Week 1: Introduction — Someone Worth Losing Everything For

1.Platt begins by describing a moment of conviction when he compared the demands of Jesus in the Gospels with the easy, low-cost Christianity common in American churches. When did you first sense — if ever — that something might be missing from the version of Christianity you were raised with or first encountered?

2.He uses the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44–46) to frame the book's thesis: that Jesus is worth losing everything for, and that our lives should reflect that conviction. In your own words, what is the point of those parables, and why do you think Platt chose them as his launching pad?

3.Platt makes a distinction early on between "the Jesus of the Bible" and "the Jesus of the American Dream." What does he mean by that distinction? Where do you see evidence of a culturally reshaped Jesus in the churches or Christian media you are most familiar with?