PLEASE NOTE

We will not be meeting this week due to this Wed. falling on Halloween. We will pick up again Next Wed.!

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

Coexist

This week we discussed a tough topic: the topic of differing religions.

Many great points were brought up in the group! It's exciting that so many great points were expressed, but sad that my hand could not keep up on the note-taking. As always please correct, add to, or subtract anything that is posted wrongly.

Several stories were told of personal encounters dealing with other religions. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that an underlying thought was that EXPOSURE to other religions, especially personal experience with persons of differing faiths than our own (and even the lack of those experiences), help inform our personal beliefs on other religions. It was mentioned that "Exposure breaks down barriers." Maybe that relationship/understanding should be explored more. Perhaps that is something that you want to discuss on the comments section, or next week as we decided to continue on this topic next week!

-It was interesting that many said that they were taught to TOLERATE other religions growing up. (I put that in all caps because that word pops back up later).

-Most of us agreed that we were also taught that our religion is right while all other religions are wrong.

-A comment was made that Christianity is more open, because it is not inherited in the same way that Islam and Hinduism is. (we didn't explore the obvious question..."is that a true statement in our lives?")

-The point was made that "TOLERANT" has a loaded connotation. If we tolerate, then it is implied, "I'm right and you're wrong, but I'll allow you to _______(speak, believe, stand in my presence, etc...)

+it was said that there are levels of tolerance depending on the similarities or relationships between the religions in question. (what they hve in common)

-"ACCEPTANCE goes beyond TOLERANCE."

-"how do we get out of the 'we're right and they're wrong' mindset and begin to move from tolerance to acceptance?"

+Is this a goal that we should have?

+how does that work in relation to the Christian idea of conversion? Evangelism?

- One person said, "It all comes back to love your neighbor/love God (greatest commandment)."

+"the idea of acceptance is the idea of being closer to loving the way Christ loved."

+ Because of this understanding, it was also followed up that, "the goal (whatever it is) begins with relationships and [genuine] conversations."

-A good question: "where do [Christians] draw the line?"

+Where is the line? Is there a line that should be drawn?

-"Is there a line on acceptance/exclusivity and pluralism?

- We have this idea of "dualism--> compartmentalizing 'this is Christian/Christ and this [other] is not.]

-What does this idea of dualism do to inform "the line"?

-We agreed that loving others comes first but discussed the relationship between "evangelism and acceptance."

+It was said "that loving someone means loving them holistically (body, mind and soul)."

+how does that inform evangelism?

+another added to the last statement, "that it means building holistic relationships!"

-"What is our concept of evangelism?

+one stated that his concept was, "save them now in this life because I can't promise them eternity."

-Something that was touched on, but not explored was the schism in "kingdom of God" focuses.

+Is it eternal (heaven and hell) or is it earthly/temporal?

-"It all comes back to what YOU believe [individually]. "

+"evangelism is voicing/making your beliefs known.?" (I don't remember if that was stated as a statement or a question.)

-It was pointed out that there seems to be a relationship between "evangelism" and an "agenda".

+has the focus flipped from discipleship in Christianity to Evangelism?

-Finally it was asked, "Are all religions man's attempt to understand/communicate [the divine/God]?"

(this actually was said much earlier in the discussion, but I didn't want it to get lost with not fitting into other blurbs).

The discussion will continue next week. This is a tough topic, and the group did a good job keeping our purpose of respectfulness in the midst of tough discussion!

keep the conversations going!

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

This wed. we have 2 possible topics to talk about.

1) Last week CBS aired Episode 3 of KID NATION (<--click to see the full episode).

Several people have had a conversation about this episode because of it's topic. It might be good to bring it into our forum for discussion!

The topic was religion, and these kids had some interesting reactions, and an interesting ending to the episode. Watch the episode, and we can talk about differing religions, ideas, tolerance,acceptance, and other topics dealing with that in our personal lives (and wherever else that leads us). Please watch the full episode before wed. night, it's worth it!!!!

2) Last week we mentioned a news story that had been making headlines, as well as a new book based on this adventure. A.J. Jacobs has released a new book entitled: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

FROM AMAZON: What would it require for a person to live all the commandments of the Bible for an entire year? That is the question that animates this hilarious, quixotic, thought-provoking memoir from Jacobs (The Know-It-All). He didn't just keep the Bible's better-known moral laws (being honest, tithing to charity and trying to curb his lust), but also the obscure and unfathomable ones: not mixing wool with linen in his clothing; calling the days of the week by their ordinal numbers to avoid voicing the names of pagan gods; trying his hand at a 10-string harp; growing a ZZ Top beard; eating crickets; and paying the babysitter in cash at the end of each work day. (He considered some rules, such as killing magicians, too legally questionable to uphold.) In his attempts at living the Bible to the letter, Jacobs hits the road in highly entertaining fashion to meet other literalists, including Samaritans in Israel, snake handlers in Appalachia, Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., and biblical creationists in Kentucky. Throughout his journey, Jacobs comes across as a generous and thoughtful (and, yes, slightly neurotic) participant observer.

Jacobs considers himself an agnostic, yet explored this social experiment. You dont have to read the book, but google him and read a couple of articles:

You can find an article here

and a vid. interview here

It's really enlightening! Lots of options with this topic too!

CAN'T WAIT, SEE YOU ALL TOMORROW!

Discussing Our "Dark Times": Ma Teresa Joins Our Discussion Group

At long last we get to talk about the article about Mother Teresa that was in Time Magazine.

We started off talking about where her journey, mission, and struggles met with our own. Several interesting things were mentioned:

-The lives that she touched

+ Shane Claiborn speaks of the impact on his life during his time with the Mother's ministry in his book The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

-It was mentioned that the letters from the lady saint could be challenging to a person's concept of God.

+ It can dishevel one to hear that someone so Holy and devout could not hear God (focus that statement less on her and more on God not speaking).

+It's Disheartening that she was doing what we SHOULD be doing, yet God was not speaking to her!

-The question was asked: "I wonder if she was looking in the wrong place?"

+"Often times we see what we want to see, and where we are looking is not in the right place."

-Some saw hope in her story

+If someone that devout can have such strong doubts...it can be comforting

-"Perhaps she got as close to God as humanly possible and what she was feeling, her "dark times" was really the void between the limitations of Human and Holy!

-The Article talks about the "divine spark" that led her into her mission/purpose...of that Holy encounter. But perhaps that that spark of spiritual warmth did not sustain.

+It was asked: "do we force God and that spiritual feeling (warm, happy, comfortable, etc...)?

+It was pointed out that even through the "dark times" she never strayed from her goal! That was admirable!

=The question was asked: Could we do that in her position?

-It was expressed: "The idea of the [type?] of relationship we're supposed to have with God is an idea we've created!

+Do we create our own reality w/in our spiritual(re)ality????

We then switched gears to talk about our own personal "dark times", What they are/have been, where we are now, and how those times shape us.

-For many the "dark times" centered around a lack of divine direction/guidance/intervention.

+lack of calling, or a calling without the opening of doors/opportunities and divine intervention.

+many times this was because of the given expectations on us (by society, family, church, etc...)

=what does this say about OUR expectations of God??

-For some it is being burnt out on Religion/Christianity (in particular).

+religious people and organizations have turned some off

+Anger towards what the religious organizations/institutions were teaching

=felt like it never brought them closer to God

-MOSTLY OUR "DARK TIMES" CENTER AROUND QUESTIONS!

-"Do we get caught up so much with how life is supposed to be that we stop living it?"

+"Do we live too much off of the expectations?" (our own and the expectations of others)

=We get depressed when we continually compare ourselves to those expectations!

-"We see God through ourselves! Through our own filters!

+Filters change- does that make our view of God with those previous/current/future filters WRONG????

There was so much good discussion happening, we hated to end! Feel free to jump in and let the conversations continue!

OK! Now....It's Personal!

First off, once again we have pushed the article back another week. We are going to talk about it this week people:) No, because of the response of several people who could not make it, we agreed to leave the article of Mother Teresa until next Wed.

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!