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?