“James talks about Christianity having been thought of as grasping onto a theory about what God has done for us and then acting according to a moral code. Is that what Christianity has been like for you? How or how not?”
I think that is what Christianity has been like for me, in the sense of having a picture of God as a moralistic judge, and reacting against that.
“What is your relationship to the Bible? Do you think of it as an act of communication from God? If so, what do you think God is communicating to us in our particular time and place?”
I seldom read the Bible, but a small, perhaps increasing part of me is intrigued. I understand the Christian view that it is a communication from God. What I think of in that context is the question of interpretation — how humans interpret the text. However we interpret it, I do agree that it is a striking text.
“James says that habits are what make excellence possible.
What beneficial practices have you been inducted into?
Who inducted you or how did you acquire your “stable dispositions”?
What impact might an act of communication from God have on your life?”
I like to think I have an open mind, and I’m sure I’ve inherited such a trait from my parents. What impact might an act of communication from God have on my life? I don’t know!