The Questioning Disciple

This is a meditation that Greg Newton at Disciples' Fellowship in Birmingham, AL delivered on 8/17/08. Greg humbly suggests that not only is it okay for us Christians to ask questions, but perhaps it is our duty. The video is only about 20 minutes long, and I highly recommend it.

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A few quotes I really liked:

“In my sense, truth is not something we arrive at or something we possess. It’s something we seek. And our questioning never ends. We’ve done a lot of questioning, but we still need to do more questioning. Because whatever we arrive at … wherever we end up on something, it’s still open to more questioning because it’s not going to be perfect. Anyone [here] think they’ve arrived to perfection on something? Is there no room still for there to be some questions to be asked?” - Greg Newton

“Truth is too important to leave what we’re doing unquestioned and unexamined.” - Greg Newton

“We’re not questioning truth. We’re questioning what we’re doing. We’re questioning our perceptions. We’re not questioning God as much as we’re questioning perhaps our perceptions of God. We’re not actually questioning what God says. We’re questioning how it is we understand what God says.” - Greg Newton

How do/should we read the Bible?

Since our Xenos discussion, this question has been rolling around in my mind. There were several times during the session that Dennis used verses from the Bible to prove his points, and admittedly I didn't have much of a response at the time. After the session, some members of Xenos commented that they thought Dennis' points were better because they were supported by Scripture.

I've really been rolling this whole issue around in my head for the past few weeks, because it feels like a seismic shift in how I approach the Bible, read the stories found there, and interact with the God that inspired it. Is it a resource to interpreted? Do I read the Bible to shape my theology? Or do I have a theology and I search for verses that support what I already believe?

I mentioned this to Jane the other day, but I've been wondering if the Bible isn't supposed to inform us of truth statements about God, but rather there are stories and accounts of experiences with God, and they are meant to direct us to him. The purpose of the Bible isn't to just know about God but to genuinely and personally know him. Of course to divide between these two types of readings to the extreme is to create an unnecessary dichotomy....this is what I've been wrestling with.

Scott McKnight on his blog Jesus Creed linked to this very short post on why fundamentalism is unbiblical. Thoughts on this article? Thoughts on how we read the Bible and how that shapes our relationship with God, other Christians and the world around us?

Xenos Summer Institute "Pre-Discussion" - Part 1

As you know, we have the privilege of joining in the Xenos Summer Institute later in July. Noel and I (Jesse) will be joining with Dennis McCallum in a breakout session to discuss the differences between emergent and traditional church views. Dennis has already emailed three topics that will be discussed, and an idea was suggested amongst the cohort that we discuss these topics on the blog before the session.

The goal for Noel and I is not necessarily to share our personal opinion (although I'm sure that will naturally come out), but also to represent the cohort as a whole. Therefore, in the next few weeks, I'll post each of the topics (verbatim from Dennis) and invite everyone to share your thoughts in the comments. Some of these are "repeats" from previous conversations, so feel free to either re-post some of your thoughts, or generate new ideas.

Topic #1: View of truth: What are the areas of agreement and areas of difference between typical emergent thinkers and evangelical thinkers on the nature and role of truth?