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26 Jan, 2011 09:36 AM
Previously Queen Elizabeth’s School in Wimborne wrote:
Thank you for your time today... hope the bacon sandwich was nice and have a good journey up to London- Personally, I would recommend visiting Harrods, as they do lovely Crispy Cremes- and they give you one free to taste!
Thanks. Great tip for London! Not so much a bacon sandwich in Tisbury as scrambled egg and smoked salmon - delicious. I've really enjoyed this session and will try to answer the rest later in the week. Bye - says he dashing for the train...
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Fifth live discussion Wed 26 Jan 2011, Queen Elizabeth School, Wimborne Minster, Dorset
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Bishop Graham
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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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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.
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06 Oct, 2011 01:38 PM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
Last week Troy Davis was executed for shooting a policemen in 1989 and yet policemen shoot people what makes this acceptable and will they go to heaven? Is it ever right to take someones life?
Thanks. Shooting people is wrong - policemen or anyone. I don't believe in the death sentence - for some mistakes in the judicial system have led to the wrong people being executed. Not all policemen shoot people - thank God - but some, in extreme case, do, usually to protect others from being shot. It may be right - in extreme cases - to take someone's life, eg if a man is holding hostages and about to kill them and a sniper kills him first. God is the judge concerning heaven - and he doesn't get things wrong, and often - according to the parables of Jesus - surprises people.
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
06 Oct, 2011 12:46 PM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
If God is outside time and space how does he affect/interact with us? How can he be personal?
Thanks. He has shown he is indeed personal through his word to the prophets and others and then, ultimately, through entering time and space in becoming human in Jesus of Nazareth. He is, after all, God and has found his own ways of relating to people as personal in time and space.
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
05 Oct, 2011 11:49 AM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
If you were in a train driving and the brakes failed, up ahead are five workers working and on a siding there is a sole worker. You can choose to remain on the mainline or turn down the siding. Killing one or five? In a case of passive vs. active evil which would you choose?
Thanks. Horrible choice. I suppose killing the one, rather than the five. Good case study in ethics.
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
05 Oct, 2011 11:50 AM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
Can the Ten Commandments ever be broken?
Thanks. Yes. Every day by lots of people.
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
06 Oct, 2011 01:28 PM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
How can we trust the Bible?
Thanks. Because we trust the Author, and the authors - God's Holy Spirit and various human beings across centuries - as well as countless scholars who have worked hard on the enormous number of manuscripts, getting an accurate text, and countless translators. We need to interpret the Bible as well as read it - a key question to ask is: 'what sort of literature is this particular part of the Bible?' When interpreted properly, eg the Old Testament being interpreted through the New Testament, we can trust the Bible. See, for example, 'Don't Throw Stones'
http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?251
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
06 Oct, 2011 01:17 PM
Previously Gryphon School wrote:
What is your preferred style of worship?
Thanks. I enjoy the diverse variety of worship: modern band music with data projected words and images as well choral evensong at Salisbury Cathedral and Sherborne Abbey. So long as it is done well and is not cringemakingly sad, I am delighted to join in.
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Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.
