{"id":11573,"date":"2016-07-01T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T00:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=11573"},"modified":"2018-11-03T20:27:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T20:27:32","slug":"carry-the-light-a-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2016\/carry-the-light-a-dialogue\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Carry the Light\u2019: A Dialogue with Steven Schweitzer About the Conference Bible Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Regina Holmes<\/small>
Steve Schweitzer leads Bible study for the 2016 Annual Conference.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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By Frank Ramirez<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds trite, but it\u2019s true,\u201d said Steven Schweitzer at a Jubilee Insight Session this afternoon, \u201cWe are to be the light of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schweitzer, who is dean at Bethany Theological Seminary, was speaking at a session following up on his morning Bible studies during the Conference business sessions. Those in attendance engaged in a lively interchange that circled around subtleties such as the difference between living in the light and being the light, the trials of Job, the intricacies of darkness and light before and after the Creation, along with questions like, \u201cDo angels have free will?\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for such a session began, Schweitzer said, when he heard after his Conference Bible studies last year that a lot of people had wanted to engage him with questions. Rather than focusing discussion specifically on the scriptures tied to this Conference\u2019s sermons, he took a look at the breadth of scriptures that speak of \u201cthe light in God\u2019s presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

It soon became clear that \u201cif our light is only for ourselves we are lacking.\u201d The Bible passages that speak about light seem to have a lot in common with Matthew 25, and the imperative of doing for others.<\/p>\n

But Schweitzer and those at the insight session had a great interest in light at the act of creation. \u201cGod separates the light from the darkness,\u201d he said. \u201cGod began ordering creation. Light is a new thing, the first thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWas there no light before creation?\u201d was one question to ask, along with others, such as, \u201cWhat did things look like?\u201d Schweitzer emphasized that there may be no easy answers. Genesis states, he said, that \u201cthe source of everything is God. Darkness exists but is not differentiated until it is separated from light.\u201d On the other hand, in Isaiah 45:6-7 God forms light and darkness and seems to create good and evil as well.<\/p>\n

The group also had an extended discussion of Job and the place of Satan in that book, the expulsion of Satan in Revelation 12, and a question about whether angels had, have, or used to have free will.<\/p>\n

What was evident throughout was Schweitzer\u2019s enthusiasm for the Bible, which was shared by those who had come to take part in the discussion. \u201cI think scripture study is essential,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m excited about wrestling with the Word.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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The 2016 Annual Conference News Team includes: writers Frank Ramirez, Frances Townsend, Karen Garrett, Tyler Roebuck, Monica McFadden; photographers Glenn Riegel, Regina Holmes, Keith Hollenberg, Donna Parcell, Laura Brown; Conference Journal editor Eddie Edmonds; web manager Jan Fischer Bachman; web staff Russ Otto; editor Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt sounds trite, but it\u2019s true,\u201d said Steven Schweitzer at a Jubilee Insight Session this afternoon, \u201cWe are to be the light of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1258,1268,1476],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-11573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-annual-conference","tag-bethany-seminary","tag-steven-schweitzer"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11575,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11573\/revisions\/11575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11573"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=11573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}