Chapter 8: "gods: Our Tiny Invisible Friends"

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.