Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a great week and have been blessed by this month’s book! It really helped to solidify my faith and give me answers to questions that I’ve had and to understand where the differences are between historical Christianity and Progressive Christianity. What were your thoughts in reading this book? Did it answer any doubts you might have had?
Here are this week’s questions:
Chapter 10: Hell on Earth?
*What were your ideas on Hell? Did you have any of the misconceptions that Alisa addressed? Have your views on what Hell is like changed after reading this chapter?
*Why do you believe Hell is such an uncomfortable topic for people?
Chapter 11: Cosmic Child Abuse?
*How do you reconcile God’s wrath with His lovingkindness?
*How does our view of God affect our view of the cross? How do Progressive Christians misunderstand God in this area?
Chapter 12: Reconstruction
*The author lists 8 essentials to being saved (pg. 232). Do you agree with this list? Why or why not?
*Alisa likens rebuilding her faith to building LEGOs as both need essential building blocks to create a sturdy structure. What are your essential building blocks of faith? Why is it important to have these essential blocks in place? Have Progressive Christians removed these essential blocks in their belief system?
Scriptures of the Week
- Hebrews 10
- Isaiah 53:4-6, 10-12
- Matthew 25:41
- Revelation 20:13-15
Prayer of the Week
Father God, Thank You for Your lovingkindness. You are our lifeboat in the middle of the storm and Your faithfulness moves us to praise. We want to be faithful to You and live life Your way, to live by Your word as it lights our path, and to trust in Your salvation through the cross. Help us to trust in You and Your truth and not be swayed by the changing messages and half-truths that the world, and even those who may claim to be Christians, throw at us. We believe, help us in our belief! We thank You and praise You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
If you’d like to check out the other posts for this month’s focus, check out these posts:
For Next Month
Check out THIS POST for all the info for May’s book club! Hope you’ll join in!
Reading this book has been such a blessing in helping me work through challenges I’ve had (some I just discovered) regarding my faith, Scripture, or Christianity in general.
Hell has always been real to me, but what I really enjoyed from this week’s reading was the emphasis on how hell is separation from God and therefore from anything good. We have no idea what this is like, as the author pointed out: “all of us…have no idea what life would be like outside of the presence of God’s goodness and love.” (Page 191) This ‘common grace’ really stood out to me and made me realize how “good” we really have it now, Christian or not…and how important it is to view God and myself accurately.
Hell is an uncomfortable topic because we 1) don’t see ourselves correctly (being innately sinful), 2) don’t like the idea of being held accountable, and 3) can’t understand (from a human perspective) how a permanent consequence could result from seemingly temporary actions (different types of sin). “If first you don’t succeed, try, try again” is one of humanity’s (or at least Western culture’s) mantras – so we just think we can have endless do-overs to get it right.
In wrestling with the subject of hell, I have to remember God’s wrath is against sin and because He is holy and perfect, sin can’t be near/in Him…would I really want it to be? Because if sin can be near/in Him, then He’s not holy or perfect. And if He’s not holy or perfect, why should I trust in Him, why would I want to?
This book has helped me start solidifying what the truth really is, Who the Truth really is. As the author says, “If you believe the truth about reality, your faith will not be misplaced.” (Page 230) I agree with the eight essentials regarding being saved and how it’s important to have the foundational blocks secure before moving onto the other pieces.
I think Christians waste a lot of time debating the non-essential or meaningless variants of faith and Scripture. I think this is because they don’t want to deal (and are not comfortable dealing) with the core doctrine…because they know it will force them to think about rather than simply “feel” their faith. Feelings are great, but feelings only get you so far. And if it’s the thought that counts, then we better start thinking. In my opinion, though, actions (not feelings or thoughts) are the bottom line.
True Christianity’s bottom line, it’s foundation, is secure and speaks for itself. We can wrestle, struggle, and question – and God can handle it and will give us the answers!
I think the core question I realized I was struggling to answer in the midst of my faith deconstruction was: “If I can’t stand on Christ, what is there to stand on?”
This book has helped me more deeply understand how secure Christ is and how important it is to compare beliefs, etc. to the Scripture and not the other way around. I knew what I had been building my hope on, but for so many years could not tell you why. Now I am starting to really see:
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
I definitely had the misconceptions the author listed about hell, especially the one that the people there would be repentant. I always struggled with that idea. But it completely makes sense that they would continue in their rebellion to God and never let go of that idea. It is an uncomfortable topic and one I choose not to highlight very much. I don’t want myself, or anyone else, just to have “fire insurance” with God but to really know how wonderful God is and serve Him out of that relationship and love. It makes sense to me that without Christ, we would have that separation from God and that was always the worst thing about hell to me.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this book! I think it will continue to be a good tool to go back to again and again.