Discussion Questions for MARKED Book 1
Spoiler Alert! (If you have not read the book, these questions will reveal crucial events in the story)
- Gage questions his decision to pull up his lance at the joust. Have you ever had a right decision result in negative consequences? Has this ever made you wondered if the decision was still right? (In Acts the Apostles face brutal consequences for doing what God asked them to do. Acts 5:29 tells us why.)
- Because Gage allows Felix to travel with his retinue, does this make Gage responsible for the ambush?
- Have you ever been told by others or by Satan that someone else’s choices or the evil that someone else did was somehow your fault?
- Gage rightly takes responsibility for those he’s leading, but he wrongly takes responsibility for the evil actions of other people. What was the truth he should have told himself about the ambush?
- Was it right or wrong for Gage to walk away from his life as Prince Gage?
- When things are hard or cause us a lot of pain, it’s easy to want to run from the challenge of overcoming what we’re facing. Have you ever had something really hard or painful make you want to run away?
- Gage buries his pain rather than dealing with it, which results in that injury remaining unhealed. This choice and its consequences make him blind and vulnerable to much of what’s happening around him. Have you ever held onto grief or pain and buried it like Gage does? What were the results?
- Gage thinks a knight who admits injury makes himself a disgrace. Is this really a right and good mindset to have? How does Roderick, Gage’s jousting opponent, prove this mindset wrong at the feast?
- What do you think might have happened if Gage had been willing to stay and admit his pain and deal with his grief with his family and friends after the ambush?
- If you were in King Axel’s place would you have allowed Gage to continue traveling as a commoner?
- How do you think Gage would have responded had his father forced him to stay?
- Gage traveled with Manton for months, but how much did Gage really know about Manton?
- Have you ever been burned by someone you befriended and chose to trust? How might the situation have been different had you first learned more about the person?
- How did Gage’s own deception play into the situation he found himself in with Manton?
- Have you ever misrepresented yourself and then found yourself in a position where your own lies ensnared you into further trouble? (Proverbs 29:24)
- What were some of the wise principles King Axel passed along to his sons? What kinds of wise principles have those around you passed on to you?
- Gage grew up hearing about God but believes that God doesn’t exist. Why? What has happened in Gage’s life that made him question God’s existence?
- Have you ever encountered events in your own life that made you wonder how an all-powerful, loving God would allow such things to happen? How have you responded? Have you trusted in who God is like Haaken and Axel? Or have you rejected God like Gage? (Book 2 will address this topic further.)
- Gage makes many of his decisions from the principles his father taught him, but because he doesn’t believe in who God is and in what God says is right and wrong, he finds himself often conflicted about the decisions he’s making. How does knowing God’s Word is true help you make decisions more confidently?
- Why does Prior Joseph’s conversation with Manton disturb Gage so much?
- Have you ever had God put His finger on an issue in your life that you are struggling with? When God does this, do you listen and respond to Him or do you run away? (Jonah 1-4)
- How do you think Gage’s journey may have been different had he sought God’s help along the way?
- Do you believe God can use even our wrong choices to accomplish His purposes?
- Gage faces consequences because of the decisions he’s made, and he waits for the last moment to cry out to God. Do you think God still listens even when we’ve ignored Him for so long?
- Have you ever felt like you were beyond saving? (Moses was a traitor, a murderer, an exile, and a rebel leader, and God loved him, saved him, and powerfully used him.)(Exodus 2-12)
Gage’s journey isn’t over and neither is yours. So learn from the mistakes you have or will make, run to God, and live your life in His love, power, and grace.