Together with a friend or a small group, check out You Can Believe! and use the small group study guide for small group or individual study. You can get an overview of each week's topics by clicking on a week below.
“Many people have made a jumble of religion, and it repels us; yet somehow we know that something has been taken away from us, something precious has been lost without the guide of spiritual teachings. Our Connection to the Source, to one another, to the magic and the moment, to the core of life itself has been left behind somewhere. Still we long for belief, for hope, for the supernatural above or beyond ourselves that we can reach out to and feel, draw to ourselves and wrap ourselves in. We know that spirituality is more than religion or the blind allegiance to ignorant dogma.” (Grant Schnarr, –from the introduction, p.ix)
Discussion questions
Discuss the times you struggle to believe or feel you can’t believe?
What do you see as the major barriers to attaining and sustaining any kind of faith or belief today? What do you see as your personal barriers to a deeper belief?
What do you feel like or know you need to let go of?
Task for the Week
Take a Step : Come up with a list of three things you can do to open yourself up to the possibilities of spirituality and belief (for instance, focusing on prayer). Write them down. Practice them each day for one week.
Discussion questions
What are the issues you face in forming a picture of God for yourself?
How do you see a loving God playing an active role in your life?
Take a few minutes to jot down the words that come to mind when you think of the Lord individually as Divine and Human.
Task for the Week
Show and Tell: Bring something in next week that best describes your ideal/desired relationship with God for instance, choose and object, write a paragraph or poem, draw a picture, etc.
Discussion questions
Were you brought up with the idea that you were basically good or evil? What did that mean to you?
What does it mean to you to be neither good nor evil but a receiver of both?
Do you feel like you were created for a specific use on earth or something else?
Task for the Week
One way for us to learn about ourselves is to ask others. Ask five people via Email what they think are your unique qualities or abilities you have exhibited. This could be a partner, friend, sibling, coworker, etc. Tell them this is homework for a class. What did you learn about yourself?
Discussion questions
Discuss the steps in the formula for growth in Chapter Three, pages 26-30. What are your experiences with these steps?
Task for the Week
Exploring the Process: Ask the Lord to help you see areas in your life which need growth. Take time to reflect on the answer. Write down three things you need to work on (worry, gossiping, judging others, etc.). Pick one area you will work on. Shun that particular evil all week. See what happens.
Discussion questions
How satisfied are you with the perspective that bad things happen to people for the sake of human freedom, etc.? What are your views?
Have there been times when you feel you have seen Providence working in your life?
Task for the Week
Reflect and Journal: Note times when the Lord has shown up in your life.
Discussion questions
What has your relationship been with the Bible? This could mean no experience or a very personal experience with the Bible.
What about the idea of a deeper meaning to the Bible? What are your experiences (if any) with this?
Task for the Week
Set a time to read the Bible everyday this week, even if only for 5 minutes. While reading, simply ask the Lord what you need to know this day. See what a difference this makes.
Discussion questions
What are your thoughts about marriage after death? What were you taught growing up? Have your views changed?
What do you think is the essential or core message in what you just read about love and marriage?
Task for the Week
Every day, ask the Lord for the gift of married love and the power to live by what He shows you. Do this whether single or married. See what happens.
List the top five movies you think have helped forward the ideal of married love. Can you list some which have done the opposite?
Discussion questions
How convinced are you that you will live after death?
How do ideas about life after death affect the way you think and live?
Sometimes when people lose someone close to them, they may receive a strong sense that the person is alive and well in the other world, or perhaps they have a significant dream. Have you personally had an experience like this or know someone who has that you are willing to share with the group?
Task for the Week
Take some time to reflect: “If I were taken to the other world today, what would I regret not having done?” What spiritual goals are you neglecting? This week take one step towards doing it.
Discussion questions
What were you taught growing up about end times? The second coming?
What is your reaction to the idea that the second coming is a new understanding of God?
What does the idea that there won’t be a cataclysmic judgment on the earth do for you?
Think about a prayer or hope that you would like to offer to the world--for example, peace, health, or love.
