ acf fhus foward mankind? Chrisf's sacrifice on Calvary safisfied God's demand for iusfice and now God can acf foward us as He longs fo, if we only allow Him fo. Thus Chrisl' is our propifiafion. The fesfimony of Paul in Romans I:I6, I7 carries fhe fenor of fhe book: For I am nof ashamed of fhe gospel of Chrisf: for if is fhe ower of God- unfo salvafion 'ro everyone fhaf Believefhg fo fhe Jew firsf, and also fo fhe Greek. For fherein is 'rhe righfeousness of God revealed from faifh 'ro faifhz as if is wriffen, fhe iusf shall live by faifh. In sfudying -'rhis book we have learned 'rhaf righfeousness is fhe key word. The divine nafure wifhin us, enables us 'ro live in a Chrisf- like manner. In fhis way, righfeousness has been imparfed fo us as children of God. These frufhs are a few of 'rhe blessings fhaf are received in digging info fhe book of Romans. My prayer is fhaf our sfudies af Bible School will be a real incenfure fo each sfudenfsfo confinue on for Chrisfl H -Regina Ulrich DIVISION II - DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH Buf in 'every nafion he fhaf fearefh Him, and workefh righfeousness, is accepfed wifh Him. Acfs IO:35. From 'rhis and ofher scrip- fures, we receive fhe basic docfrine of fhe church universal. We see fhaf, alfhough in 'rhe Old Tesfamenf fhe church was porfrayed in fypes, if wasn r unfil affer Chrisf's resurrec- 'rion fhaf we became a royal priesfhood . able fo come direcfly 'ro God. Our class sfudied 'rhe church as a spirifual organizafion, headed by Chrisf and composed of fhe body of 'rhe believers. This bod-y is direcfed by if's head, Chrisf, fhrough His 'reaching in fhe New Tesfamenf. We also discovered fhaf fhe church is a pracfical organizafion needing earfhly leaders. 23 I BIBLE SURVEY I Bible Survey I was a brief sfudy of fhe firsf eighf books of fhe Old Tesfamenf faughl. by Brofher Henry Weaver. We sfarfed in Genesis wifh fhe creafion and fall of man. From fhis poinf on fhe main fheme of fhe Bible is redempfion. We saw God's dealing wifh 'rhe Pafriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ' ' We saw fhe life of Moses, 'rhe children of lsrael's deliverance from Egypf, and fhe giving of fhe law in Exodus fhrough Deuferonomy. We fhen noficed fhe children of Israel as 'rhey enfered info Canaan. Finally, we sfudied abouf Rufh fhe Ivloabifish woman who was con- verfed fo fhe Jewish faifh in 'rhe laffer parf of 'rhe period of 'Ihe Judges. . If was clearly broughf ouf fhaf fhe main fheme fhroughouf fhe Scripfure is fhaf of God providing a red-eemer for mankind. The Holy Scripfures are able 'ro make us wise unfo salvafion fhrough faifh which is in Chrisf Jesus. Indeed how frue fhis 'is if we are willing fo apply ourselves fo sfudying fhem. -Glenn Zimmerman BIBLE DocTRlNE The aufhorify of fhese leaders is God-given and God demands our submission. We musf remember, however, fhaf fhey are mere hu- man beings, and we should. nof shiff all fhe responsibilify on fhem. We, as members of fhe body, also have a responsibilify 'ro keep fhe church pure. Togefher, fhe leaders and fhe members, wifh 'rhe help of fhe Holy Spirif, apply fhe principles 'raughf in 'rhe New Tesfa- menf fo pracfical living. The sef of sfandards 'rhey have arrived af, are commonly called fhe discipline. Wifh fhe aid of 'rhe Holy Spirif and each ofher, we infend fo keep 'rhe body pure unfil Chrisf comes 'ro receive His bride and so shall we ever be wifh fhe Lord I Thess. 4:I7. elvin Burkholder

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MARK AcTionl This is whaT our class experienced The firsf period in The morning as we looked inTo This book - shorTesT of The four Gospels. Eliminafing The genealogy, birTh. and early life of Jesus Chrisf, Mark begins his accounf wiTh Jesus as a grown man already acTive in His minisTry. InsTead of relaTing much of whaT Jesus said, he porTrays our'ChrisT as a servanT serving His people. He was consTanTIy on The move sacrificing His Time and energy healing The lame, The blind, and The lepers, casfing ouT unclean spiriTs, and raising The dead. We found ThaT in answering The many quesfions and criTicisms which were direcfed To. Trip Jesus, he was as bold as a lion, buT genTle as a lamb, rebuking even Their unspoken Thoughfs. We wanT To Thank Bro. Gehman for help- ing us To deepen our appreciafion for our Lord who even To The very end was a Ser- vanT - giving his life a ransom for us. For even The Son of man came noT To be minisfered unTo, buT To minisTer, and To give his life a ransom for many. Mark lO:45. -Marion Grove I JOSHUA The class of Joshua wiTh I2 sTudenTs, led by Bro. Edwin Gehman, proved To be a very inTeresTing class. The main Theme of The book of Joshua is The conquesT and division of The land of Canaan. Joshua is a book of posses- sing our possessions. I We discovered ThaT The evenTs Taking place aT This ,Time of Israel's hisTory can be applied To our own Time. The children of Israel IefT The wilderness, crossed over The Jordan River by a miracle and enfered Canaan, .a I-and of bessings. By following 6od's direcTion, They Then proceeded To conquer The .land and iTs inhabiTanTs. These evenTs have Their counTer- parT wiTh God's pe-ople Today. A person leaves his life of sin by going Through The miracle of The new birTh. As he enTers The Chrisfian life. The baTTIes begin. The devil is There wiTh Temp- TaTions and Trials. BuT The vicTory is ours as, NCIS jollow The guidance and direcTion of The or . - ' - This book of The' law shall noT deparT ouT oT Thy mouTh: buT Thou shalT mediTaTe Therein day and nighT, -ThaT Thou mayesf observe To do according To all ThaT is wriTTen Therein: for Then Thou shalT make Thy way prosperous, and Then Thou shalT have good success. Joshua I:8i -PaT WiTmer Run-I AND Esn-:ER , The sTories of Rufh and Esfher received an inTeresTing review in The class TaughT by Brofher John Sensenig. Numerous Types and lessons for our own lives were discovered in Them. In RuTh, The concern God has in individual lives and His consTanT care for each person can be noficed. Rufh did noT know whaT she would face in Judah, buT she was deTermined To be among God's people and To go all The way wiTh Him. Her hearT-cry To Naomi was, WhiTher Thou goesT, I will go: and- where Thou lodgesT, I will lodge: Thy people shall be my people, and Thy God my God. RuTh l:l6. She is an ancesfress' of Chrisf lfhe greaT-grand- moTher of Davidl. Rufh is a Type of The Church and Boaz, a Type of Chrisf. Alfhough God's name is noT menTioned in The book of EsTher, His divine providence is seen. EsTher became Queen in The sTead of VashTi. When Haman's pIoT To desTroy The Jews was known, EsTher Took a consisTenT ap-' proach To her work and persisTed in iT unTil iT was finished. She mad-e inTercessions for her people la Type of Chrisflnand even risked her own life for Them. A concluding challenge was ThaT we, as God's people, need To sTand To- gefher in order To Tace TesTs of life Trium- phanTIy. . . . -Ellen E. Wenger l-1 I 8. II THESSALONIANS This class was TaughT by Bro. Alvin Snyder. The church aT Thessalonica, was esfablished on Paul's second missionary journey. Paul had a deep love and concern for This church, which prompTed him To wriTe This leTTer. Paul gives some very profound Teachin s concerning The Chrisfian life. He-deals mainTy wiTh The Chrisfian as he reIaTes To himself, To his fellow brefhren and also To The church. ' Much of The wriTing is concerning ChrisT's second coming. IT is apparenT ThaT The Thes- salonians held many incorrecT beliefs concern- ing The dead and The Times before ChrisT's coming. Paul gives some excellenf Teaching and warnings on This subiecf. 4 y May we ever be ready and waTching so ThaT ThaT day does noT Ta e us unawares. Therefore IeT us noT sleep, as do ofhers, buT IeT us wafch and be sober. I Thes. 516. -David Sensenig 22

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NONRESISTANCE Jesus fold his disciples, Ye have heard fhaf if hafh been said ,... buf I say unfo you, fhaf ye resisf nof evil. The 'rifle of fhis required class is nof a Biblical word: buf nonre- sisfance is, however, a scripfurally-based dis- 'rincfive docfrine. Bro. Henry Weaver explained fhaf God commanded-, sancfioned, and blessed warfare in Old Tesfamenf fimes, buf fhaf Jesus ush- ered in fhe presenf n-onresisfanf era. God is revealing his love, mercy, and forgiveness fhrough New Tesfamenf nonresisfanf sainfs. However, God is nof nonresisfanf in His fofal nafure because He will efernall punish fhe disobedienf in fhe lake of fire. Therefore, fhe docfrine of nonresisfance as a principle for -God's children is for fhe New Tesfamenf era exclusively. r ' True nonresisfence begins wifh fhe regen- erafion 'experience and musf be applied fo every area of life. lf affecfs our affifudes abouf fhe' sfafe and our obligafions fo if, Chrisfian employmenf- and vocafions, and absfenfion from polifical and governmenfal offices. Even aproper use of our fongues and proper love and behavior wifhin fhe Chrisfian brofherhood are influenced by our pracfice of fhe docfrine of . non resisfa nce. , . -Naomi R. Cole . ' i I ATTRIBUTES OF GOD Whaf are affribufes? Affribufes are char- acferisfics or words ascribing qualifies. By sfudying Ifhe characferisfics of God, we fried fo gef a deeper un-dersfanding of Him. Buf alas, our finife minds could barely grasp even fhe fhoughf of aninfinife God, a God fhaf always was and always will be. A -God fhaf knows all 'abouf our fufure, pasf, and presenf. knew all abouf us even before He creafed fhe world everi whaf we would be doing righl' now! He is fruly omniscienf lhas all knowledgel. God is also omnipofenf lall powerfull. ls fhere anyfhing in your life fhaf you fhink is hard fo face? Take your problem fo fhe Lord. He will work everyfhing ouf in His own besf Way, He has power over Safan and even over our fhoughfs. . . Ofher a-Hribufes of God are His person- alify. unify, omnipresence, immufabilify, holi- ness, righfeousness, iusfice, mercy, and His Qfedf love. - ' -Blanche Sauder THE PROGRESSIOF DOCITRINE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Cne fhing fhaf I fhink every sfudenfin fhis class learned was fhe definifion of progress ! If was defined' as fhe advancemenf foward a goal. A fhoughf given in connecfion wifh fhis was fhaf offen we fhink we are progressing when acfually we're only making mileage. lngfhis class, we looked af many differenf aspecfs of fhe progress of docfrine in fhe New Tesfarnenf. Firsf of all we saw how fhe wrif- ings of many wrifers had fo be discarded be- cause-of fheir unsoundness, unfil affer a period of approximafely fwo-hundred years fhe canon- izafion of fhe New Tesfamenf was accom- plished. This was God moving, progressing foward pure frufh for us foday. Ofher areas fouched were: III fhe logical arrangernenf of fhe New Tesfamenf. l2l The individual confenf of some of fhe-books, nofic- ing fhe gradual revelafion' of frufh .progressing foward complefe frufh. . ' This was a sfud-y fhaf makes -us appreciafe again fhe marvelous way God moves fo per- form His will. Whaf a wonderful -God we serve. -Roberf Yoder 11- SATAN AND HIS FORCES A number of facfs were revealed as we sfudied fhis subiecf under Brofher Merle Rufh. The Bible indicafes fhaf our presenf adversary was once-known as Lucifer, possibly fhe mosf glorious being of God's creafion. By his re- bellion againsf God, he incurred C5od's wrafh and now facesncerfain desfrucfion. However, God has allowed him' fo exerf his evil influence for a fime for fhe. purpose of fesf-ing man's allegiance fo Himself. Wifhouf fhe presence of fhe evil, man could nof experience freedom of choice. ' Safan has many allies and uses many mefh- ods, buf all his efforfs bear fhe earmark of d-ecepfion and are direcfed foward fhe de- sfrucfion of man's faifh. He led our firsf-parenfs infosin fhrough his appeal fo fhe lusfs of 'rhe flesh and eye. and fhe pride of life. In spife of Safan's efforfs fo sfamp ouf 'rhe line of promise, 'rhe promised redeemer came and complefed his redempfive work enabling us fo experiencevicfory over our enemy. . Grea'rer is he fhaf is in you fhan he +ha+ I5 In Ihe wqrldiu I -Luke Sherfzer 24.