More Questions

[Snatching a comment by Olivia -- can do with more people if they like]

i'd like to see more of this as it's own blog post: "Someone's observation: that people usually think that whatever you're saying must be something they've already heard before -- and so they don't hear what's said, but merely what they'd heard before. How to get past that, in reading all this?" if thee becomes inspired in that department....

....recognizing that i do take the Bible seriously in my own way and that i too would hope that some would be drawn to weigh in who are more of the other sort at the moment but somehow still want to approach the topic of making peace with it -- or expressing the peace they have already made with it...which may have led them to set it aside?? i find that in other ways too i am being drawn to try to hear from the self-stated "non-theists" who feel very spiritually centered and authentically on a spiritual path. i am still trying to understand what that is like.

From a Discussion Sheet at a Liberal Quaker Potluck:

Should We Make Peace With the Bible?

What do you feel like saying about any of the following:

Is the Bible:

I. Historical fiction?
II. A book of rules or ethical instruction?
III. A plan of 'Salvation', whatever that may be?
IV. A collection of wonderful literature we may not happen to enjoy actually reading?
V. Divinely inspired? (In what sense?)
VI. An invitation to mystical consciousness?
VII. None of the above? (What, then?)

To what degree is your position open to other descriptions?

What has been our experience with these books? Have they, overall, been good, bad, or simply a mixed influence?

Does the Bible have 'a Message'?

Should children be exposed to the Bible?

Can the Bible be domesticated? Should it be?

What constitutes misuse of the Bible?

Can you think of any good ways to use it?

Could you confidently read anything in it to a dying person? If you were dying, is there anything in it you would want to hear?

Do you find the Bible's depictions of God helpful? -- or horrifying? -- or silly?

How would you expect God to feel about this book?