Week5 Col 2:16-23 (click here and scroll down to post)

As always, another intense evening!!!   Thanks so much for the conversation, friends.  Here are a few topics that I remember – please post anything else that flowed out of the evening for you:

Christian freedom – judgementalism & legalism.  How do we keep Christ head and still participate in our disciplines and freedoms?

Safety & our gatherings – is it safe to discuss certain intentional disciplines, such as tithing and sabbath observance?  Are there other topics that are ‘off limits’?

Christian freedom and lawlessness…

Week 4 Col 2:1-15 (click here to post and then scroll down)

Sorry this post was SOOO delayed…again the story of my life lately.  

verse 6 speaks of “receiving Jesus as Lord.”  What has this meant for those of you brought up in conversion -oriented churches?  What does this mean in light of the rest of the Bible and your experience?

This passage presents Christ completing all things necessary for relationship with God. What are we tempted to add to Christ?

The phrase “fullness of deity” implies for some people that Jesus is divine, and it doesn’t imply this for other people.  Discuss.

APPLY:  How do we more fully live into the reality presented in vv 9-15?  That we are alive in Christ?  That that which stood against us has been taken away?  That the powers and authorities have been disarmed?

WEEK 3 (click here to post; then scroll down)

Wow.  What a week right?  I’m not sure exactly how to go about putting down the conversation overflow here.  We dealt with Colossians 1:13-23.  Here is just some of the overflow…please feel free to add anything else:

Must a person ‘confess Jesus as Lord’ with their mouths to be saved?  Do the “alls” in verses 15-20 and the word “supremacy” in verse 18 place Christ above all other religions and philosophies?

Is the “if” in verse 23 a conditional if?  How is love freely given and unconditional if it comes with strings attached?

If God is a God of Love, won’t all people be saved?  verse 20 speaks of all things being reconciled…

Is love truly love if it doesn’t allow the object of love to reject the lover?

The passage speaks (in verse 20) of  all thing on earth being reconciled – what are the implications for the created order?  Animals?  The earth?  If God is reconciling all of creation, how does this affect the way we interact with creation?

WEEK 2 (click here to post; then scroll down)

Hi All!  Sorry I missed things – it sounds like you had a great evening! Feel free to post any additional conversation here.

WEEK 1 (click here to post; then scroll down)

Hi All!  Thanks so much for such a fun evening last night.  We started to grapple with so many different conversations that I thought it might be nice to have a place to discuss them further.  I’d love it if we could generate some additional conversation out here!  Here are a few of the things I remember us talking about:

General context: Why study the Bible?  What good has the Bible brought to you?  What role do other texts play in our faith?

General context: What devotionals have helped people?  What has made regular reading of the Bible rich for you?

Colossae context: Any additional info about Paul, Epaphrus, Colossae, date, the “heresy”?

Colossae context: Do Christians still have power in America? Are Christians a minority? The role of the media?

Colossae context: Would you still be a Christian if your faith could lead to jail or death?  What would happen to the American church if our situation was similar to the Colossian church – minority, powerless, oppressed?

Colossae context: Any stories/information about the persecuted church in our time?