I would like to think I am capable of loving my fellow man while still being disappointed in an empty, shallow Bible study.
My expectation from such a group is that those involved will have some depth of thought and do more than parrot back what is said to them. One of the dangers facing the Church today is that there is a growing lack of understanding, of thought behind the faith. How do you serve God through preaching a faith you don’t understand?
Heck, how do you serve God by running a Bible study from a written recipe? If people cannot handle an in depth conversation with other PEOPLE, how can they expect to handle the complexities of a message from God? I’m not expecting people to lie on their sides for days on end or build little effigies of a city out of mud, but I’d like to be able to say something about the acknowledgment of our sinful nature being necessary before we can accept forgiveness for such a nature without someone freaking out.
Much agree on those points.
Faith, wisdom and knowledge are tricky. I know a dementia patient with tremendous faith. Faith is when you believe "in" Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the "being" mode. Knowledge and understanding, though very important, bring the "having" mode more into play and we must be careful.
My earlier post was a weak attempt to show the problem of "having" expectations. They bring disappointment. Does God want us to be disappointed? or does he want us to be joyful?