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12 Jan, 2011 12:01 PM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
In the eyes of God murder is seen as wrong. So in a situation on a plane where a terrorist has taken over and you have the opertunity to kill him to save the people on the plane, would you do it knowing that murder is wrong but at the same time saving hundreds of lives?
Connor
Thanks, Connor. Bonhoeffer, a German theologian under the Nazi regime, faced a similar situation. He decided in the end be part of in some with in the plot against Hitler with a bomb under the table. It went off but the table leg saved Hitler. Bonhoeffer, one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century was arrested and spent time in prison where he reflected deeply on your very question, but then was hanged a few weeks before the end of the war.
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Third Live Discussion Wed 12 Jan 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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19 Jan, 2011 07:44 AM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
Why, out of all the different strand of chirstanity, did you chose to become an anglican? Where you baptised into the religion as child or joined later in life?
Thanks. I was baptised in an Anglican church in Barkingside - Holy Trinity. My parents sent me to Sunday School and in Chigwell, Essex, where we then lived, St Mary's Parish Church was the only church in the village. Later I sang in the choir there till about 12. Then I drifted and a personal faith in Christ came alive in my second term at Oxford. My christian friends who helped me to faith attended St Aldates Church in Oxford, so I went with them. The chapel in Hertford College became a nourishing home too. So I suppose, I was baptised an Anglican and then because the Church of England was the one around so much and was the livliest in Oxford, I went there. Soon after my faith came alive I came to realise that the Church of England was a warm and expansive church in which to grow and stayed an Anglican by theological conviction. There is a good book, edited by Caroline Chartres, 'Why I am still an Anglican' .
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Third Live Discussion Wed 12 Jan 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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12 Jan, 2011 11:36 AM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
Hello did you ever want to have children??
thanks. We have three grown up daughters.
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Third Live Discussion Wed 12 Jan 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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12 Jan, 2011 11:59 AM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
If god is all benevolent and has mapped out our lives why did he place people such as hitler and extremists on the earth?
THanks. He did't 'place them on the earth' he created them with free will and they developed into evil extremists. He countered through nations and people. Although lots of things went wrong in the second world war, Hitler was defeated and people were liberated.
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Third Live Discussion Wed 12 Jan 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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Bishop Graham
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14 Dec, 2011 11:40 AM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
if god is all loving why is there so much suffering?
Thanks. really difficult question - the most stretching. I think the way to look at this is that for us to respond to God in real love - which he longs for - we also have to be free to reject his love. You can't be locked in a room and told you can only come out when you say you love me. Forced love is not love. So where there is freedom to reject love, there is bound to be suffering too. But much suffering is innocent suffering and we are all bound up together as humans in one group of humanity. God doesn't sit at the edge of the universe and twiddle his thumbs, but is deeply involved. So much so that he, in Jesus, suffered innocently. I can, in the end, only point to the cross. Hope that helps.
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Thirteenth Live Discussion Wed 14 Dec 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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14 Dec, 2011 12:12 PM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
Have you ever felt God's presence?
Thanks. Great question. Yes, I have. Very moving indeed it is too. Sometimes surprising, always extraordinary and welcome. In church services - especially during music and readings - in the open air; with friends in the pub; reflecting on the Bible in the early mornings in my chapel in the garden at Sherborne House; praying with people who are sick - yesterday I visited a retired woman priest who has been very ill and God's presence in her house was tangible. Feeling God's presence is open to everyone - pray to be filled with God's Holy Spirit; at home, in quiet, or with a friend.
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Thirteenth Live Discussion Wed 14 Dec 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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Bishop Graham
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14 Dec, 2011 11:31 AM
Looking forward to your questions. Yours Graham
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Thirteenth Live Discussion Wed 14 Dec 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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14 Dec, 2011 11:43 AM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
Do you believe we will all be judged when we die?
Thanks. Yes. And justice and judgement can be hopeful, especially for the oppressed. The President of Syria will be judged for the 5000 people who have been killed in the uprising against him. God is perfectly just and has provided, in Jesus of Nazareth, our way through judgement into eternal life. Clinging onto him, in faith and trust, means we pass through judgement into new life on the other side.
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Thirteenth Live Discussion Wed 14 Dec 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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14 Dec, 2011 12:02 PM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
Hello Please can you explain why God, who in the Old Testament is portrayed as a vengful ruler who punishes his enemies, is so different to the loving father who gives forgiveness through Jesus in the New Testament?
Hello. I like the smiley. I can't really explain but I can explore with you. Jesus's bible was the Old Testament and he prayed to the God revealed there. God is serious and takes tragedy and sin and oppression seriously, so he does judge. This is not necessarily vengeful, but just. God in the OT is also seen as deeply loving and compassionate. The focus of God in the OT is in Jesus in the NT. Jesus, in the NT, also mentions the seriousness of oppression and God setting people free and judging those who mess people up. So, yes, there is a development of the doctrine of God in the Bible, but that this gradual and not a huge shift from OT to NT.
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Thirteenth Live Discussion Wed 14 Dec 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
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Bishop Graham
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14 Dec, 2011 11:36 AM
Previously St Edwards Poole wrote:
Do you believe in the after life?
Thanks. Yes. Because Jesus came back from beyond the grave and let us know about it. I also believe in the 'before life', which we can enter into now.
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Thirteenth Live Discussion Wed 14 Dec 2011, 11.30-12.00: St Edward's RC and C of E School, Poole
