I just got invited to a Bible study...

[MissouriTeacher]

It was one of those situations where it was sprung on my so fast I didn't have time to think. I couldn't think of a good excuse (lie) not to go. It wouldn't be a bid deal if I didn't see this guy every single week. Don't get me wrong I like the guy, but he's really more of an acquaintance at this point than a true friend.

I am a Christian, but my feelings on Christianity are very liberal (i.e. non fundamentalist). I haven't attended a church regularly for almost 5 years now, mainly because of the infusion of conservative politics into mainstream Christianity.

Argh! I wish I knew how to just say no!

[Osama_Bin_Winnin]

1. If you don't know how to say no

you should definitely stay away

[Reverend_Smitty]

6. Thats true...

I bet alot of people got roped into cults that way. I'm not saying that your friend is trying to get you to join a cult, but it's food for thought.

[kestrel91316]

2. Just tell him........

you follow the biblical injunction to pray privately, so you CAN'T go to a group to do it!!

[madmax]

3. When I'm caught off gaurd I reply

'let me think about it' or 'I have to check my calander'. :shrug:

[BigMcLargehuge]

4. Though I'm atheist, I am also often offered to have my "eyes opened"

by relatives and acquiantences who insist that I am missing out on one of life's great pleasures. My response is usually "Thanks but I do not partake of faith."

I realize you can't really say this if you are a Christian, but perhaps a polite "no thank you," or "Thanks but I keep my religious beliefs private" would suffice.

[enki23]

5. i'd abandon christianity for good

but that's just me. i'm always asking people to do the right thing.

[xray s]

7. There are many mainstream Christians that share your views.

Just read the three articles in this link to The Lutheran, which is the magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

http://www.thelutheran.org/0407/specialreport.html

Go ahead and so to that bible study. If they are practicing politics instead of studying the bible, challenge them about it. Then find others that share your faith and practice it as well.

[Kat45]

8. What kind of church does he go to?

If it's a fundie church, I'd suggest coming up with an excuse: 'something came up' or something like that. If it's not a fundie church, it might be interesting. I go to Bible study every week, but I belong to a Congregational church, which is one of the most liberal Christian churches, so our Bible study tends to be interesting discussions as we try to figure out the meaning of some scripture. Totally tolerant, free of dogma.

[MissouriTeacher]

14. notmyprez--

I would probably enjoy a Bible study like the one you attend.

Unfortunately, most I've experienced are nothing like that. There's not real discussion. It's just affirmation of what everyone already believes, or is taught to believe by the church.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. If he's a fellow liberal Christian, shouldn't be any problem

If he's a fundamentalist, you can have fun (or be absolutely disgusted)

If he's just conservative, it could go either way.

Best of luck to you!!

[DBoon]

10. Offer to bring martinis for the group

It will show your friendly intentions and help loosen things up a bit.

Enjoy!

[TlalocW]

11. I was blindsided once too...

I was visiting my friend at Baptist Bible College in Springfield MO -he was one of the few non-holier-than-though types there. Anyway, I went with him to a couple of classes, including Spanish. Since I already had a degree in it, his group got done with the in-class assignment before the others thanks to my help. So one of the guys asks me where I went to college.

Me: I did undergrad at Pittsburg State in Kansas and then some graduate at Oklahoma State.
Him: Oh, Stillwater! Eskimo Joe's is a cool place!
Me: You've been there?
Him: Yeah, I'm from Tulsa, and we would go when there was a good band playing there.
Me: I live in Tulsa right now.
Him: Oh, really? What church do you go to?
Me: *(Totally forgetting where I was)* Oh, I don't attend church.

15 seconds of uncomfortable silence where the concept of someone in Tulsa not attending church is sinking into his brain, and I'm mentally kicking myself because I know what's coming next. Fortunately, I had a way out of it.

Him: Well, if you're interested, there's this really good church at 71st and...
Me: That was your church, wasn't it?
Him: Well, yeah...
Me: Actually I do go to church every now and then - to St. Francis de Guadalupe. It's a CATHOLIC church with a heavy Hispanic attendance. I go there to practice my Spanish.

He didn't speak to me the rest of the time I was there. Boy, Baptists sure don't like Catholics. :)

TlalocW

[MissouriTeacher]

12. I really don't know whether he's a 'fundie' or not...

I know he drinks beer, and that recently he went to Florida with a girlfriend. So I doubt he's a pentecostal or anything. Maybe he's just a stereotypical Christian who doesn't practice what he preaches. :)

I also really doubt he's a cult member. I've known the guy for over a year now. We take martial arts classes together. I just don't really KNOW him, you know?

I've already committed myself to going at least once. I actually do have an excuse for future meetings in that it's quite a distance from where I live, and it's not until 9 o clock at night. Once school starts again, that won't work very well.

The problem now is that he's knows I'm a teacher off for the summer without any real commitments so I was hardpressed to make up something on the spot.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

13. You just described me completely

why not just go? Go once and then if you don't want to go again, just tell him you aren't really interested. No big explanation needed.....happens all the time.

Wow, though, you COMPLETELY described me religiously and church-wise....so there are two of us, huh?

[MissouriTeacher]

16. There are more than two of us...

I have some other friends who are disillusioned Christians.

I imagine there are quite a few of us out there. Maybe we should start a Liberals for Jesus group. After all, Jesus has got to be the most famous liberal of them all!

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

17. I swear I'm gonna

and you know what really made me a bit bitter? The conservative fundie politics in church really soured me on the whole thing for a while and I HATED that.

I needed to get my spirituality pure again, so to speak, so I had to get away from organized religion.

I am now considering UU--Universal Unitarian. VERY liberal Christian denomination. I mean ULTRA liberal. I've read a lot about it, know lots of people who go, I just have to get past the whole bitter taste in my mouth when it comes to ANY church.

Sigh. I pray every day. So that's ok. I just can't do the church scene, ya know?

Glad to know I'm not alone...

[DieboldMustDie]

18. Calling UUs Christian is a bit of a stretch.

I don't mean that to be critical, but only about a third of UUs describe themselves as Christian. Some are pagans, some are atheists. Their beliefs vary very widely.

[Nevernose]

19. I'm game (and why not tell the truth?)

I attend (not regularly) the local Evangelical Lutheran church. Despite the name -- Evangelical -- they're very liberal. Genesis upports evolution, they accept/ordain gays, their employee health plan covers abortion. And in the two and a half years since I disocovered them, there has not been a single mention of the word "hell." In fact, mnay of the sermons I've attended have been little more than thiny-disguised Bush-bashing, liberal diatribes -- my kind of place!

When friends/acquantances invite me to their church or bible study groups, I tell them the truth: that I'm a pretty liberal person, and, although I'm a Christian, I only want to attend a liberal church, when I feel like attending at all. Most of the right-wing, fundamentalist Christians I know can at least respect this position, and when I'm up to an argument, they can respect the fact that Jesus was a liberal.

Also, how long have you been teaching?

[MissouriTeacher]

21. If politics do come up...

I certainly won't hide who I am.

I've been thinking that it could be a good way for me to 'evangelize' to them a bit, show them there are different kinds of Christians out there.

Of course, I don't even know these people, so I don't mean to judge them too harshly. I'm just going on what I know about most Christians in this particular part of the world.

(This will be my sixth year of teaching, btw.)

[Ladyhawk]

23. http://www.liberalslikechrist.org

I am an atheist, but I subscribe to this guy's newsletters. Ray Dubuque is quite the guy.

http://www.liberalslikechrist.org

[Ladyhawk]

24. If it's a fundy event, make note of some really disgusting Bible verses...

...and quote them at the study.

Some suggestions:

2Ki 2:23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

2Ki 2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

____

Psa 137: 9 Happy (shall he be) that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

____

1Ki 16:11 And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends.

____

Malacchi 2:3 Behold, I corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces.

____

2Ki 18:27
But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?

____

Ezekiel 23:20
For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

___

Deuteronomy 28:53
And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:

___

There are many more like this. I dare you to read them as part of the bible study. I DARE YA! :D

[Osama_Bin_Winnin]

15. Is it a bring your own snake affair ?

[Endangered Specie]

20. No I think its still a BYOB affair..

Bring your own Bible ;)

[onebigbadwulf]

22. If you go can you find out how these fundies...

interpret Revelations 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.


IF the dead are judged according to their actions, what's the point of believing in Jesus?

[TrogL]

25. Have fun

Take along the sceptics Bible.

Somebody post the link. I'm going to bed.