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Today’s discussion is kicked off by comments that listener Melinda left for Episode #25, which is also related to Episode #20, were the topic of grace versus love was also raised.

Gregg then turns to John to define and contextualize the notion of grace is in the evangelical world.  John equates grace with ‘pardon’ and as something that should prompt gratefulness from Christians (which in turn means stopping sinning and fulfilling the “great commission”).  Gregg summarizes this as grace being a hinge between the old testament period and the new covenant, and grace being a contender for the central notion in Christianity.

Gregg finds it difficult to identify examples of grace in his human relationships and instead sees grace as being rather distinct to God.  Further, he categorizes grace as an outworking of love, where grace (as gift, on the example of Romans 4:16) is a primary mode of the expression of God’s love.  Yet the gift at the heart of grace begins back in Genesis 12 with God giving a promise to Abraham before entering into a covenant.
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In this episode we riff on comments Charlie left on Episode Two, about the Bible.  Charlie shares his conflicted feelings about how he views the Bible and and also his observation that many people just want to be told to a more literal view of what the Bible says instead of doing their own work to understand the Bible better.

So we explore the notion of Christians and non-Christians as being like different “tribes” and the their inability to relate to each other is often because they can’t find a common starting place, and which is ultimately an unproductive situation.

The conversation then turns to the topic of “dialog and dispute,” and how many Christians overly emphasize dispute and “setting the facts straight” in way that does not love or seek to understand other people.  We reflect on why some Christians might feel the need to work so hard to protect the truth (as though attempting to protect God).
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In this episode John and Gregg interact with listener feedback from Anna, who asks whether we believe that authors like Kyle Idleman or John Eldridge have any value to offer the Christian community.

Gregg suspects these books are written within (and so informed by) an evangelical Christianity that has wrongly set truth above love, rather than understanding their primacy and yet mutuality. The impact is that by being unaware of this misalignment they cannot help but perpetuate it, leading to poorer understandings of God, ourselves, and our world.

Gregg’s wonders if the message of some in the evangelical genre might be sharpened and course-corrected by a rich integration of text and life, understanding and experience, God’s truth (and truth generally) and the love of God (being loved by God and loving God in return)?

John questions Gregg as to where he gets the notion of “love and truth” Gregg constantly advocates.  After giving some background and reasoning for his position Gregg issues a challenge to John and anyone listening to suggest a better alternative.

In other words, if “love and truth / truth and love” are not central to who God is and what is essential to human being, what terms would you put forth as better encompassing these things?

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

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In this special episode we interact with our first listener feedback: an email from Anna (who found our emphasis on authentic personal experience of God helpful) and Charlie’s comment about our motives from Episode Three.  John also underscores how much we value and welcome  listener feedback (negative and positive) while also welcoming questions on wider related subjects where we might be able to suggest other resources.

Expanding on Anna’s point about personal experience, Gregg comments on the need for Christians to be interested and engaged in all aspects of our world.  He also makes the distinction between agenda and motive by using Charlie’s comment as a jumping off point–arguing that while I’m necessarily always involved in my activities this does not mean that my self-involvement is always “sinful.”

For example, drawing personal agenda and personal experience together, Gregg urges that Christians can and should ‘judge’ God: we assess our experiences of God in drawing conclusions about how (and indeed whether) God loves me, because taking God’s love for me “on faith” is actually a way of detaching ourselves from the real world!

Gregg argues that Christians “witnessing” by giving tracts is a prime example of this detachment: there is no relationship or even personal interaction, there is little or no regard for the timing of this interaction, and typically any negative feedback is sloughed off as Jesus “being a stumbling block” or “the world hating me” on account of Jesus, instead of taking the criticism seriously.