Notes for February 25 meeting
Pages 127 - 157
1. "For a time I resisted thinking of God as an authority figure ......." (p. 128) We all tend to do the same, cherishing the freedom that enables us to choose to sin (do that of which God disapproves), ..... much as we resist other authority figures. But sometimes we gladly submit to authority. What changes resistance into happy compliance (with authority)? Why do we willingly submit to doctors, computer technicians, etc. (in many cases after stubbornly resisting them previously)?
2. "Taken together, the Ten commandments weave life on this planet into some kind of meaningful whole, the purpose of which is to allow us to live as a peaceful, healthy community under God" (p. 134). What does that say about how to be happy and fulfilled? What does it say about the frenetic, success/pleasure-driven pace at which we live?
3. "In many ways, sin is the punishment for sin" (p. 135). "...... (Jesus) "came not merely to save us from the punishment for sin but to save us from the sin itself" (p. 135). Sin we allow to grow is a form of selfish reductionism. It keeps us from "experiencing shalom" and we "end up with a sick and disconnected self" (p. 139). Do you agree? If so, restate the concept in practical terms.
4. Paraphrase Augustine's statement: "The soul lives by avoiding what it dies by desiring" (p. 139).
5. What do you think Kierkegaard meant by likening the human condition to "a person who has a three-story house and who yet insists on dwelling in the dank cellar." (p. 144)?
6. Yancey in the 2 chapters being considered tonight refers several times to the "shalom" which God desires for us. What is your understanding of the term?
7. There is a "path" (p. 144) which we must travel to get from the frightening/discouraging place where sin places us back to a healthy relationship with God. What are the four necessary experiences along the way?
8. What parallel does Yancey see between physical pain and guilt (p. 145 - 146)?
9. "Cognitive dissonance" is a "sort of euphemism for guilt...." (p. 146). How so? What does the phrase describe?
10. "Guilt deserves my gratitude" (p. 146). Why?
11. In what sense should guilt have "directional movement" (p. 147)?
12. Yancey names two "barriers to repentance" (p. 149). What are they? Why, in relation to them, do "our secrets control us" (p. 149)?
13. " ..... the object of repentance is what we turn toward, not what we turn away from" (p. 156). How does the NT story of the prodigal son illustrate that truth?
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.
From Wikimedia Commons
1 comment:
1. Brief history on Yancey is that his father passed away when he was young. He was raised by a fundamentalist step father in a very harsh and love free environment. How did this affect his view of God? That is why he struggled with seeing God as authoritative.
What happens when we resist? We end up hurting ourselves. What can God ask of us? Anything he wants.We come back to authority to submit after we have felt the wrath of all our resisting.
Satan is wise. With powers beyond what we sometimes acknowledge. He presents himself in the form of people and things that tempt us.
2. What did Ted Turner say about the ten commandments? He called them the ten suggestions. He offered ten suggestions that were centered around social and environmental issues. How important is it that our base be the whole ten commandments? Very...You cannot leave God out of the equation. There is a positive side to reductionism. We need ten simple commands. Humans are pea brains. We need it spelled out for us. Are there ways of obeying the ten commandments without the stricture of religion? No, if you negate the first great truth that God is God then disaster will happen.
3. Everything that God asks of me is for my cognitive peace. The way to be profoundly happy is to just live the way God asks us to live. What is shalom? Peace or an absence of conflict. What causes a loss of Shalom? Sin. it is the consequence of sin. Even if you get away with the sin and no one knowing you still have your conscience to condemn you. Redemption is being free from the sin itself not just the consequences. Though there is pleasure in sin there are always consequences. The greatest punishment of sin is sin itself if you do not allow God to extract it from your life.
5. Something tugs us downward. We think we do not deserve the upper floors of the home because of our wrong doings. We deserve the upper rooms because we are his children and He has paid the price.
7. Guilt. Repentance. consequences. Restoration.
10. It tells us that there is something wrong.
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