Eleventh live discussion Wed 28 September 2011, Gryphon School, Sherborne, Dorset.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Do(es) atheists/atheism frustrate you if they don't give time to reflect on your beliefs? (For example Richard Dawkins)?

Thanks for all your great questions! Apologies for the technical problems and delay in replying. I have time for one answer now before further meetings today and will try to answer more this evening.

Some atheists seem to shoot from the hip in quick reactions, others, however, are much more thoughtful. I prefer the thoughful ones. Here is a very good review by David Atkinson of Richard Dawkins' 'God Delusion'  - who tends to shoot from the hip...

http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?147

Here is another review which I have found helpful from the London Review of Books by Prof Terry Eagleton

http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?148

Terry Eagleton's opening sentence is pretty devastating and has become famous.

Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology. Card-carrying rationalists like Dawkins, who is the nearest thing to a professional atheist we have had since Bertrand Russell, are in one sense the least well-equipped to understand what they castigate, since they don't believe there is anything there to be understood, or at least anything worth understanding. This is why they invariably come up with vulgar caricatures of religious faith that would make a first-year theology student wince. The more they detest religion, the more ill-informed their criticisms of it tend to be. If they were asked to pass judgment on phenomenology or the geopolitics of South Asia, they would no doubt bone up on the question as assiduously as they could. When it comes to theology, however, any shoddy old travesty will pass muster.

Hope this helps.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

 How can God permit believers to heaven if not all hear the word of his disciples?

Thanks. God welcomes people into heaven not through what they have done, but through what he has done in Jesus of Nazareth. He takes the initiative and relates to people through dreams and visions and healings as well as through preaching. Not all will be able to hear the word, but that does not mean that those who have heard and respond will not be welcomed by God. Concerning those who are in a context who can't learn about Jesus, have a look at:

http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?3

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Does life ever end?

Thanks. I believe that our individual lives end when we die, but that we are raised to meet God. That will be quite a meeting...Also, I believe that the whole universe, one day, will be recreated and that after that, life in all its fullness will deepen and deepen for ever.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

When does life begin?

After the first cup of coffee in the morning, I reckon...

I believe human life begins at conception.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Can one believe in God out of fear?

Yes, but that is not really healthy. Much better to believe in God out of love and wonder and desire for fullness of life. Proverbs in the Old Testament says 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom' - that 'fear' includes wonder and awe at God's majesty. Since we are accepted by God through faith in Jesus of Nazareth, we don't need to be terrified of him.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

If one takes the view that God designed the evolution process, surely all animals must go to heaven? Or how would we know humans are developed enough to enter?

I do believe God creates animals and humans through evolution. I don't believe animals can 'sin' as humans can, so in the whole recreation of the universe I would not be suprised to see renewed animals. This is often part of the prophets vision of God's renewed world - the lion laying down with the lamb, as in Isaiah.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Is it more important to lead a good life or to believe in God?

Thanks. Both are really important. When Jesus was asked about which was the greatest commandment, he replied with a double commandment: love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbour as yourself. That echoes your question, it seems to me.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Should politics be secular?

Thanks. If the whole world is God's, as I believe, then can anything actually be secular? Sure, some constitutions are written as secular eg India to avoid religious conflict, but India is profoundly religious at all levels. God is interested in the whole of life - and that includes politics. Have a look at the edition of the New Statesman edited by the Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this year:

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2011/06/long-term-government-democracy

 

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Are secrets justifiable? As all entail a lie?

Thanks. Yes, some secrets are justifiable. eg Anne Frank being hidden in Amsterdam from the Nazis. Some secrets aren't justifiable eg a husband having a secret affair with a work colleague.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Can an atheist ever be right (on any subject) or does their belief cause incompatibility?

Thanks. Yes. Dawkins is right about DNA - because God created DNA and even though Dawkins doesn't believe in God, God still created DNA. Atheists in the former Soviet Union systematically killed and imprisoned people for their beliefs, including millions of Jews. If God doesn't exist, any morality is possible. That raises many more complex questions...

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Does religion deter loneliness?

Thanks. It depends on what religion and whether it is followed authenically of just selfishly. God longs for people to be in integral relationships. We are designed for relationships, and in meeting God we meet others in a new way. There is an important distinction between loneliness and solitude. Solitude - for particular periods - can be life giving. I'm giving a talk at Wimborne Minster on 'Loneliness or Solitude?' on Wed 2 November 2011 at 7.00pm and look forward to working out further my thought in preparation for that.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

If it is forgotten the illegality, is cannabis incompatible with Christianity? Even if one remembers the acceptance of alcohol in society and church?

Thanks. I have read various studies showing that even a so called 'soft drug' like cannabis can damage the brain of humans. Not worth trying. So can large amounts of alcohol. Small amounts of alcohol, I don't have problems with.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

What is the solely most important thing you have learnt from Christianity?

Thanks. That Jesus of Nazareth is alive. From that follows many, many wonderful things eg life is much bigger, wider and more exciting that I ever imagined; we can relate to God deeply and personally; the beauty and delight of the universe begins to make sense; the pain of people in different parts of the world need understanding and helping etc

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

If Jesus was to return, surely, to prove himself he would have to tempt the Lord?

Thanks. I believe that God will bring the whole universe to a stunning conclusion at some point. No idea when. Nor has anyone. Jesus will be part of that consummation, I believe, and that will be clear to all. I don't think he would have to tempt the Lord at all, but be part of his plan. Tom Wright's book 'Surprised by Hope' is well worth reading:

 

http://books.google.com/books/about/Surprised_by_hope.html?id=XBCLiQ8-qXkC 

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

As a Christian can killing ever be justified?

Thanks. Only in protecting another's life. We have to protect the vulnerable. A massacre of civilians in Bengahzi was avoided this year by Gaddafi's tank commanders being killed by NATO airpower. 

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

If killing one could save a hundred could it be justified? Both acts (acting and non-action) are evil so which is the lesser?

Great question. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a wonderfully profound German theologian, pondered this question when deciding whether to join in the plot to assassinate Hitler. He decided it was justified. The plot failed - just - and Bonhoeffer was executed. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Where does free-will end and God's plan begin?

Thanks. Free will and God's plan begin and end together. How? I don't know...Both are clearly shown in the Bible and in particular in the cross of Christ. We are not robots manipulated by God. The world is not hurtling meaninglessly along. We have been given the great gift of free will by God and he has an overall plan for the whole universe, which centred on Christ and will be summed up in him. Have a look at Paul's letter to the Ephesians chapter 1, especially verse 10. Amazing.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Most religions have an ethical code similar to Christianity - would these allow them to be deemed good by God or would their faith bar this?

Thanks. I've tried to look at this vast subject in this article 'Jesus Christ, Salvation and People of Other Faiths':

http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?3 

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

If it is taken that Rev21:8 refers to those who are so afraid of persecution they turn from Christ and not just 'cowardice' or fear. Is suicide forgivable?

Interesting question. Revelation is not easy to interpret as a book and needs care. Again, a good guide is Tom Wright's book I mentioned in another answer 'Surprised by Hope'. Suicide is very serious indeed and anyone contemplating it should talk to friends and counsellors at school or at home. God loves to forgive. God also longs for people to be fully alive.

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...

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Do you believe in eternal security? That christians were predetermined to be saved? If so what would be the consequence of a Christian committing apostasy?

Thanks. I believe in a key distinction between presumption and assurance. Some people reckon that it is presumptuous to say they know that God will accept them into his presence when they die. However, that thinking is based on being accepted by good works - what we do. We can be assured of being accepted by God because it is based on what God has done in Christ and our joining in with that in trust. Since it is not based on us, but on God, then it is not presumptous to be assured of heaven. It is merely taking God at his word - and he is reliable.

I believe that we who repond in faith and trust are chosen by God, but I also believe that we are responsible for our response in faith. Again, a strange paradox. A Christian who commits apostasy is a difficult question. Some who do so, return later to the faith.Others don't. God doesn't force people, but always long for them to return to him.

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).

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...

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

 If one ignores religion and politics, is Israel ethically right in its actions in Palestine?

Thanks. Not sure we should ignore religion nor politics for they provide the context for any ethical decisions, and in particular on this issue. Did you see the Channel 4 film series (over four weeks) produced by Peter Kozminsky called 'The Promise' ? It was brilliant and involved a young naive gap year girl becoming aware of these issues. Jews have been appalingly treated throughout the centuries, culminating in the holocaust. Israel has been under threat of extinction by extremists in the Middle East for years. Their fear and need for protection is understandable. However, many of their treatments of the Palestinians by past and present Israeli government have been woefully below the standards in their own Holy Scriptures and, I believe, are indefensible eg the well documented use of phosphorus. Palestinians do need their own homeland. Israel needs assurance of their own continued existence. Let us continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

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.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Can the Ten Commandments ever be broken?

Thanks. Yes. Every day by lots of people.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

As a christian how would you react to Epicurus incosistent triad?

Thanks. I assume you are refering to what has been called 'the problem of evil'. Epicurus is often credited with first coming up with: God is all loving. God is all powerful. Evil exists. This looks like an inconsistent triad. Whole books have been written on this problem... in short I follow Augustine's defence which is based on free will. Yes, evil exists. Yes, God is all loving. Yes, God is all powerful, but he deliberately limits his power to allow space for free will amongst humans, without which we would be puppets in his hands and merely manipulated by him.

If God intervened with a bolt of lightning killing dead everyone who was about to do an act of evil, then it would be chaos in the world and people would not have free will.

John Hick, in his book, 'Evil and the God of Love', tends towards Irenaeus's concept of the world being a 'vale of soul making' ie we learn from the awful events that happen in the world and grow through exercising our muscles working against wrong and evil.

Amazingly, God in Christ, suffered evil being perpetrated against him on the cross. He absorbed that evil in his body, not passing it on, and took it out of circulation. I don't have, and no one does, have an answer to the problem of evil - I can only give pointers, and these focus on the cross of Christ. Some say, God made the world and he should pay for the awfulness in it. We can only point to the cross and say: Yes, and he has.

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.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Why do you think so many people are athiest today? Could it be linked with natural disasters and suffering?

Thanks.  Taking the whole world in view, most people in the world pray and aren't atheists.  It may seem to us that there are so many atheists, but on a world-wide scale, there aren't. If people become atheists - and I don't reckon you are born an atheist - it is indeed often because of the awful problem of innocent suffering.

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.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Do you believe that jesus' miracles could be misinterpreted? i.e did Jesus walk on water, or just a sandbank?

Thanks. They could be, but I believe they really happened. I don't think Jesus was a con artist. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, walking on water is not really a problem, is it? I've walked on Sandbanks, near Poole, but can't walk on water...

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Have you experienced a miracle? If so how did you know it was a miracle?

Thanks. Yes, I believe miracles still happen. God is still God and the two greatest miracles are God becoming human in Jesus of Nazareth and God raising him from the dead in the resurrection. The ongoing effects of both of those are amazing as people's lives throughout the ages and throughout the world have been transformed by encounters with the risen Christ. So, I suppose the greatest miracle I've experienced is having my life turned around by meeting Christ is a profoundly personal way when I was reading law at Oxford.

I also believe that people are healed by medicine and prayer. My eldest daughter is a doctor working in a hospital and she is consistently astounded by how the body is wonderfully designed to heal itself and medicine facilitates that natural healing. Sometimes that natural healing is speeded up in answer to prayer. I don't know how that works, but believe it does, and have experienced people being healed through prayer.  

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

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Whats your view on homosexuality?

I personally think the Bishops Guidelines in the Church of England, 'Issues in Human Sexuality', form a good and balanced reference point. These state that those who are gay in their sexual orientation and wish to be vicars are welcome to be vicars but should be celibate. They do not say the same about lay people in the church ie that they have to be celibate. In all professions, leaders are held to be more accountable than others: judges and police have to have a higher standard of law keeping than others;  teachers have to have a higher standard of behaviour with young people than others; similarly acccountants concerning financial integrity. So, the above distinction between vicars and lay people seems to make sense to me. It is also worth looking at Paul's First Letter to Timothy chapter 3, where he says leaders should be the husband of one wife ie there were clearly people with more than one wife in the congregation, but those could not be leaders.

Oliver O'Donovan has written a fine book, 'A Conversation Waiting to Begin: The Churches and the Gay Controversy' (SCM Press, 2009)

http://www.scmpress.co.uk/bookdetails.asp?ISBN=9780334042105

This is a book of his online essays which may be seen here

http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=130 

This a huge subject. Hope this helps.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

What is your view on whether women should be Bishops in the Church of England?

thanks. Yes, I think they should and long for the day that the first woman bishop is consecrated.

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.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Why is it that most people who have a faith are old and closer to death? Do you think its right that when people are closer to death they turn to Christianity to get to heaven?

Thanks. In England that may be the impression (!), but throughout the world there are millions of young Christians - and in many churches in England there are enormous numbers of young people who believe. Some people may be 'cramming for their finals',  as a friend once wryly descibed it to me, but wisdom also comes with maturer years and the greatest wisdom is found in Christ. When approaching death - in an accident or as a soldier or as an older person - things do get focussed.

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Do we need to sin to learn? Through sinning we experience God's forgiveness and this brings us closer to God therefore we should all sin. Do you agree?

Thanks. Great question - which was anticipated by St Paul is his letter to the Romans, chapter 6. 'Shall we sin so that grace may abound?' and answers it: 'God forbid.' We do indeed learn from our mistakes and our sins, but that should not lead to a deliberate strategy to make mistakes - certainly not in A levels...

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Do you believe in eschatological verification?

Thanks. Yes, but since eschatology involves 'now' as well as 'then' - for Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God and it will one day be complete -verification can begin now... BTW, someone once quipped: 'just because we don't know the meaning of eschatology, it's not the end of the world...'

Previously Gryphon School wrote:

Life after death?

thanks. Yes - and before it too. Someone has come back from the dead and witnessed to life beyond the grave. Ultimately, I believe in life after death because of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.