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In this episode John and Gregg go further with offering the benefit of the doubt: the idea of viewing others as generally “doing their best” in a given situation. John is hesitant about commenting on the experience of Gregg’s father and brother being killed (this discussion last focused, and which raised some doubts for John), but Gregg demurs: in his view, no experience or human understanding is “sacred” or beyond question / criticism.

John raises two type of situations. First, everyday situations such as friction within a dialogue among coworkers. In this case John realized that by assuming that his co-worker was doing his best at that time would greatly ease the tension and frustartion that John felt at the time. Next, John raises situations which we might categorize as “evil.”

Gregg’s view is that people are responsible for their actions, and sometimes assuming that someone is “doing their best” when acting in a way that we find problematic or hurtful can inadvertently carry with it the idea that they are less responsible for those actions as a result. A further criterion for Gregg is that that person, even if s/he doesn’t recognize a particular action on their part as problematic or hurtful for someone else, must be nevertheless be willing to value others as another being. If they are unable or unwilling generally to maintain this attitude toward others, then in Gregg’s view the idea of “doing their best” just doesn’t make sense.

John notes that, for him, giving the benefit of the doubt is a starting point and is also the best way to be able to “let go” of your frustration in situations where you will never have enough information fully to understand what happened or why.

Yet Gregg notes that in evangelical Christianity this inclination can be taken too far. This is so because a) Christians typically do not deal well with conflict, b) they believe that they are always meant to be ‘nice’, and c) Christians often misunderstand: when people act in ways that are detrimental / hurtful to others it behooves us to bring this to their attention—this is a way of loving others.

Gregg next suggests that perhaps we need to balance a focus on the other (and believing that s/he is “doing their best”) with a focus on oneself (by honouring situations where one needs to address the other party, even if resolution or even recognition seems unlikely). In other words, in certain situations for Gregg to value himself he needs to express his view / response to the other party, and similarly stating the impact of certain actions to another party may help that person identify a habit or attitude that they were unaware of, or whose impact they did not know.

So to Gregg’s mind, part of loving one’s neighbour is being willing to communicate about some of the rough edges where you and your neighbour connect.

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In this episode John and Gregg discuss some questions about versions of the Bible, the book of Job, and the upcoming discussion group / gathering that Gregg is facilitating.

In the book of Job, John notes that Job’s friends also take the perspective that Job has done something to cause God to act against Job.  Gregg responds that, as far as he is aware, that when something had “befallen” someone the Judeans expressed this as God having “caused” the event, and that doing so was a way of acknowledging God as the one who had created all things and set them into certain relationships with each other.

John next wonders about the discussion that Gregg will be facilitating at his church. Gregg responds that in the first meeting will focus on having the group discuss some of the preliminary needs, such as what is needed to create a safe and productive space for discussion, what their goals and expectations are, and what might constitute “success” for them.

Gregg also notes that he will be open about his desire to steer the group in two general directions.  The first is toward understanding how we assess a certain matter or topic.  The second is toward understanding what we do once we reach the end of our own ability to assess something.  In other words, how do we adjudicate expert opinions on a given matter?

Gregg also hopes to highlight the difference between understanding the Bible as offering propositional truth versus presenting a tensional view of reality and human existence, such that human beings need to balance a variety of tensions in order to live well.  For instance, Christians (and all humans) need both belief and skepticism, faith and suspicion.

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Today John and Gregg celebrate–and reflect on–100 episodes of the “Untangling Christianity podcast!”

John begins by mentions how he and Gregg have met their goal of publishing 100 episodes in (at least) 100 weeks, and by keying on a listener’s question, from Amy, about whether the podcasts have changed over time.  He notes that his perspective has changed gradually since the beginning of the podcast, but mostly in becoming more comfortable being “where he is at” and with the fact that John has a number of questions about Christianity, and being accepting of that fact.  John also explains his hope that, in future, the UC podcast will include “other contributors,” such as the recent interview with Dan Dailey.

Gregg, too, would like to “open up” the podcast.  Gregg envisages this as having opportunities for some of the things that he and John have been discussing to be applied / “lived out” in real life.  So he notes the discussion groups he will be facilitating over the summer and autumn, and wonders what possibilities there may be for those participating in the groups to share (their experiences in the groups, what they are thinking about relative to the topics, etc.).