The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken
Week 4: Part Three — The Search Begins (Traveling Toward the Persecuted)
Read Part Three of The Insanity of God (Nik begins his global research journey). Key passage: Matthew 16:18; Hebrews 11:32-38.
Previewing Week 4 of The Insanity of God
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 14-week guide when you’re ready.
Out of the rubble of his own broken faith, Nik begins a journey that will take him to more than 70 countries — listening to believers whose testimonies he is convinced will either destroy his faith or rebuild it.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Nik makes a deliberate choice to *go and listen* rather than simply reading about persecution from a distance. What does this posture of listening — especially across cultural, linguistic, and experiential chasms — require of a person?
2.Hebrews 11 catalogs the 'heroes of faith' — and notably includes those who 'were tortured,' 'went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated.' Why do you think Western Christianity tends to read Hebrews 11 as a chapter about triumph rather than suffering?
3.Nik enters these conversations as a broken man, not as a confident expert. How does his own vulnerability actually equip him to hear stories of persecution in a way that a more 'together' researcher might not?