Our parish Bible Study Group which meets on a Wednesday Night is looking through the J.I. Packer book ... Knowing God
Trevor (our study leader) comments "Knowing God follows on naturally from our last study on prayer. In prayer we make room in our lives to spend time to talk or have dialogue with God. We get to know him and invite Him into our lives. We pray His will be done so that his wishes for his world and all that we do in ours should become one and the same.
This study 'Knowing God' over the next months will deepen this relationship and help us know God's will so that we serve him more faithfully and transform every task we do to ensure that it is done for his glory. Trevor"
Over the next few months I hope as part of my preparations for it to add a few thoughts, questions and general observations before and after the studies. Please do feel free to add comments on the Blog or on my facebook page or email me! I hope that this will also provide a way into the book for fellow group members who are finding it tough going.
Here Goes:
Chapter 1 is entitled - The Study of God
From the opening quotation we see that the study of God, for the Christian is so vitally important, to get to know our Father. It is such an enormous subject. The more we know the more we don't know - the more we struggle with studying God the more our minds are able to cope with other things. The Study of God is the study of creation, of reality of everything.
Who needs theology?
Theology conjures up, certainly when I started in Dublin ... Dusty Books, old professors and the weighty tombes of long forgotten theologians.
Packer reminds us that it is however -"the most practical project anyone can engage in. It is crucially important for the living of our lives". Theology gives meaning to our lives.
We need to be clear why we want to know about God - Gaining theological knowledge can't be the end in itself ... NOPE! Our aim has to be to get to know God better.
We need to turn Knowledge about God into Knowledge of Him.
So often in Church we hear but don't take to heart
we know the stories but don't make the journey from the head to the heart
As we go through this study of Packer's Book may we remember that theology - "God Talk" is all about talking about our Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and how he interacts with the world and the implications of that for us today.
Questions from the Back of the Book (paraphrased)
1. What comes to your mind when you think about Theology
2. What does a person mean when they say - "there is no pathway to know God"
3. How Comfortable do you feel about the 5 Themes?
4. what should be our ultimate aim in studying God
6. What does it mean to meditate on God
Why is the study of God important?
Here Goes:
Chapter 1 is entitled - The Study of God
From the opening quotation we see that the study of God, for the Christian is so vitally important, to get to know our Father. It is such an enormous subject. The more we know the more we don't know - the more we struggle with studying God the more our minds are able to cope with other things. The Study of God is the study of creation, of reality of everything.
Who needs theology?
Theology conjures up, certainly when I started in Dublin ... Dusty Books, old professors and the weighty tombes of long forgotten theologians.
Packer reminds us that it is however -"the most practical project anyone can engage in. It is crucially important for the living of our lives". Theology gives meaning to our lives.
We need to be clear why we want to know about God - Gaining theological knowledge can't be the end in itself ... NOPE! Our aim has to be to get to know God better.
We need to turn Knowledge about God into Knowledge of Him.
So often in Church we hear but don't take to heart
we know the stories but don't make the journey from the head to the heart
As we go through this study of Packer's Book may we remember that theology - "God Talk" is all about talking about our Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and how he interacts with the world and the implications of that for us today.
Questions from the Back of the Book (paraphrased)
1. What comes to your mind when you think about Theology
2. What does a person mean when they say - "there is no pathway to know God"
3. How Comfortable do you feel about the 5 Themes?
4. what should be our ultimate aim in studying God
6. What does it mean to meditate on God
Why is the study of God important?
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