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In this episode John and Gregg return to Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman and discuss Chapter Ten.  John questions Idleman’s chapter-ending story where following Jesus equates to “giving up period.”  In turn, Gregg doubts this includes “giving up on church” or even “waiting on God,” a theme John sees nowhere in Idleman’s relentless message of “try harder” and, “you can never be committed enough.”

Gregg’s contention from the beginning has been that the underlying message of Not A Fan is misguided because it is driven from a foundation of misplaced priorities and ideas, namely this often cited section on page 21,

What if there really is a heaven and there really is a hell, and where I spend eternity comes down to this one question? …. As you read this book I hope you would at least consider that this may be the most important question you ever answer.  I believe the reason we were put on this earth is to answer this one question.

The right reason to be a Christian is to be in right relationship–a love relationship–with God, versus avoiding the punishment of hell or seeking the reward of heaven. To that end, Gregg wonders how Idleman experiences God’s love and why he does not mention it as a way of explaining his relationship with God.

Gregg notes additional places where Kyle Idleman’s exegesis is questionable and how Idelman never cites other biblical references that might contradict his position.  Gregg wonders if this is because Idleman is trying to validate a position that, in key ways, is at odds with the biblical message.  Gregg believes Idleman could build a stronger case for his message by testing his position against possible contradictory passages, in order to show how, in fact, they are not at odds.
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In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter Ten of Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. John finds Idleman’s message repetitive and unconvincing. Gregg pushes things further: could it be that, instead of being poorly written or argued, this book actually proposes a view of Christianity that contradicts other aspects of Idleman’s own beliefs?

John sees Idleman’s assumptions about others’ behavior to be problematic and expresses greater dismay at Idleman’s suggestion that we relate to God by denying ourselves to the extent that we fail to acknowledge our own existence (p. 143)–a concept that fails a simple logic test.  How can we interact with ourselves or God if we don’t exist?

Gregg suggests that some of the book’s radical contortions like: 1) By sacrificing everything, God then loves us as sons and daughters (p. 153); or 2) The Bible’s highest calling for “followers” is to be slaves who deny ourselves and follow Jesus (p. 150) could result from Idleman’s attempt to maintain his contention that Christianity is all about where we spend eternity (Heaven or Hell, p. 21) while knowing, Gregg assumes, that the New Testament prioritizes loving God entirely, loving ourselves rightly, and loving others likewise.

So Gregg emphasizes that God is already seeking us–already desirous of us.  Nor are we dealing with a “problem of sin,” but rather a lack of proper relationship, which God is constantly trying to mend.  And key to mending this relationship is having a deep, experiential awareness of God’s love so that we relate to God both in a way that works and that makes sense.  In this way embracing our deep, deep value to God through this love relationship is an intrinsic reality that should effect how Christians carry themselves in all of their relations.

Gregg also couples Joseph LeDoux‘s neuroscientific view that emotions (like love) are not choices but are instead responses that motivate future behavior with the view that some people should be “fans” because they don’t have what is required to embrace God fully–and that is perfectly okay.  So instead of coercing people to love God, why doesn’t Idleman focus on: a) what it means for God’s love to be real; b) the modes whereby God presents God’s love to us; and c) how Idleman has been personally impacted by God’s love?

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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.