Each group member was asked what questions they would like to investigate. The responses included but were not confined to:
Agenda for 29 Jan meeting??
Agenda for the 29 January meeting:
It seems to me that when a churchgoing person starts to feel uncomfortable with their system of beliefs - that discomfort relates mainly to some sort of difficulty or inconsistency in they way their church or the bible describes God’s nature or purposes. People in this situation do not wake up one day and decide to change their mind about the existence of God.
If this person continues to find further difficulties and inconsistencies (which they cannot resolve) they will probably ultimately start questioning God’s existence itself.
So, in this scenario, issues of God’s nature/purposes arise before issues around his existence.
Based on the opening meeting our members seem to me to (roughly) fit this description.
SO I am proposing that we pick one area of God’s apparent nature which is causing difficulty and start bouncing it around at the next meeting?
What do people think?
Personally, for example, I have problems with God’s justice. We are told he is a just God - yet quite a few of the church doctrines seem to contradict this. I have similar issues with the related doctrines of God’s judgement.
Please give us your views.
If you concur with my approach, then please suggest some specific areas of difficulty which you would like discussed.
If you disagree, then please suggest an alternative agenda for our initial meetings.
Brian
A Start On Justice
Thanks Brian. This topic is an excellent starting point in my view. I have put together a brief and somewhat rambling summary of the issues surrounding God's justice. I'd love it if some of you readers could chime in. please follow and contribute to the discussion
here.