Stephen Fry on meeting God ...

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........?

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.

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

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.

Very good idea.

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?

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.

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

So watch it, the lot of yer.

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!

Thanks gransnet.

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

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

"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?

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

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.

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

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.

How ridiculous!

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

When is your new grandchild due, soontobe?

Why would we want to know anything about him...?

Anyone who is interested can always google.

I had better be careful. He has just taken over. He is uber busy. But ask away if you want.

So you don't follow Methodist teachings, you have made up your own 'religion according to soon' and presumably just joined your Church to feel part of something. Even though you don't believe in half of what they preach...

The new President of the Methodist Conference. I happen to know him personally. Rev Steve Wild. What would you like to know about him?