Session 3 Summary

Session 3 began with reading chapters 5 to 10. Again the headcount was 9, with one new face, Ellen Snidel.

The short presentation on the tabernacle followed some discussion of warnings. Bob expressed the positive side of warnings as showing both God's jealousy for us and the positive aspects of the five touches of the Spirit, for example in the first section of chapter 6:

1. who have once been enlightened, and
2. have tasted the heavenly gift, and
3..have shared in the Holy Spirit, and

4. have tasted the goodness of the word of God and
5. the powers of the age to come.

The presentation covered the furniture of the tabernacle in somewhat pastel images, but showing also the realism of the arch of Titus and the romance of Rafael's Ezekiel.

Frank pointed out that the identification of the curtain with Jesus flesh is a reinterpretation of the original - Bob agreed, but also pointed out that it was the author of the Hebrews interpretation - not just a 21st century interpretation. What were the origins of the various pieces of furniture in the Tabernacle? All subject to the evolution of human religious thought was the consensus.

Discussion was animated in the second half. Bob's definition of fundamentalist thought as the shortest distance between two scripture verses did not allow him to escape the question from Brenda as to whether the Bible is the 'inspired word of God'.

To this question - speaking of the books between the red covers of the NRSV, Bob answered no - and yes saying

A. that the agreement on canonical items varies strongly between Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox - (best page I could find for this was http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/canon2.stm but it is not the one I saw some weeks ago. Another is http://www.cresourcei.org/canonot.html.)

There is a core agreement - a minimalist 66 books if one excludes the Hebrew Bible which does not include the 27 NT books and is in a different order from the 39 OT books. And if one excludes the Qur'an - which Christians do of course since it is not our tradition for a number of reasons - mostly due to the lack of exaltation of Jesus.

and B. in defense of orthodoxy, that though the Bible (even the minimalist) is 100% human - it is also 100% divine as the human agents have sought to see the revelation of grace. Both TNK and NT illustrate the non-use of power as the expression of love. (Isaiah 53 and the crucifixion).

Bob did not get to say that being a 'little lower than the angels' means being under those cherubim's wheels on the mercy seat.

Jae asked if Vengeance and Justice are related in the death of Jesus.

It is very difficult to summarize discussions. Kitty (aged 93) continued to provide discipline since we all had to use the microphone so she could hear us.

Christian (much younger) escaped at 9 to begin his packing for three months in Europe.