February 21, 2009
I attended the workshop at 1 PM on Christian Community. David Baggett taught it. He gave us greetings and had us give a quick introduction of yourselves by telling our names, what school we were from, and if we had one last meal to eat before we were to die, what would it be. David said that this workshop was going to be a discussion type class. He asked what community was. Some of the different answers the class offered included common beliefs, similarities, and people who have shared interests. He had a couple of us read from Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 2:18. David asked what distinguished believers and non-believers. One student suggested that it was what they are working toward. We read from Genesis 2:15 and Matthew 28:19-20. David said that these are two different things that we are working for. He asked us to define love. A couple of different suggestions were an action, how your act, how you say things, and a commitment.
David said that you can't really define love without another person or object. He said you also can't define sin without the context of another person. He asked us to define sin and a couple of definitions included separation from God and Self Inflicted Negatively. He asked us to tell him about our faith community. Some students mentioned the Wesley; others mentioned their classes in college. David asked what attracted us to those places. One girl mentioned that she was waiting at the Wesley for someone to come and unlock the BSM. She got to looking around and realized how available and open the Wesley was. A couple of other people said that they came for the food at first. David asked what signs of a healthy or unhealthy Christian community were. Some students said that causing friends to sin was a sign of unhealthy. Another person said that what is the center of that relationship defines what kind of community it is. Nathan (one of the students) said that if the community is trying to force someone to believe what they believe it is an unhealthy community.
David mentioned John Wesley and said that even though his sermons are considered harsh that Wesley never forgot that Jesus loves us in his sermons. It was discussed whether it was ok for Christians to try to use scare tactics to get people into church, such as telling people that they are going to Hell. One person said that it was just a tool. Another person mentioned that God is not a God of fear. We then read from Genesis 2:25-3:13. David asked us why we thought that Eve sinned by eating the fruit. He said that he believed it was because as humans we want what we can't have. The first thing Adam and Eve tried to do when they realized their mistake was to hide from God, but God called Adam out. We read then from Genesis 3:14-24. David mentioned that in verse 21, it could be interpreted as the first time some other blood was shed for our sin. Eve was used to be the mother of humanity or the community. It became necessary for God to separate from us because of sin. David asked how this spoke to us. He said that we have to work hard to get a good Christian community. He said that we can not sin or love without affecting others. He said that Christ should be the center of the Christian community. He mentioned the Sermon on the Mount where Christ said the we are a light on a hill and we are called to be light. When we sin, we try to hide from God, when we should just admit our sin and seek out our Christian community. Nathan closed with prayer and dismissed us.
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