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CLIP
The clip starts at 2:34 minutes and ends at 10:00 minutes.
When 17-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster reluctantly attends a cancer patients’ support group she meets Augustus Waters. Initially bonding over their shared experiences of having cancer, they soon fall in love (despite Hazel’s determination to just stay friends). Their journey together takes them to Amsterdam to meet an inspiring author, as well as giving them the chance to finally live their lives fully despite their bodies seemingly giving up on them. Perhaps for some the film doesn’t delve deep enough into what it is like to suffer with an incurable illness, but for a film aimed at the teenage market, this film does not shy away from the morbid concerns of terminal teenagers, who worry about their parents and their eulogies when they’ve gone.
In this clip, Hazel’s parents decide to send her to a support group led by a local Christian youth worker. With what begins by looking like an absolute disaster, suddenly changes Hazel’s life as she encounters Augustus for the first time. Discuss the following questions:
• Why does God allow people to suffer through illness?
• Do you know anyone who has been through illnesses? How did they cope?
• Should Christians respond differently to other people during tough times?
Read Romans 8:18-39 together (it would be helpful to give some context to the passage) and discuss the next set of questions:
• Is this passage applicable to today’s discussion, or is it wrong to seek out Bible verses to explore themes such as illness?
• In verse 28, Paul speaks of ‘the good’ and ‘his purpose.’ What is God’s good purpose for?
• How might the things in verse 35 cause us to question God’s love for us? Is it fine to question God? What happens if we can’t find the answers we want?
• In spite of these things, why might Paul proclaim that we are ‘more than conquerors’ - and what could this mean for us?
The Fault in our Stars is a surprisingly deep journey into what it is to be young, to go through illness, to love, to despair, and to hope. If you get the opportunity, why not watch the whole film with your group - you may discover that some are more emotional than they’ve previously let on!
