Untangling Christianity Podcast

In this episode John and Gregg discuss listener feedback from Eric in the comments for Episode #41.  Eric believes John and Gregg have been overly critical of The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford in a way that is unnecessary and misses the value others have found in Hufford’s message. John and Gregg reflect on this […] The post 56: Confidence or Arrogance | Listener Feedback appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss the fact that they, and particularly Gregg, are viewing and responding to the material that they are working with in a very different way from many other reviewers (such as their responses to Kyle Idleman’s Not a Fan and Darin Hufford’s Misunderstood God). John reflects on how his […] The post 55: Elephant or Not appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss an article from the Biola University alumni magazine purporting to identify a “crisis of biblical illiteracy” within evangelical churches.  The author, Kenneth Bearding, holds a Ph. D. in hermeneutics and biblical interpretation, and targets biblical illiteracy. John sees the article as “click bait”: dramatizing an issue in order to […] The post 54: Is Biblical Illiteracy the Real Problem? appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John begins by considering which is more important: “seeking” God’s kingdom or loving God?  In doing so John considers how Gregg speaks of loving God as a very intense involvement with God that seems to be oriented around feelings and emotion.  Yet what about the command to love?  Is God really “commanding” […] The post 53: Can Love be Commanded? appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter 8 of Darin Hufford’s The Misunderstood God. John notes Hufford’s lack of scriptural references is both refreshing and problematic (as Hufford globalizes his own experience to his readers).  Gregg replies that, in contrast to Kyle Idleman’s Not a Fan (where Gregg and John were able to evaluate Idleman’s views based on the scriptural […] The post 52: Gold in Them Hills | Chap 8 of The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter 7 of The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Tells About God by Darin Hufford. John begins with a quotation from page 72, “Why did God create us? Because love requires expression.” John finds this notion startling and compelling while wondering about its validity. Gregg believes two factors, in […] The post 51: Generalize Not Globalize | Chap 7 of The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

This week John and Gregg kick things off by reading an iTunes review that summarizes well what they are trying to do.  This being the 50th episode it’s also a good time to reflect again on how the podcast is going.  Gregg’s “high light” is that, really, there have been no “low lights.”  John relates some mixed feelings about how […] The post 50: Retrospective | Looking Back and Looking Forward appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

Gregg begins this episode by relating how his mediation training can help people be their best selves, which he also sees as both the focus and result of being a Christian.  Part of his excitement concerns the hope that mediation can contribute towards restoring relationships–moving beyond the disposability of relationships to seeing yourself and the other person in new ways. So in […] The post 49: God as Sovereign and Parent | Chap 6-7 of The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg continue their discussion from Episode 47 around Kyle Idleman’s message from May 25, 2014 titled The Inside-Out Way of Jesus: Humbled To Be Exalted (week 2) and attempting to answer listener Brandon’s questions. The notes John refers to taking from Idleman’s message are here. Gregg sums up his view of this sermon […] The post 48: Starting With the Right Orientation | Listener Feedback appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

Today’s episode and the next where sparked by listener comments and questions from Brandon in Louisville, Kentucky. Brandon writes: Hey guys. I’m a casual listener. I might have gotten through the first 10 or 12 podcast so far. Great job producing so much content consistently. A couple things. Early on Gregg mentioned a book he […] The post 47: Step Away From the Boat | Listener Feedback appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Christian worship.  Gregg relates a discussion on worship he recently participated in.  Many of the participants were focused on the problems of hyper-subjectivity (where I equate my perceptions with reality and deem my feelings to be 100% accurate). Yet we must likewise be careful not to say that “what I like” or “what works […] The post 46: Defining Worship appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

This week John and Gregg discuss Chapters 4 and 5 from Darin Hufford’s book The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Tells About God. While Gregg generally sees the book going in the right direction he expresses concern that Hufford has potentially mis-formulated or not formulated certain aspects of his message. This risks confusing or alienating the audience […] The post 45: How and Why | Chap 4-5 of The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss what it means to love / be in love with God, and the nature of the “greatest commandment.”  They begin by referencing a previous conversation in Episode 40 about a Christianity Today article by Matthew Lee Anderson that is critical of “radical Christianity” in the style of Francis Chan, David Platt […] The post 44: Defining Love appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg begin by discussing Gregg’s upcoming trip to Switzerland. Gregg explains that he will be working remotely while he and his family spend the summer at Swiss L’Abri.  L’Abri is a Christian organization where John and Gregg met in 1999.  At the time Gregg was agnostic and John was taking a hard […] The post 43: Switzerland, Abraham and Obedience appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

This week John and Gregg discuss Chapters 3 and 4 from Darin Hufford’s book The Misundertstood God: The Lies Religion Tells About God. Chapter 3, “The Hair Trigger God,” asserts that Christians often view God as being impatient and fear that, someday, God will finally get tired of our sin and abandon us. Neither John nor Gregg can relate to […] The post 42: Sovereignty, Kindness and Interpretation | Chap 3-4 of The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

This week John and Gregg discuss Chapters 1 and 2 from Darin Hufford’s book titled The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Tells About God. We have mixed feelings about the book. Hufford makes some good observations about what doesn’t work in Christianity which is refreshing and yet also makes sweeping generalizations about how people feel […] The post 41: Christian Insanity | Chap 1-2 of The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss an article from Christianity Today titled Here Come the Radicals by Matthew Lee Anderson that examines several books on “radical Christianity” such as Kyle Idleman’s Not A Fan. John resonates with the author’s point that writers such as Idleman promote an intensity as key to whether one is really […] The post 40: Informed Trust appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Luke 9:23, “taking up your cross” and “following Jesus.”  From this John wonders generally about how we should be using the Bible.  He gives the example of sermons where biblical passages are taken to mean exactly what they meant when they were written (and have essentially the same […] The post 39: Using the Bible Well appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss listener feedback directed to both of them. The feedback to Gregg suggests that those who do not focus on grace are those who have not yet understood the enormity of their sin (on the example of the woman in Luke 7). The feedback sent to John concerns the […] The post 38: Sin’s Significance appeared first on Untangling Christianity.

In this episode John and Gregg discuss Gregg’s approach to “untangling” Christianity.  John sees it as a major shift in orientation, much like Wayne Jacobsen’s view, that instead of thinking of God as a being who cannot stand our sin (and so had to send his son to die on our behalf) we should see […] The post 37: Judging God appeared first on Untangling Christianity.