Kingdom of Heaven: Bible discussion 26th September 6.30pm - led by Rob Oulton
Kingdom of Heaven: Bible discussion 26th September 6.30pm - led by Rob Oulton The recent funeral for our late Queen provided a vivid display of political, military and religious pageant. Her death bequeathed a ‘Kingdom’ to her son Charles, who now assumes the headship of this mix of temporal and religious power. Yet, In the gospels we get a picture of a Jewish peasant, Jesus, erupting into Galilee (e.g. Mark ch.1 v 14-15) proclaiming a new Kingdom (Matthew calls it ‘Kingdom of Heaven’, the other gospels, ‘Kingdom of God’) which seems to provoke the existing political, military and religious authorities, as well as mystifying the people who encounter his teaching. What is your understanding of the Kingdom of God or Heaven? Does the concept still have potency for a modern audience? Is it ‘real’, or is it a metaphorical description of spiritual transformation? In our discussion we will focus on Matthew, chapter 13, where you find a series of parables, which Jesus uses to describe the...