Unitarian & Free Christian Bible Discussion

The Bible Discussion Group for Monday 22nd of January at 6.30 led by Lizzie Kingston Harrison will be on the topic of Joseph Priestley and the doctrine of atonement - everyone is welcome  Joseph Priestley spent his childhood feeling like the ‘Man in the Iron Cage’ from Pilgrim’s Progress. If you don’t know the story, the image tells you everything you need to know. In other words, Priestley’s broadly Calvinistic upbringing left him feeling despair, horror, and alienation from God.   How did he shake off his fears and find himself ‘at one’ with God? He first needed to reject the ‘doctrine of atonement.’  Come along to the Bible study this evening, to find out how Priestley’s Unitarianism and unique psychological approach to scriptural metaphor set him free from his cage... and how he rejected conventional teaching on salvation - both in Calvinism and the Anglican - church as irrational, unscriptural and at odds with the teaching of the man Jesus.    Zoom link for...

Bible Discussion Group for Monday 11th December 2023 at 6.30 led by Rob Oulton ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ (Christina Rossetti): A conversation about Devotion. The traditional nativity stories describe scenes where men and women of every social stratum, animals and angels, are gathered about the holy couple of mother and child. Apart from anything else, this is a powerful symbol of a devotional connection between living beings. Contemporary psychology suggests the bond between primary care giver and infant is mutual. If all is well (and sometimes of course it isn’t) that bond of devotion is central to the development of both. But does Christina Rossetti’s poem suggest perhaps, that devotion could be important for our own life-long spiritual development, beyond the demands of infancy and childhood? Indeed, Hindu spirituality teaches that Bakhti yoga – the practice of devotion - is one of the four paths to God Mark 12:29 and Deuteronomy 6:5, emphasise that loving God is the most important c...

Peter writes: Dull factuality and/or Enlightened Imagination?   On Monday evening, 4th. December our discussion theme will centre on the Nativity stories in Matthew and Luke. What I have prepared 'goes on a bit' but it will be divided by three readings for which I would like readers. They are Luke 1 v. 46 to 55:   Luke 2 v. 25 to 33 and Luke 2 v. 41 to 51. My comments will raise many questions but the one I hope will prompt everyone to say something is  -  what do the Nativity stories mean for YOU today? Zoom link for Monday’s discussion  Join us at 6.30pm on Monday 4th December. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82378042367 Meeting ID: 823 7804 2367 Passcode: 460019 Greetings to all

 This Monday Donald Jacobs will lead a discussion considering three questions:  1. What was the earliest part of the Bible to be written?  2. How can we tell?  3. Does it matter?  We will look at a few short passages that are contenders for being the oldest parts of the Hebrew Bible. Hosea 11 1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,     and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 But the more they were called,     the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals     and they burned incense to images. 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,     taking them by the arms; but they did not realize     it was I who healed them. 4 I led them with cords of human kindness,     with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts     a little child to the cheek,     and I bent down to feed them Amos 5:24 But let justice roll on like a river,     righteousness like a never-failing ...

 On Monday 20th November Indra Sikdar will lead our Bible discussion at 6.30pm:  "Comparing Abrahamic and Vedic Faiths" Jewish:  “For you [Israel] are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deuteronomy 7:6).   Christianity: New International Version John 14 Jesus Comforts His Disciples 14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus the Way to the Father 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one com...

This week Lizzie Kingston Harrison will lead our discussion at 6.30pm. Lizzie writes:  Were the first Christians Unitarian? Should scripture be read on the basis that Jesus’ first followers did not believe he was God? Have subsequent generations of Christians mistaken an extraordinarily beautiful metaphor for the literal truth? Joseph Priestley thought so! Today’s bible study will give you the chance to explore a few passages that may lend themselves to a Unitarian reading… and is also a chance to find out what Joseph Priestley had to say on this controversial topic.   Join us at 6.30pm on Monday 13th November. Zoom link for the meeting  https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82378042367 Meeting ID: 823 7804 2367 Passcode: 460019 Picture from Wakefield Chapel (photo credit, Paul Lindsay Dawson)

Jean Bradley will be leading the discussion group on the subject of Samson. He is often only thought of as a biblical hero who was made weak through his relationship with Deliah. But Jean would like the group to look more into the character of Samson. Was he resistant to the role he was expected to play as an adult? Or was he a deeply spiritual man who made foolish choices? Can we also see similarities in people's lives in the present day? If you wish, please read Judges 14 verses 1 - 14 Text of Judges 14.1-14 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. 2 Then he came up, and told his father and mother, ‘I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.’ 3 But his father and mother said to him, ‘Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our[a] people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?’ But Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me, because she pleases me.’ 4 His father and mother did not know ...