The questions have their origin in the spiritual accountability group (called "The Holy Club" by some) started by John Wesley when he was a student at Oxford. The first list of questions appeared about 1729 or 1730 in the preface to Wesley's second Oxford Diary. Similar questions appeared in his 1733 A Collection of Forms of Prayer for Every Day in the Week.
Here are the first five questions replete with my comments:
- Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am?
I struggle with comparison and judgmentalism. Sometimes excuse and rationalize it. I am not better than anyone.
- Do I confidentially pass on to others what has been said to me in confidence?
I do not pass on confidences but I do sometimes catch myself passing on gossip.
- Can I be trusted?
I hope so yet I do understand how weak I am.
- Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
Not as much as I used to be. Being retired has freed me of some of those constraints. :)
- Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
Sometimes. I can especially relate to self-pity. I am a work in progress.
As late as 1781, Wesley published a list of questions like this in the Arminian Magazine. Joni and Friends published the whole list of questions here. Let me know what you think of the list and how you might have answered one of them.
Whew, Bob!
ReplyDeleteYour answers could have been written by me.
I definitely am a work in progress.
Thank you so much, Bob, for posting this and the link. I followed the link and printed out the entire list. I am going to give each of the woman who will be here tomorrow night for Bible Study a copy to take home.
ReplyDeleteWhat really struck me was that these were published 283 years ago and yet we still confronting these same questions and issues today!! There truly is nothing new under the sun.
I am going to pick out one of these and come back and comment to you later but I need to have a quieter time to do so where I can really prayerfully think about them. Thanks again, for once again stretching me!!!!!
I think it is a good list as long as we all remember we are a work in progress. I certainly am. But we should be constantly pressing on toward the goal.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be a consensus that we are all a work in progress. :)
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