Chapter 5: Faith - Penguin Sex

Mark here. As I read the chapter for this week (How could you not read a chapter with a title like that?), there are several questions that emerge regarding the meaning of faith.

Miller tells the story of his conversation with his friend Laura, who talked about feeling like God was "after her". We often talk about conversion as "coming to Jesus". Does conversion also involve God chasing after us? What do you think this pursuit feels like?

Laura said that she is resisting God because "... it is all so stupid, so completely stupid." Miller explains her comments about faith by saying, "Laura was looking for something rational, because she believed that all things that were true were rational." Is reason a part of faith, or do you have to suspend reason to have faith?

Isaiah 55:8-9 - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Mark 12:28-30 - "One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, 'Which commandment is the first of all?' Jesus answered, 'The first is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'"

Are there things about faith that confuse you? Do these things make faith difficult?

Miller talks about having a "radar" inside him that says to believe in Jesus. Though he can't explain it, this radar always leads him right. How does your "radar" work? What aspects of Christian spirituality help fine tune your radar?

Chapter 2: Problems

One of the most quoted psalms, Psalm 23, contains this line: "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me..."

In Chapter two of Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz, Miller confronts this issue of the "darkest valley" and our roles as humans and as Christians when we encounter and recognize those times.

Here are a few questions to ponder and post responses to...

1. On page 13 of chapter 2, Miller states, "I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God." What do you think? Is "wasting time" the biggest downfall for Christians? Where is the line between "being a Christian" and "being religious"?
2. Miller comments that he bought his first television because of a preacher at a church he was visiting said that TV rots the brain. How do we as Christians digest and understand what a "preacher" says from the pulpit? Are we called to believe him/her without doubt? Are we called to challenge the thought? What do you think?
3. Miller on page 17 states, "I think it is easier to do bad things than good things." What do you think?
4. The issue of "original sin" comes up in this chapter. "Original sin" is the idea that we are all born with a tendency to sin because of the original sin by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In a sense, we are prenatured to "sin". What do you think about this idea of "original sin"?
5. "I think every conscious person, every person who is awake to functioning principles within his reality, has a moment where he stops blaming the problems in the world on group think, on humanity and authority, and starts to face himself. ... The problem is not out there; the problem is the needy beast of a thing that lives in my chest. (it's me)" Have you had one of these moments of enlightenment? Share it with the group.

We look forward to the discussion. Feel free to share your thoughts on the questions above or any other part of the reading.