Getting Started

Do you have any relatives who have lived colorful and controversial lives? I suspect we’ve all made bad choices that had potential to damage the family tree. Fortunately, they have lots of similarities in the Old Testament as well. But, what do we do with them? Usually there aren’t any legitimate excuses for misbehavior, but a little background is always helpful to explain the choices that people make, no matter how good or how bad.

In this lesson we’ll get ready to meet our spiritual ancestors by making a cross-cultural trip into their setting. We’ll dig into their contexts to more fully understand these pioneers of faith who, on occasion, showed extraordinary courage and fortitude and trust in God … but who also made major compromises along the way. What in their world might make sense of their good and bad choices?

Let’s start down the road of understanding these colorful characters in context, and keep an eye out for family resemblance all the way down to our own generation.