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This episode looks at Chapter Nine of Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. We start with John’s confusion and discomfort with the amount of “shoulds” and how following Jesus seems to be defined as being crazy, misunderstood, and even hated.  John also observes Idleman’s continued emphasis on a Christian’s need to love and pursue God with no mention of what Gregg sees in the Bible and from his own experience–God pursuing and loving us.

Both John and Gregg are disappointed by Idleman’s continued lack of practical reasons or justification for why people would want to be a “follower.” Nor are there any experiential examples of what it means to have “the life that we can have in Jesus” (Idleman’s words).

Gregg sees Idleman’s understandings of love as dysfunctional (i.e. loving God so much that you hate everyone else, being self effacing in order to make room for the Holy Spirit, etc.) and notes that while Idleman explains love as passionate, he somehow misses the fact that love is deeply self-involving, in a manner that must be elicited.

In summary, a warped picture of God cannot be a reliable yardstick to measure how (and how well) we’re relating to God. Instead, Gregg argues that since Christianity is not a historical religion, we need and can expect tangible, experienceable connection to God’s love for us. Thus embarking on a relationship with God is built upon sufficient evidence, both to merit believing in God’s existence and in God truly loving me, acquired over time.

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In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter Eight of Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. Idleman believes that Jesus decides what is most important and what He wants in a relationship with us.

Gregg agrees that what God wants is important, however he does not believe we are completely subsumed in relationship with God–what we want in this relationship is EQUALLY important as what God wants!  For Gregg anything else is a complete contradiction–how can God truly loves us if we are unimportant in this love relationship?

John questions the role sovereignty and Gregg runs with it, attributing Idleman’s view to misunderstanding how the Bible shows God to be both sovereign and father (parent).  In other words, part of “what God wants” as father is that we authentically desire God–of our own accord.

John and Gregg closely examine Luke 9:23 (“take up your cross and follow me”) but also compare it with parallel instances and uses in the Gospels (Matthew 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27).  Instead of emphasizing sacrifice and hard work (as Idleman does), Gregg argues that trust is the key element to “following Jesus.”  And trust within a relationship is based on what we have personally experienced with God.

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This short episode examines Chapter Seven of Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. Our discussion focuses on the author’s story about himself at the end of the chapter.

Unlike every other chapter, which ends with someone else’s story, this chapter ends with a story of Idleman’s own. He met with the mother of one of his parishioners who, rather than being content that her son “fell in love with Jesus,” was troubled by his excessive commitment.

Gregg is shocked by how indignant and reproachful Idleman is toward her: Idelman becomes angry and writes “I did what I what I always do when I get angry; I quoted Scripture from Revelation.” Gregg argues that Idleman both butchers Rev 3:16 (which is not about being radical for Jesus but about being in right relationship with him) and that he takes what could be an perfect moment for a dialogue and instead uses it as a platform to punish and alienate someone who understands things differently.

Gregg sees this as a classic case of failing to love your neighbor and John points out that this seems consistent with Not a Fan chapter four where it suggests we love Jesus so much “that by comparison you hate everyone else.”  And so “doing God’s work” is given more value than “loving your neighbor” which we see as equally important.