Brad’s been listen to the relationships versus religion raps on YouTube and Wayne’s been reading Tattoos of the Heart and the two converge in a lively discussion about how we view people. Do we treat others as individuals and love as people even if broken or lost, or do we see them through the grid of us versus them relationships that makes us more prone to poke them in the eye with our own need for self-validation. As long as we need people to fill up something in us, we use them even if we don’t mean to. By finding our acceptance and worth in him, we will not view people based on our needs, but rather engage them as loved children of a gracious Father, whether they know it yet or not. That invites us into the space Jesus enjoyed, the freedom to love people for who they were, not how they would fit into his plans.
Podcast Links:
The Religion/Relationship Rap
Wayne’s Blog on Tattoos on the Heart
The Human Experience
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Charlie shares a wonderful story about how this podcast has opened some doors at his work. Then Brad and Wayne interact with other emails about creating community that offers a safe environment by putting relationships first, as a family does. Too many times a genuine move of God gets curtailed by those who seek to “steward” it, but only end up in a misguided attempt to control it. In the end what might have begun as God’s gift ends up possessing them just like the ring of power in the Lord of the Rings. Though well-intentioned they change the dynamics from sharing real friendships to trying accomplish a task and then relationships are destroyed. This fits Marshall McLuhan observation that “We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us.” Unless we put relationship first and free each other to be their own life in God we’ll never discover the real joy of God’s kind of community.
Podcast Links:
Marshall McLuhan Quote
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Wayne and Brad revisit the Spiral of Silence Podcast through comments and emails received about it. This time the focus is on our response to this phenomenon that makes us care more about what others think of us than we do living truly. How do we help create a safe place for ourselves and others to be their authentic selves? Only God’s love can bring us freedom from this false sense of belonging and when God teaches us how to live this way, we will want to extend the same freedom to others. They finish with a quote from George McDonald about how it it is more important for us to live obediently to the living Jesus rather than theorize about him. How awesome our fellowship with others would be if each of us learned to live this way and free others to do so as well.
Podcast Links:
George MacDonald Quote
Contributions are still needed to help establish an orphanage in Kenya.
Order A Man Like No Other from one of these three websites: Murry’s website, Windblown Media, or Lifestream
Order In Season: Embracing the Father’s Process of Fruitfulness from Lifestream
Wayne and Brad explore the cultural phenomenon researchers are calling the “spiral of silence” that demonstrates the truth behind the Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Emperor’s new Clothes”. Simply put, people who want to avoid reprisal or isolation actually go along with the popular opinion around them even when it differs from their own. Instead of objecting, they spiral into silence so that a whole group of people can actually embrace what others want of them rather than risk the negative social judgment of their peers. The research is fascinating and helps explain why religious systems or communities can be caught up in a culture of conformity where everyone seems to agree, rather than making people feel safe especially where they might have questions and disagree.
Podcast Links:
Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint on The Spiral of Silence
Wikipedia on The Spiral of Silence
For the last podcast of the year Brad and Wayne spend some time in the old mailbag to let their listeners add their input. The conversation eventually settles on how truth does set us free, but not before it messes with us and our illusions. The process of opening our eyes to God’s reality often involves the unraveling of lies that we’ve used to navigate through life. As they implode we can be overwhelmed with anger or frustration. But of those signal the very end of a process that allows the light and love of God to win our hearts into his reality. It is a marvelous, if sometimes painful process, but if we can appreciate it we can relax easier when it happens to us, and cheer others on when its happening to them.
Podcast Links:
Contributions are still needed to help establish an orphanage in Kenya.
Order A Man Like No Other from one of these three websites: Murry’s website, Windblown Media, or Lifestream
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Teebowing is in the news these days and Brad’s a fan. Wayne is a little more concerned about how that kind of in-your-face demonstrations of personal faith alienate some people from the greater reality of the gospel. That leads them into a conversation about how we can find ourselves in conversations with others about their spiritual journeys that can offer insight and encouragement in the spiritual journeys of others. Why is it that our conversations mostly stay in the safe conversations of superficiality at the shallow end of the pool, rather than find real depth of spiritual engagement than can allow people to share the resources of their journeys with each other?
Podcast Links:
Contributions are still needed to help establish an orphanage in Kenya.
Order A Man Like No Other from one of these three websites: Murry’s website, Windblown Media, or Lifestream
Order In Season: Embracing the Father’s Process of Fruitfulness from Lifestream
What begins with Wayne’s disillusionment about sports success and its hidden costs, ends up in a conversation about the hurt and anger that often comes from people who start to see through the religious lies they were taught. What allows us to live freely in the moment, even when things aren’t turning out the way we want or hope? Brad and Wayne find peace in the simple reality that God is always with them in whatever mess they are in, whether or not it comes out the way they desired. Without certainty that God always remains faithful, even if we are unfaithful, we are left to live by our own performance, which will never be enough.
Podcast Links:
Contributions are still needed to help establish an orphanage in Kenya.
Order A Man Like No Other from one of these three websites: Murry’s website, Windblown Media, or Lifestream
Order In Season: Embracing the Father’s Process of Fruitfulness from Lifestream
This one begins with sexual orientation politics in California and the ongoing debate in Christianity over the reality of hell, but soon Brad and Wayne settle into a conversation about how easily our insecurities can be manipulated by religion. Instead of inviting us into a transforming relationship with Jesus it provokes our guilt and sense of responsibility to drive us into a variety of activities that weigh us down and undermine what God really has in mind. People driven by religion are usually obnoxious in human relationships instead of being as endearing as Jesus was to the people around him. Only by finding our security in God’s love for us, can we find the freedom to truly be his light in the world simply by the way we live and love.
Podcast Links:
Contributions are still needed to help establish an orphanage in Kenya.
Order A Man Like No Other from one of these three websites: Murry’s website, Windblown Media, or Lifestream
Order In Season: Embracing the Father’s Process of Fruitfulness from Lifestream
The chaos of human governments seems to be on the rise, and many grow hopeless about the world’s future. Prophecies abound about the doom and gloom to come as God judges our world. Can this be the end of the age? What should we do in the face of such dire circumstances. Brad and Wayne talk about how this season is a great opportunity for those who really know God to rise and let his light shine through the simple way they live their loves each day, not only caring for themselves, but also looking out for the welfare of others. In a time when many are staking out what they feel entitled to grasp for themselves, we can have a profound impact on the world simply by responding to God’s voice each day as we love those around us.
Podcast Links:
Contributions are still needed to help establish an orphanage in Kenya.
Order A Man Like No Other from one of these three websites: Murry’s website, Windblown Media, or Lifestream
Order In Season: Embracing the Father’s Process of Fruitfulness from Lifestream
It’s Super Bowl week in the States and a little romp about football turns into a wider discussion about God’s intervention in sport and recreation and why people get so connected to athletic teams that they go through days of depression if their favorite one loses. Could it be a result of God wiring us for himself and our seeking it in all the wrong places? Is that why people identify with athletic teams, celebrities, and even religious gatherings that offer a false sense of belonging by connecting it to something human? A false sense of belonging will always separate us from others, but if we find our belonging in God we may still enjoy sports and other groupings of people, but they won’t own us in the same way and they won’t give us an excuse to look down on others who like things other than we do. Finding our worth in God’s love for us will open doors to a richer kind of community and freedom to live in the world.
