None of this is my own, I copied it from Tim Kellers Reason for God study book. http://amzn.com/0310330475

Questions for tonight’s study.

Opening Thought

If you put three swimmers on the coast of California and ask them to swim to Hawaii, the Olympic swimmer might swim 500 miles before she dies. The second swimmer might be a good swimmer, and swim 25 miles before he dies. And the last swimmer does not know how to swim very well and swims only one mile before he dies. So you might say that the Olympic swimmer is 500 times better as a swimmer than the third one. Who is more dead? Nobody can get to Hawaii on the basis of their own swimming ability. The Bible says we are supposed to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. Nobody gets there. The unique message of Christianity is that you “get there” not because of your own effort, your own good works, but because you put your trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross.

The Objection

People say that since there are so many ways to find God, Christianity is only one among many valid options. The other religions of the world have millions of adherents, producing much wisdom, character, and happiness, so Christians should not claim to have the best faith or the only true faith.

Question 1.

In The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Lesslie Newbigin writes,

In the past thirty years European peoples have become accustomed for the  first time to the presence in their midst of large numbers of people of other faiths. It has not taken long for them to discover that many of these Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Muslims are devout and godly people …. Since the inter-religious issue is usually compounded by the inter-racial issue, and since we are aware of the racism which infects us so deeply, there are the strongest emotional reasons for regarding religious pluralism as something to be accepted and welcomed .. . . In a world threatened with nuclear war, a world facing a global ecological crisis, a world more and more closely bound together in its cultural and economic life, the paramount need is for unity, and an aggressive claim on the part of one of the world’s religions to have the truth for all can only be regarded as treason against the human race.

Wilfred Cantwell Smith writes in his book Religious Diversity,

Except at the cost of insensitivity or delinquency, it is morally not possible to go out into the world and say to devout, intelligent, fellow human beings: ” . .. we believe that we know God and we are right; you believe that you know God, and you are totally wrong.”

Discuss the implications of these statements. Why do you think people today are so insistent that all religions are equally valid?

Question 2.

Following are four objections that are raised regarding Christianity’s claim to be the only way to God. Read them aloud.

A: “All major religions are equally valid, produce much wisdom and happiness, and basically teach the same thing.”
B: “Lots of good and intelligent people differ with the Christian viewpoint, so it is arrogant to claim that Christian beliefs are the only true ones.”
C: “You can’t hold people responsible for rejecting Jesus when they have never heard of him.”
D: “Nobody can know whose religion is true, so Christianity can’t claim it is the only true way.”

Divide your group and assign the objections among them. Determine how you would handle that particular objection. After a few minutes share your answers with the group.

Question 3

Some people would argue that the religious pluralism objection is itself a religious belief, claiming to be more true than opposing beliefs, and as such is subject to all the criticisms it levels at traditional religions. Explain.

Question 4

One of the participants said on the DVD,

“I think problems arise whenever one group believes it has the exclusive domain on truth or the exclusive hold on truth. I think when you believe that you have the firm hold on truth it leads to extreme behaviors at the detriment of others who may not believe what you do- it leads to intolerance.”

People often say similar things when the topic of religion or truth claims comes up. The words exclusive, divisive, and intolerant are a common feature of these statements. How would you respond?

Question 5

During the DVD discussion Dr. Keller asked the participants what they thought should be done about the divisiveness of religion. One participant responded,
“Has there been a time on the earth where there wasn’t religion, and what would it look like if religion were absent? Would it necessarily be a better place, would it be a less divisive place? I don’t know.”

Another said,

“All the negative aspects of religion are usually tied to extremists, people who take it more … and more literally.”

What would you have said in response to these statements? Is this how people you know would have responded? Discuss.

Question 6

Stephen Carter (who was mentioned on the DVD) writes this,

Efforts to craft a public square from which religious conversation is absent, no matter how thoughtfully worked out, will always, in the end, say to those of organized religion that they alone, unlike everyone else, must enter public dialogue only after leaving behind that part of themselves that they may consider the most vital.

Is it possible to keep all religious views private-away from the public square?

Question 7

One of the participants asked,

“How do you pick your fundamental, your home? Is it the way you were raised? Is it your own research?”

How do most people you know “pick” their religion or their home? How did you?

Finial Question

God created us, we fell into sin, he has redeemed us-creation, fall, redemption. How could these three concepts give people a powerful basis to treat with respect and justice those with whom they deeply differ?

fin

The Whole Sweep of Scripture, a video featuring NT Wright.

The Whole Sweep Of Scripture from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/24926085

Feb 15th 2012 we began the Time Keller Series “The Reason for God” in the Wednesday night Learnin’ community group. We Began with a thought and the Video which centered around two different questions.

1. Isn’t the Bible A Myth?  2. Hasn’t Science Disproved Christianity?

Below is our questions we went though as a group, and my thoughts on the study.

1.&2. As for the first two questions. They can be addressed in a couple of ways. Many say the Gospels were written to late to be based on anything which resembled historical accuracy. However the opposite is true here, for the Gospels were written within a 40 year period after the life of Christ. This is not a huge period of time for the stories to become legend. Also the Gospel writers included people in the narrative who saw the events transpire.  What I believe is the largest reason for the validity of the Gospels is their actual content. If the authors story was made up, then why would the author treat the leaders like they had no idea what was going on throughout the gospels,  and why would the movement have a leader which was always bucking social trends of the day. If this were simply faked by men who were Jews then Jesus would not have made such a big deal out of being the fulfillment of the temple.

3. The third question was a discussion about 3 different objections. >>>>> I have included the document from the study guide.

4. This question centers on doubt. We should look at Matt 28:16-17 and see two different types of people watching Jesus raise into the clouds.  The passage says, “many believed but some doubted.” The ancient world was not full of miracle chasing idiots who believed that a dragon fly flew because of the power of the devil. I believe there are times when we, who are able to read, begin to judge those in different times because they seem stupid compared to us. Remember this is the same group of people who created the style of governance which the US has copied heavily. These people were intelligent, and so we should never think we are living in a period of time which is fundamentally more intelligent than others. Such a statement is Pride and is based in the god like sense of self that says you are better than everyone in history. Even people who were around Jesus doubted what happened.  ”Jesus’ miracles are not just proofs that he has power, but wonderful foretastes of what he is going to do with that power. Jesus came and is coming again to redeem the world where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken.” Reason for God Study Guide pg 18

5. The Evolution question. If we are honest with ourselves we will see the divisive nature of this question. The true nature of this question centers on what is the purpose of Genesis. Is the purpose of Genesis really to tell us the world is young and created in 7 days, or is it telling us something else. The truth is the first chapter in Genesis is written like poetry and should be looked at like poetry. Now listen, do i think we should throw away the 7 literal days of creation? No i don’t, but what I am saying is that these 7 days is not what this passage is about. This passage is about how an all powerful God created the world in an amazing way.

Questions to think about for this lesson.

1. What is the purpose of Genesis 1 and 2, also how would you respond to someone who is concerned about evolution and Christianity?

2. Was there anything in the way the DVD discussion was conducted in terms of tone, atmosphere, attitude, mannerisms, expressions, and son, that you might find helpful to adopt, or not, when you run your own discussion about this objection?

Comment below to answer the questions.

also remember to answer the security question!

All quotes are from Reason For God Discussion Guide, Timothy Keller,  Zondervan Grand Rabids MI, 2010