Progressive Christianity Bible Study

[spiritseeker]

Hi everyone!

I would love to study the Bible with progressive Christians who are open minded, have doubts and happy to question things. Does anyone know of any online groups that may do this? 

Thanks,

Brad

[tariki]

21 hours ago, spiritseeker said:

Hi everyone!

I would love to study the Bible with progressive Christians who are open minded, have doubts and happy to question things. Does anyone know of any online groups that may do this? 

Thanks,

Brad

Hi Brad, just a few thoughts. You may find such a group but it's difficult for me to grasp the format. When anyone gets beyond studying the Bible with the intent to determine its "intended meaning" (by God) and then to understand the "true" doctrines of salvation, they enter the realm of the Living Word, begin to seek and know the Universal Christ, a reality beyond the so called Jesus of History.

 

The implication is that we begin to find our own stories (A poster here, Robert, can be referred to) which are each unique, beyond formulas, creeds or dogmas. So in effect such a study group would simply share their stories, well beyond any pouring over textual details that would reveal some one meaning fit for all.

Relevant to this are some words of an old favorite of mine, Thomas Merton:-

The purpose of a book of meditations is not to teach you how to think and not to do your thinking for you. Consequently if you pick up such a book and simply read it through, you are wasting your time. As soon as any thought stimulates your mind or your heart you can put the book down because your meditation has begun. To think that you are somehow obliged to follow the author of the book to his own particular conclusion would be a great mistake. It may happen that his conclusion does not apply to you. God may want you to end up somewhere else. He may have planned to give you quite a different grace than the one the author suggests you might be needing.

Another dimension to this is that entering our very own unique stories can be a lonely path. It needs courage. We can become lost. But we can find that in our daily living we spontaneously share our stories. Yet not so much in the "telling" of them specifically, but in the "cut of our jib" (to use a phrase....😊)

 

 "For the earth brings forth fruits of herself"

 

[PaulS]

On 10/29/2022 at 7:42 PM, spiritseeker said:

Hi everyone!

I would love to study the Bible with progressive Christians who are open minded, have doubts and happy to question things. Does anyone know of any online groups that may do this? 

Thanks,

Brad

I can't speak from experience Brad, but I see that you're from Victoria and there is a Progressive Christina Network of Victoria online -  https://www.pcnvictoria.org.au/about-progressive-christian-network/about/.  Maybe they might know of something?

Cheers

Paul