Week 2: The City of Destruction to the Wicket Gate — Conviction, Flight, and the First Steps

1.Christian's crisis begins with reading "the book" — the Bible — and finding there a "great burden" on his back. His family thinks he has lost his mind and tries to cure him with sleep. Have you ever felt the weight of spiritual conviction that those around you could not understand or take seriously? What was that experience like?

2.Evangelist does not immediately answer Christian's question, "What shall I do to be saved?" Instead he asks, "Why not willing to die?" and then gives Christian a parchment: "Flee from the wrath to come." Why do you think Bunyan portrays the first move of the gospel as a warning rather than a comfort? How does this compare with how the gospel is often presented today?

3.When Christian cannot yet see the wicket gate, Evangelist points him toward "yonder shining light" and says, "Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto." Christian begins to run — not walk, but run — crying "Life! life! eternal life!" What does the urgency of this first sprint suggest about what genuine conversion looks like? How does this contrast with a more casual or gradual drift into faith?