Did you learn anything new about Baptism this past Sunday?
How was your experience of touching the water and making a cross on your forehead?
If you have not been baptized already, what keeps you from "taking the plunge"? (pun intended)
Monday, May 21, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Shared Experiences: Bad things happening
When have you experienced suffering / "bad things"? What happened? How did you get through it?
Monday, May 7, 2007
Communion "Liturgy"
As John mentioned, "Liturgy" is a churchy word that means "the work of the people." It is an opportunity for the whole congregation to take an active role in participating in worship. What did you think of your Communion experience yesterday? Was it worshipful? Did it make sense? Was it confusing?
Sunday, May 6, 2007
How was our world really created?
Prior to this Sunday's sermon (May 6), what would you have said was your understanding of how the world was really created? Would you say that you believed in...
Spontaneous Macroevolution (i.e. life arose from nothing [God was not involved] into a single-celled organism and then evolved into every form of life as we know it);
Theistic Evolution (i.e. God created the first life [a single-celled organism] from which life evolved into every form of life;
Creation Science (i.e. the world was created in 7, 24-hour periods); or
Intelligent Design (i.e. God created each species of life - similarities in certain species are a result of a Common Designer, not a Common Ancestor)?
Have your beliefs been changed or stretched in any way?
Spontaneous Macroevolution (i.e. life arose from nothing [God was not involved] into a single-celled organism and then evolved into every form of life as we know it);
Theistic Evolution (i.e. God created the first life [a single-celled organism] from which life evolved into every form of life;
Creation Science (i.e. the world was created in 7, 24-hour periods); or
Intelligent Design (i.e. God created each species of life - similarities in certain species are a result of a Common Designer, not a Common Ancestor)?
Have your beliefs been changed or stretched in any way?
Big Bang
Are any of the following theories or arguments interesting to you? Can you think of any objections to them?
Theory of General Relativity - Albert Einstein, Arthur Eddington (British Cosmologist), Alexander Friedmann (Russian Mathematician) – all uphold that “the universe appears to be expanding from a single point in the distant past.” In other words, the universe is not eternal (Geisler & Turek - I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist 73-75).
Cosmological Argument: everything that had a beginning had a cause (the Law of Causality); the universe had a beginning; therefore the universe had a cause.
Big Bang Theory – The universe had a beginning – everything natural began at the Big Bang. What caused the big bang? Something Supernatural – something outside of nature (Geisler 85).
Robert Jastrow, astronomer and founder of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies wrote in God and the Astronomers: 'I am an agnostic in religious matters.' Yet he also writes after explaining some of the Big Bang evidence – 'Now we see how the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same: the chain of events leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy' (Geisler 84).
Theory of General Relativity - Albert Einstein, Arthur Eddington (British Cosmologist), Alexander Friedmann (Russian Mathematician) – all uphold that “the universe appears to be expanding from a single point in the distant past.” In other words, the universe is not eternal (Geisler & Turek - I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist 73-75).
Cosmological Argument: everything that had a beginning had a cause (the Law of Causality); the universe had a beginning; therefore the universe had a cause.
Big Bang Theory – The universe had a beginning – everything natural began at the Big Bang. What caused the big bang? Something Supernatural – something outside of nature (Geisler 85).
Robert Jastrow, astronomer and founder of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies wrote in God and the Astronomers: 'I am an agnostic in religious matters.' Yet he also writes after explaining some of the Big Bang evidence – 'Now we see how the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same: the chain of events leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy' (Geisler 84).
Interesting Genesis Tidbits
Do you find any of the following information interesting? What difficulties arrise in your mind when you read the creation accounts in Genesis 1-3? What parts of the Genesis narratives do you find to be "right on"?
“The sun and moon are created only on the fourth day and are not named, but referred to only as the greater light and the lesser light. This may be an implicit polemic against the worship of astral bodies” … “A similar point can be made about the creation of the great sea monsters on the fifth day. In some ancient myths…creation results from the slaying of a sea monster" (Oxford Jewish Study Bible 13).
"While customarily translated rib, the part of the body out of which the second human being is made is uncertain, since this Hebrew term is nowhere else used for the human body” (New Interpreter's Study Bible 10 - Abingdon Press).
The name Genesis is from the Greek translation of Hebrew “Toledot” which means “story, record, or line." In Hebrew it is often referred to as “bereishit” – “in the beginning” (OJSB 8).
“The sun and moon are created only on the fourth day and are not named, but referred to only as the greater light and the lesser light. This may be an implicit polemic against the worship of astral bodies” … “A similar point can be made about the creation of the great sea monsters on the fifth day. In some ancient myths…creation results from the slaying of a sea monster" (Oxford Jewish Study Bible 13).
"While customarily translated rib, the part of the body out of which the second human being is made is uncertain, since this Hebrew term is nowhere else used for the human body” (New Interpreter's Study Bible 10 - Abingdon Press).
The name Genesis is from the Greek translation of Hebrew “Toledot” which means “story, record, or line." In Hebrew it is often referred to as “bereishit” – “in the beginning” (OJSB 8).
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