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answer the questions below:
part 1 : What do you think about the baptism story that I talked about in the lecture? How would your church have responded to the girl?
Yaconelli states: “I go into churches and everyone seems to feel so good about themselves. Everyone calls themselves a Christian nowadays.How dare we even call ourselves Christians?It’s not only for Jesus to decide whether we are Christian or not.I don’t think He’s made a decision in my case, and I’m afraid that when He does I am going to be sent straight to hell.I don’t feel like I can call myself a Christian. . . I think all this contentment makes Jesus nervous.”
Do you AGREE OR DISAGREE with this?
What is true here?
When it comes to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism as it plays itself out in our churches, Christian Smith says, ”
“Much of what we do in churches is more about keeping God out of our lives.”
Do you agree or disagree? Why? How have you seen that exhibited?
part 2
“What they desperately needed, what they desperately wanted, was for someone to recognize what they were looking for, not what they were doing.” (p. 63) “How have you ever seen church reject a person?
“I don’t believe in spiritual growth. . . Spiritual growth has become an industry, a system, a set of principles, formulas, training programs, curricula, books, and tapes, which, if followed, promise to produce maturity and depth.” (p. 88)What do you think about this?Do you agree or disagree?What might Yaconelli say about THIS class?Do you think he would say it contributes to this idea?
What do you think about the point Yaconelli makes when he says, “The power of goodness is found in the tiny. Since the beginning, God chose tiny over large: David over Goliath, Gideon and his three hundred soldiers over thousands of Midianites, Elijah over the prophets of Baal, one sheep over 99 sheep. . .Tiny becomes huge when Jesus is involved . . . It is very easy to conclude that unless God is doing really big things through our lives, we’re not spiritual.”?
part 3
On page 11, Yaconelli reveals,“Even though I am a minister, even though I think about Jesus every day, my following is . . . Uh . . . Meandering.”
Do you identify with the MEANDERING metaphor? Why?
WHY do you think this is the way it is? What is good about this?
In Chapter 2 he talks about these four different places win faith,
Unpretending
Unfinishedness
Incompetence
Desperateness
Which one do you most identify with? Why?
In Chapter 3 he discusses the “Silencers” when he says,
“Religious institutions do not like surprises and especially dislike a spirituality which threatens the status quo. Threaten others with a loud and boisterous faith, and you will be politely (at first) asked to quiet down; dance you faith instead of sitting still in your pew, and you will be asked to leave; talk about your faith with passion, and you will get expressions of concern about the inappropriateness of your emotions. Allow others to see your brokenness, and you will be reprimanded for being too open; hear the music of faith, and you will be warned of the danger of emotional instability.”
What are the SILENCES that you are encouraged/expected to enforce in your churches?
What NEEDS to be talked about that isn’t?
Moralistic Therapeutic Deism promotes to following:
A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
Good people go to heaven when they die.
What do you hear in this that may be concerning? Problematic?
What ought the church pay close attention to if this is true? Why?
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