Jesus uses the younger brother and the elder brother to portray the two basic ways people try to find happiness and fullfillment.
ELDER BROTHER YOUNGER BROTHER
Moral Conformity Self Discovery
Do you believe this to be true today?
Do you believe this to be true in our church?
Do you believe this to be true with you?
Where do you feel this series is leading you?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
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ReplyDeleteI'll jump in and see if we can get things started.
ReplyDelete1) Yes I do. I'm concerned because so much of the popular coverage of Christianity shows it as the "Elder Brother". People don't look to churches as places of comfort but places of judgment.
Philip Yancey in his book, "What's So Amazing About Grace?" recounts a story of a prostitute in Chicago and when he asked if she had ever gone to church for help she reacted by saying, "Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself.They'd just make me feel worse."
Sometimes I think we might do this unconsciously. We just go about routines not considering how other people might interpret them.
2)I think we have the right attitude on the surface but does everyone "get it"? I'm not sure. It is so easy to feel superior to everyone else on an individual level.
3)I catch myself sometimes thinking I have things going right and aren't I better than so and so. It is an easy trap to fall into so I always check myself. I do much better than before.
4)I don't know yet. I feel excited and I think it focuses my attention to areas that I can be better.
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ReplyDeleteOne thing I've loved about this study is the conversations it has sparked between my friends and me. Everyone seems to want to talk about it. One thing that hasn't been talked about, really, is just how much we can be both the younger and elder brother. The other thing is just how unconscious we can be about an elder brother attitude. We may not think we have it but ask someone else and they may see things differently. We can perceive ourselves very differently than we're perceived by others. I'm looking forward to more as we study our TRUE elder brother, Jesus.
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