Bill Ireland

Daniel Annual Bible Study (Study Guide): Keeping Faith when the Heat is on Bill Ireland

Resistance takes many forms. Sometimes it is violent. Sometimes it proceeds non-violently. Oppression and the imposition of a new culture are often executed by means of harsh and stringent measures. One way of life is brushed aside and forced to give place to another. The loss of cherished symbols of one?s identity and accompanying practices confronts the oppressed with a critical challenge: do I go along to get along, or do I take a stand? If the latter, how do I go about it? What form will my resistance take? What form should it take? Daniel is a book about resistance. It was written to people under pressure. In the book, we will see the efforts oppressive regimes take to undermine the faith and identity of God?s people. In it, we will also see the strategies God?s people employed in resisting the imposition of a foreign culture, and we will see what sustained their efforts. In that vein, the book of Daniel is powerfully relevant.