Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 3
Clayton joked that he’d “pray for” people who never want to live in a city because Revelation pictures God’s people entering a holy city; how does the Bible’s positive use of “city” (including New Jerusalem) confront the reflex to equate “city” with “danger” or “worldliness”?
Another way to ask: If the Bible ends with God’s people in a holy city, how should that change the way we think of cities as only dangerous or worldly?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the speaker’s teaching, Scripture itself pushes back against a blanket anti-city mindset by presenting God’s future as life in a “holy city,” not an escape from cities. That confronts the reflex to treat “city” as automatically worldly, dangerous, or spiritually inferior.
- Clayton asks country churches, “How many of you hope that you never have to live in the city?” then says, “I’m going to pray for you because in Revelation it says all of God’s people are going to live in a holy city in Jerusalem. We’re going to enter the city.”
- He states the Bible speaks frequently about cities: “over a thousand verses about cities.”
- He argues many people hold “a prejudice against… the concept that you would even live in the city,” tied to fear of crime.
- He explains much of human history assumed cities were for “safety,” challenging modern stereotypes.