{"id":26603,"date":"2020-12-30T09:12:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T16:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/?p=26603"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:28:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T17:28:50","slug":"found-or-faithful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/found-or-faithful\/","title":{"rendered":"Found or Falling? – First Word from the Jan-Feb BA"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 2021, and I bet you are as ready to leave 2020 behind as I am. But a new year doesn\u2019t mean a new world. The confused, chaotic forces unveiled last year are challenges that remain. Our theme for this year is \u201cFaithful<\/span>.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span> We ask, what does it mean to be faithful in a decaying culture like ours?<\/span><\/p>\n

Though increasingly unpopular, conscientious Christians rely on the Bible for the answer. First Corinthians 4:1, 2 is the focus of this <\/span>Bible Advocate<\/span><\/i>. Here Paul writes that we are \u201cstewards of the mysteries of God\u201d and that stewards<\/span> must \u201cbe found faithful\u201d (see more in Loren Stacy\u2019s \u201cLast Word,\u201d p. 31). Are we?<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the church in Corinth, we as believers are caught between our carnal natures and a hostile culture. We can\u2019t take Paul\u2019s admonition lightly. He warns of a \u201cfalling away\u201d too (2 Thessalonians 2:3; also see p. 22). Carnality and culture are always an intoxicating, subverting mix. We see its power as people are leaving faith and church in droves.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her remarkable new book, <\/span>Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World<\/span><\/i>, Tara Isabella Burton gives a journalistic account of how religion in post-Christian America is changing rapidly. This sentence sums it up: <\/span>\u201cAmong the most common sayings I heard among the people I interviewed was, \u2018I make my own religion.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Religion in America is a believers-without-a-Bible phenomenon. A Barna study reports that three-quarters of Millennials agree with the statement \u201cWhatever is right for your life or works best for you is the only truth you can know. . . .\u201d If that\u2019s not enough, 47 percent of practicing Christians of all ages agree. Sociologist Christian Smith finds similarly that only 40 percent of young Christians surveyed say that their personal moral beliefs are grounded in the Bible. Do we have the resources to resist these trends?<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not fall but be found faithful. This year we\u2019ll study faithful examples from Scripture in their context to learn how to endure ours (see \u201cFocus on the Faithful,\u201d p. 16). Daniel comes to mind. An exile in Babylon, he resisted the pressures to conform and was found faithful before God, <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> before those arrayed against him (1:19; 2:25; 5:12; 6:4, 11, 23). As a faithful steward of God\u2019s mysteries, Daniel knew who he was and Whom he served (2:14-49).<\/span><\/p>\n

May we dare to be Daniels today! Welcome to 2021. <\/span>Read and enjoy the Jan-Feb BA.<\/span><\/p>\n

English: https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/Issues\/Archives\/BA-2021-1_January-February-Eng.pdf<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Spanish: https:\/\/baonline.cog7engage.net\/Issues\/Archives\/BA-2021-1_January-February-Sp.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 2021, and I bet you are as ready to leave 2020 behind as I am. But a new year doesn\u2019t mean a new world. The confused, chaotic forces unveiled last year are challenges that remain. Our theme for this year is \u201cFaithful.\u201d We ask, what does it mean to be faithful in a decaying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":26585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,1602],"tags":[1614,845,1615,167],"yoast_head":"\nFound or Falling? - First Word from the Jan-Feb BA - Bible Advocate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let\u2019s not fall but be found faithful. 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