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Bishop Graham
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02 Mar, 2011 11:45 AM
Previously Beaminster School wrote:
Do you as a man of religion feel attacked by scientists such as richard dawkins who believe religion has got it wrong and that we are only here to pass on our DNA, and who actively slate the church? what do you think of this oinion?
Thanks. I think Richard Dawkins is obsessed by God and that he feels he is being pursued by God! I believe human beings are mind, body and spirit in community - have a look at Luke 2:52 where it states that Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, in favour with God and with people. Our model of humanity comes from Jesus of Nazareth. Dawkins believes we are mind and body only. I don't mind him slating the Church - he is entitled to his opinion, but his knowledge of theology is minimal. Have a look at this great review of his book by Terry Eagleton, Richard Dawkins - lunging, flailing, mispunching. click here .
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Eighth live discussion Wed 2 March 2011, Beaminster School, Beaminster, Dorset
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Bishop Graham
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02 Mar, 2011 11:13 AM
Previously Beaminster School wrote:
hick believes evil is necessary as it helps us to develop, but can the pain of a 5 month baby (as that of the baby that died in Christchurch Newzealand) ever be worth the supposed 'development' of others?
Thanks. Yes, John Hick follows Irenaeus's line. No, that pain of a 5 month old baby is not worth the development of others. We don't know the answer to such awful tragedies. But we can be 'with' people amidst their tragedies, pray and cry with them and gradually share the view of God who does not sit on the edge of the universe twiddling his thumbs, but gets stuck into the awfulness of it all, and in the end suffers in Christ. Some people say 'God created the world - he should pay for its pain': we can only point to the cross.
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Eighth live discussion Wed 2 March 2011, Beaminster School, Beaminster, Dorset
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02 Mar, 2011 11:07 AM
Previously Beaminster School wrote:
hello we are anna and charlotte from beaminster and we'd like to ask you some questions about evil in the context of life after death
hi anna and charlotte, looking forward to further questions.
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Eighth live discussion Wed 2 March 2011, Beaminster School, Beaminster, Dorset
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
02 Mar, 2011 11:26 AM
Previously Beaminster School wrote:
On a different note we would be intrested to hear your opinion on 'miricale workers' or people that claim to be able to 'pass on the holy spirit' in a physical way, such as evangelist benny hinn. he claims to channel god into people and heal, whilst asking for grand donations from very poor members of the church. he claims to preach for an all loving god, but puts on a show of smoke and mirrors infront of a mass audience. is this really a loving christian thing for him to do?
Thanks. I don't know about the evangelist you mention, but I do have worries about people promising miracles and asking money for it. I do believe God continues to heal people today through medicine and prayer, but not always and not in flashy public ways. Jesus often told the people he healed not to tell others about it. I do believe Christians can pray for people to receive the Holy Spirit and that is a wonderful thing. Only last Saturday we had an away day for a church focusing on understanding more about the Holy Spirit and praying to be refilled with God's refreshing Spirit. Also a key service I lead as a Bishop is Confirmation, which focuses on the stregthening God's Spirit gives to people.
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Eighth live discussion Wed 2 March 2011, Beaminster School, Beaminster, Dorset
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26 Feb, 2011 12:32 PM
I am greatly looking forward to our eighth live discussion this coming Wednesday 2 March 2011 with sixth formers from Beaminster School , Beaminster, Dorset.
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Eighth live discussion Wed 2 March 2011, Beaminster School, Beaminster, Dorset
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
02 Mar, 2011 11:06 AM
Previously Beaminster School wrote:
Why is there evil in a world that should be good? do you agree with augustine or irenaeus? or do you believe in something else entirely?
Hi. Thanks. Great key question. Augustine stresses that evil is the corruption of the good and there are not two equal powers, but the evil has been conquered. Irenaeus suggests that this world is the 'vale of soul making' and in some senses we learn and grown from our experiences of suffering and evil. I see positive things in both these key thinkers. I don't think it is possible to grasp the enormity of evil or God's response to it without believing in life after death and that, in Jesus, God knows what it is like to suffer and be part of his own creation.
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Eighth live discussion Wed 2 March 2011, Beaminster School, Beaminster, Dorset
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Bishop Graham
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02 Mar, 2011 11:53 AM
Previously Beaminster School wrote:
please can you describe in everyday language how people can get to heaven? what you believe it is like? what do you believe is hell?
Thanks. By believing in Jesus Christ. Jesus told various stories about the Kingdom of Heaven and they usually involve parties, and fun and joy and deep relationships, and reunions and worship and eating. We have a foretaste of heaven here on earth when churches are as open in welcome to everyone as God is and worship is lively and engaging and draws in people of every tribe, and nation and celebrates Holy Communion. Hell, I believe not so much an eternal place of torture as de-creation back into the nothingness out of which creation originally was called by God. So those who really don't want to live with God in heaven and fiercely insist on their own way will not be forced by God to live with him, but - sadly and tragically, will be de-created back into nothingness. I've developed some more thinking on heaven and hell in my 'Signs and Seasons: a guide for your Christian journey'.
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Eighth live discussion Wed 2 March 2011, Beaminster School, Beaminster, Dorset
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
05 Oct, 2011 11:36 AM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
Do you believe in hell? If so why does the Bible teach forgiveness? What would hell achieve?
Thanks. I believe in hell as nothingness. Those who really don't want to live with God for ever, won't be forced into that - for God doesn't force people. I think that they will be decreated back into the nothingness out of which creation originally came, then all that will be left will be summed up in Christ. This is the only way I can see that Jesus's serious warnings concerning hell - from the most loving person who has ever lived - can chime in with Paul's vision of, in the end, everything and everyone being summed up in Christ in the fullness of time (Ephesians 1:10).
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
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05 Oct, 2011 11:41 AM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
If God hears prayers and acts upon them, surely he must have a concept of and therefore be subject to time?
Thanks. God created time and so is outside of time. The amazing thing about Jesus of Nazareth is that, in him, not only did God become a human being (a particular Jew, in a particular place) but he also entered 'time' (at a particular time). So he knows what it is like to live in time, but lives outside of time. So, he is not subject to time, but entered it for a period of years. Strange, isn't it? But then Einstein's theory of relativity is also strange - which has been in the news recently with the CERN particles colliding at speed. I do believe God answers prayers - but no idea how he does...
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
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last modified
05 Oct, 2011 11:31 AM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
Can a non-believer live a good life and be permitted to enter heaven?
Thanks. We are accepted by God not by what we do, but by what God has done in Jesus of Nazareth and by receiving that gift in faith and trust. So no one can be accepted by living a good life, not even believers in Christ. It is on the basis of what he has done. Jesus' parables are all about surprises, so I won't be surprised if there are lots of surprises in heaven - if you see what I mean...
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
