* God is set at a distance * Churchmen even do this * Churches downplay the themes of death, eternity, judgment, the soul “It is not the business of the Church to adapt Christ to men, but men to Christ.” ~ Dorothy Sayers (1) Trend one is that “ Christian minds have been conformed to the modern spirit.” * Great thoughts of man and small thoughts of God.

“Two unhappy trends seem to have produced this state of affairs.” What two trends does he say have caused this problem? Be ready to discuss. What does Packer say is his conviction behind the book? Do you agree? Conviction behind the book is that “ ignorance of God … lies at the root of much of the church’s weakness today.”ĥ. Theoretical only, versus theoretico-practical (see Van Mastricht).Ĥ. Explain the three examples he gives, re: (1) evil, (2) sin, and (3) Godhead (Trinity). The traveler grasps “not merely for comprehension, but for decision and action too.” Examples: (1) The problem of evil, (2) The question of sin, (3) The Trinity.ģ. Mackay’s thoughts) ? Two ways of approaching theology: (1) “balconeers,” theoretical-only, and (2) “travelers,” essentially practical. What are the two ways of approaching theology that Packer talks about (inspired by John A. What do the first two sentences tell you about the book and the author? “As clowns yearn to play Hamlet, so I have wanted to write a treatise on God.” Dr. When Packer was writing the articles that became Knowing God, what question did he ask himself after completing each article? He says that the “articles were prompted each time by the question, What do I tell them next?”ġ. For whom does Packer say he is writing Knowing God? The book is “angled for honest, no nonsense readers who were fed up with facile Christian verbiage”ģ. What does it mean that Packer calls Knowing God “a nurture book for the Christian world”? Packer is aiming for edification not just answers (cf. Some primary benefits of being God’s child.Īlso, note that the book could easily be broken into two semesters of study: The attributes of God, chapters 7-17 and The privileges and problems of living as a Christian, 1-6, 18-22.Ī great name for a church or group study of Knowing God is “Knowing God Together” – which is how we were meant to do it anyway!ġ.

The outline of the whole book, could be summarized: I. We could summarize the whole book, as teaching who God is and how we can relate to him.

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