Questions for Reflection - "Unnerving Love"
Luke 8:26–38
- Share an experience of being unnerved by love. What changes resulted?
- What does it mean to you to hear that God's love is "unnerving"? Do you agree? Why or why not?
- Read the passage and note the passage immediately prior (Luke 8:22-25). What might be on the minds of the disciples? Might they be a bit unnerved? Why?
- How has this man who first meets Jesus been "unnerved"?
- How can we tell that this man's cause for mental illness is "possession" rather than some other cause?
- Pastor Thompson notes the conclusion of psychotherapist Scott Peck that "it is possible for humans to be taken over by evil, to believe a lie, and then live by it, to forget that it is a lie, and to make it the foundations of one's being" (as quoted by N.T. Wright in Evil and the Justice of God, p. 37) Discuss your views and your questions. Is "demon possession" real today?
- Who do you think Jesus is asking, "What is your name?" Demons? Or "Old Sam"? Why?
- What does it mean to "name" something? Why is this hard? How do we avoid naming?
- Why do the villagers respond the way they do? (v. 37) How would you have reacted?
- Talk about the spiritual principle: Our souls are spaces and they will be always be filled with something. (Check Luke 11:24-26) How does this work in your soul?
M. Scott Peck. People of the Lie. Touchstone. 1983, 1998
N.T. Wright. Evil and the Justice of God. Intervarsity Press. 2006
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Westminster Presbyterian Church |