Week 7: Talkative — The Difference Between Saying and Doing

1.Faithful is initially captivated by Talkative, whispering to Christian: "What a brave companion have we got! Surely this man will make a very excellent pilgrim." Christian's response is immediate: "This man, with whom you are so taken, will beguile, with that tongue of his, twenty of them that know him not." What is it about religious eloquence that is so attractive — and so potentially dangerous? Have you ever been deceived by someone whose speech was impressive but whose life was hollow?

2.Christian's description of Talkative at home is devastating: "his house is as empty of religion as the white of an egg is of savour. There is there neither prayer nor sign of repentance for sin." And: "A saint abroad, and a devil at home." Why is the home the truest test of religious reality? What does our conduct toward those who know us best reveal about whether our faith is genuine?

3.When Faithful asks Talkative how saving grace "discovers itself" in the heart, Talkative's first answer is: "it causeth there a great outcry against sin." Faithful pushes back: there is a difference between crying out against sin and actually abhorring it — "A man may cry out against sin in the pulpit, who yet can abide it well enough in the heart, house, and conversation." What is the difference? Can you think of examples — in public life or your own experience — where the performance of opposition to sin masks actual love of it?