Sunday, November 18, 2007
Announcement: Thanksgiving and Christmas
But will be back on the 28th! Recap is below from last week and feel free to add your thoughts on there someone mentioned continuing that conversation on the 28th, but that's up to you guys if we stay on that topic. I think that it was stated that we would like to get more of your thoughts from those that couldn't be there!
We talked this past week about having a Christmas/holiday get together before all the college students had to go home. We will continue to meet in Dec. and those that return home can keep up with us on line! We talked about having instead of like a Random Gift Exchange Party (some of us are broke and jobless...yes, me!) but instead having a Random CHANGE Party. We can host it at our place, but the idea is to begin collecting random change and bring that to the party instead of a gift. We will have food and fun stuff going on, but will collect All of the change and decide that night one place/orginization/charity/w/e to send it all to! It's our gift to each other...giving back to our world! So, if you have a suggestion of an orginization print up some info and bring it that night!
We're looking at Dec. 5th. we need some feedback on that since we don't know exam schedules and such! Let us know, I'll post the info as soon as we decide. All are invited. Email us if you have any questions!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Sin: Easy To Do, Not So Easy To Define?
-"Something that keeps you from a the Higher Power (being)."
+Evil?
-Immorality
-That which hurts God
-"Anything that tetracts from, or fail to hold to God's vision for the world.
+Is this more than moraility?
-"Anything that falls short of 'Love God/Love Neighbor'".
-"NOT working towards/being true to the person into whom God is making you."
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Other comments:
-Sin originates from 2 places: Pride (ego) and Apathy (failure to act)
+The assumption then is that himility was the prefered motivator enacted out of love?
-Sin is not a "list" of spicific "no-no's"
+The Church has focused on a "list" of what is sinful to teach it's followlers.
+This leads to the inevitable Hiarchy of sins, even though we claim that all "sins" are equal if there were/is a list
+This also leads to leagalistic and binding faith!
___________________________________
We Asked, "if love is the standard for how to live sinless/not commit sin(?)" Who decides what is "loving"?
-Quote from Frederick Buechner: "sometimes love is doing something for someone, and sometimes its leaving them alone"
-It was stated that something like killing is always a sin
+Then it was brought up that the theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was part of an assasination attempt on Hitler because he thought that was the most loving thing to do!
+Brought up the question about how subjective love/sin can be perhaps?
_____________________________
SOMEONE then got in an imaginative segway about cults:) you know who you are!
This SOMEONE (with some additions of another fellow sidetracker) made us all laugh for a wonderful amount of time! It was nice to be reminded that serious conversations doesn't always mean we have to be solomn and serious in our talks! Thanks SOMEONE!!!!!
-There was an interesting closing comment off of the sidetrack:
--"There seems to be a fine line between the ritualistic cults, and the ritualistic Church????? Any "truth" to that?
and that's where we left off...
NOT MEETING NEXT WEEK: Nov. 21
Happy Thanksgiving
Leave comments and continue conversatoin, we would love to hear from those who weren't present...
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Possible Topics: 11-14
Another possible topic that was sparked by a portion of the conversation last week could be a discussion on SIN and what that means to us. please see previous post (recap) for a couple of statements.
What is Sin?
How do we Define it individually?
What about us being "fallen", or what about the "fall" story?
In this topic, we might consider 1 Cor. 10:23-33 (focal on v. 23).
These are just some suggestions, as always they are subject to be thrown aside if anyone has anything they would like to share/discuss with the group from their own lives!
Enjoy and see you tomorrow!
Absolute Truth...Or Perhaps Not So Absolute
We began talking about other religions and Christianity being the "only way" (where we left off), and quickly transferred into a different lane on a similar road. Some comments:
-Doesn't all religions claim "absolutes"?
+ The main 3 (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism), yes, others (Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, etc..)not as much.
-It was pointed out that the famed apologeticist, Josh McDowell mentioned that Absolute Truth seemed to be taking a shift.
-"The problem with "Absolute Truth", is that by definition, everything else is "wrong".
+That causes discomfort in some people.
-The question was asked, "When did 'truth' stop evolving like everything else?"
+"Perhaps that's what is happening now? Like the reformation, someone needed to be the plow to uproot the status quo, perhaps now we (as individuals and a community?)are the plow!"
-We stated that we valued new perspectives on God, Esp. since that is a stated goal of this group, but was stated beautifully that, "We can't get a new perspective on God standing still."
-We began speaking about responsibility of Christians.
+A lot of this centered around issues with the earth/Environment
2 VERY thought-provoking Comments I Caught:
+"I endorse a pantheistic view which sees God reflected in all things. God is revealed in and made up the full panoply of Creation and the creatures on it. I don't worship Creation but rather see God within and to harm it or the organisms that make it up, to not be proper stewards, is to blaspheme against God and almost the very definition of sin."
+"Christianity has strayed away from its counter-cultural roots and now serves the status quo and to prop up the interests of corporations. Christianity itself is operating almost as a corporation that is more interested in marketing itself and getting more numbers than truly acting as the positive force it should be. I find all religions to be a beautiful thing and I hate to see Christianity reduced to such a role."
-A comment: "do we show (communicate) the message death and forget about [the message] of hope and life [in our actions]?"
-Tim Conder came to Campbell and made a rattling comment that was mentioned: "Christians are way to nice! The Ch. should be the enemy of anyone or anything that takes advantage of others!"
____________
We ended with the Question: "What do we do with John 14:6--'I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except by me.'"?
sorry for the delay on the recap!
Monday, October 29, 2007
PLEASE NOTE
At that time we will continue our discussion o World Religions. Until then, if you want to comment, Please feel free to continue that conversation in the comments section of the last post!
Thanks, and have a safe Halloween!
admin
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Coexist
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Community= Being Together?
Thought this went well with our past conversation on the Church, and who are we.... It falls right in there with what we talked about!
brough to you by ASBO Jesus (jon birch)
Exclusion and Embrace
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Discussing Our "Dark Times": Ma Teresa Joins Our Discussion Group
Friday, October 5, 2007
OK! Now....It's Personal!
So what happened this week? Well, as the title implies, it was (in this reporters personal opinion) pretty personal. We talked openly and honestly about some things going on in our lives. This was a very good night of conversation!
However, this makes recapping the meeting hard because of our agreement that what is said that is personal stays within the group. So this blog post will be open that anyone who wants to share something that we talked about that was personal to them, please feel free to place that in the comment section. That way it will be your own words and discretion.
One topic we did discuss that was more general was the fact that, even in the postmodern/emergent/ supposedly free to express your beliefs, world, there is polarization. There is now, like the more traditional mainstream realm, a seemingly left and a right (or maybe an up and down since the terms left and right wing is modern lingo). That just shows how much more important our group is (based on respect, freedom, exploration, and discussion), and how much of a need there is for something like what we are doing!
In addition, I will link one thing we talked about, because Mary talks about it on her own blog. We spent time discussing this issue in our own lives.
If you weren't present, this would be a really good post for any topics/questions that you would like to share to begin conversation about that. There has been a couple of discussions that some have had that may want to open to the group? That is always an option! So, just like Wed. night...wherever the winds may take us!
Friday, September 28, 2007
The Big White Question Mark In The Room
Instead we talked about some things going on in our lives. One topic that we we spent some time on was how our lives seem to have so many questions, and so few answers. This seems to be a place that many of us found ourselves departing with the traditional Church.
Things we said/asked
-Is asking those hard questions about our spirituality bad?
+ if not, then why is it discouraged in churches?
+ Why is open dialogue/thought not encouraged and taught?
-We have both a need and an OBLIGATION to question everything?! both personally and corporately. This includes the religious institutions, and institutional thinking/teaching.
-What about having doubts/doubting?
+everyone has doubts, just some people get so good at ignoring them that they forget they have them!
+we're told not to doubt/question, but instead, "just have faith".
=what does that really mean?- Don't question when logic/answers run out, but then just believe what you're being told regardless?
= how can we NOT DOUBT? We are told not to have doubts, but we can't just turn it on and off. WE can't NOT DOUBT!
_______________________
We then moved onto the topic of authenticity. We said that this is something that our group values highly and is something that is vital to our group working.
-What does being Authentic mean?
+Being who you really are--What does that mean?
= One's true Personality
= Being who we really are in all we say and do
= not coming and conforming to what we think others want us to be
= Taking off all masks!
-Why do we Value Authenticity?
+"everyone around us plays politics! we all want to be liked/loved/or voted into whatever we're running for, be it some office, or prom queen/king."
+"we wear masks because we SEEK LOVE"
= "not enough love in the world/our lives=the need to wear masks."
We ended with 2 questions that we didn't finish exploring (perhaps the conversation will be continued here):
1) HOW DO WE FIND/EMBRACE THAT "PERFECT LOVE" AND SHOW COMPLETE ACCEPTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS WHO MIGHT MAKE US UNCOMFORTABLE??
2) WHERE ARE OUR LIMITATIONS IN THIS LOVE?
until next wed....
Sunday, September 23, 2007
"Ma Teresa's Joined the Mob, Unhappy With her Full-Time Job"
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Who Are We? Who, Who? Who, Who?
This ALL is based on our experiences in a church.
Both ducussions began with the question: WHAT IS CHURCH?
-an orginization/institution
+ran much more like a buisness than not
+community?? of people with similar beliefs?
+structured/ government systems?
-a set time to come together as a "church"
+contains some "service" (worship?)
+a place to make you feel better about yourself- making us better people?
+a place to make us feel worse about ourselves- emphasis on us being "sinful"
A quote that was shared: "Sunday's from 11-12 are the most divided time in America." Is this true?
A question that was asked: Can humans, by nature, tolerate a lack of orginization or structure?
+perhaps we're afraid of not knowing, so, through the modern mindset/lens, we apply structure (based on scientific process).
+Everything is according to how we as humans have applied constructs to "reality".
The other question that was explored: HOW ARE WE DIFFERENT FROM A CHURCH (our divine conversations discussion group)?
-We allow people freedom to be themselves (can have a beer, curse, share their raw thoughts, speak their mind)--the oppertunity to be REAL (although we agreed this is what church is supposed to allow).
-NO ties to the institution
-No judgemental/better than the world/everyone else mindset
-trace is here!
-Similar belliefs is NOT what brings us together-we can have, and encourage differing ideas/thoughts/beliefs, and have to be respectful of those ideas.
+What brings us together is our willingness to explore our individual journeys???
-No Gov. system, no hired leader, a communal ownership!
Thoughts we ended on:
-we are not a "church", although we have aspects of a church, and we may be "church" for some people.
-Since we are not founded on theology, if we were a "church", we would be the "church of respect"
WE ARE STRIVING TO LIVE UP TO OUR PURPOSE: TO BE AN OPEN COMMUNITY WHERE ALL VIEWS AND IDEAS ARE WELCOME; WHERE WE SPEAK OPENLY AND RESPECTFULLY ABOUT OUR OWN JOURNEYS, SPIRITUALITY, AND REALITIES (personal, communal, national, and worldly).
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Potent Potables to Ponder
what is the Church?
What is it's function supposed to be?
What makes our discussion group different from a church?
Do we need the church? why or why not?
In your mind, is there hope for the church and what would it take to get it to where you think it needs to be?
Can something like our discussion group actually happen in a church setting? why or why not?
JUST SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL WED. NIGHT!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Deflating the Church
Sunday, September 9, 2007
On the Tip of Our Tounge
admin.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE BOOKS PRESENTED IN NO WAY REPRESENT ANY VIEW OF THE GROUP AS A WHOLE, NOR NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE COMPLETE VIEW OF ANY INDIVIDUAL! THIS IS SIMPLY FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Pride and Prejudice
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Deconstructing the News: Public and Private Schools
-Are kids really coming home and saying "I'm being persecuted for my Christian beliefs" at school? If so, could this be a case of kids blowing something out of proportion to get their family upset/ involved?
-Who is persecuting these Christian children? Individuals or the institution?
-"my question the [the parents] is what are you doing at HOME to teach your kids about their faith instead of putting them [in private schools] that will do all of the work for you?"
One statement that was made made was from a person working in the public schools in the area who said, "I've never had a Christian child come up to me and talk about being persecuted, but I have had a Muslim child with that complaint!"
-the question was asked, "what does THIS say about Christians in the school system?"
One statement that was made was that, "I find myself trying to defend myself to others in the sense that when I say I'm a Christian I have to say, 'but I'm not THAT kind of Christian."
We then switched gears a little and tried to understand better what lies underneath the decisions being made. One big thing we talked about was fear being a motivating factor!
-fear of disillusionment in their faith/beliefs?
-fear of change?
We asked the question, "are these signs of a shallow faith?" Since we are exploring our faith/beliefs/understandings in this group in order to get deeper into our own beliefs!
We talked about the flaw in our group gathered last night was that we were all looking at it through similar lenses. We discussed trying to understand the decisions made in the article, and decided the importance to continually practice seeing issues and ideas through other lenses as not to be judgmental! We stated that we wished that there was someone there that could dialogue with us from an opposing viewpoint. WE WELCOME THAT ONE HERE ALSO! FEEL FREE TO POST YOUR COMMENTS IN OUR CONTINUING DISCUSSION!
OTHER COMMENTS/QUESTIONS:
-How can EVANGELICALS wall themselves in, away from the world?
-Can REAL learning/education occur when you receive ideas with not opposing or differing ideas are present to challenge what's being taught?
-we agreed that the bigger problem is that ALL schools, both private and public, have room for reform in America
FINALLY, we asked ourselves the question, how do we as a community of people, as well as individuals, keep from pulling into our own beliefs and forming a safe bubble where we can take refuge and cut ourselves off from the world.
our goal: Continual ACTIVE dialogue with the world around us!
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION ON THIS BLOG POST! WE ARE WELCOME AND AFFIRMING OF ALL IDEAS ON THIS ISSUE. AS MENTIONED ABOVE, WE WOULD LIKE TO HEAR ALL VIEWPOINTS IN THIS DISCUSSION!
Monday, August 27, 2007
N&O Aug. 26th
Friday, August 24, 2007
Provoking Some Thoughts!
Thanks Tripp for letting me use this off of your blog: http://pomopirate.blogspot.com/
1) How does this picture make you feel? More importatly, why does it make you feel that way?
2) Relationships:
-what do we mean when we talk about relationships?
-what do we mean by forming relationships?
-why form them?
-how do you form a relationship with someone?
-what goes into maintaining that relationship?
-and any other questions/responses that may arise!
* Please, if you are in the group or interested in comming, refrain from commenting until AFTER Next Wed.'s meeting. Instead, write your thoughts down to share in discussion with the group. Feel free to comment on here after Wed., Aug 29th.
*If you can't attend, feel free to add you voice beforehand so that those thoughts can be heard at our meeting.
Anyone who is a random visitor, feel free to post a comment, or more importantly discuss this in person Wed. nights in Holly Springs, NC Detials in previous post @ bottom!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Who is Divine Conversations???
Divine Conversations: Where Reality and Spirituality Meet
Who We Are:
Simply put a group of people who like to get together and discuss our lives, our experiences, the world around us, and our spirituality. We are an open community where any and all are welcome no matter where you are on your journey of life. Here, everyone is accepted and respected!
We are a community based on the understanding that:
-We are about dialogue, not debate (meaning that opposing viewpoints are encoraged but should be handled with a respectful attitude)
-Everyone’s opinion is valid and will be treated as such by all included
-Discussion involves equal parts listening and speaking
-There are no “right” or “wrong” views, simply different understandings informed by differing experiences
-No matter what, each person will be treated equally and lovingly by all involved
-No one has everything figured out
-We encourage the questions and respect (and celebrate) whatever “answers” each person comes to on any given question that person may have
Most importantly, we acknowledge that we are all pilgrims on the same journey; just trying to get a divine glimpse into what life is all about!
Wed. Nights 7:30-8:40pm
Java Divine Coffee Bar
128 Bass Lake Rd.Holly Springs NC
Blog (http://www.conversationsdivine.blogspot.com/)
email: (divineconversations@gmail.com)
Find us on Facebook groups (global): Divine Conversations: Where Reality and Spirituality Meet
* note that we are an evolving group, we acknowledge that anything is subject to change.