The Teacher

EXTRAS - Book Club Questions

BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS

1. Fallon is your fairly typical conservative Christian kid raised in a Christian family who attends a conservative Christian church. The early chapters set up a conflict for Fallon as she wrestles with the role of experience in testing the faith of believers.

Open a discussion about the role of experience in refining one's faith, even though that may mean doing some things clearly labeled as sins.

2. Holden, understandably depressed and frustrated after his family was killed in a car accident, turned his back on God and embraced a dark higher power during the ski trip scene in the woods.

Most Christians believe in establishing a personal relationship with the living God, most, through believing in Jesus as their personal savior. If you believe that a dark opposite to God exists, and is also a living powerful being, do you think it's possible to form a relationship with such a being and possibly acquire dark powers to go along with that relationship?

3. Holden used his powers to gain wealth and power at the expense of others. As Christians, people are encouraged to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Are there people or corporations living in the world today who operate like Holden? If so, what are the effects on individual people, on our societies, and our economies?

4. The Guardian had his way on Earth for quite awhile before God intervened in order to give the believers a chance to prevail—for Right to Win over Might.

The Teacher is fiction, but can you give historical examples of divine intervention where God's power and or influence tipped the scales in favor of one group over another? Did that happen in order for the Allies to win WWII?

5. Under Holden's leadership, the Guardian's forces developed a number of technological advances, such as the Get There Now app for transporting material objects and people electronically.

Science fiction books and films often seem to predict the future with amazing accuracy. Discuss the likelihood of any of the advanced gizmos described in The Teacher becoming a technological reality in the future?

6. After the Guardian's forces were defeated, planet Earth went through some disastrous geological and weather-related conditions. The story blamed the Time of Troubles on a gravity belt to be found in our Milky Way Galaxy.

A Christian perspective would tie such occurrences to prophesy rather than a predictable, cyclical cosmic event that affects our planet. Discuss your feelings about the Tribulation predicted in Revelations. What will it be like for the people on earth when it happens?

7. The title of the book, The Teacher, was specifically chosen to represent the Spirit Being who returns to Earth as He promised 2,000 years earlier. The story suggests that this Being was Jesus, and yet not Jesus.

Discuss if what was suggested in the story could possibly be a model for understanding what might actually happen if and when Jesus does return to earth as promised? Without quoting scripture, try to imagine what it would be like to be alive when Jesus does return.

8. In order to defeat the Guardian's forces, the believers were given special Gifts of the Spirit. Christians believe the Gifts of the Spirit are as real today as they were in the time when Jesus walked the earth.

Discuss what those gifts were biblically considered to be, but go further and add any new gifts that may have been given for our times to help in the cause of spreading the Good News. If you don't feel there are any new gifts, suggest what new gifts might help believers today promote peace and faith.