SUGGESTED questions for a discussion group surrounding Temperance's Trial, part 1 of the Virtues and Valor series.
While the characters and situations in the Virtues and Valor series are fictional, I pray that these extended parables can help readers come to a better understanding of truth. Please prayerfully consider the questions that follow, consult scripture, and pray upon your conclusions. May the Lord of the universe richly bless you.
The fictional character, Marie Gilbert, her brother, and their father, live in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France. In real life, in this town, the people came together as followers of Christ and helped to save THOUSANDS of Jewish children from the hands of the Nazis. They did this as a community under the threat of arrest and death.
1. Would it be easy for you to be convinced to help children in such dire need of rescue?
2. If helping children actually put your life at risk, but not helping children would actually put their lives at risk, then do you think you'd still do it?
In a very black and white world, the Bible is very clear in the words, You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. Leviticus 19:11. However, this is a series that deals entirely with people who are basically lying as a means of survival. God Himself directed Moses to send spies into Canaan in Numbers 13.
3. As Christians, is there ever a time in our lives when lying might be acceptable?
4. Do you think Marie Gilbert and her companions are 'sinning' in the purest sense of the word by covertly battling the enemy?
Marie is a deeply spiritual person who relies on prayer in all avenues of her life. She continually prays for protection while in Occupied France; however, she's arrested, beaten, interrogated, and humiliated.
5. Do you think God did not hear her prayers?
6. Why do you think God doesn't always come to the 'rescue' of Christians even when their very well being is at stake?