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

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ETERNAL ABSOLUTES Something Eternal is everlasting and not subject to time. That which is Absolute IS established as truth and is unquestionable and immovable. The Father, Son and Spirit are Eternal Absolutes. Four of their absolute attributes are: omnipotence, omniscience, omnipres- ence and immutability. Man is a finite image of the Infinite God. He was created threefold, spirit, soul and body. Manis spiritual condition has an ef- fect on the soul and body. His soul will live forever whether lost or saved. Angels are eternal, spiritual beings vastly inferior to God but superior to natural man. Satan is the god of this world but he is limit- ed. He is not omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient. Satan's eternal destiny is fixed. The Bible is the complete and final revel- ation of God's will for man today. Since it is divinely inspired, it is absolutely reliable and infallible and it will never change nor pass away. Holiness is required of man by God. It involves our actions which spring from our thinking and motives and is related to our eternal destiny. Judgment and rewards are shown in the Old and New Testaments. We are judged according to our works and privileges. Re- wards are based on faith and obedience. May we seek to live holy lives and obey the great and mighty God that we may re- ceive the gift of eternal life. -VERNON L. KURTZ DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH . . . Upon this Rock I will build my Church' and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18. We might ask the question, What rock? or What church? Jesus Christ is the rock foundation on which the church, a born again body of be- lievers, is built. We have types of the church in the Old Testament, but the beginning of the Chris- tian Church was on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the believers. The purpose of the church is to bring honor and glory to God and to prepare her- self Cthe brldeb for the great day when she wlllcbe united more completely with Jesus Christ fthe bridegrooml. 29 In waiting for this blessed experience, there is much work to be done. Saints need to be encouraged, sinners need to be warned, and new leaders need to be called. Apart from being a member of the true church, we cannot live a full Christian life. Neither can we practice the ordinances which we are commanded to keep. We need fellow- ship and encouragement from others of like precious faith. The Church must be kept pure andfree from sin and all worldly and political in- volvement. Therefore, discipline is neces- sary at times. As we, the bride of Christ await His re- turn, may we continue to present Him by word and life. -MARILYN KRAYBILL BIBLE AND SCIENCE At the beginning of Bible and Science class, we established five goals that we, as a class, would like to work toward. They were set forth as follows: That this study may, 1. Enhance our faith and confidence in God. 2. Establish and strengthen our confi- dence in the Bible as the Word of God. 3. Make us aware of the fact that a com- prehensive knowledge of the scrip- ture supersedes any other form of knowledge. 4. Convince us that Christ came in the flesh is the prime expression of the wisdom of God. 5. Fortify us against the influence of unbelieving scientists such as the theory that nothing is absolute, leaving God out of origin of life re- iqlting in irresponsible approach to 1 e. ' One thought that was brought out early in this study was that we do not study the Bible from a scientific viewpoint but the sciences from a scriptural viewpoint. Some of the sciences we discussed were as follows. Science of theology the stud . . , , Y Oi reflglon, science of astronomy, the study o ' r ' ce estlal bodles, biology s study of l1fe, and geology which treats the history of the earth and its life. We endeavored to discover what the scrip- tures teach on these sciences . This study was challenging, again remind- ing us God's Wo d ' ' u ' r IS the final and absolute authority 1n every area and aspect of life. -WILMER ESHBACH FORD In a unsoun in our Word I meant The the H114 Althou found, have a authori part. Mod the Bil the tin Bible X old art have 1 could W The ique. Bible 2 them, s and Rc Word i specific figures antityp found t Books TH. As c plan oi Christ, the dec 1 1 :33. the wi: unsear. past fii Fou: cerning virgin reason lars ot to see sion of

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PERSON AND WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Is the Holy Spirit among us today? How can we know? The Spirit was at work throughout the Old Testament. We notice He had a part in the creation, and also worked through men like Joseph, David, Daniel, and Ezekiel. In his day Joel prophesied the pouring out of the Spirit upon all people. Centuries later, John the Baptist foretold of Christ baptizing with the Holy Ghost. Jesus prom- ised to send the Comforter when He returned to the Father. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and thus the church was born. Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles received the Holy Spirit. No race is ex- cluded. Signs accompanied the coming of the Spir- it, namely, sound like a rushing mighty wind, cloven tongues as of fire, and speaking in other tongues or languages. These were signs to confirm the Word of God. But these signs are not necessary today since the Word is confirmed and superior to signs. The Spirit's work today is to comfort and teach the believer, and reprove or convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He testifies of Jesus and not of himself. He has part in our New Birth experience and lives in the body of the believer. Today God is dwelling in the hearts of men through the Holy Spirit. What a bless- ing to the child of God. --MARVIN HERSHBERGER ORDINANCES Thinking of ordinances our mind focuses on the seven which are brought out clearly in the Scripture. We likened the ordinances to a tree. The outward ceremony or act was referred to as the bark, and the real signif- icance of it as the inner life of the tree. The point was brought out that if some bark is missing the tree will suffer, and if there is no life in the tree the outer shell is worth- less. As an example, the form of baptism without a new birth experience will profit Us nothing. On the other hand, if we have been born again and do not observe baptism, we are not obeying Christ's command. brotherle OIO atonement, feet washing - divine yd 3SS1St211tCe, devotional covering - lov OT -Sr, Christian .salutation - brotherly e, anointing with oil - spiritual healing and marriage - union with Christ. The out: Ward ceremony or act is to express the inner experience. I am sure each one in this class established a reater a reciation and realiz ed g pp ' more fully the necessity of all seven ordi- nances. -ANNA MARY BAUMAN Where Will You Spend Eternity? THE DOCTRINE OF HEAVEN AND HELL If a man die, shall he live again? Job 14: l4a. Death is inevitable, you cannot by- pass it. Death is basically separation, but for the Christian, death is also the gateway to a fuller life. In this study we were reminded of the reality of the unseen, intangible and the here- after, involving scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. In the day which we are living, we realize the much deception concerning the place of Hell. After discussing the various erroneous ideas of hell, we were made aware of the fact, according to Revelation 20:14, that the ultimate destiny of the wicked is the Lake of Fire, where they will be punished ac- cording to their works forever. Truly this gives us a renewed desire to help others Hee from the wrath to come. We, also, considered the place of eternal bliss for the righteous, heaven, a prepared place for a prepared people. A place where the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary be at rest. This place of rest, Of purity and of glory will be attained to only by the strait and narrow way whlch 15 the way of the cross. 'gRejo1ce, and 'be exceed,- ing glad: for great is your reward in heaven. Matthew 5 : l2a. -ROY ZIMMERMAN 28

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FORMATION AND INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE In a day such as this when there are many unsound teachings, we need to have settled in our minds that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that God said what He meant and meant what He said. The Bible is a pure message, and it is the final revelation of God's words to man. Although there have been other writings found, we believe it is complete, and that we have all that God intended for us. It is authoritative and commands response on our part. Modern scholars try to disprove parts of the Bible by saying man could not write in the time when the first five books of the Bible were written. Writing, we find, is an old art and was used before the flood. We have perfect right to believe that Adam could write. The structure and canonicity is very un- ique. It is certain that the books of the Bible are arranged just the way God wanted them, since Genesis is the book of beginnings and Revelation the book of endings. In the Word we see a definite progression toward a specific goal. The Old Testament types and figures are fulfilled in the New Testament antitype. The Bible is truth, and in it is found the way to life. It is by this Book of Books that all will be judged in the last day. -J oHN HIGH THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST As one views the marvelous and majestic plan of God revealed in the God-man Jesus Christ, he cannot help but burst forth with the declaration of the apostle Paul in Romans 11:33. O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Foundational to all that we believe con- cerning Jesus Christ is our belief in the virgin birth. To deny this and endeavor to reason around it is to knock the central p11- lars out of our concept of God. We I16Cd to see Christ as Diety being the self expres- sion of God. In our study we took a 'tbird's eyet' view of Christ. preparing for his public ministry in his childhood and youth. His early con- cept of his Fatherls work certainly serves to challenge us to a life of service now. V During the time of his public ministry, the humanity of Christ displays vividly the heart of God, through his expression of com- PaSS10H, Sympathy, anger, and love to man. .By the death of Christ on the cross, He triumphed over sin and Satan and finally cried out, It is finished? Faith places her anchor in the empty tomb for now she sees not a dead body but a risen and ascended Lord. May we take the challenge his life has left, and bow, not to the babe in the man- gdendbut to the crucified, risen and ascended or . -LUKE G. SENSENIG FULFILLED PROPHECY In this class, we looked at various types of prophecies contained in the scriptures and their fulfillment. Many of these prophecies have their fulfillment recorded in the scrip- tures. For others, we must rely on the ac- counts that historians give us. One type of prophecy that we studied were prophecies concerning nations. In these we see God as the One who overrules in setting up and destroying kingdoms. We see that God's time clock works with per- fect accuracy. We also studied Messianic prophecies. In these we see many aspects of Christis life here on earth, also His suffering and death. We also have many prophecies concerning Christ that have not yet been fulfilled. We look forward to the fulfilling of these in the future. We also studied prophecies that are presently being fulfilled. We learned that a good guide to inter- preting unfulfilled prophecy is to consider the wa in which prophecies that are now Y fulfilled were fulfilled. One thing that impressed me in this class was the exactness in which these prophecies were fulfilled. -HAROLD WEAVER 30