Discussion Questions

The speaker cautions that people can “hide a lot of sin, nations of sin, in some of these rabbit holes”; what kinds of spiritual evasions have you seen (or practiced) where theological research becomes a cover for disobedience? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What are some ways people use Bible or theology research to avoid obeying God? Have you ever done that yourself?

The conversation pushes back against having to choose “which silo you’re going to be in,” insisting there is “mystery” and “nuance”; where do you feel pressure to pick a camp (atonement theories, eschatology, etc.), and what does that pressure do to your faith and obedience? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where do you feel pushed to choose a “side” on debates like atonement or the end times? How does that pressure affect your faith and obedience?

The speaker says “the beauty of Anabaptism” is making “Christ and His kingdom” practical in “real living ways”; what specific “real living” implications do you think he has in mind, and how does that expose weaknesses in your current discipleship? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What do you think it looks like to make “Christ and His kingdom” practical in everyday life? How does that show where your discipleship is weak?

He criticizes a pattern where you “build up all this Christology and atonement and soteriology” and then “tack on” Jesus’ moral teachings at the end; in what ways have you been taught (or have taught) a Christianity where obedience functions as an appendix rather than the core? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Have you learned or taught a kind of Christianity where Jesus’ teachings are treated like an extra add-on instead of the main point? What did that look like?

“The teachings of Christ cannot be separated from the Christology and soteriology of Christ… His teachings come from His very nature”; how does this claim reshape what it means to believe “who Jesus is,” and what happens to doctrine when it is detached from His way of life? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Jesus’ teachings come from who He is, how does that change what it means to believe in Him? What happens when people separate doctrine from how Jesus lived and taught?

The speaker paraphrases God’s message in Jesus as “this is the blueprint for humanity”; what parts of Jesus’ “blueprint” feel most threatening to modern assumptions about freedom, self-expression, or personal rights? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Jesus is God’s “plan” for how humans should live, which parts of His life and teaching clash most with modern ideas of freedom and personal rights?

He argues that what matters most is not what developed around “1500” (hinting at Reformation-era systems) but what you see when you “start from the beginning”; what theological priorities shift when you treat the earliest Christian writings as a baseline rather than later systems? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If you start with the earliest Christian writings instead of later systems from around the 1500s, what beliefs or priorities might change?

“Grab the DDK, grab the Clement of Rome… What do they find important?… They sound like Jesus”; what would it mean for your church to “sound like Jesus” the way the speaker claims these early writings do, and where would your community need to change to match that sound? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What would it mean for your church to “sound like Jesus” in its teaching and priorities? What would your church need to change to get there?

The speaker says he doesn’t need a “dogmatic view on the millennial reign” and can “enjoy the conversations of the Christus Victor guys and the penal substitutionary guys”; what doctrines do you treat as identity-markers, and how might loosening your grip reveal whether your confidence is in Jesus Himself or in being “right”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What beliefs do you treat as part of your identity, where you feel you must be “right”? If you held those more loosely, what might that show about whether you trust Jesus or just your views?

He warns that internet apologists “rip one way or the other” and “get us into these camps,” then pleads, “Allow the simplicity”; what concrete practices (reading habits, online boundaries, study priorities, accountability) would actually protect the “simplicity” of Jesus’ teachings in your week-to-week life? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What specific habits or boundaries would help you keep Jesus’ teachings simple and central in your daily life (like what you read, your online time, study focus, or accountability)?