This was the starting question at last nights pub theology. It is an interesting question and kept us going for quite some time. I think it is a fair reflection of the conversation to say some were concerned by the question, some welcomed it and some were just intrigued.

We spoke about the need that some Christians feel they have to ‘protect’ the gospel and, for that matter, God. I think we came to  a kind of agreement that the neither need protecting.

We spoke a bit about what is it in the ‘gospel’ (a term which we simply used as a name for the Christian message) that people find offensive that brings this question. What is it in the gospel that turns people off, that annoys people and causes us to ask whether it needs to be changed? Simply put the answer seemed to be something like:

‘the message that only some are included and if you disagree, or have a certain lifestyle, then you are excluded and not welcome …. unless you change your view, your lifestyle or your sexuality.’

This then took a tangent, an important tangent, to churches being quite quick to condemn, to complain or campaign against things that the everyday world sees as normal and right. The group, which was a collection of people with faith and no faith, all agreed that the church has this image. It’s unusual for the people of pub theology to agree – it’s quite sad that this is something we can agree on! But … moving on …

We chatted about this a lot and were able to see that, actually, the gospel message is one of love, of acceptance and of inclusion. This is seen in those key times when Jesus meets the marginalised of his time. He eats with the tax collector, touches the leper, spends time in the midday sun with the ostricised and shows compassion to those condemned. That’s a pretty inclusive way to act.

So I think – and I may be wrong but people who were there can correct me through the comments – we kind of came around to the conclusion that we do not need a new gospel, but we need to realign ourselves with the love message of the gospel. A gospel that champions love rather than hate, lives freedom rather than legality and breathes compassion rather than judgement. That would be quite counter-cultural and attractive in the way the character of Jesus is attractive.

We then moved onto other things in the discussion and the night was a really good night. Interestingly a reporter form one of the local papers joined us as he was interested in the concept and what we are about. I think he enjoyed the discussion as well.

I felt this session was a really good time together. Everyone seemed to contribute as much as they wanted to but, I think more importantly – everyone was having a good time, drinking eating and chatting about questions that we all have. I’m already looking forward to the next one in a month’s time!

Pub Theology happened last night …. a smaller select gathering of 5 who had a varied discussion on a few things starting with the equal opportunities stuff that has been in the news and moving on to other various things.

A bunch of people chatting over a beer or two is just quite great thing to be able to do … shame it’s a whole month to the next one!

so … start thinking about what to discuss next time.

We did pub theology again last night in Wetherspoons and started with a great question from Jim. It went something like:

‘taking on board Ecclesiastes saying there is a time or season for everything, we could interpret that to say there is a time to turn to God and a time to turn away; and taking the incident of Peter denying Jesus 3 times before the cock crowed while realising that an admission of being a disciple could have resulted in him being crucified along with Jesus whereas the denial meant he kept his life and God was able to use him to build the church … is there ever a time when it is right to deny Christ?’

It was a good question and I don’t think my writing has done it the justice is deserves. We chatted and batted this around a fair bit, taking in pre-destination along with those awkward moments in the bible (such as when Joshua’s spies ‘spend the night’ with Rahab the prostitute). We came up with very mixed views with some saying it is always right to stand up for what you believe in while others saying sometimes it would be important to keep the bigger picture in mind with a denial allowing other great things to happen.

It’s an interesting question which I have continued to dwell on over the last few hours – it is easy to say immediately say ‘no, of course not!’ Sometimes, though, I wonder if we don’t need to consider things just a little longer – which I find quite difficult here as my massive gut reaction is to say I need to stand up for Jesus.

Pub theology, as an event, is a good time. We have fun, we drink, some eat … and we even get a bit of theology thinking in there as well.

I enjoyed pub theo tonight – a good turnout and a good discussion about a lot of stuff, although I think we were a lot more focussed around a couple of issues than we have been in previous get togethers. WE spoke a fair bit about the Dawkins’ ‘religion is evil’ stuff although I am not sure whether we came to any consensus. Some would be worried about that … but we don’t meet to agree …. we meet to challenge, argue and discuss.

I particularly love the mix of people and views we get along to this. I enjoy pulling ideas apart with people; even when I find myself in a position where I quite strongly disagree with a point of view – and that did occur tonight for me over the issue of sexuality … but I’m not going there as readers of SHP are fully aware of my thinking there!

Tonight was good honest discussion to thrash out issues with the absence of any hidden agenda … love it!

The months seem to zip by and we are at the last Monday of the month again which means it is Pub Theology night.

I am assured the tables will be reserved and tonights starting question will be:

Is religion a force for good or would we be happier without god?

I think tonight will be an opportunity to discuss more fully the stuff of Dawkins that we started looking at a couple of months ago.

So … if you are in the area, why not pop along to w/spoons in Rochester High Street from 7.00pm for a beer and what is always a good debate! (you’ll find us in the raised area called the ‘bandstand area’ on the left as you enter the pub)

Pub theology happened again last night, and again I was surprised by the stuff we ended up talking about.

We talked a little about Dawkins’ ‘God Delusion’ but felt as the person that had asked us to read it was not able to make it due to illness (hope you feel better soon!) that we would leave much of that discussion to another time.

We had 3 people turn up that we have not seen at Pub Theo before and it seems word is getting around but what we are up to.

Last night, as I said we started by looking a little at Dawkins’ reasons for believing there is no God and the conversation moved in various ways to angels, dream catchers, spiritualities other than those that are obviously Christian. I can’t remember everything.

What I particularly love about this group is that we don’t really know each other and this is the only time this actual collection of people get together – in a pub to talk about God, spirituality and stuff and the conversations always seem to be amazing. As with previous pub theos the discussion is quite fluid, starting as a big group topic then people near each other branching off in discussion and then all coming back together again – not in an organised way but seemingly very naturally.

Maybe it is the group of people, maybe its the location, maybe it is actually what we are doing …. but I really love being part of this.  The next pub theology is on Monday 29th November at 7ish in Wetherspoons …. put the date in your diary!

why not come along

starting with Dawkins’ “God Delusion‘ but who knows where we will go from there!

7.00pm till whenever we decided to stop talking

Wetherspoons, High Street Rochester

Pub Theology happened. The staff of Wetherspoons had reserved tables for us and we were all set to go – and go we did pretty impressively!

I think this has been the best pub theology we have held so far which I think has a lot to do with there being a lot of opposing views around the table from those with no belief or atheist through the spectrum to those with quite fundamental Christian beliefs …. and possibly everything in between. We also had a great age span as well so points of view were quite varied.

Again the conversation was varied and this time quite a lot more lively which was fun. The format seems to work well and yet again topics I had ‘up my sleeve’ were not needed as people brought loads to talk about and discuss.

The next pub theology will be at the end of next month and some of us agreed to try and read Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion’ and talk about some of the stuff he raises … looking forward to it!

The next Pub Theology will be on Monday 25th. October …. why not put it in your diary now. It will appear on Facebook soon for you to sign up on.

Pub theology happens again tonight.

If you like drinking (maybe even eating), talking about spiritual stuff and meeting new people then why not give this a go … we can be found on the tables on the left as you come into The Golden Lion, Rochester (Wetherspoons to everyone else!) and tend to get together from 7.00 pm onwards, although the conversation topic changes regularly so you can easily join anytime.

You can also see more on facebook.