New Wineskins

Target Audience

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• Seekers looking to understand who the authentic Jesus is, his relationship to God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

• Seekers looking to answer basic questions that we all have like:

  • What happens after we die?

  • Is hell real?

  • What is heaven like?

• Christians who feel stuck in their faith and wondering why they are not experiencing the fullness of life and joy that Jesus describes. 

• Christians who are in the midst of deconstructing their faith; have nagging doubts relative to traditional thoughts on heaven, hell and the resurrection.  

 

Administrative Information

 

• This is a 6 week course conducted across 6 - 2 hour evening sessions*

• This course is conducted virtually*

• PDF hand-outs will be provided

• Registration is required and posted under "events" tab on main menu

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* Note: This workshop is available to be hosted by a local church fellowship in which case a 2 day seminar covering 12 hours should be arranged 

 

Objective and Outline

 

Jesus told Philip that “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”.  Yet for many Christians, our view of Jesus is quite different than Father God.  We see Jesus as the kind, compassionate and loving God of the New Testament and the Father as the wrathful God of vengeance in the Old Testament.   How do we reconcile these disparate views?  

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Our views of God shape our theological views and affect the depth of relationship we can have with both Jesus and Father God.  It affects our ability to hear the Holy Spirit, our willingness to trust and surrender ourselves to him and limits our transformation to Christlikeness. 

In this workshop we will explore the historical and cultural bias in traditional evangelical thoughts on God, heaven, hell, our resurrection and the rapture.  We will dive into why the gospel is really good news and so much more than just being saved from hell.  We will seek to understand what the Kingdom of God is and what it is not.  Our hope in this workshop is that through a biblical based study with healthy and encouraging discussions, we can reduce the fear and anxiety of what happens after we die for both Christians and seekers.  Our objective is to move from a fear-based religion to a love-based relationship with Jesus and the Father through the Holy Spirit. 

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This will be a group participation workshop and will require that we respect one another and even honor those with perspectives different than our own.  We will be engaging one another in a safe environment and exploring the answers to some difficult questions such as:

• How can God be good and yet condemn anyone who does not believe in Jesus to eternal torment in a Lake of Fire?

• How credible are the alternative Christian perspectives on hell including: terminal or annihilationism, universal reconciliation, purgatory and Eastern Orthodox non-literal view of the Lake of Fire?

• How can we reconcile the “God of Wrath” of the Old Testament to the compassionate portrayal of God through Jesus’ life and ministry?

• What is the rapture, and will it happen before the great tribulation?

This workshop is not intended to provide all the definitive textbook answer to these and other difficult questions regarding faith in Jesus and salvation.  It is intended to help break down the fear of the unknown and the mysteries beyond life and draw participants into a deeper and more intimate or heartfelt relationship with God.   It is my hope that after this workshop, participants will be able to have a greater belief and trust in God even though much mystery remains unknown. 

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This workshop is best suited for people who are seeking to learn more about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  I welcome all those who cannot accept God because they have been told of his wrathful eternal disposition against anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus.  Anyone with a posture for learning - agnostics and those who may or may not consider themselves Christians are welcome.   I welcome any Christians who recognize and struggle with the gap between their head and their heart and those that are unable to reconcile Jesus with an angry God of wrath. 

1.    Understanding perspectives, World Views and Paradigm Shifts
2.    My Perspective
3.    Barriers to Intimacy with God - The Psychological Problem
4.    Revisiting the Gospel
       a.    Cultural biases, Traditional & Historical Perspective
               i.    Presentation of the Gospel by Chairs – Brad Jersak
       b.    Love or Knowledge Based Faith?
               i.    Unbalanced Extremes: Loveless Legalism vs Licentious Liberalism
5.    Reconciling our view of Father God: Christlike or God of Wrath?
        a.     A Heavenly Perspective on the History of Humanity
               i.    The Law of Sin and Death
              ii.    The Old Covenant
             iii.    The New Covenant
6.    The rapture
        a.    Traditional/Dispensational view
        b.    Partial preterist view
7.    Heaven and Hell
        a.    Traditional view
                i.    Immortality of the soul
               ii.    Disembodied souls in heaven and/or hell
        b.    Resurrection view
                i.    New Jerusalem - new heaven on earth
               ii.    New humanity