Taking inspiration from last Sunday’s discussion learning about Latin-American views on Jesus as the God of the Oppressed, Kyle & Vince consider how white guys like them might more closely follow that God, and all the good that offers them in spite of the sacrifice that requires of them.
Read MoreWith the coronavirus in view, but also any senseless suffering each of us might face, Kyle and Vince discuss the difference between a “Life as God’s Blueprint” understanding of believing in God and a “Life as a Battlefield” understanding of believing in God. The former is extremely common, but hurts many. The latter has helped them personally find powerful connection with God in the midst of hardship.
Read MoreIf Jesus’ death on the Cross is just a confusingly violent picture of a God that requires punishment for his plan to work, Vince feels unsettled. But if Jesus’ death on the Cross is a picture of a loving and self-sacrificial God that chooses solidarity with scapegoats instead of solidarity with the powerful, then Vince finds himself pulled out of his small life and into a big and inspiring story. And he needs that!
Read MoreResolutions are on the mind. For those of us who are spiritual, is God's role in our resolutions to threaten us to change? Or is God supportive and helpful and patient and wise about how human behavior actually works? Spoiler: we think it's the latter.
Read MoreSharing from his own life regrets and from the work of Dr. Mirsolav Volf, Kyle encourages us that the magnetic and powerful life Jesus leads us into is found in choosing embrace over exclusion, in choosing self-sacrifice over others-sacrifice, and in resisting the power our in-group loyalty tests have over us.
Read MoreDoes Jesus on the Cross paint a picture of an angry, violent God who needs his wrath satisfied? Vince shares his journey away from that unsettling interpretation of Jesus on the Cross and toward a different interpretation that is the opposite of unsettling — one that is loving and inspiring and beautiful in the way it speaks to humanity in general and in the way it can speak to each of us personally.
Read MoreWith (sadly) U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions providing a perfect case study last week, Kyle demonstrates a particularly American tendency toward misinterpreting the Bible: taking out of context a secondary supporting point from a Biblical writer and turning that into a timeless truth or ultimate ethic. As an alternative, Kyle suggests the power and helpfulness of reading the Bible “descriptively”.
Read MoreEveryone wants to change and grow and be a different, better person in the future than they are today. But so much of what we default to doing to try to change and grow just doesn't work. (And, sadly, so much of what churches tend to teach is things that don't work.) Kyle teaches us a helpful way to approach trying to change, and brings us to an incredible promise from God that makes change feel possible.
Read MoreWhether it's the consumerism bred into Americans like us today, or the hunger for power and status bred into the Greco-Roman culture of St. Paul's day, all people, no matter the era, seem to default to asking "what's in this for me?" rather than "what's in this for us?"
Read MoreLiving without fear doesn't really seem to be a legitimate possibility... But can God offer help in the midst of whatever fears we have, so that those fears don't drive us and our decision making?
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