First I would like to apologize to the Wednesday's Bible study group for distracting the morning attention away from 1 Peter. Perhaps we should return to having our prayer requests toward the end of the morning.
As suggested I did find a video online to hear what Pat Roberson actually said about Haiti, and the alleged pact with the devil.
1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." [Luke 13:1-5, NIV]
That said, I recognize that I have a "plank" in my eye. Nevertheless, bad things will continue to happen around the world including this country, and I ask what would Jesus say about such events? I would venture based on Luke 13 above, he would redirect our attention to evaluate our own state of grace, and need to repent rather on whether the victims were worst sinners or more guilty and deserved what they got. I recognize that only by the grace of God, that I am not going through the pain and loss the people of Haiti are enduring currently.
I pose the question: Can our attitude of righteous misled us into expecting justice or wishing punishment in this world on our brothers or sisters because of their perceived sins or lifestyle? Although I am an accountability sort of guy (Dirty Harry) in how I look at the world, lately I have been trying to turn that around in my walk with Christ. Simply because, I too will be accountable, and by my own omission, am a sinner, and only by the grace or mercy of God through Christ have been forgiven (i.e., grace is independent of good works).
Yes, by discernment (i.e., judgment), I chose not to follow certain lifestyles, and choose life over death spiritually. I can not speak on God's purpose on what happened in Haiti, or when bad things happen in general that it was God's wrath per say, but I am striving to try to recognize the opportunities to do what God would have me do after such events. I do agree with Pat Robertson's assessment that there will be opportunities in Haiti for God's work to be done, which was the case prior to the earthquake although perhaps more limited due to possible corruption of their governing authorities.
Richard, no one in our group would have expected an apology from you for what transpired this morning. You just happened to get caught up in an issue that we need to address.
ReplyDeleteIf any apology were owed, it is mine to Robb for so rudely cutting him off today. That apology was made personally, and is acknowledged publicly here. I also apologize for letting this issue fester.
We need to address the method of our prayer request time. And, we will. Next week, it will be something far different from that which causes us to consume so much time. Several of us feel the same way and have suggested ideas. I'll now ask the rest of us to voice their opinions. Please do it by e-mail.
The length of time this section of our weekly meeting has been taking is not in concert with our purpose as a men's Bible study group. Taking the amount of time that it has, is not fair to those who spend their time and effort preparing to lead us in the study lessons. It is not fair to any of us individually. It is not fair to this group of men.
I, for one, feel utterly ashamed that a visitor who came seeking fellowship in a men's Bible study group this morning had to leave before we even began our study. He did not see who we are. He did not learn what we are all about. I pray he will return to see the real us and how we may help him with his spiritual needs and fellowship.
Sixty minutes, as it nearly was today, needs to be reduced to 15.
[I will send this and Richard's post to all via e-mail for those who are not alerted to posts by Google's limit of 10 addresses or by RSS feed. So, if you see it come in to your e-mail box, know that you'll already have seen the content.]
My best to you all.
IBG / Jim
And yes, Richard. Thank your for the excellent post!
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I hope James comes back to study the Word with us.
I appreciate you all.
Richard (aka: rxt)
Two issues have surfaced here and I'd like to comment on them separately in two replies. First I'd like to comment on the group dynamics.
ReplyDeleteSince you first gave me the priviledge to be welcomed among you, we have studied James and now 1 Peter. A common teaching of these men of God is that we must put into practice what the Scripture tells us. In fact they clearly say that's the whole point of studying the Scripture. We were just reminded of this in 1Peter 2. We are to work at letting the Word transform us into the image of Jesus. That does not happen by memorizing facts alone. It happens as we wrestle with our imperfections the Word exposes. And that happens best in the context of safe relationships where we can make mistakes and have loving brothers patiently observe and work with us.
What I'm about to add comes from extensive research, consideration and experience. In light of the Scripture there are certain core values to any worthwhile group, among them are: 1) authentic relationships (caring, honest, non-judgemental), 2) truth meeting life (Bible study that is applied to real life), and 3) healthy conflict. The last may surprise you. But if you have a situation where people feel safe to be themselves while seeking to apply the Word to their lives, then there will be tensions and conflict. If faced and handled in a way that builds love and safety it's healthy, in fact necessary. Some groups want to make nice and call that fellowship. To me, that's like a starving person settling for a crumb when a wholesome meal is available.
The biggest problem with church small groups is that when people are uncomfortable they leave because they are not encouraged and lovingly shown how to work through their conflict. Few of these people mature in Christ as much as they should, even if they know and can teach a lot of doctrine.
Men are particularly prone to hiding imperfections in the hope that others will think we are better than we are until we can "get our act together on our own". When conflict comes we first tend to fade away "Why haven't I seen so-and-so?" Then comes the surprise disaster. "Oh why did so-and-so do that? I never knew!" And because of our God-given leadership role, often when men blow it, a lot of others are impacted. So this is a serious issue.
Richard asked for help with his anger and began to express it. He was asking for our trust and help. He was doing what I think the core reason for meeting is about.
Unfortunately I got angry at the content of what he said. I blew it. I didn't help Richard. I checked with him after the meeting to see if I had offended him and we were ok. Now I ask forgiveness of everyone. The question lurking in my mind, as it would for anyone who would experience the same thing, is do I come back? Can they handle who I am, and help me become more Christ like?
We had a guest. Ooops! Perhaps in the future it would be a good policy to immediately incorporate any guest before doing anything else. I'm sorry for not bringing that up, I know better. It would be good policy to immediately let any guest tell his "story" and explain to him how the group works and what it's values are and for some of us to share our "story" (again) to help assimilate him.
In summary I don't think this is quite as much about balancing prayer and study time or offending a guest, though these are very important considerations, as much as what the group is about.