We started the May session with a presentation by Joe on his studies of the Bible as an historical document as compared to a literal truth. He talked about a number of other resources that led him to believe that there was a “Great Flood” around 2500-3000 BCE. One of his references was “The Bible as History” by W Keller. His studies have led him to conclude that the Bible can be considered an historical document.
During the April session we watched the start of the movie Ghandi – the life of Mahatma Ghandi – but as the movie was very long, we were unable to see it through to the end. This month we watched the remainder and took some time after the movie to discuss what we had learnt. A few people commented on Ghandi’s view that all people were equal – he did not follow the caste system that is still found in parts. We compared this also to St Francis from the movie Brother Sun Sister Moon we had watched on February, where he also had a similar approach to people. Another comment that also applied to both Ghandi and St Francis was that they did not need personal possessions to provide happiness. We also discussed a few pages from an article “The Eternal Teaching: Hinduism” which ended by raising the question whether Hinduism is really a religion, or is it a culture. For next month’s session we have been asked to look at the question: “How close is Hinduism to Islam/Judaism/Christianity”?
Finally, the group decided to start the sessions at 1:00 pm. We are watching movies to get a view of different religions and the earlier start will give us more time to discuss what we have seen and concluded about the religions.
During the April session we watched the start of the movie Ghandi – the life of Mahatma Ghandi – but as the movie was very long, we were unable to see it through to the end. This month we watched the remainder and took some time after the movie to discuss what we had learnt. A few people commented on Ghandi’s view that all people were equal – he did not follow the caste system that is still found in parts. We compared this also to St Francis from the movie Brother Sun Sister Moon we had watched on February, where he also had a similar approach to people. Another comment that also applied to both Ghandi and St Francis was that they did not need personal possessions to provide happiness. We also discussed a few pages from an article “The Eternal Teaching: Hinduism” which ended by raising the question whether Hinduism is really a religion, or is it a culture. For next month’s session we have been asked to look at the question: “How close is Hinduism to Islam/Judaism/Christianity”?
Finally, the group decided to start the sessions at 1:00 pm. We are watching movies to get a view of different religions and the earlier start will give us more time to discuss what we have seen and concluded about the religions.
