Bible Studies for the Elderly

Heart_N_Soul · 11-06-2007 2:16pm #1

Hi all,
I am trying to start up a bible study / bible readings to the elderly in our fair city of Dublin. I have a soft spot for the elderly, and would love to read and discuss some scriptures with them, and help keep them occupied too. I have heard that there often isnt alot going on for the elderly community.
Does anyone have any ideas how i might go about starting this? I know that the fact that I am Christian might cause a problem as this country is mostly catholic, but I have no intentions of pushing my beliefs down their necks... I just want to share the gospel with them...
Thanks a mill
Emma

philologos · 11-06-2007 3:08pm

Since when are Catholics not Christian?

Zombrex · 11-06-2007 3:28pm

OP, I assume you mean you are a member of one of the Protestant churches, rather than a Catholic, since as Jakkass points out, Catholics are Christians.

If that is the case I still wouldn't worry, Ireland has a large Protestant population, the largest group being Church of Ireland, an offshoot of the Church of England.

As for Bible reading groups, this is also a quite common and you will probably already find a reading group in your area. Your best bet is to contact a group such as the Irish Bible Society (http://www.biblesociety.ie/), or the Scripture Union (http://www.scriptureunion.ie) and see if there is a Bible study group near you. If not I'm sure these groups can help you start one up.

Of course I'm one of the forums regular atheists posters, so I'm required by my dark religion to object to all this so ... umm ... don't do any of the above!! Hail Satan, and all that jazz

BrianCalgary · 11-06-2007 5:32pm

Hey Heartnsoul You could also contact the Evangelical Association of Ireland. They could possibly suggest a church or two that could help you out.

http://www.evangelical.ie/

PDN · 11-06-2007 5:36pm

Jakkass wrote:

Since when are Catholics not Christian?

It's hard to be precise, but round about 314 AD would be when the two began to diverge.

reenie · 27-10-2008 4:11pm

I too am just starting a bible study for the elderly in my area. I visited a local nursing home and simply asked if anyone there would be interested in attending a bible study. Several of the residents expressed interest. We will start this week. We will sing some old hymns familiar to them. We thought we would ask for their testimony thru the years with God to see where they stand with their relationship to God. We will be focusing on a bible study on "contentment". Finding true contentment requires a positive relationship with God enable us to bring in the gospel/message of Salvation. God bless you and have fun with this. The elderly are truly a neglected group and they will all appreciate your efforts and love. reenie

Tim Robbins · 27-10-2008 9:52pm

Heart_N_Soul wrote: »

Does anyone have any ideas how i might go about starting this? I know that the fact that I am Christian might cause a problem as this country is mostly catholic

In what might be an ironic twist you might meet some who don't consider you Christian because you are not Catholic.

kelly1 · 27-10-2008 11:14pm

PDN wrote: »

It's hard to be precise, but round about 314 AD would be when the two began to diverge.

PDN, I think your comment is out of order. It shows how little faith you have in Christ considering that Jesus said that the gates of hell would never prevail against His Church.

PDN · 28-10-2008 8:45am

kelly1 wrote: »

PDN, I think your comment is out of order. It shows how little faith you have in Christ considering that Jesus said that the gates of hell would never prevail against His Church.

My comment was somewhat tongue in cheek - and made a full 9 months before I became a moderator of this forum (now I have to be more PC).

However, failure to identify the Roman Catholic Church as the true Church is lack of faith in the Pope, not lack of faith in Christ.

While I have no desire to see a Catholic bashing thread on the board, other posters should be allowed to respond to your comments and claims, so choose your words carefully. Some of us would see the 'gates of hell' which tried to prevail against the Church as including devilish obscenities such as the Inquisition.

robindch · 28-10-2008 1:19pm

PDN wrote: »

failure to identify the Roman Catholic Church as the true Church is lack of faith in the Pope, not lack of faith in Christ.

A splendid reply!

kelly1 · 28-10-2008 3:58pm

robindch wrote: »

A splendid reply!

There's nothing splendid about it at all. Christ founded a visible Church on earth and appointed Peter as head of His Church and the apostles as Church leaders. The office of bishop didn't die with the apostles just as the papacy didn't die with Peter. The Church isn't just a collection of those who believe in Jesus. The Church is supposed to be one Body with one Head (Christ) united in faith under one Lord. There's no unity where people dissent on matters of faith and morals. One person believes baptism is only symbolic, another denies the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Another doesn't believe in confession to a priest and doesn't even believe the priesthood is valid. There's no unity in that. Unity of doctrine is essential for true unity. Christ has guaranteed that His Church would preserve the Truth throughout the ages. The Church has the God-given authority and Spirit-led power to teach in Christ's name and to forgive sins.

I don't understand why people accept the bible as the ultimate authority on faith and mortals when it is abundantly clear that this approach has resulted in the schisms we have today. The bible is static. Nobody can query it and ask for the correct interpretation of a passage of Scripture. Fortunately we have, throught God's providence, a living Magisterium which is led by the Holy Spirit into Truth. Unfortunate that so many people don't accept this.

robindch · 28-10-2008 5:21pm

kelly1 wrote: »

There's nothing splendid about it at all.

On the contrary, I think there is -- within one clear and simple sentence, PDN has implied how the two principal species of christianity have resolved the largest problem facing any religion, the problem of interpretive legitimacy following the death of its charismatic founder. All religions have this problem, and many divide upon similar lines (lineage over text versus text over lineage).

kelly1 wrote: »

The bible is static.

The text certainly is static, but the interpretations of the text are as varied as the people who believe them.

JimiTime · 29-10-2008 1:31pm

kelly1 wrote: »

There's nothing splendid about it at all. Christ founded a visible Church on earth and appointed Peter as head of His Church and the apostles as Church leaders. The office of bishop didn't die with the apostles just as the papacy didn't die with Peter. The Church isn't just a collection of those who believe in Jesus. The Church is supposed to be one Body with one Head (Christ) united in faith under one Lord. There's no unity where people dissent on matters of faith and morals. One person believes baptism is only symbolic, another denies the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Another doesn't believe in confession to a priest and doesn't even believe the priesthood is valid. There's no unity in that. Unity of doctrine is essential for true unity. Christ has guaranteed that His Church would preserve the Truth throughout the ages. The Church has the God-given authority and Spirit-led power to teach in Christ's name and to forgive sins.

I don't understand why people accept the bible as the ultimate authority on faith and mortals when it is abundantly clear that this approach has resulted in the schisms we have today. The bible is static. Nobody can query it and ask for the correct interpretation of a passage of Scripture. Fortunately we have, throught God's providence, a living Magisterium which is led by the Holy Spirit into Truth. Unfortunate that so many people don't accept this.

I'm not looking to get into a debate about this, but....

I've seen you start with this premise quite frequently as if its accepted fact. 'Christ started a church etc etc'. The fact is, its only Catholic doctrine that 'interprets' this scripture to relate to itself. Now fair enough, you believe them. However, many don't, so you can't just start with that as if its common knowledge. PDN was quite right to point out that its not a lack of faith in Christ, but rather a lack of faith in the Papacy. To you they are one in the same, as you hold to the teaching of the Popes authority. Many don't though. So always stating that the RCC is the one true church founded by Christ etc, really means nothing at all to those that don't have faith in the Papacy. I've often see you say it like, 'So you don't have faith in Jesus when he said.......' Why say that? You know that the professing Christians here do have faith in Christ, but they simply see this scripture being misinterpretted. Yet you keep on insisting on putting it forward. I'm just wondering what the point is in keeping on doing this when you know the person its directed at disagree's strongly with your premise?

Húrin · 03-11-2008 1:14am

kelly1 wrote: »

I don't understand why people accept the bible as the ultimate authority on faith and mortals when it is abundantly clear that this approach has resulted in the schisms we have today. The bible is static. Nobody can query it and ask for the correct interpretation of a passage of Scripture. Fortunately we have, throught God's providence, a living Magisterium which is led by the Holy Spirit into Truth. Unfortunate that so many people don't accept this.

I see it differently. Remember that the Bible is not like any other book, in that if we ask, the holy spirit will guide our reading of it to help us learn most from its wisdom. In this sense I don't see the Bible as static. Physically it is static like all paper, but not in meaning.

Húrin · 03-11-2008 1:16am

Heart_N_Soul wrote: »

Hi all,
I am trying to start up a bible study / bible readings to the elderly in our fair city of Dublin. I have a soft spot for the elderly, and would love to read and discuss some scriptures with them, and help keep them occupied too. I have heard that there often isnt alot going on for the elderly community.
Does anyone have any ideas how i might go about starting this? I know that the fact that I am Christian might cause a problem as this country is mostly catholic, but I have no intentions of pushing my beliefs down their necks... I just want to share the gospel with them...
Thanks a mill
Emma

That's a great idea. Well done you. Remember that Catholics use the Bible too, but you might be taken less seriously if you are an American evangelical just come in... but don't let that dissuade you.

kelly1 · 03-11-2008 11:45am

Húrin wrote: »

I see it differently. Remember that the Bible is not like any other book, in that if we ask, the holy spirit will guide our reading of it to help us learn most from its wisdom. In this sense I don't see the Bible as static. Physically it is static like all paper, but not in meaning.

I don't mean to diminish the importance of the bible but I only meant to say that the bible can't speak for itself.

If the Holy Spirit is guiding people's undstanding, why do the beliefs of Christians diverge so much? People are subject to prejudices and bias.

Think about it. Before the Repormation, there was a common faith among nearly all Christians. And then Luther started encouraging people to interpret the bible for themselves. Of course it's good to read the bible but private interpretation is
dangerous. As soon a people started interpreting the bible themselves, they stopped believing in the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and they stopped confessing their sins to a priest. i.e. living Tradition went out the window.

Bible Studies for the Elderly

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