In this episode, Brian and Chris speak to Jeremiah Johnston. Jeremiah J. Johnston, Ph.D., is president of Christian Thinkers Society, a Resident Institute at Houston Baptist University where he also serves at Associate Professor of Early Christianity. His latest book is “Unimaginable: What Our World would be Like Without Christianity.”  He also wrote the Bible study Unanswered, published by Lifeway. You can listen to him regularly on his nationally syndicated radio program, The Jeremiah Johnston Show.

Questions:

1. I heard it said one time, We cannot abandon the intellectual struggle. How would you define intellectual struggle?

2. How do you think the difficult questions contribute to discipleship?

3. How would counsel a group leader about how to navigate a group members unanswered questions?

4. How would you advise a group leader to lead a discussion that includes spiritual warfare references?

5. What’s the hardest question for you to answer?

Quotes:

The greatest thing about our faith is that it is holistic, we are always growing.

There is always a Pharisee in the crowd.

Where the intellectual struggle has been forfeited, that’s where faith becomes irrelevant to life.

We no longer, as a society, think in Biblical terms.

Jesus was all about addressing the difficult questions in his discipleship.

We have to give permission for our group to question our faith. Questioning your faith is not a sin.

Everybody has unanswered questions.

Questions create conversations, assertions don’t.

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in Lifeway’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at Lifeway and author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us.