Cars Discussion Guide

Cars Discussion Guide Luke 6:26-30 26"There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular. 27-30"To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

Mixer Questions* 1. How would you describe Lighting McQueen’s personality during the first part of the movie? 2. Did Lightning have many friends? Why or why not? 3. Like the cars, are people always what or who they appear to be at first sight? Why? 4. What are some of the things or situations that helped Lightening learn to think less of himself and more of others? 5. During the last supper Jesus tells his disciples: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:12-14)

Where do you see this happen in the movie? Why is that kind of love great? How can you love like that? Why can it be so hard? Going Deeper 1. Consider the Hudson Hornet’s story and his passion for racing. How does it feel when you watch Hudson walk (actually roll) away from racing in the flashback sequence? Consider… Is there anything wrong with his love for racing? Why does he give it up? Does it make him more or less whole?

Sometimes as we get older we feel like there are things * questions that parents are encouraged to share with their children, in order to begin conversation with your family

© Dixon Kinser 2009

we need to give up because we perceive them to be childish. Unfortunately, these are sometimes the very things God has made us to enjoy and be passionate about. Are there things that you remember bringing you good, God-blessed, enjoyment that you had to give up for one reason or another? How do we tell the difference between God created interests and childish pursuits? How do we integrate these good things into our Christianity? How can we make our passions part of our spiritual practice? 2.

Consider the passage above from the Gospel of Luke. What makes the end of this movie so satisfying? What really hits the spot at the end of this movie is in the way Lightning completely subverts the system by giving up winning in order to help someone else. In fact the way he finishes the race exposes the shallowness of Chick Hicks and his pursuit of fame and glory at all costs.

In Jesus’ day when a Roman official asked you to carry his pack you were legally obligated to carry it one mile. If you then carried it an extra mile it was a way of exposing and condemning the tyranny of that social arrangement without resorting to violence. This is how Jesus teaches us to overthrow abusive and corrupt powers without becoming the very thing we hate. What are some of the powers and principalities you can identify in our day that would require such a response? How might you respond to them in a way that brings justice, but doesn’t turn you into the evil you want to redeem?

Ask that God will show us where our desires and dreams can actually benefit the world. Pray, God is near.

* questions that parents are encouraged to share with their children, in order to begin conversation with your family

© Dixon Kinser 2009