If anyone is inclined to share your thoughts on any or all of the below questions, I'd be interested to hear what your

journey has been like along these lines. You may have questions yourself to add to them. Is the center of Christianity a book (Bible) or a living person (Jesus)? Is there a difference? Is it a false dichotomy or are they two separate and different things? How do the two relate? Would knowing God be possible without the Bible? How did relationship with God happen before there was a Bible? Can the Spirit lead/guide/teach/communicate independently (not contradictory) of the Bible? Is the Bible the final word or the beginning word/launching pad? What ways are you currently exploring/wondering about/experimenting with aspects of your Christian faith and relationship with God that you are hesitant to tell others about for fear they might think you are going off the deep end or too far out there? Are there ways you have depended on organized church (ranging from high-church to home church to emergent) that you feel were/are actually a deterrent in your journey with God? For those completely unplugged from any form or organized church, how has this been positive in your journey with God? What have been some of your struggles and what are you currently trying to figure out or wrestle through? What religious mentality/conditioning has been broken in you that you feel has made a huge difference in you knowing God and relationship with God? In what ways do you think God wants you to be free, but youre not there yet? Well it appears nobody really likes to be first. But I guess Ill take a stab at it. One thing God has in more recent years allowed me to feel a bit more confident about , is a willingness to take a chance, let that gambler instinct manifest itself, and the hell with what anybody else thinks. I would imagine that as we open up to each other, we will get to know each other better. I would hope a bit more intimate than some of the religious crap that is debated elsewhere. Anyway that is one of my hopes. In recent years I have become an ardent writer once I get started on a topic, but I do have to feel somewhat spiritually prompted. I realize the work that it is and I am a natural procrastinator. But get me going and I run at the mouth (or keyboard). I do tend to measure what I have to say though.

Is the center of Christianity a book (Bible) or a living person (Jesus)? Is there a difference? Is it a false dichotomy or are they two separate and different things? How do the two relate? This is from an email response to a request for clarification regarding the Bible and experience. "Bob, would you possibly have said or implied that, there are other things at Cornerstone that are more important than the scriptures? Would you say that experience is more important than Gods word?" Answer to the first question - NO, although I believe there are those who would put their own spin on things they don't understand. Answer to the second question - NO. Now let me qualify these answers. The way the questions are asked would tend to demand a 'yes' or 'no' response. My experience is not a basis for deriving doctrine or knowledge. It is the Bible, the Scriptures, that give doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction (2 Tim 3:16). However - the Bible is not God. The word of God, communication from Him to us as Holy men of God were inspired to pen and deliver this word to His Church. It is the objective rule and foundation for all our understanding of God, but it is not God. The Bible is the purposeful communication from God to bring us into relationship with Him. Relationship with God, the Creator of all, wants relationship with us, His creation. In this, He would that we all experience Him. This, by its very nature, transcends a limited finite intellectual apprehension. which may not be bad, and for all intents and purposes should be good and beneficial. but is a poor substitute for the intimacy and experience of the relationship with the God expounded in the Scriptures. Experience and the Bible are not mutually exclusive. Simply stated most of the Old Testament, the Gospels and Acts are a record of mans experiences with God. The Epistles provide clarification and correction in the understanding of the experience. This is probably an over simplification but fundamentally correct. The problem with the vast numbers of church attendees is we have contented ourselves to be satisfied with a little knowledge about God. We are willing to allow our minds to be educated a little each week, but are afraid to be touched by Him. And well we should be afraid. To be touched by Him certainly implies, No, much more, demands a breaking, a yielding, a willing submission to the Lord and Saviors love which cannot be simply reasoned away as any other academic exercise and shelved to a later time. Academic apprehension, no matter how Biblically grounded, is a poor substitute for the touch of God. Biblical knowledge may be a fine tool aiding us in appreciating the touch of God, but Biblical academic knowledge is not the same as the Knowledge of God and all its implied intimacies -----------------------I.e.- the center of Christianity is the person of Jesus at its best the Bible relates Jesus too us. Our problem too often is we read and relate the words of the Bible through a carnal, natural human mindset. And of our own resources we are incapable of knowing the

difference. Spiritual truths, processed through a non-Spiritually enabled mind, still produces carnal thoughts, only now they are religious thoughts. Carnal religion can be Fundamentalist Conservative or it can be Liberal Social Gospel. In either case the center is not the person of Jesus, but more often the particulars that surround our Christian expression. End response to first item Until you get me going again Would knowing God be possible without the Bible? How did relationship with God happen before there was a Bible? Yes it possible to know and have relationship with God without the Bible. What about Noah, Enoch, and Abraham? God spoke to Noah. And if you take note, Noah was not considered righteous, until God initiated the relationship. Enoch walked with God and God took him. Not too many other details are known. We, as believers, are to manifest the same kind of faith as was demonstrated by Abraham. God initiated that relationship. Abraham did not have a Bible. The Book of Job may conceivably been around, but there is no real evidence of that. Can the Spirit lead/guide/teach/communicate independently (not contradictory) of the Bible? Is the Bible the final word or the beginning word/launching pad? communicate independently (not contradictory) of the Bible? Before there ever was a Bible, God was communicating, guiding, leading. I have no reason to assume He has changed. final word or the beginning word/launching pad? Good question probably a bit of each. Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. This is probably the most descriptive place the Bible takes in my life. The fact is God can use a fortune cookie if He chooses. Or a horoscope. But where it comes to assessing and critiquing my subjective impressions, the Bible is my primary and last source. Although my interpretation is subject to re-analysis and reinterpretation.

What ways are you currently exploring/wondering about/experimenting with aspects of your Christian faith and relationship with God that you are hesitant to tell others about for fear they might think you are going off the deep end or too far out there? This one is too deep to dive into with the limited time I have right now. Im sure Ive just given myself a writing assignment though. Are there ways you have depended on organized church (ranging from high-church to home church to emergent) that you feel were/are actually a deterrent in your journey with God? Most recently, last December, I pulled myself from my church fellowship, and involvement with their Worship team. There was not a problem with anyone, although there was/is a settling into a religious framework that had not been present through prior years. The problem was I was too close to them. I began to realize there was a tendency to rely on the church or my relations with others close to me as a substitute to relying on God and hearing the Spirit. Fellowship had been good. In some ways, too good. In order to realize what God was moving me into I needed to separate myself and get my focus in proper alignment. Ill deal with this in more detail as time goes on. For those completely unplugged from any form or organized church, how has this been positive in your journey with God? What have been some of your struggles and what are you currently trying to figure out or wrestle through? What religious mentality/conditioning has been broken in you that you feel has made a huge difference in you knowing God and relationship with God? In what ways do you think God wants you to be free, but youre not there yet? Ill deal with these in another post. There really is a lot of stuff to go over here.