Do you find that believers in general have a reputation with those who are outside the faith? In your experience is this a positive or negative image? In times past was it assumed that someone who practiced the faith had character and integrity more than those who did not? Do you see a trend in the reputation of believers from the culture at large? If their standing is declining there could be more than one explanation. Christians like the explanation that the world around them is in decline and that depravity and darkness will not tolerate the light. But is there another possibility?

Are you a pacifist? There are few who identify with this label, even in the church, but there are plenty of verses to support this position, such as, resist not evil, and turn the other cheek. Are you an armchair pacifist because you live in a nation at peace with a low crime rate and you are not forced into a moral dilemma about the use of force because others defend and secure you? Do you realize what a blessing this is? Like many things, being a pacifist is not real until it has been put to the test. Believers can land on both sides of this issue with a clear conscience.

Do you stand fast in the liberty in which I have made you free? Do you think of this only as a form of political liberty; the absence of legally imposed restraints? A verse in the same passage tells you not to be entangled again in the yoke of bondage. This suggests that liberty has multiple dimensions. Do you know those who fiercely defend their political liberty that you do not consider to be experiencing true freedom? Would true freedom include emotional freedom that you would not depend on validation, agreement, or confirmation from others? Do you have this? Which is more important?

Do you think all questions are created equal, or that there are no stupid questions? Do you think there is a difference between honest and dishonest questions? Questions can be rhetorical; not asked with the expectation of an answer. Then what purpose do they serve? Accusations can be veiled as questions, giving the accuser deniability. Honest questions are asked with open inquiry; a willingness to accept answers not yet determined, and are therefore an expression of vulnerability.