Questions for Chapter 13

1.  Dan discovers that, when communication with Neo shifts to email with the occasional phone call, a surprising change follows:  “. . . as soon as he was physically distant, we seemed to get closer.”  (p. 111) 

• Have you had any experiences like this?
• How do you see today’s communication technology affecting relationships and ‘connectedness’?

2.  Neo expresses his belief in the important role our finances play in faith by saying, ” . . . if we can’t discipline ourselves to learn the joys of generous living, I think we’re an embarrassment to the gospel.”  (pp. 112-113)  But Dan seems to continually brush the issue of money aside.

• Why do you think Dan does this?
• Is Neo right to be concerned?

3.  Neo lists the significant “areas of change” for Christians who are making the transition to living in a postmodern world (p. 116).  He adds one more category, which is the discover of ” . . . a from of authentic spirituality that is broader than our modern pietism.”

• What would some of the characteristic features of ‘modern pietism’ be?  How would authentic spirituality be different?
• What is the difference between becoming “more religious’ and ‘more spiritual’?
• What is the significance (according to Neo) of spiritual practices done in secret?
• What has help you in your spiritual formation?  Has the intensity (p. 122) of certain experiences played an important role?

Any other thoughts or comments that you have from this chapter?

Questions (including two we didn’t discuss) for Chapter 12

1.  Neo describes (pp. 103ff) a time in his life when he felt tension around non-christians.  ” . . . either I was going to be pulled down by their bad behavior, or I was going to judge them and preach to them.” 

• Have you ever felt this tension?  What impact has it had on your relationships with those outside the church?
• Have you found a way to resolve the tension?

2.  As Neo relates the conversation he just had with Marita  (pp. 104-105), Dan is surprised by the way Neo doesn’t seem to try to evangelize her.

• Do you think Neo could/should have handled the interaction differently?
• What does Neo mean when he says, “I don’t think that most Christians have any idea what the gospel really is.”?
• What does Neo mean when he says, “Postmodern theology has to reincarnate; we have to get back into the flesh and blood and sweat and dirt of the setting  . . . all truth is contextual.”?  (p. 106)

3.  Neo seems to think that experiencing Christian community is a natural first step and an important aspect of sharing the gospel with someone.

• Do you agree or disagree?
• Why or why not?

4.  What metaphor(s) might Jesus use today to express the Good News that he brings to our world?

Questions for Chapter 11

Terms: 

• evocative – able to awaken or inspire (as opposed to “provocative”, which would mean able to arouse anger or resentment)
• truncated – chopped down in size; cut off (like a tree trunk)
• monads -  (the dictionary wasn’t much help here, so I’m going to use Neo’s words and ideas) – isolated individuals; with regard to the view of sin, people capable of sinning against God and maybe harming a few other individuals along the way, but very limited in impact with the wrong things they do or the right things they don’t do

Questions:

1.  Dan asks Neo (pp. 96-97), “How do we remain open and accepting of people, without compromising (our moral values) and condoning sin?”  (addition mine)  As Dan and Neo discuss the ‘messiness of a group where a uniform standard of behavior is not practicable, Neo concludes that this may be “. . . a sign that you’re continuing in the spirit of the early church.” 

• Do you agree that this ‘messiness’ is a good thing?
• What role would love play in keeping a group like this together?
• How would you answer Dan’s initial question?

2.  Neo says (p. 99) that the contemporary understanding of sin is “truncated. ”

• What does he mean by this?  Do you agree or disagree?
•  What do you think of Neo’s desire to include the social (or systemic) nature of sin?

3.  Neo makes a distinction (pp. 101-102) between ‘righteousness’ and ‘goodness.’ 

• What do you think of this distinction?
• How does our modern concept of righteousness differ from the righteousness described by Jesus in the story of the Good Samaritan?

 

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like . . . “

” . . . a man who sowed good seed in his field.  But, while he was sleeping, . . .” (Matt. 13:24-30)

” . . . a mustard seed . . .” (Matt. 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19)

” . . . yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour . . . ” (Matt. 13:33; Luke 13:20-21)

“  . . . a treasure hidden in a field . . . (Matt. 13:44)

” . . . a merchant looking for fine pears.  When he found one of great value . . . ” (Matt 13:45-46)

” . . . a net that was let down into a lake . . . “ (Matt. 13:47-50)

” . . . a king who wanted to settle accounts . . . ” (Matt. 18:23-34)

” . . . a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work . . . “ (Matt 20:1-15)

” . . . a king who prepared a wedding banquet . . . ” (Matt. 22:2-13)

” . . . (will be like) ten virgins who took their lamps and went out  . . . (Matt. 25:1-12)

” . . . (will be like) a man going on a journey . . . (Matt. 25:14-30)

” . . . a man (who) scatters seed . . .” (Mark 4:26-29)

Note:  These references represent the parables or similes that Jesus used to help his followers get their minds around the nature of the kingdom of heaven.  He makes many more comments about the kingdom–whom it does and does not belong to, who will be first and who will be last, etc. 

A concordance is a great way to quickly access the things Jesus taught his followers about the kingdom.  If you don’t have one handy (many Bibles offer one in the back pages), you can probably access one online. 

 

Questions for Chapter 10

1.  Neo says (pp. 82-83) that he was raised to think of the central message of the Bible as a gospel that focuses on getting individual souls into heaven.  (Some might refer to this as ‘personal salvation.’)

• What issues does Neo have with this focus?
• Do any of the same things trouble you?
• What would you say the central message of the Bible is?

2.  Neo thinks (pp. 83-84) that a balanced and comprehensive view of salvation is connected to how we understand ‘the church’ as distinct from ‘the kingdom.’

• What is the kingdom of God (or, the kingdom of heaven)?
• What metaphors did Jesus use to help his followers grasp the kingdom?
• How does the kingdom relate to the church?

3.  Dan listens to a tape of a sermon Neo entitled, “Death.”  (pp. 85-93)

• What did you think of Neo’s ideas?
• Which one(s) spoke to you?
• How does this sermon differ from what you have been taught?

Looking forward to our discussion Monday evening!

E-

Questions for Chapter 9

Hey all, here are some things to consider as you read for next week:

Chapter 9:

1.  In his first attempt at writing an apology to Neo (p. 70), Dan talks about feeling torn between his desire to honestly pursue truth and the ‘serious ramifications’ that changing theology would create for him. 

• Have you personally encountered a similar tension in our life? 
• What were/are your ‘serious ramifications’?

2.  Carol quotes a man from Uganda (p. 75) who said that, “. . . Jesus came not to drive the culture from the people, but the sin from the culture.  He came not to condemn our culture, but to redeem it.”  (For the sake of this discussion, let’s loosely define culture as a shared set of beliefs, values and practices among a group of people that is generated by religion, race or some other common factor.)

• What are some of the ‘cultures’ that we rub shoulders with today?  Here on the Palouse?
• What might a redeemed version of those cultures look like?

3.  While they are discussing the influence of culture on belief, Carol worries (p, 78-79) about how we can ” . . . know that we are really getting the gospel at all, instead of a tossed salad form of it, with a little of this, a little of that?”  Neo’s first response is to name the Bible as ‘protection.’ 

• What else does Neo think might help us distinguish between gospel and culture?
• How is his idea of the Bible as a protector of truth any different from the modern perspective that it is the answer book that tells us we’re right?

That’s all for now, folks–I’ll get Chapter 10′s questions up as soon as I can.

Thoughts on Last Night

I’ve been thinking a lot about last night’s conversation.  I came away encouraged and uplifted.  A few points that really stood out to me…

1)–I was struck by Elizabeth’s observation that Truth is not an idea, but a Person–Jesus Christ. And Christ is certainly multi-faceted and infinite layers deep.  One of my favorite quotes from CS Lewis’s Mere Christianity is:

There is so much of Him that millions and millions of “little Christs” [referring to believers who are remade in Christ's image], all different, will still be too few to express Him fully.

When Truth is Jesus, and not a correctly-articulated concept, everything takes on a whole new meaning.  As Elizabeth said last night, who can say they exhaustively know even one person?   I certainly don’t–not my husband or sister or best friend.  Heck, not even MYSELF!  Now try to apply that to every single person who has ever lived, is living now, and will ever live…and you might begin to catch a glimpse of what it is to really know Truth.

2)–The difference between goodness and rightness. I’m not sure I totally grasp this yet, but I believe it’s the beginning of a massive paradigm shift for me.  I loved what Neo said about how, if Christians were more concerned with goodness, and less concerned with rightness, we might convince more people that we’re right.

3)–The purpose and nature of evangelism. Evangelism is about sharing goodness and love and hope in Christ.  In my mission experience, that was part of it–but another big part of it was convincing others of our “rightness.”   I’m beginning to move away from that as the highest value.

What about you?  What other thoughts and insights from last night stood out to you?  Are there other questions you’ve been considering?   Other inspiration you’ve received?