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Bishop Graham
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23 Oct, 2011 03:01 PM
I am greatly looking forward to our twelfth live discussion on Wednesday 16 November 2011 with sixth formers from Abbeyfield School , Chippenham, between 11.00 and 11.30am.
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
16 Nov, 2011 11:47 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
One of God's many attributes is being all good. However, in the Bible, the story of Abraham shows that God can make someone sacrifice their own son, and then stop him. It also says to stone homosexuals. If God cannot lie, how can he lie to Abraham? If he is all good, how can he say to stone homosexuals? How can he even allow Abraham to kill his own son?
Thanks. In the story of Abraham and his young son Isaac, God did not - in fact - make him sacrifice his own son. He told him to offer him as a sacrifice, - and Abraham could have refused - but in the end God provided a different sacrifice. This is a very deep, mysterious story, which also relates to Romans 8:31 and 32 concerning Jesus. Jews and Christians have pondered its depths for centuries. David Ford's book 'Christian Wisdom' considers it in particular. The text says, Gen 22:1 that God tested Abraham and he came through that test. As to the Old Testament commands to stone homosexuals, have a look at my article 'Dont Throw Stones: Deuteronomy and the Prodigal Son' http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?251
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
16 Nov, 2011 11:03 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
Do you believe that GOD is benevolent even when there's so much evil and suffering in this world ?
Yes. The strange thing is that God is all powerful and all loving (benevolent) and yet evil and suffering exists. I believe in all these three things. Can't explain it, and can only point to the cross of Christ which shows that God, in Christ, is deeply involved in the suffering of his world and doesn't just sit on the edge of the universe and twiddle his thumbs. He is deeply involved.
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
16 Nov, 2011 11:15 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
There's many religions in this world and in every religion their idea of GOD is different. Why do you think that the GOD who created this world has to be an Christian GOD ? Does this mean that the GODs that other religions worship are wrong?
Thanks. I believe that people have an innate feeling after God and that takes many forms throughout the world. It seems to me that Jesus of Nazareth is unique in that no one else has shown God to humanity as clearly as he has and that God became flesh in him. If people worship gods which don't match up with how he has revealed God - for he showed us God as loving, merciful, generous, suprising, on the side of the poor and outcast - then I suppose I would question those views of those gods. For further discussion, have a look at my article here: http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?3
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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14 Dec, 2011 07:44 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
Freedom to choose is given to man by God. Man has two main choices. Either accept the Love of God and, upon death, go to paradise for eternity, or Refuse God and, upon death, just die, be utterly damned. How is that freedom of choice when it is the same thing as a gun to your head?
Thanks. I don't think it is like having a gun at your head. More like an invitation to a party. Most of Jesus's stories about God and his kingdom involved partying. Sure, we don't have to attend, but that is missing out on the best party in the world...
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
14 Dec, 2011 07:34 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
In a rapidly changing world that is becoming increasingly interconnected by the means of Politics, Economics and Social interactions, do you believe that the Church of England, among the other Christian denominations should get even more involved in Global interactions to promote a peaceful co-existence between the other major religions of the world, finding ground that can solidify a bastion for further good work that inidividual religious charities already do?
Thanks. Yes, I do so believe. join me in working on this. I was at an Anglican Communion conference on Christianity and Other Faiths for 3 days last week in London and recently at 4 Sherborne Schools, I led a study day with Peter Kosminsky, the film director of film The Promise, on issues of Israel-Palestine. See: http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/news/sherborne-schools-explore-israel-palestine-issues-with-peter-kosminsky-and-faith-leaders and you tube clip here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eokX5PxRiw and gallery here http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/gallery-1/a-day-in-sherborne-with-peter-kosminsky
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
16 Nov, 2011 11:52 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
Whats your reasoning for believing in the Christian God?
Thanks. Reading about Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels, and meeting Jesus Christ in the lives of many, many Christians in various cultures around the world and in my own life. Having experienced specific answers to prayer. Having seen the lives of people transformed by the Holy Spirit coming into their lives and showing in sacrificial love in their communities. So, I suppose, more history and current encounter and its effects than philosophical reasoning - though I have a high view of theology and philosophy.
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
14 Dec, 2011 07:45 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
If God is benevolent, omnipotent and omniscience, how can evil exist? does this prove that a christian God cannot exist?
Thanks. I've tried to answer a similar question already on this thread. see below.
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
16 Nov, 2011 11:33 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
If God had wanted to save us, couldn't he have done that without sacrificing Jesus?
Thanks. Profound question. God does want to save us. I suppose he could have thought of another way, but the life, death and resurrection of Jesus reaches the parts other ways may not have reached. The saviour had to be fully human, since all parts of our humanity (mind, body, spirit, and community) needs saving. The saviour had to be fully God, because only God can save. He had to die, it seems to me, because death affects everyone. One out of one people die. And death is so powerful it could only be destroyed from the inside, not the outside. One way to see the resurrection is the massive explosion of life in the guts of 'Death' which destroys 'Death' for ever.
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
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Bishop Graham
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last modified
14 Dec, 2011 07:49 AM
Previously Abbeyfield School wrote:
Do you believe that God is bound by time? Or that God is out of time? If He is out of time, can He come in and out of the at different points in time or does He stay out of it?
Thanks. Great question - and I'm running out of time in this session! No, God is not bound by time, because he made it. Space - time is a continuum, we learn from Einstein and others. The message of Christmas is that God, beyond time, entered our time in the baby of Bethlehem and all the risks that that involved - he nearly got killed by Herod the Great and in the end, 30 years later, was killed by the Romans. See a couple of short poems http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?72 and http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?580
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Twelfth live discussion Wed 16 November 2011, Abbeyfield School, Chippenham, Wilitshire.
