Book Club Study Notes for February 18
Rumors of Another World, pages 99 - 125
1. "Why only rumors and not proofs of another world?" (p. 99). How would you answer? Why would God allow the world to exist with such misery, only hinting that something better is possible? What "advantage" (p. 103) do human beings have over the rest of creation which Yancey seems to think may contribute to our understanding of this dilemma?
2. "God wants to set me free; evil attempts to enslave." (p. 106). Is there a sense in which God can't give us the freedom which makes us human beings without also giving us the freedom to submit to being enslaved by evil?
3. "Sinful people create sinful structures, which may then take on a life of their own." (p. 107). What does this say about government, corporations, families? What does it say about the church?
4. If greed is a "deadly sin" (p. 108 -- as it was considered by the ancients), what did it kill (destroy)?
5. What is the "liberal-optimist" view of human nature? What is its opposite?
6. Yancey was given a deep sense of sin in his childhood. He finds it "something strange" that in the modern world "fear of sin ....... has nearly disappeared." (p. 116). Why do you think it's so?
7. "What are we missing if we delete (sin) from our vocabulary?" (p. 117). How would you answer?
8. "Modern society is caught in a dilemma." (p. 117). What is it?
9. We don't like (or often use) the word "sin." In regard to our personal failings we tend to think of ourselves as victims of the actions of others (or circumstances). This is a reductionist approach to explaining our behavior. Explain the following statement from p. 121 -- "Every time addicts repeat the twelve steps, they reject a reductionist view of life." They come helplessly to a "Higher Power" to confess that something is very wrong in their lives and that they alone are responsible? Does it seem to you that organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous may sometimes state the spirit of the Gospel better than the church?
10. What is "healthy-minded faith"? What are "morbid-minded Christians"? Which does Yancey seem to think more accurately assesses uur world and our lives?
11. "Christians have a most realistic view of humanity, believing that human beings have failed, are failing, and will always fail." (p. 124). Do you agree?
An online book club hosted by Impact Church of Christ in Houston. Participants in the book club are expected to read one to two chapters a week.
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Four things that could make us real:
1. To be a confessing people: Confessing that we are helpless and that we cannot do anything without Him.
2. Contemplative: Approaching scripture and letting it speak to you.
3. Eucharistic: It is about Him being with us. Being devoted to the knowledge that He is with us.
4. Community: Being a confessing, contemplative, and Eucharistic community.
Book notes
1. Freedom. We can do what we want. We have the ability to do right or wrong. What advantage is there for God to give us free will to love him.? If we had no choice but to reciprocate it would not be love. He chose for us to love Him of our own free will.
3. Politics become religion. Sweet poison of the false infinate. What happens when they get into power. They abuse it. The same thing can happen in the church. We weild power.
4. It elevates things over people. Robs us of contentment. Greedy people are never satisfied.
5. We are getting better all the time. We are heading towards a Utopia. What are we promised by the politicians? Change...change for the better.
6. Because we have no morals. Society does not care what is moral or right. A crash is coming soon. It was brought up that it is in the small things that we do that the world can change for the worse. How we treat others. How we drive in traffic. The small things cascade into big things. School shootings???
7. If we do not use the word sin- we do not have an explanation for our mistakes. There is no place then for redemptive repentance.
9. yes
10. Everything is going to be okay. What are morbid minded christians? They think that no matter what we do we are always broken.
11. The concept of the fall. The realization that we do have a choice and our first inclination is not always to do good. Deep inside ourselves everyone knows that something is wrong and it needs fixing.
If you reject the true infinite you will be led to the sweet poison of the false infinite.
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