Purpose of Course: Jesus taught His disciples to pray, ". . . Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil . . . ." Hidden in the meaning of the Lord’s prayer are three noble truths of Christianity. The purpose of this Bible study is to give an overview of what it means to be Christian in the light of those truths.

Theme of the Course: Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Christian living is based solely upon the words of Jesus. Moreover, the Spirit of revelation must continually break into and conquer the fleshly understanding of man’s mind for Christian learning to occur. The theme of this course is to attempt to let the participants hear Jesus speak to them as the writings of the early followers of Jesus are examined in the light of the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

All men by divine fiat are social creatures. What it means to be a human being is found only in the expression of the interaction of at least two people. Although a person has individuality, he has his identity only in the light of another person. He actually comes to know and to understand himself as he see himself reflected in the lives of other people.

As beholding himself in a mirror, he comes to know himself from what he sees. The reflections that come back to him from the people with whom he is interacting is the sole basis for his sense of identity. This fact alone inseparably ties an individual to the need of others.

Like the musical note that stands alone, the melodious medley of life is non-existence in the acts of an individual. For an individual to experience the good life he must enter into a strain or series of harmonious interaction with others sharing the same moment of time. The individual makes music only when he is placed in relationships with others.

Furthermore, changing the particular frequency of an individual musical note standing alone matters little. Changing the frequency of that musical note as it stands in relation to other musical notes, however, can move the sound from harmony to disharmony or from mere noise to the sound of music. It is the relationship of the notes that makes the melodious music.

So it is in living life. It matters little if an individual standing alone changes anything or everything about himself. As he moves in and out of relationships, however, the essence of life is drastically altered. The good life (or the bad life) is measured only by the interaction between individuals.

It is within relationships that the connecting links of life have their greatest potential. All that the Scriptures proclaim, the heavens and the hells of life, transpire in the interaction of the connections of life. The ground of being for the germination of all life is the interaction of relationships.