Is religion a bad thing... Really??

Disappointed in reading a Shane Hipps article here...

Normally Shane is a really thought-provoking speaker and has a real ability to express some deep truths about faith and life in a really straightforward way... But I think here he has jumped on the bandwagon of slagging off formal religion. 

Of course, organised religion has done a lot of harm (take the horrific case of the Roman Catholic Church covering up abuse) and can be a barrier to people finding God in their lives... But this has to be balanced with some of the good things that 'organised' religion HAS achieved that couldn't have been achieved otherwise... Take examples of the abolishment of slavery in this country, the founding of hospitals and schools to start with

And religion comes from the word 're-ligio' which literally means to re-connect (with God)... So while he argues that Jesus doesn't need religion, he argues against the very thing Jesus came to do - to re-connect us with God...

It's just plain lazy when people say religion is bad...

Show us what you're made of!

Now is the time to show your leadership...

What struck most people I've heard from about the women bishops vote was the ridiculous and farcical nature of how 42 out of 44 Dioceses (regions) in the Church of England could have voted in favour of women bishops, with over 75% in favour, and still for it not to be approved by General Synod, the 'governing' body...

As per my post the other day, the Church once led the way with women leaders, but is now woefully out of touch with modern Britain.

It is clear that there is a more fundamental problem... That of how the Church of England is governed. How can it be right that so many of its members can hold one view, but for that view not to become reality?

It's said that the new Archbishop is a strong leader... Well now is his time to show this...
Let's not rehearse old arguments, let's not beat around the bush...
He should now order an urgent report into how the C of E is governed. This report should be unlimited in its scope and ability to make recommendations, and should address the issue of how General Synod can fail to reflect the overwhelming view of the C of E. 

He should make it clear that to reform or not to reform is not the question... Reform is clearly vital. The recommendations should outline different options for reform, including a radical overhaul.

This needs to be done urgently and with strength of commitment - otherwise the C of E risks both its alleged position as the national church, and its reputation as whole

Come on, Rt Rev'd Welby - show us what you're made of...!

Out of steam

Oh dear... 

Church of England votes against ordaining women as Bishops...

15 years after the first female CEO of a FTSE 100 company,
33 years after Britain's first woman Prime Minister,
459 years after England's first crowned Queen,
Nearly 2000 years after the first Christian Church led by a woman (Acts 12, 1 Corinthians 1 etc)...
The Church of England can't even appoint women to its higher levels of leadership, let alone overall leader...

How much more out of date and out of touch does the Church of England leadership through the General Synod want to become?

Out of date - undoubtedly (42 of 44 Diocesan Synods voted in favour)
Out of touch - unbelievably, both with its own membership and with wider society
Out of steam???...

Is Jesus God?

Great discussion on 'is Jesus God?' tonight @sofachurch
Some highlights:

We looked at what we think God is like… 

Is he a ‘distant observer’ - just set the world in motion and watches from a distance

‘depth’ (Paul Tillich – the idea that any experience which has depth to it is an experience of the divine), 

‘love’, 

‘One God’ (Jewish background) 

'Make believe' (we've made him up)

'A genie God' (there to grant our wishes), then looked at Jesus...

Did Jesus know he was God (probably not pre-resurrection, otherwise how can he have been fully human)? 

Jesus being ‘the only son of God’ (listed in the Nicene creed AD325, but insulting to some cultures where being an only son is an insult)

Jesus being the ‘image of the invisible God’ (Colossians 1:15)

John's Gospel where Jesus says he the 'light of the world', 'bread of life', 'true vine', 'resurrection and the life', 'way, the truth and the life', 'good shepherd' but never claims to be God

What do you think? Comments below please!

Paralympics & Limitations

Great to see part of the opening ceremony for the Paralympics, and looking forward to watching some of the action.

It struck me how amazing the athletes are, and how they have overcome and even used their disabilities to achieve great things. Which got me thinking...

How do we cope with our own limitations? They may not be physical, but may be emotional, mental, energy, skills or simply a lack of time! Do they frustrate us? I don't see much frustration coming from the Paralympians despite some major limitations to what they can do...

And how do we think God views these? After all, he knows us better than we know ourselves... Do we think he is disappointed when we can't 'achieve'?

How can we even use some of these limitations in our lives?

The crown jewels... Privacy?

Noticing the Sun's statement today about printing the Prince Harry pics... They remain convinced that publication of the pictures was about 'freedom of the press'...

Nothing to do with freedom of the press... It's all about the money, money, money... And nothing mentioned about the Sun having any moral responsibility in this situation, or giving any sort of lead on how newspapers should behave. 

To me, the argument that 'everyone else is doing it so why can't we?' is basically an anarchic attitude and one that reveals the moral vacuum and irresponsible immaturity of the Sun. Nothing learned from phone hacking... still no sense of any responsibility within journalism... 

What do you think? How does faith impact on this 'exposure'?!...

Geoff

District 9

This week we watched District 9 - very interesting parallel between the alien Christopher Johnson (CJ) and Jesus Christ (JC) - ascending to above, promising to return to save his people... But who does that make Wikus - since he was the lead persecutor, turned ally, does that make him Paul? Anyone who has seen the film please share your thoughts.

Marriage #3: Same-sex marriage

I'd like to come out (as it were..!) and try to present a case for marriage being extended to same-sex relationships... I've been a little saddened by some of the writings coming out trying to lobby the government not to change the law on marriage, and some old and rather tired stereotyping and rejecting of people trying to live a difficult yet honest walk between their faith (usually a choice) and their sexuality (usually not a choice)

I strongly believe that the basis for marriage from a Christian perspective is around the CHARACTERISTICS of such relationships i.e. commitment, fidelity, lasting relationships rather than the NATURE of such relationships...

Jesus was famously completely silent on the subject of same-sex relationships, and yet quite condemning of divorce... This would suggest he was far more concerned with the characteristics of relationships than their nature... It's not like he was silent about relationships in general!!

The Bible gives many examples of marriage being encouraged with which we would have problems from a Christian perspective today... Practices such as polygamy (Exodus 21:10-11), men being required to marry their dead brother's wife (Deut 25:5-6; Gen 38:8) and even worse, a master being able to buy wives for his slaves and then keeping the wives and children produced for himself when the slaves were set free (Exodus 21:2-4).

We would accept that all of these practices (not exactly supportive of one man, one woman for life) are not reflective of a Christian view of marriage today... And yet the few passages which seem to condemn same sex relationships some still believe do apply today... Where is the consistency between what we decide is for all time about marriage, and what we decide was 'of that time'? To differentiate between such passages is at best arbitrary, at worst picking and choosing passages to bolster our own prejudices.

One of the biggest (and most inconsistent) arguments is that intimate relationships must have the possibility of procreation (which clearly same-sex relationships do not)... But yet there is no condemnation of couples who are infertile (and therefore sex can never lead to procreation) or sterile (same) or past the age of childbirth, where sex seems to be perfectly permissible. This suggests that sex is for more than simple procreation, and that applying this 'rule' to some relationships and not others is not just inconsistent, it's contradictory.

I would like to see a debate centred around what makes marriages and relationships healthy ones, and what part Christian marriage plays in this, supporting characteristics of commitment and fidelity, rather than discriminating between the nature that those relationships take.

I actually think the Church would contribute much more to the debate by focussing on these things, and by creating a Christian basis for all marriages, whether man-woman or same sex, than being distracted by arguments which at the end of the day ignore both some of the actual key issues, and are on somewhat shaky ground on the issues they do see as incontrovertible.

Geoff

Marriage #2: What did Jesus say?

Recently there's been a lot in the media about Christians defending marriage. But what did Jesus have to say? And what does the Bible actually say?


Unfortunately it seems that Jesus really said very little, and when he did, he wasn’t always enthusiastically positive… And as for a consistent view of marriage, the Bible isn’t exactly clear. Many Christians like to back up their own views and prejudices with what they think Jesus said… or what they think the Bible says. And often they turn to verses that don’t even relate to marriage… Paul’s letter to the Corinithians chapter 13 is often read at weddings – ‘’Love is patient, love is kind’ etc… But he wasn’t referring to personal relationships… he was helping to resolve a conflict within the church to whom he was writing!

Not only did Jesus choose not to marry, he encouraged his followers to leave household and domestic concerns in order to follow him (Mark 10:28-30). He even refers to those "who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:10-13). Whatever that means, it's certainly not an endorsement of marriage.

And in Matthew chapter 22, he says that in the age to come, ‘people will neither marry nor be given in marriage’… If the age to come is the perfection of  a new heaven and earth, then this perfect world doesn’t seem to include marriage…

His only real directive was to tell people that were already married ideally not to divorce (Matthew 19:4-9) – hardly encouraging a rush for people to get married.

Paul says that marriage can be a hindrance and that it’s better not to marry (1 Corinthians 7:27) - advice Paul took for himself, by all accounts never being married.

If neither Jesus nor Paul preferred marriage for their followers, why do some Christians maintain that the Bible enshrines 19th-century Victorian family values? Are all of our positive views of marriage based on what Jesus and the Bible actually say, or on a Hollywood romanticized view of love? Maybe it’s time to take another look…

Agora

Enjoyed watching this film tonight - really good discussion afterwards... Some key themes were:
How far does historical accuracy matter in a piece of art (e.g. film)?... Apparently the film has a lot of historical inaccuracies
Negative portrayal of Christianity (and to some extent all religion)
Relationship/conflict between science and religion
Is rational enlightenment a good thing?
Please do comment here & continue the debate
Geoff

Marriage #1: The cost?

Here's a stat: 89% of 13-15s in a recent survey said they would like to get married one day. With the average cost of a wedding now over £20,000 the question is why would anyone want to get married? Has it become more about the ceremony and image than the actual substance?

Working for Relate, I find often people are reluctant to pay towards either counselling when their relationship has hit the rocks, or up front for courses about 'how to have a good relationship'... How are people reluctant to pay less than £500 for these, and yet several thousand on one day?


With celebrity marriages covered extensively in the media, have we become a society focussed on the glitz and glamour, at the expense (literally) of the substance of marriage?

Marriage - what is it?

Tonight at God@theDOG we'll be discussing marriage... Is it still relevant today? Is it always one man, one woman for life? What did Jesus say about it? And what does history have to say about the purpose and ceremony of marriage? And what's all the fuss about same-sex marriage?
If you're unable to join us in person, join in the debate here... We'll be posting some highlights from our discussion online in the next day or so
Geoff

Imaginary friends

This Thursday we're going to be discussing imaginary friends - are they really a child's way of relating to the spiritual, to God? Do adult Christians have a relationship with Jesus that isn't far removed from this? Is Santa God?

If you'd like to join us in person that would be fab, let us know, but if you would like to join in the discussion from home then please do using the comments feature here. We're meeting from 20.00 to 22.00 if you wish to join in 'live', but feel free to chip-in beforehand.

The next life... or this one?

Christians are often keen on debating the next life - what it will be like, who'll be there (and more often who won't) and giving the distinct impression that this life is somehow a rehearsal, or worse still, a waiting room until we 'get there', until we 'arrive home', until we reach heaven.

A quick search on Amazon reveals well over 1,000 books about people coming 'back from the other side' i.e. those who have actually been dead for a few minutes and then been revived. It seems we are interested in what these people have to say about the after life and what it might entail.

So one might think that Jesus having been there and having come back from the dead would want to tell us lots about it, to tell us what it's like, to give us some highlights or at the very least some teasing titbits?... Well, no actually.

What did Jesus have to tell us post-resurrection about this? Absolutely... NOTHING!
No, apparently he was more interested in his followers spreading the good news, telling Peter to look after people ('feed my sheep') and even which side of the boat his disciples fished from... I mean, come on, he's come back from the dead and the big thing he wants to share is... fishing advice?!?

Maybe there's a message in all of this... that actually we shouldn't worry so much about the next life... we should get on with living this one! Maybe rather than longing for what comes next, we should make the most of what we have now and not miss the present. Maybe heaven is even something that we can live not just in the future, but now.

Geoff

Multi-Platform Launch

We're really excited this Easter Sunday to launch our online multi-platform community :-)

Facebook: facebook.com/sofachurch

For what's happening and events

Blogger: sofachurch.blogspot.co.uk

For thought-provoking debate and discussion

Tumblr: sofachurch.tumblr.com

For creative resources: poems, prayers, videos etc

Twitter: @sofachurch

For quick links to our other pages, quick thoughts, and links to external articles

www.sofachurch.com will also keep you up to date!

Please join us!!

Exciting news!

Sofa Church has always had an online presence and we're about to launch the next stage of our community by providing a multi-platform experience for those who are part of our Church community online.

We'll be using our Facebook page to record and publicise our events, providing connections with what we're up to
Blogger to create an interactive blog providing a space for thought and debate

Tumblr to create a resource of more arty resources - prayers, poems, artwork, videos etc

Twitter to link to developments and quick links to other exciting stuff!

Watch this space over the next week or so for further announcements and details :-)