CHEW MORE: CLOSER

Friday 3rd April 2015

Chew MoreCloser

Dr Bex LewisSocial Media & Online Learning, CODECDirector, Digital FingerprintT: @drbexlW: drbexl.co.uk

Dr Krish KandiahPresident, London School of TheologyFounder/Director, Home for GoodT: @krishkW: krishk.com

Does my religion look big in this?Dr Bex Lewis

Religion is often paramount in people who are zealous for their faith; they judge people by standards of holiness they can’t even meet themselves… Saul was truly a religious man. But his religion wasn’t saving him; he was wandering and lost, searching for a deeper sense of salvation.

Cris Rogers, Immeasurably More, p.82

Barna Survey (US, 2007)

• Judgmental• Hypocritical• Old-Fashioned• Too Involved in Politics• Anti-Homosexualhttps://www.barna.org/barna-update/teens-nextgen/94-a-new-generation-expresses-its-skepticism-and-frustration-with-christianity#.VQr7dRCsW38

“…Effort is the Baggage of Religion”

Image Source: https://sarcasticfont.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/26079.jpg

“Knowing God takes no effort whatsover…” Steve McSwain, Huffington Post, in Rogers, p87

Religion

• “A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.” (Wordnik)

• “Religion” is ultimately the idol we use to control the uncontrollable. (Rogers, p87)

Faith

• “The theological virtue defined as a secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God’s will.” (Wordnik)

• “… the innate drive to search for meaning, purpose and significance.” (Popcak, Patheos, 2014)

The danger of mere intellectual orthodoxy is that we are tempted to think we can manage God. Our doctrines then become idols - static, fixed and inflexible. According to Psalm 115:8, 'those who make [such idols] will be like them'. They will “become people who are static, inflexible and unsurprising. In contrast, the Lord 'does whatever pleases him' (115:3). And those who worship the Lord become free and spontaneous. God can never be contained by the human mind. If he could then God would be too puny a God to be worshipped. The point of theology is to understand God (to stand under God in reverent awe), not to over-stand God by attempting to control him through theological discourse.” Robert Farrar Capon, An Offering of Uncles: The Priesthood of Adam and the Shape of the World (New York: Crossroad, 1982), p. 163.

http://www.theologicalstudies.org.uk/article_living_stevens.html

Rev Dr Calvin Samuelhttps://youtu.be/cOGgOTzs5yY

Photoshopped Selves

[If we are…] means by which God communicates and reveals himself through his Spirit, then our blog posts, status updates, tweets, artistic images, and online comments should be products of a life transformed by Christ and indwelled by his Spirit. As restored image bearers, our online presence and activity should image the Triune God.

Byers, A. Theomedia (2013, 196)

On the Emmaus Road, Jesus was recognized in the breaking of bread rather than in the exegesis of Scripture. That’s an intriguing lesson to learn when so much of the web and so much of digital communication is about proclamation rather than reception.

Phillips et al, 2013: 10

Rev Dr Pete Phillipshttps://youtu.be/q9-UOqUlrUw

DISCUSS

• Have our expectations of God, theology, religion become burdens for self or others?

• What does a ‘different’ way of thinking mean for our daily living?

Image Source: RGBStock

Beyond ReligionDr Krish Kandiah

BEYOND RELIGION

CLOSER

ADOPTION

4For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in

fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are

children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his

glory.

8:14-17

What does adoption give you in a relationship with God that other metaphors of salvation don’t give you?

p.95

p.95

God is closer than you thinkDr Bex Lewis

"If you want to build a presence in the social media platform, then you need to

be present." - @unmarketing

Footprints?

Image Source: http://chainsawsuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/201208081.png

The Jesus Bridge?

Image Source: http://www.histruthbetold.org/images2/JesusBridgeToGod.jpg

Dave Stouthttps://youtu.be/YP6tmg60-0Q

https://youtu.be/7eQ7D-A00Bw

Dr Sola Akalahttps://youtu.be/5CSnRIgZbKE

DISCUSS• Where do we get our theological

understanding from?– The Bible?– Architecture?– People? – Nature?

• What impact does this theology have on our lives and the policies that we champion?

Chew More: Closer Find slides: http://www.slideshare.net/drbexl

Dr Bex LewisSocial Media & Online Learning, CODECDirector, Digital FingerprintT: @drbexlW: drbexl.co.uk

Dr Krish KandiahPresident, London School of TheologyFounder/Director, Home for GoodT: @krishkW: krishk.com