Leaders- preface your group by recognizing where everyone is at in their faith journey. Depending on who is in your group, some may be looking for reasons to believe, others looking for reasons not to believe. (or they know someone in one of these categories). Whether someone is new to the faith or a veteran Christ-follower, we all have things to learn about Jesus and ways to have healthy, grace-filled conversation with others different from ourselves. (Have someone read the Scripture from 1 Peter 3:15) and then pray.
Take a few minutes to discuss: What is your image of Jesus? And where did you derive that image from?
Have 1 or more people read the Scripture from John 1: 45-50
Pastor Greg suggested four helpful points to bear in mind in this discussion:
1. It's ok to have doubts and ask questions. ["It's not doubts that's toxic to faith, it's silence.]
2. Don't mock, or devalue. [be conscious of what is helpful and respectful-refer to 1 Peter verse here]
3. Be open to what you might discover.
4. Be mindful that Jesus is always more than what you imagined.
There are the questions of "Who Jesus was?" vs "If Jesus was?" Pastor Greg offered several things to consider in approaching these questions. Take some time in your group to review these various points then discuss the questions in the REFLECT content.
Sources outside of Christian Scriptures/traditions who reference the person of Jesus:
• Julius Africanus (writing in the 2nd century)
• Tacitus (Roman historian AD 56-120)
• Pliny the Younger (AD 61-113)
• Josephus (1st century historian)
• The Talmud (ancient commentary on Torah dating back to early 2nd century)
Second, the reliability of Scripture--Acknowledging that Jesus never wrote anything down, what we have are the New Testament Scriptures. But how reliable are they, considering no original manuscripts exist?
• We also have no original manuscripts for any of our famous ancient works- (Homer, Virgil, Caesar, Cicero, Seneca, etc) - only copies.
• Homer's Iliad stands out with having the most copies- over 600- dating back to within 500 years. (you might pull up the video for the visual demonstration of these timelines- at approx 1 hour into the service)
o biography of Muhammad was composed 125 yrs after death
o First written records of Siddartha Gautama(Buddha) appeared 350 yrs after death.
• We have over 5700 New Testament copies, which scholars pinpoint to within 65 yrs of Jesus, some within 20 years.
• We must note that Jewish culture was an oral culture. People memorized, practiced, recited, and passed on entire books of Torah. Disciples were trained to memorize and repeat to one another. Something foreign to us in a culture that relies on the memories in our phones and computers.
Yet- we can still memorize- take a pause here and share anything you have committed to memory and it's still in there- (could be a song lyric, a Scripture, lines from a movie, etc)
What surprised you in this discussion? What has been helpful? What further questions do you have?
The last song concluded from a place of love. As we leave let's pray and ask God to show us how to navigate our questions and our discussions with others, with a posture of love.
"There are two ways to be fooled: one is to believe what isn't so, and the other is to refuse to believe what is so."
Soren Kierkegaard
Read
Reflect
What surprised you in this discussion?
What has been helpful?
What further questions do you have?
Do
Challenge yourself to memorize a verse of Scripture this week. AND share that Scripture with the group the next time you meet.
Go Deeper
Consider signing up for Explorations and inviting someone to join you. Who is a Nathaniel in your life and how can you be a Philip to them?