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Radical Reformation History  /  Lecture 1: Introduction to Anabaptist History  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 10
The preface warned that “faith… and life… are like two witnesses… the one cannot stand… without the other,” and Dean tied this to his class motto: “What if Jesus really meant every word he said?” Where do you personally feel the greatest pull to separate “faith” from “corresponding life,” and what concrete changes in spending, career choices, conflict, enemy-love, or church participation would actually test whether you believe Jesus “meant it”?
Another way to ask: Where do you feel most tempted to say you have faith but not live it out? What real changes in your money, job plans, handling conflict, loving enemies, or church involvement would prove whether you believe Jesus meant what he said?

Direct Answer The transcript can’t name where you personally feel that pull, but it presses the principle that real faith must be matched by a corresponding life of obedience to Jesus’ words. Concrete “tests” would be any places where you stop treating Scripture as mere belief or inspiration and instead accept it as a practical “design for life.”

Support from Transcript:

  • The preface states, “Faith without the corresponding life… is of no avail… They are like two witnesses… the one cannot stand… without the other.”
  • It warns Satan aims at “your faith as well as your life,” and if the world overcomes you it ends “your Christian and virtuous life.”
  • Dean’s motto question is explicit: “What if Jesus really meant every word he said?”
  • Dean frames the core corruption: Christianity as “in your head… a theology that you agree to… doctrines that you say yes to.”
  • He insists discipleship is inseparable from obedience: “Can you be a follower of Christ without following Christ? I don’t believe you can.”
  • His own “test case” was military participation: reading “love your enemies” confronted his career as “contrary” to Jesus.
Discussion Follow-ups Pick one area—money, comfort, conflict, or enemies—where you tend to spiritualize Jesus’ commands. What specific decision this month would be hard unless you truly believed, as Dean says, that Jesus looks at you and says, “I mean it”?

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