Apologies again for my lack of proficiency in getting these postings made right the first time!

Chajc wrote:

“So I think we need to define identity and praxis with reference not to the Gospel stories - or to the story of the early church, for that matter - but to the trajectory of the whole narrative.”

Also…

“I am having trouble with this statement. I tried to take some time a read other dialogues on this site and I have begun to understand more of what you are saying (and have many of the same questions that have been asked there). But the point I keep coming back to is best stated in the above quote.”

This was the seminal comment in AP’s post that grabbed me as well….. I’m not sure either about making what amounts to a quantum leap from out of scripture and to some notional trajectory endpoint. Sure, God wants us to be sentient, thoughtful creatures. But our human history of really blowing it in this area and all the admonitions in scripture about departing from the essential messages contained therein likewise give me huge reservations about hypothesizing about such matters when I have yet to find - maybe it’s just me!! but I doubt it - a lack of relevance in the entirety of the bible to our circumstances today. RATHER THAN attempt to create a new eschatological paradigm, if you will, I think the purpose of these discussions is - I pray it is - to somehow glean insight from scripture with the help of man that ultimately MUST combine with and be fully confirmed with the Holy Spirit. The practice and functioning (praxis?) of the Church today is clearly dismal, to the point that I’m not sure referring to most of what we think of as “the Church” is even the Church. How do we confront this and what would Jesus have us do? The answer(s) lie from inspiration and teaching that comes directly from the bible, I’m certain.

Chajc wrote:

“For me the whole trajectory of the narrative from Genesis forward is the Gospel story. We have no identity without it. We have no real mission other than proclaiming it. Proclaiming it may take many forms depending on the context, but to find a mission or identity outside of the Gospel story is in my mind pushing the envelope to far in an attempt to be relevant. Or an attempt to discard its authority (I do not think this is your purpose).”

This is a very thoughtful summation, IMHO. Asserting that, essentially, the entirety of the Bible is the Gospel story is not a stretch, though it required a bit of personal (but inspired) license to do so. Getting to the place where the “trajectory of the whole narrative” lands outside the bible (the Gospel) somewhere gives me great pause. Could be like a SCUD missile approach to theology, if you excuse the analogy.

There surely is an answer to the issue of “what now?” for the Church. We need to find it.

Separately, the prophetic, eschatological words of Isaiah and Daniel and of course in 1 Thess are of an age yet to come, I believe. Perhaps I’m wrong? Alternative, inspired bible interpretation in this regard is something I also would like to learn of.