Stephen Fry on meeting God ...

How ridiculous!

Methodism is a broad church Ana.
I keep to the Bible. No matter what anyone around me is doing.
My mum took me to church.

Methodism has different preachers each and every week. It is different from the Church of England in that regard.
So the congregation may very much agree with one preacher one week, and not so much with a different preacher the following week.

Elegran. Not conceived yet as far as I know. Complications arose.

Ah! You mentioned him/her way back and I figured it must be about time. Sorry to hear about the complications - they happen more often than you'd think.

I have asked gransnet for my post of 15.46pm to be removed.

"where science and God are at odds, the Bible is right, and science has got it wrong." Soontobe - please explain this completely unsupported statement

Science and 'God' are not at odds - science neither knows no cares about the superstitions of barely historic goatherds. Science doesn't ever, unlike 'God', claim to be right - merely on the path to being right.

You have a right to your beliefs - but don't you think you owe it to yourself to apply a little reason, a little thought to them?

He wont mind at all, but it's best if it goes.

Elegran. Thank you for your concern. I will pm you.

Thanks gransnet.

Oh! It could come as a helluva shock to an awful lot of people if it turns out, on the day we find out for sure, that the whole of the bible is absolute truth and God is God the Almighty, always has been and always will be! And every word that soon has said, is the unblemished truth!

Cos you have all got no way of knowing for sure. It is all your own personal speculation and the joke could well be on you!

So watch it, the lot of yer.

And on all the other religions of the world, of course...

When that moment comes, Jings, what will happen is either

1) There is no supreme God waiting to judge us. It will all be "rounded with sleep"
or
2) God will sort the sheep from the goats.

If it is 1) then we won't wake up to find out. We will have just our dreams. (Ah! there's the rub! What dreams may come . . . must give us thought.)

If it is 2) then it seems to me that God will not want to hear that we invented a faith we do not have, ignored the work of dedicated seekers after truth, damaged children's minds with tales of eternal damnation, and chose blank obedience over the exercise of the one thing that distinguishes us from beasts of burden - an enquiring mind. He wil value the truth.

PS It is all up to personal belief, anyway. There will be no way to get round that when all else is stripped away.

May I suggest that GNHQ might invite either Rev Ruth Gee or/and Rev Steve Wild to take part in a Q and A session here on GN?

Very good idea.

The governing structure of the British Methodist Church is based on Circuits (headed by a Superintendent Minister), which are grouped into several large Districts

A Circuit is a group of individual Societies or local churches under the care of one or more Ministers In the scale of organisation, the Circuit is about mid-way. Upwards, Circuits are grouped in Districts. The Districts form the Connexion, which is the overall national Methodist Church.[1] Downwards from the Circuit, a Class is the main sub-division of a local Church. This overall structure derives from John Wesley's organisational genius. This organisational structure does not apply to many non-Wesleyan branches of Methodism, nor to some of those that split from Wesleyan Methodism, such as the Wesleyan Reform Union
It seems to me that if you are in this position of responsibility , to say you do not care about the Methodist Church is a dereliction of duty or responsibility. I would also have expected you to be better informed about matters theological in particular pertaining to your own church.

I said I do not care much about Methodism. That is not the same as the Methodist Church.

But I could get into splitting hairs here. And I dont go into that sort of thing.

mcem. If you do ask gransnet HQ, and they run into difficulties, refer them to me, and I will see what I can do.

Methodism, or the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant leaders in the movement.

And the difference between Methodism and the Methodist movement is........?

Nothing.

I am talking about Methodism and the Methodist Church.

You are not noticing the letters at the ends of the words. I am off again.

mcem you do realise that your suggestion (whether serious or not) will not be allowed to rest...

Nothing.

I am talking about Methodism and the Methodist Church

you are not noticing the letters at the ends of the words. I am off again(18.16)

I said I do not care much about Methodism. That is not the same as the Methodist Church (18.04)

Make up your mind. .

Ana quite serious. Awaiting reply.
Soon what on earth does that last post mean?

I care about the Methodist Churches. I have to. It is part of my volunteer job.
I obviously care hugely about the members.
I care hugely about the people that are in the area, Christian or not.

I do not care much about the Methodist history. There are plenty of others that do.
I do not care about Methodist terminology. I dont like jargon at the best of times.

By Methodist Churches I mean the buildings, in my last post. Just in case that leads to anyone not understanding.

I am very surprised that people are so interested in all this stuff to be honest.
It is good. But I am surprised.