Over the last month or so, I have been involved in quite a few online discussions about abortion and I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect upon a few of the interactions as several of them involved strange arguments and bewildering claims…
Honestly, I’ve been rather horrified by many of the exchanges I’ve seen among friends on Facebook recently on the subject of politics. So, as we enter the final few days before the Presidential Election, I thought it would be a good idea to share Meg Hunter-Kilmer‘s article on “How not to be a jerk online”:
Today I’m going to continue looking at some of the feedback I received from my series on Leading a Bible Study. Yesterday I considered the meeting location and today I’m going to look at the comments concerning the discussion itself.
A Bible study leader should try and encourage the shy members of the group to speak up
Today is the final post in my series on leading a Bible study (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5). Here are my concluding Do’s and Don’ts:
DON’T: Forget the heart
I’m a very “head” oriented person. When I study the Bible I like to pull apart texts, examine the words, look at the historical background and get straight to the meaning of the text. It is only after I’ve done all this that I’m ready to engage with the Scripture on a “heart” level. However, I know that in this I am an oddity! I find that most people engage with Scripture on an emotional level much earlier in the process. Therefore, to lead an engaging bible study I must accommodate this and allow people to respond emotionally to the Scripture before we’ve dissected every technical detail of the text.
DON’T: Forget the head
…having said that, don’t neglect the exegesis. I have been to Bible studies before which have been nothing more than a “feeling sharing group”. That was all anyone ever talked about, how they felt about the text! The actual meaning of the text wasn’t even examined.
DO: Keep the hippy, tree-hugging stuff to a minimum… 😉