About this Forum

This is an on-line bible study group. Invited members comment on their interpretation of the scriptures, either with regards to a particular topic or question, or as part of an in-depth analysis of a passage or book. The purpose of this group is to help the members to develop a deeper insight into the Word of God by discussing and critiquing one another's ideas.

Motivation

I realised that I am in the fortunate position to have Christian friends who, between them, cover almost the whole spectrum of beliefs that are generally considered acceptable within mainstream Christianity. This forum is to pull together some of those people, and their views, in a constructively critical, but not antagonistic, environment. Because this goal demands a manageable number of people, and a good balance of the varying views, I have decided to keep it as an invitation-only forum. It is my hope that it will be interesting enough for the members to be motivated to contribute to most of the discussions.

What this is Not

This is not intended to be a home group (cell group) or a prayer group. Of course, if a member has some specific prayer request, I am sure the others would be happy to assist in prayer, but the group's primary function is to help each other learn more from the scriptures. This is not a philosophy group, per se — we are not so interested in human wisdom as we are in garnering the wisdom revealed in the bible. Nor is this forum a place for throwing dogmata at one another — there is little point arguing about doctrine that you dogmatically adhere to, because you are not likely to be open to learning and growing in those areas. Having said that, to have a meaningful discussion, we need to have a common baseline, a set of doctrine that all the members agree with. In the next section I list some beliefs that I think are necessary for all the members to agree with for this forum to work effectively.

The Baseline

Here are some beliefs that I stipulate as required doctrine for members of this discussion, in order to limit the scope of the discussions and provide a common baseline for the members. I may add one or two more as they come to mind.

• Absolute Truth: There is an absolute truth. Two contridictory beliefs cannot both be true.
• The Trinity: There is one God who exists as three persons — God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
• The Bible: The bible is the authoritative and infallible (except possibly for small errors in translation) Word of God, although it is open to a wide range of interpretation. No other writing has greater, or equal, authority than the Bible.

Usage Suggestions

Any member can start a new discussion by issuing a new post (click on the "New Post" link at the top right of the screen). Others should add to the discussion by commenting on the post. I suggest that we try to not have more than three or four discussions active at one time.

Also see the usage tips post.