Is our gospel too narrow?
RF- Yes
We are too individualistic and too focused on getting to heaven. There is no communal aspect and no focus on the KOG (new heaven and new earth). Our soteriology needs more eschatology.
WW- Yes
Meeting the basics of the gospel does not meaning fulfilling the gospel message.
CW- Yes
The gospel is God’s answer to sin and evil and you need to have answer that is as big as the problem.
WW- The gospel is bigger than just propitiation and the getting us to heaven.
RF- The gospel is transformative and is marked by who we are becoming in Christ, how we life and treat other people.
How does the church engage the whole Bible story and not just engage the Bible as snippets of truth?
RF- Most in the church are sound bites believers. They don’t know the whole story. They are missing out on 2/3 of Scripture. People are looking for feel good stories and miss other parts of the Bible. It is the job of the teacher to include some parts of the larger meta-narrative (what will be called the upper story later).
CW- No matter where you are fill in the Bible story for people. Ask what story are you living out of? The biblical narrative (sin, hope and redemption) or the culture narrative (eat, drink and be merry).
WW- The educational system of biblical seminaries is somewhat to blame because they train people in very specialized areas. We need to train pastor to know the story all the way through. They should not be able to get out of school without knowing the flow of the story.
RF- We need to ask if we as pastors know the upper story of Scripture? Do we know the value of knowing the story? What is your practical plan for exposing your community to the story? Only then can we go to isolated passages to focus on.
SJ- At my church, I open each message by telling the story of the Bible up to the point where I teaching.
Is it possible to have a consistent hermeneutic?
CW- The wrong question is to ask which texts do I obey or don’t need to obey. It puts us on the horns of a dilemma. If all of Scripture is useful (profitable), we need to ask how it is useful. We need to ask what the point of the law is and then reflect on the character of God to find meaning for us today.
WW- We see the what in the text, but not always the why. We need to probe the why to understand the what.
RF- Wait we thought this was a story! This is turning out to be very hard. But if we apply common sense to the context of the story it governors the interpretation.
How do we help people see the Bible as a communal book?
RF- There needs to be a move away from individualistic processing of Scripture. We usually have people read Scripture and then come together and share their understanding. We are a community and we need to read the Bible as a community. We need to study the Bible and not just books with Bible verses in them. Read the Bible out loud. Leadership needs to promote communal interaction.
WW- Chris, isn’t the UBS working on a more visual Bible that shows the upper story?
CW- I am not sure.
*Answers are shorten and paraphrased.
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