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Comment by Keith Saylor on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 2:03pm

Thank you Adria. I appreciate and honor your honesty. 

Bless you,

Keith

Comment by Adria Gulizia on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 1:10pm

Only in the question specifically related to the FoJF am I even trying to speak for anyone other than myself.

1. What is your relationship with Christ?

Christ to me is a big brother, role model, encourager, reprover, exhorter, savior and friend. He is my comfort and my liberation from sin. He calls me to a high standard of love that I still usually fail to meet, though I'm getting better. He tells me to give a bigger tip, to whisper a word of kindness to a homeless person as I press a bill into his hand or swallow my pride and apologize to my husband, knowing that "He was wrong, too!" isn't a good enough reason to hold back.

2. What is obedience to Christ?

Obedience to Christ is following what Jesus said in the Bible and what Jesus is saying as I go through my day.

3. What is Christ?

I think that "who is Christ" feels more comfortable to me as a question. Christ is the everlasting word, the pure and holy child of God who invites us to be pure and holy children of God. Embodied as Jesus of Nazareth, Christ is forever, was forever and will be forever. He has triumphed over sin and death and inaugurated the new world order of the Kingdom of God, which is above all earthly kingdoms. He speaks to all who will listen as the indwelling Spirit, and he will return in glory to judge the world.

4. Can you give 5 or more examples of the political activities FOJ has engaged?

As a national community, there aren't any political activities that we have engaged in. As of right now, we have felt called to other types of activities. But as individuals and even as local communities of the FoJF, that answer may differ.

5. What is the Gospel? What is the good news?

The good news is that the kingdom of God is here, now. In Christ, we can resist the power of sin, overcome the power of death and strike at the worldly powers of government and market. We can live lives of love and obedience and freedom from our addictions, fears, insecurity and sinful desire. We can live as children of God, walking in the steps of our big brother, Jesus and knowing that God will provide for us and empower us to do even more than what Jesus did when we act in faith. 

Comment by Keith Saylor on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 12:40pm

Hi Adria,

I believe so. 

Comment by Adria Gulizia on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 12:26pm

Keith, these are very good questions, which I am happy to answer. One question, though: is the homepage of the Conservative Friends group the best place for me to answer them?

Comment by kevin roberts on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 12:20pm

"In fact, chronologically, you are in the post-tail end!"

i suppose that would be true, bill, were i interested in ancient history or considered it relevant to my relationship with god, today. after all, my grandfather rode an indian motorcycle across france in the first world war. so i stand at the end of a fine tradition of US army signal riders, as well. although i'm not in the army, and never have been.

i live on what used to be a farm, too, so i guess i'm at the end of a tradition of farming. although i drive a truck for a living, in the oil fields.

Comment by William F Rushby on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 12:15pm

Keith: Your questions are very good!  I am glad that you asked Adria and not me.  I would have to write yet another laborious paper to answer your questions!!  Groan!

Comment by Keith Saylor on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 12:09pm

Hello Adria,

My intent is to push deeper into the eternal and living space between the words you are using. What is the inspiration or intuition your words expire? What the essence of your words? I am also interested in specifics. 

1. What is your relationship with Christ?

2. What is obedience to Christ?

3. What is Christ?

4. Can you give 5 or more examples of the political activities FOJ has engaged?

5. What is the Gospel? What is the good news?

6. How is your faith in Christ informed?

7. What is the nature of Faith?

8. What is a deeper relationship with Christ?

9. What are some examples of your spending choices that has reflected obedience to Christ?

10. What are some examples of how you act on the job that reflects obedience to Christ?

Comment by William F Rushby on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 10:54am

                Comment by kevin roberts 5 hours ago

hmmm

as a conservative friend, i don't generally consider myself to be a member of a "tail end."

conservative friends are defined by who they are, not by who somebody else was at some other time.

Hello, Kevin!

I understand your claim that the present situation is what Conservative Friends are.  I would not claim that you are in the "tail end" of classical Conservative Quakerism.  In fact, chronologically, you are in the post-tail end!

A religious tradition, especially a conservative one, is never just what it is at the present time.  One has to take into account the "great cloud of witnesses" from the past and, in the case of traditional Friends, the enormous corpus of literature which "fleshes out" the religious tradition.

I have noticed that certain "authorities" on Conservative Friends argue that it is simply "early Quakerism revived", and they mostly avoid the history and literature of Conservative Friends per se.  I don't think one can grasp the Conservative tradition by simply leapfrogging back to early Friends, and claiming that Conservative Friends were simply a revival of early Quakerism, which itself was a complex and changing religious phenomenon.

Nor, I am pleased to note, can one legitimately claim that current Conservative Friends represent all that is significant about their spiritual heritage.  Current Conservative Quakerism is but a vestige of what once was.

Comment by Adria Gulizia on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 10:31am

Hi Keith, 

I deleted the comment because I realized that it wasn't quite made in the right spirit, but basically, we aim (not always successfully!) to have all elements of our life - our spending, our associations, how we act on the job, how we engage politically - reflect our obedience to Christ in honesty, chastity, concern for the poor, etc. We also try to be proactive about inviting people into relationship or into deeper relationship with Christ by being honest and open about our faith in him and by inviting others, including non-believers, to our groups and by engaging on a heart-to-heart level with them as they grapple with issues of belief. Does that help? 

Our goal is to spread the gospel as broadly and effectively as we can, though we are still working on how to do that. Evangelism is not something that many of us have a lot of knowledge of or experience with, so it is sometimes hard to know how to effectively spread the good news.

Comment by Adria Gulizia on 3rd mo. 17, 2015 at 10:28am

Christopher, may I suggest that you join our group on Facebook? There are a few other folks in Europe who might be eager to connect!

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