Reading the Bible in a Year: Titus

Is obedience a virtue?  How do we square the modern command: "Be yourself" with Paul's strong sense of social order, obedience and self-restraint?  As we continue reading through the New Testament, we come to Titus.  It is a short letter, but it gets at a question of vital importance for us in the age of authenticity:  What do we do with the Bible's uplifting of obedience?

1)  Would you agree we are a society that values individual expression?  What is evidence of this?

2)  Would you agree we are a society that distrusts institutions?  What is evidence of this?

3)  What is lost and what is gained in a world in which corporal punishment is no longer used?  What is lost and what is gained in a world in which obedience is a second tier virtue?

4)  What might be attractive about a church or Christianity that highly valued self-expression?  What might be problematic about this?

5)  What might be attractive about a church or Christianity that highly valued obedience and strong pre-existing roles for people in society?  What might be problematic about this?

6)  What might be ways forward of a middle path, that avoids the excesses of self-expression"ism" and also avoids the pitfalls of repressive and rigid religion?