David again. I hope you have been enjoying following Donald Miller's faith story through the first seven chapters of his book Blue Like Jazz. Chapter 8 provides a turning point in his faith story, a journey from questioning himself, questioning God, questioning the world, to a true understanding of his own personal faith and what he had been hiding behind. He ends chapter 8 with this line, "After that moment, things started to get interesting." As you can see from the chapter and tell from the following questions, Miller undergoes some serious soul searching to come to a place of honesty in his faith.
So now for some discussion questions...
(1) Miller had a spiritual life and faith, yet he had an occurrence listening to one of his favorite authors and a following discussion with his best friend, Tony the Beat Poet, that opened his eyes up to true faith. Other than your salvation story (that we have already shared in past posts), can you share a time or event where your eyes have been opened to what true faith really is, and what you are called to have? I look forward to hearing them...
(2) Have you ever been drawn to another religion's ideologies or principles - Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hindusim, etc.? If so, which one and what attracted you to this specific religion? Was your attraction based on what you personally wanted in a religion or what the religion truly taught?
(3) Have you ever been "bored" with Jesus and Christianity? What led you to these feelings? Was it something that someone did, a church did or did not do, or something that you were failing to do in your own life?
(4) Miller on page 92 says, "God is not here to worship me, to mold Himself into something that will help me fulfill my level of comfort." What do you think of this statement? Have you been to that point before of making God "fit in a box" to meet your needs? What helped you get out?
(5) Miller's defining moment is described on page 94 when he says, "I realized in an instant that I desired false gods because Jesus wouldn't jump through my hoops, and I realized that, like Tony, my faith was about image and ego, not about practicing spirituality". Kind of a different question, but what percentage of church-goers today are going for their own image or ego? Justify your percentage. Does it somehow relate to your own faith journey?
Spiritual "Defining moments" are scattered throughout the Bible. We have Moses's conversation with God about being a worthy mouthpiece for Him. We have Peter's picnic dream where God enlightens him on dietary restrictions that Peter thought were essential to living a life of faith (boy was he wrong). We have Peter's denial of Christ three times before Jesus was crucified. These "defining moments" mold us into who we are today, and who we are for God. Allow these moments to continue to mold you.
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3 comments:
I was drawn to question 5. I cannot predict what percentage of church-goers attend church for their own ego or image, however I do believe that it is probably quite a bit. I am not sure if it is an "ego" or "image" thing. I believe that people want to do the right thing and they believe that going to church is the "right" thing. I do believe you need to go to church to worship God, to be obiedent to God. But just because a person is in church does not make them a spiritual being, or even a "Godly" man. I used to think I could go to church on Sunday then go home to my live in boyfriend and we could sin and it was ok, because I was a christian. I no longer believe that just because I am a "christian" that I can continue to live the way that I was before I was saved. It does not work that way. I beleive that once I was saved and my heart changed I wanted to live for Christ. I still sin, don't get me wrong. But I feel remorse for them, I ask God to forgive me and to take my defects of character from me so that I might please Him. Many people believe that once you are saved, you are always saved and you will have life-everlasting in the Kingdom, I do not think it it that simple. SR
Wow, some real interesting thoughts germinating out of this. Thanks for some great questions, David!
I remember this one youth camp I had taken my youth group to when I was in Virginia. The speaker and worship leader were ... difficult people to say the least, and their attitudes were causing problems not just with the leadership but with the students as well. By the third night, we had a leader's meeting to deal with the issues. It was a critical moment, and the head of the camp asked each of us to go back to our rooms and pray. When I got back to my room, I turned off all the lights, and knelt down on the floor. Before I knew, I was laying flat on my face literally crying out to God for His will to be done. The next day, it was as if there was a whole new spirit in the camp. I saw my youth, who had grown resistant, become stretched in ways they never imagined. I look back on that night as one of the most sincere and powerful encounters of Christ's presence I have ever known.
I have studied a lot of other religions, and I probably find myself drawn again and again to Judaism. I love the Old Testament, and I love the importance of studying the Torah in Judaism. More than that, I love the methods of interpreting Scripture used by Jewish rabbis - letting the text interpret the text, searching for the richness of meaning beyond just the literal words on the page. I feel sometimes we Christians focus too much on letting "the Word speak to today" or "speak to my situation." In doing so, I think we lose some of the sheer beauty of Scripture and the freedom to let God speak through Scripture as God desires.
Can't really think of an answer for #3, so I am going to press on to questions #4 and 5, and say that I totally agree with Miller's statements and am totally convicted by it at the same time. I so often want God on my terms. This was a real struggle for me in college. I made some decisions in college that I knew were not part of God's desire for my life, but I still did them saying (out loud, even) "Well, God understands." I saw concepts like holiness and righteousness as rigid rules that other people just made up. Later, I realized that Christ intends to call me to a higher life, a kingdom life. If the life of a Christian is just life like everybody else except you go to church on Sunday, doesn't that just kind of make Christ useless?
Stephanie, I found interesting what you said at the end of your post. I think we do tend to focus on salvation as our "get into Heaven" ticket and miss out on the fact that we are called to live eternal life now, not just after we die. My life should reflect my citizenship in God's kingdom. Will I be perfect? Obviously not. That is what the security of our salvation is intended to address: that God's forgiveness and grace is not earned but freely given so that we can live a new life. When we fall short, we are not lost forever. God's discipline is intended to "make us perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect." He knows we are works in progress. The "once saved, always saved" idea is not an excuse to do whatever, it is God's grace with His children who are still learning what it means to be His children.
Gotta run. Thanks everybody for doing this. I am really getting a lot from these interactions!
I thought Buddhism was quite an interesting religion when I studied it in college. I like its inclusiveness and the different paths to "salvation".
I think church can become boring as we go through the same old stories over and over with no real new insight or depth. Teaching youth Sunday school, I could see the boredom in the eyes looking back at me as we went over a story that they had heard explained the same way over and over through the years.
I think we all use our faith/Jesus/church at some point. We use it as our excuse for not doing something or not discussing something. We use it to win points or as Stephanie pointed out, to be doing what we're supposed to. I think society is moving away from the idea that we should go to church. It is no longer assumed that everyone does. I think I had a point, but I've lost it now!
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