Discussion Questions

In Dean Taylor’s psychologist interview, she tried to expose “inconsistency” by asking, “Do you pay taxes?”—how does his answer (“the Bible instructs me to love my enemies and pay my taxes”) redraw the line between Caesar and God in a way that challenges how Christians today justify their political or military choices? JumpstartAnother way to ask: When asked “Do you pay taxes?” Taylor said the Bible tells him to love his enemies and pay his taxes. How does that change how we think about what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God when Christians defend political or military actions?

Taylor claims that if you don’t grasp “the two kingdoms,” you won’t understand Jesus—and he suggests the church has often struggled to decide “which things go to Caesar and if there’s anything left to give to God”; what specific loyalties, habits, or assumptions in your life reveal confusion about which kingdom you actually belong to? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Taylor says you can’t understand Jesus without “the two kingdoms.” What loyalties, habits, or assumptions in your life show you may be mixed up about which kingdom you really belong to?

He points to “Gott mit uns” on Nazi belt buckles and says atrocities are often committed by men who think they’re serving God; where do you see modern Christians blending God-language with state power in ways that feel normal or even “faithful,” and what would it look like to repent of that blending without becoming cynical or disengaged? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Taylor says people can do terrible things while thinking they serve God, like “Gott mit uns” in Nazi Germany. Where do you see Christians today mixing God-talk with government power, and how could we turn from that without becoming bitter or checking out?

Taylor uses the “sojourning” and “good soldier” passages (1 Peter 1:17; “be not entangled with the affairs of this life”) and his Germany illustration (living among Germans but clearly American) to define Christian identity; what would it mean in practical terms to live in your community as “clearly” a citizen of God’s kingdom—and what ambitions (even respectable ones) would that likely rule out? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Taylor says Christians should live like “sojourners,” clearly citizens of God’s kingdom, like an American living in Germany. What would that look like in your town, and what goals or ambitions would you probably have to give up?

He lists “impractical marching orders” (love enemies, go “defenseless,” weapons “not carnal,” “we do not war in the flesh,” dying is gain, overcome by “blood of the Lamb…not loving our lives”); which of these orders do you most instinctively postpone to “another age,” and what does that reveal about how you picture God’s wisdom versus “real life”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Taylor lists hard commands like love your enemies, be defenseless, and don’t fight with earthly weapons. Which one do you tend to push off to “someday,” and what does that show about whether you trust God’s wisdom in real life?

Taylor argues that being “born again” is not a trite slogan but necessary to even “see” and “enter” the kingdom, and he says Jesus’ teachings may sound like nonsense if you’re not seeing the kingdom; how do you discern the difference between (a) struggling to obey Jesus because of weak faith and (b) not actually being reborn into the new humanity “born…of God”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Taylor says you must be “born again” to even see God’s kingdom, and Jesus’ teachings won’t make sense otherwise. How can you tell the difference between weak faith that struggles to obey and not truly being reborn?

He critiques the Garden City Confession and similar frameworks for treating kingdom ethics (nonresistance, separation, taxes, dress) as “Restrictions” tacked onto a basically Protestant theological system; how has framing these teachings as “restrictions” shaped your motives—compliance, pride, fear, cultural identity—and what would change if you saw them as the natural “flow” of Jesus-following faith? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Taylor says some systems treat kingdom teachings (like nonresistance and separation) as extra “Restrictions” instead of the natural result of following Jesus. How has thinking of them as “restrictions” affected your motives, and what would change if you saw them as the normal “flow” of faith?

Conrad Grebel’s two statements—“I believe the Word of God without a complicated interpretation” and “The teaching of the Lord has been given for the purpose of being put into practice”—challenge common ways of reading Scripture; where have you learned to “complicate” Jesus’ words so they don’t have to be practiced, and what interpretations might you need to lay down even if they’ve been called “sound doctrine”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Grebel said God’s Word shouldn’t need complicated explanations, and Jesus’ teaching is meant to be practiced. Where have you learned to explain away Jesus’ words so you don’t have to do them, and what “sound doctrine” ideas might you need to drop?

Taylor traces government and kingship as arising from human refusal to be led by God’s Spirit—using Cain, Samuel’s rebuke (“they have rejected me”), Hosea (“I gave thee a king in my anger”), and Daniel (“Most High ruleth…seteth up…the basest of men”); how does this storyline reshape your view of patriotism, voting, law-and-order instincts, and the emotional comfort many Christians find in strong rulers? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Taylor says human kings and governments came from people refusing God’s lead, using stories like Cain, Samuel, Hosea, and Daniel. How does that change how you think about patriotism, voting, law-and-order instincts, and the comfort people feel with strong rulers?

He ends with the Bach manuscript story: God intended a symphony, but people used the pages as wrapping for trees; what parts of Jesus’ “symphony” have you repurposed into something smaller (poster verses, private devotions, “getting to heaven,” or a culture-war toolkit), and what concrete changes would demonstrate that your church is an “embassy of heaven” where outsiders could say, “Oh, so that’s what those guys were talking about”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Taylor says God meant Jesus’ message to be like a full symphony, but people use pieces of it for smaller things. What parts of Jesus’ teaching have you shrunk into something easier, and what real changes would show your church is an “embassy of heaven” that outsiders can recognize?