Note: these questions are based on the last two Sunday morning sermons, both addressing the topic of human dignity.
1. Read Genesis 1:26-28. How do these verses give us a foundation for treating every human being with radical dignity? In what ways does our culture fail to do this?
2. Read Job 31:15. What is the logic of Job's argument? On what basis does he treat his servant fairly and compassionately? How should this inform our own view of others, particularly the poor?
3. Read James 3:8-10. How should our common image-bearers affect our speech?
4. Novelist Walker Percy gets at this in his book, Lost in the Cosmos, when he observes this: “Why is it that the look of another person looking at you is different from everything else in the Cosmos? That is to say, looking at lions or tigers or Saturn or the Ring Nebula or at an owl or at another person from the side -- [that’s all] one thing -- but finding yourself looking in the eyes of another person looking at you is something else. And why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair?” Based on what you've discussed so far, how would you answer his question?
5. Now apply this biblical view of human dignity to the racial and ethnic divisions in our country. What should be the Christian starting point in these discussions? How might that change the conversation about race?
6. Read Revelation 7:9-12. How does John's vision of heaven affect you? Why?
1. Read Genesis 1:26-28. How do these verses give us a foundation for treating every human being with radical dignity? In what ways does our culture fail to do this?
2. Read Job 31:15. What is the logic of Job's argument? On what basis does he treat his servant fairly and compassionately? How should this inform our own view of others, particularly the poor?
3. Read James 3:8-10. How should our common image-bearers affect our speech?
4. Novelist Walker Percy gets at this in his book, Lost in the Cosmos, when he observes this: “Why is it that the look of another person looking at you is different from everything else in the Cosmos? That is to say, looking at lions or tigers or Saturn or the Ring Nebula or at an owl or at another person from the side -- [that’s all] one thing -- but finding yourself looking in the eyes of another person looking at you is something else. And why is it that one can look at a lion or a planet or an owl or at someone's finger as long as one pleases, but looking into the eyes of another person is, if prolonged past a second, a perilous affair?” Based on what you've discussed so far, how would you answer his question?
5. Now apply this biblical view of human dignity to the racial and ethnic divisions in our country. What should be the Christian starting point in these discussions? How might that change the conversation about race?
6. Read Revelation 7:9-12. How does John's vision of heaven affect you? Why?
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