Richard Lawrence

This paper attempts to answer the “why” question of Israel’s failure by viewing it through the lens of trauma. It asserts that they experienced numerous life-threatening traumas which impacted their responsiveness to God and that the three elements of God’s presence, God’s Law and God’s Tabernacle may have been intended to function as means of addressing their traumas with healing and recovery.

The exodus story is layered with many external influences: In this section I would like to touch on three such possible influences: Egyptian polytheism (Spiritual), political slavery and psychological stress (trauma).

In the previous section I asserted that the failure of the first generation of Israelites in the wilderness may find explanation in their multiple experiential traumas. In this section I would like to argue that God provided three solutions to bring healing and recovery for these traumas and that these solutions can be found in God’s presence, God’s Law and God’s Tabernacle.

Problem statement A recent conversation with a Christian friend raised an interesting Bible question. He is writing his Ph.D. thesis on the topic of “discipleship” and has poured over many books on the subject and passages of scripture and noted that although the word disciple/s appears hundreds of times in the New Testament, it disappears from use after Acts 21:16. The apostles Paul, Peter, James, Jude and John never address anyone by this term in the letters to local church

In this brief study I would contend that John 14:6 is not just a verse about how to “get to heaven” but part of a bigger picture that Jesus is trying to get across to His disciples before He goes to the cross.

Two encounters Jesus had during his ministry show us how he viewed and used the Old Testament scriptures.