1. When Neo rants that the Bible is not “biblical” in the way that Dan’s critics are using it (p. 95), what does he mean? Do you agree? Do you agree that evocative language must be used to discuss spiritual realities? Why or why not? Can you think of examples of evocative language (or behavior) in the Bible that would be scandalous to Christians today? How has modernity limited the kind of language available for spiritual conversations?
2. Dan likes Neo’s sermon on death but can’t imagine preaching it himself. He makes the observation that people are comfortable reading C.S. Lewis in their homes but are less comfortable when his ideas and approach are taken into the pulpit. Why do you think this is the case? Does Lewis’s use of story make hard ideas more palatable? Why might this be so? How does this parallel Jesus’ approach?
3. “Why do you think that church people get so tense, so inflexible?” Dan asks Neo. Is this a true or fair description of “church people” in your experience? Why or why not?
4. What is lost when certainty and safety become the chief concerns for Christians and churches? What happens when faith is sanitized? Do you agree with Dan that fear of “heresy and sin creeping into the camp” is a legitimate concern? Why or why not?
5. How would you answer Dan’s question: “How do we remain open and accepting of people without compromising and condoning sin?” How does the messiness of people playing by different sets of rules (p. 97) mirror, in Neo’s opinion, the first century church?
6. Neo says the contemporary understanding of sin is truncated (p. 99). What does he mean by this? According to Neo, what is dangerous about a modern understanding of sin (pp. 99-101)? Do you agree? How do you respond to Neo’s desire to include the social, or systemic, nature of sin in the discussion?
7. Neo distinguishes righteousness from goodness. What do you make of this distinction? How does the righteousness Neo describes as modern differ form the righteousness described by Jesus in the story of the Good Samaritan?
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