Online Bible Institute | Noel Card | Activity

Noel Card posted a new activity comment

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:21:43 -0400

Yes, both the quilt analogy and the aspen grove analogy change how we think about the Bible. Great post about this session!

In reply to - Fabian posted an update

Session 12 The Hebrew Bible is like a Aspen Grove

This session in particular really caught my attention because it enriches what we have been learning about the Hebrew Bible in a very […]

Noel Card posted an update: This session emphasized the idea of mental […]

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:17:55 -0400

This session emphasized the idea of mental encyclopedias, both those of the authors of the Bible and those of the readers of the Bible. The session makes the compelling point that we need to seek to understand the times and cultures of the Biblical authors to understand what the authors intended, relative to what listeners / readers of that…

Noel Card posted a new activity comment

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 15:52:45 -0400

Welcome Kevin! I also recently started at OBI. I pray that this journey will be fruitful for you!

In reply to - Kevin posted an update

Hello everyone and God bless you. I am very excited to start my associates degree and culminate with my Masters. I currently reside in Indiana near the chicago area.

Noel Card posted an update: This session puts forward an analogy of a quilt […]

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 18:16:29 -0400

This session puts forward an analogy of a quilt to illustrate that the Hebrew Bible consists of multiple older pieces (i.e., works written hundreds of years earlier) organized and brought together by later scholars. The instructor used Ruth to illustrate ‘hyperlinks’ (connections) connecting this book to the end of Judges and to Samuel, which…

Noel Card posted an update: This session provided evidence that the Hebrew Bible […]

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:46:34 -0400

This session provided evidence that the Hebrew Bible went through a length process from events, an oral tradition, some early writings, collections of writings, and eventually into proto-editions of the Hebrew Bible. The instructor describes evidence from multiple books that there were multiple organizers (especially Proverbs, Psalms),…

Noel Card posted an update: This session described the process in which a minority […]

Thu, 28 May 2026 19:54:02 -0400

This session described the process in which a minority group of prophets carried forward and expanded the Hebrew Bible from Moses’ death (closing of the Torah) through the post-exile period. The instructor portrays the prophets as a small group speaking out against the Israelite leaders and the majority of the people. This was an interesting…

Noel Card posted an update: This session identified specific instances in the […]

Wed, 27 May 2026 18:32:47 -0400

This session identified specific instances in the Torah where God told Moses to write these books. Each of the three instances mentioned in this session occur at specific times of the story, and those three events provide an effective summary of the entire Hebrew Bible. The first (Exodus 17: 8-9, 14) commands Moses to write about God…

Noel Card posted an update: This session focused on the inspiration of scripture. […]

Tue, 26 May 2026 21:12:17 -0400

This session focused on the inspiration of scripture. The instructor provided an interesting set of Venn diagrams showing how we often think of the interplay between the divine (heavenly, spiritual) and the human (earthly, physical). In the modern, largely secular world, we tend to view these circles as separate. Further, among even the…

Noel Card posted an update: This session picks up from the previous discussion of […]

Mon, 25 May 2026 18:31:04 -0400

This
session picks up from the previous discussion of the “seams” of the scrolls of
the Hebrew Bible. It focuses on Psalms 1
and 2, which would have been the beginnings of the Ketuvim of the Hebrew
Bible. The instructor showed clear
narrative connections between Psalm 1:2 and the beginning of the Nevi’im,
specifically Joshua 1:8, with…

Noel Card posted an update: This session begins to examine how the ‘seams’ between […]

Fri, 22 May 2026 19:27:53 -0400

This session begins to examine how the ‘seams’ between scrolls connect (i.e., from session 4, textual linkages between scrolls). In this session, the instructor focuses primarily on the connection between the TaNak (Laws) and the Nevi’im (Prophets). As with the Christian ordering of the Old Testament, there is a clear narrative connection…

Noel Card posted an update: This session offered an interesting examination of the […]

Fri, 22 May 2026 16:33:33 -0400

This session offered an interesting examination of the Dead Sea Scrolls as an example of the actual physical text of the Hebrew Bible. The books of the bible were in scrolls, rather than a book with a clear ordering of the books. So, the authors included notes connecting the books to one another. This idea of the Hebrew bible as a collection…

Noel Card posted an update: This session considered the ordering of the books of […]

Thu, 21 May 2026 19:51:20 -0400

This session considered the ordering of the books of the Hebrew Bible compared to the order of the Christian Old Testament. The Christian ordering in which I have read the Old Testament makes sense to me, with a (mostly) continuous from the Pentateuch through the twelve history books. The location of the five poetry books seemed a bit…

Noel Card posted an update: This session emphasized how Jesus and the apostles […]

Wed, 20 May 2026 17:33:47 -0400

This session emphasized how Jesus and the apostles thought about the Hebrew Bible, viewing this scripture as pointing to a savior. Jesus specifically said this was pointing to Him (Luke 24), but this was difficult for his followers to understand after he was crucified. I particularly liked the discussion around Luke 24:15, “But their eyes were…

Noel Card posted an update: The reflection question asks about common experiences […]

Tue, 19 May 2026 16:38:00 -0400

The
reflection question asks about common experiences with the Hebrew Bible (what
we now call Old Testament). While much
of the Old Testament is wonderful, allowing us to begin to understand “the
heart of Yahweh” (as one of the students in the video expressed it), I have had
two challenges. First, I have struggled to
understand what parts of…

Noel Card posted an update: The in-depth study of Hebrew and Greek words translated […]

Tue, 12 May 2026 17:52:11 -0400

The
in-depth study of Hebrew and Greek words translated as “righteousness” was
fascinating. The discussion went through
three meanings: (1) actions of a person doing right by another person in their
relationship; (2) ethical behavior that aligns with God’s will; and (3) being
in right relationship with God. He then
describes the…

Noel Card posted a new activity comment

Tue, 12 May 2026 15:09:27 -0400

This last piece – “wrestle with language… wrestle with scripture” – is a great summary. Word study seems both challenging and rewarding, just as understanding God’s message is. Great note about how our insight can be applied when counseling others.

In reply to - Leah posted an update

I am thoroughly enjoying this and love the example of “raysheet” and how it has multiple meanings depending on the context and I love diving into the various verses where it’s used to see […]

Noel Card posted an update: This session used word studies to illustrate the […]

Tue, 12 May 2026 15:05:19 -0400

This session used word studies to illustrate the semantic range (range of meanings) of words, considering the English word “run” and then using the Hebrew word ‘raysheet’. Like several of the questions asked by the students in the video, I worry about how different translations can convey different meanings. However, Dr. Mackie said two…

Noel Card posted an update: Thinking about the languages and historic settings in […]

Fri, 08 May 2026 14:12:13 -0400

Thinking about the languages and historic settings in which the Bible was written prompts a sense of awe at God’s ability and willingness to communicate to us. He, being timeless and omniscient, communicates to humans, who are bound in time and limited understanding. God’s communication to one human author of a book in the Bible is therefore…

Noel Card posted an update: This second session continued with great ideas and […]

Wed, 06 May 2026 19:33:44 -0400

This second session continued with great ideas and insights. I appreciate the ‘encyclopedia versus dictionary’ model to emphasize the need to understand the language and culture of the authors. I anticipate the rest of the course will describe the tools for understanding the contexts of the (human) writers, but I want to suggest two…

Noel Card posted a new activity comment

Mon, 04 May 2026 19:49:37 -0400

Great insight to look at some different translations, Leah! I see what you mean about the very different wordings of “heaven” (NASB) and “sky” (NIV). I also see that the ESV translates this into “Heaven” (capitalized). These translations also use different terms for “expanse” (NASB and ESV) that Dr. Mackie talked about: “vault” in NIV,…

In reply to - Leah posted an update

The creation story is one I have always read and never really struggled with – if it’s poetry, cool – if it’s literal, cool – it has never bothered me when other viewpoints are presented, […]

Noel Card posted a new activity comment

Mon, 04 May 2026 19:48:06 -0400

In reply to - Leah posted an update

Noel Card posted an update: This first session of The Wonderful World of Words […]

Mon, 04 May 2026 12:51:59 -0400

This first session of The Wonderful World of Words really pulled me into the topic. Dr. Mackie used a small piece of scripture (Genesis 1: 1-8) that I have read dozens – maybe hundreds – of times before, to illustrate how we can lose meaning when words become overfamiliar. If we read passages of the bible too quickly – and I admit that I am…