The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken
Week 9: Part Eight — The Western Church Looks in the Mirror
Read Part Eight of The Insanity of God (Nik reflects on what the persecuted church reveals about Western Christianity). Key passage: Revelation 3:14-22; Luke 12:48.
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This is perhaps the most uncomfortable section of the book — because the mirror Nik holds up is pointed not at distant persecutors, but at us.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Jesus' letter to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3 is addressed to a congregation that is 'rich, wealthy, and in need of nothing' — and yet Jesus describes them as 'wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.' How does this ancient letter speak to the state of the Western church today?
2.Nik observes that the Western church often exports a version of Christianity to persecuted contexts that is fundamentally incompatible with suffering — a gospel of health, wealth, and earthly blessing. What damage can that kind of message do to believers who are about to face a prison cell?
3.Luke 12:48 records Jesus saying, 'From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.' How does the extraordinary privilege and freedom of Western Christians translate into extraordinary responsibility — and how well do you think we are meeting it?
a.What specific freedoms do you enjoy as a Christian that believers in restricted countries do not?
b.What are you doing with those freedoms?
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