Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 3
Susie said she liked Jesus but “didn’t really read the Bible” and mostly knew faith as Mass routines “always the same”; what picture of God and discipleship does that produce, and how does it differ from the New Testament’s expectation of knowing Christ through his words?
Another way to ask: If faith is mostly routines (like Mass) without reading the Bible, what kind of view of God and following Jesus does that create? How is that different from the New Testament’s call to know Jesus through his words?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on Susie’s comments, a routine-centered faith without Scripture produces a thin, secondhand Christianity: Jesus is familiar, but discipleship is unclear and not connected to daily life. In contrast, her later awakening came when reading the Bible and seeing obedience and community as central.
- She says, “I did like Jesus still,” but admits, “I didn’t really read the Bible.”
- Her experience of church was repetitive: “the mass goes every time and it’s always the same.”
- She lacked a model of Christian living: “I didn’t know much about how Christian lives or anything like that.”
- She later describes a hunger for an everyday faith: “How do Christians live?…I wanted to live it every day.”
- Bible reading became pivotal through debate: “the more he wanted to debate, the more I ended up reading the Bible.”
- She was drawn to Anabaptists because they “value the Bible so much” and practice “non-resistance” and daily discipleship.