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In this episode John and Gregg discuss an article by Tim Lawrence, “Everything doesn’t happen for a reason.” This post “went viral” and concerns people trying to support those who suffer tragic circumstances by commiserating that “everything happens for a reason.”

John notes both the author’s passion and a sense of hopelessness and is curious to hear Gregg’s take on it based on Gregg’s own significant losses.

Gregg responds that he found the article to be helpful and yet that it offered an incomplete response to the issue. Gregg also found several of the comments to be quite valuable. So Gregg uses one of the comments to explains how the notion that “everything happens for a reason is rather tricky.” (i.e., by noting that we must first distinguish between “a reason” meaning causality and “a reason” meaning purpose).

So Gregg emphasizes the difference between acknowledging that powerful events necessarily impact us (e.g., Gregg acknowledging that because his father and and brother died—and died as they did—that Gregg’s life is changed) is very different from imputing the necessity of a powerful event transpiring in my life in order that something else should take place (e.g., imputing that it was necessary for Gregg’s father and brother to die in order for Gregg to become a Christian).
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In this episode John and Gregg are joined by Evan from Virginia, the second person ever to contact the podcast. Evan found the UC podcast through his wife’s concerns about Kyle Idleman’s not a fan.

Having mentioned that he plays in a church worship band Evan joins John and Gregg to share his insights on Church worship music.  Evan notes that not only the order / type of music is strategic but that, in his church, the worship players are very aware of the type of setting that they are wishing to create and take time to re-assess how well they are doing at accomplishing their goals.  They also discuss how they believe that God is at work in the church and through the worship experience and how this seems to be impacting the community.

Gregg wonders about whether Christians are ever “taught” to praise or to worship and questions whether the assumption that such teaching is unneeded is valid.  John then wonders, What would such instruction look like?  Evan notes that the worship team typically sets the scene and that the congregation “follows” the worship team.
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In this episode John and Gregg discuss the article “Between Easter and the End,” posted in the Untangling Christianity private Facebook group.

John found the article both tough to unpack and to be difficult to connect with / find value in. When Gregg wonders why John feels disengaged from the article, John notes that in his view the author is globalizing her experience to all Christians (rather than presenting the matter as her own experience), and this makes it hard for him to relate to.

Particularly, John finds the author’s contention that our lives are not “improving” / Christians are not becoming more Christ-like fast enough to be unrealistic and even inaccurate. Gregg echoes John’s concerns and notes that the matter is presented by the author in a very nebulous way, and yet Christians who complain of not being like Jesus should be able easily to identify what constitutes Christ-likeness. If not, then such transformation may already be happening without one’s knowledge.
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In this episode John and Gregg return to their discussion from the last episode titled Problematic Praise Music following comments by listener “Lynette.” In partial response to Lynette, Gregg undertook to re-write the lyrics to one of the main Christian choruses of which Gregg was critical.

Gregg’s new (amended since their reading in this episode) lyrics to “How Great is our God” are:

Creator, father, king,
You sought that everything
Through Abraham be blessed:
A response to faithfulness.

So you called a single race
And asked them to embrace
A law to set apart;
To circumcise their heart.
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This week’s episode is sparked by a satirical post titled Worship Leader Caught In Infinite Loop Between Bridge And Chorus from the Babylon Bee.

This leads to a critical discussion of two songs–How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin and I’ll Obey (author unknown).

Gregg asserts that worship music should more accurately articulate God and the wider message of Christianity instead of trite, simplistic phrases that point to incredibly complex subjects about the same things.

John also references a book he recently finished titled Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister’s Wife Examines Faith which he resonated with.