More Discernment Exercises Posted to RF Website

Should We Attend This Party?: Discernment Exercise
By: Denis Haack
Date: 11/13/2008
Topic: Discernment
Your small group includes a woman—let’s call her Mary—in her early 60s who came to Christ a couple of years ago. Her enthusiasm for Bible study, sharing Christ, and faithfulness in all of life is both refreshing and infectious. Unlike the Christians in the group, however, most of her closest friends are non-Christians, many of whom she has known for decades.
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=477&B=Denis%20Haack&TID=8

Love it or Leave it: Discernment Exercise
By: Denis Haack
Date: 11/13/2008
Topic: Discernment
Since 9/11, a terrorist attack by a group of men all of whom were from countries in the Middle East, renewed debate about immigration has arisen. Should immigration be restricted, and if so, how? How open and free should our borders be? And how should we respond to those who are already here but who don’t seem to “fit in” the way many think they should?
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=478&B=Denis%20Haack&TID=8

Can We Make Our Faith Attractive?: Discernment Exercise
By: Denis Haack
Date: 11/13/2008
Topic: Discernment
In the opening scenes of the movie Chocolat, Vianne, played by Juliette Binoche, moves into a new town and rents a dingy, dirty storefront. As the villagers watch from behind half-drawn shades, she cleans it up, paints it, places intriguing objects on shelves and in the window, and puts a new sign out front announcing it as a chocolaterie. The colors of the new store stand in stark contrast to the dark, unimaginative drabness of the rest of the town, and the Mayan objects that decorate the store contrast with the traditionally familiar lives of the townspeople.
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=479&B=Denis%20Haack&TID=8

A Great Spirit Blessing: Discernment Exercise
By: Denis Haack
Date: 11/13/2008
Topic: Discernment
Living in a pluralistic culture, as we do, does not mean that we live among unbelievers; it means we live among people who believe in things other than Christianity. And since secularism has been found wanting, many are adopting a variety of spiritualities and religions. This means, in turn, that we must expect to find ourselves intersecting with our neighbor’s religious convictions and practices—not just in the realm of ideas but in practice.
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=480&B=Denis%20Haack&TID=8

On Being Offensive: Discernment Exercise
By: Denis Haack
Date: 11/13/2008
Topic: Discernment
All things considered, there’s plenty a Christian can do, say, or believe which some other Christian will find offensive—perhaps even deeply offensive.
http://www.ransomfellowship.org/articledetail.asp?AID=481&B=Denis%20Haack&TID=8