America Idols Series: Safety

Do American Christians worship the idol of safety?  In this episode, we look at how the value we place on safety starts to inform and shape our Christian practices in ways that may be counter to the way of Jesus.  Many of our cultural values, like safety, come from well intentioned desires. But when we place them as the ultimate value around which every other value is oriented, we end up with a compromised version of Christianity that is more American than the way of Jesus.  

Discussion Questions: 

Can you come up with examples of how safety pervades American culture other than those mentioned in the episode?  Where do you see this value of safety expressed in your daily life?

Have you considered the definition of an idol as being a good thing that is made into an ultimate thing, something that we value above other values, including above the way of Jesus?

How have you seen the value of safety affect the church and our Christian practice?  Where have we made the value of safety paramount over the way of Jesus?

Have you been tempted to find safety from “the world?”  Have you thought about the downsides of being cloistered away from the outside world and how it might actually have the opposite effect of what we intended?

Are there ways in which following Jesus should make us feel safe?  Can you identify some of those ways?  Are these examples similar to the way American culture and our suburban lifestyles embrace safety?  How might they differ? 

In what ways could the expectation that our Christian faith should be safe impact our faith negatively?

Have you heard advice from people in your circles that you shouldn’t go too far with your faith, and that we need to be “prudent” in how we practice our faith?  Have you given that advice to others?