Believing and Knowing
Posted Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 | 0 Comments »An Adventure in Faith: Hebrews 11:1-2
One of the ways of staying in the mainstream of Christian orthodoxy is to study the Bible well- but this can be tricky, because the Bible can be easily misused to justify nearly anything, including genocide, war, greed, and white supremacy. We need more than bible study: we need to place ourselves in the framework of church history. Creeds offer that to us.
Discussion Questions:
- What’s your response to the charge that “creeds are divisive”. Do you agree or disagree? Why not, instead, “imagine no religion” as the Beatles did?
- In the past, when scientific methods held absolute sway in the Western World, people were less willing to hold any convictions requiring faith. With the unraveling of scientific certainty, there’s now a general sense among all people that faith is required in order to hold any conviction, whether concerning the resurrection or the laws of aerodynamics. What is the relationship of faith and evidence in your convictions regarding Jesus? What kind of evidence do you respond to?
- If you buy a certain car, you suddenly see that car everywhere. The Bible seems to teach that the same dynamic comes into play with God. Those who believe God is active in history see God’s activity; others don’t.Is such ‘seeing’ wishful thinking or are the skeptics blind?
- The word “belief” must be taken to mean more than mental ascent.Our culture is filled with examples of presuming that intent is adequate.We ‘intend’ to exercise.We ‘intend’ to begin saving.We ‘intend’ to give, serve, reconcile. Yet, it’s often the case that intention never comes to the fruition of real action.Why is this? What can be done to help with intentions?
- The last point of the sermon is that the object of our faith is more important than the quantity of faith.Agree or disagree? What are some common false objects of faith in our culture, in the church, in your life?
