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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 for me” is unimportant.  Further, as the notion of worship continued to broaden the discussion moved towards seeing worship as all-encompassing.  Yet Gregg objects: as Christians we are not supposed to be just worshipers of God. Rather, our identity and the kernel of our being is found in rightly relating to God, which is: loving God entirely (and out of that, loving ourselves rightly and loving others likewise).
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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 he’s trying to reach. For example, on page 43, Hufford states his view that our hearts are the centre of God’s attention whereas Gregg’s view is that God seeks our entire selves.

Gregg argues that understandings about God, based on personal experience in the context of Christianity, must be matched with understandings via good exegesis. Yet Hufford barely references a Bible versus, let alone demonstrates any exegetical rigor.  Gregg is concerned that given Hufford’s target audience (those who are miserable and frustrated in their spiritual lives) his approach seems somewhat self-defeating.
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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 and Kyle Idleman.

Gregg appreciates how Anderson’s more academic perspective compliments Idleman’s more popular focus but disagrees with Anderson’s conclusions.  Particularly, Gregg notes that “embracing the providence of God in our witness to the world” (i.e., the notion that God is overseeing what goes on in the world, to good results) is legitimate yet overemphasized: things don’t always turn out well.

More so, emphasizing God’s providence closely parallels emphasizing God’s sovereignty, where the one focuses on “What God is doing” and the other typically on “Why God can do as God wishes.”  Yet not everything is about God.  So in both cases the human component (one’s choices and their benefits / consequences, the upshot of situations and choices for divine / human relationship) is essentially marginalized.
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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 look at what he believed.

John and Gregg go on to discuss the aqedah, the “sacrifice of Isaac” as written in Genesis 22.  John notes that the story is part of his Christian consciousness and is the “gold standard” of trusting God.  John further notes his reservations about Gregg’s perspective on the story.
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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 Hufford’s presentation of how fear and the threat of hell is used as a motivator to get Christians to “clean up their act.” Jesus and God aren’t playing “good copy bad cop” with us. Gregg is surprised, however, at agreeing so much with Hufford in some sections and disagreeing so much in others.  Gregg had hoped for more examples to flesh out Hufford’s positions as well as Bible references to support them.

Further, contrary to Hufford, Gregg contends that “God’s sovereignty” is not “the most important thing.”  Instead he argues that is “God as parent” and “God as sovereign” are mutually central and informing, and that both are essential to who God is and to our relationship with God.
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