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In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter 9 of Darin Hufford’s Misunderstood God.  Gregg comments that he has never had a book that he has liked more and likes less at the same time.  He identifies certain ‘nuggets’ of gold yet finds certain formulations or presentations of the material that seem so incorrect that this shakes Gregg’s trust in the author.

John feels like he’s moved into “skim mode” with this book, looking for what seems positive or thought-provoking.  So he appreciates Darin’s view about Christianity being sin-focused and some things about God being angry and the need for control by fear in churches.

Gregg is interested that John has stopped reading and started skimming, and makes the meta-comment that a book about the ills of Christianity should be able to keep those readers engaged who are interested in this subject, and uses this as a lesson for himself about the podcast.  Is the message too deep or intellectual?  Or is the author globalizing her/his views or misformulating matters?  Either approach risks alienating readers.
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In this episode John and Gregg discuss the fact that they, and particularly Gregg, are viewing and responding to the material that they are working with in a very different way from many other reviewers (such as their responses to Kyle Idleman’s Not a Fan and Darin Hufford’s Misunderstood God).

John reflects on how his discomfort level with these “differences” is much lower than when he first began discussing these topics.  John also notes that a listener sent him a book (Surrender to Love, by David Benner) that reinforces some of Gregg’s perspectives and the things he and John and have been discussing.  John also notes the rigor of the presentation of Benner’s book offers a degree of credibility that far outweighs what they’ve seen in the other books they’ve discussed so far.
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In this episode John and Gregg discuss an article from the Biola University alumni magazine purporting to identify a “crisis of biblical illiteracy” within evangelical churches.  The author, Kenneth Bearding, holds a Ph. D. in hermeneutics and biblical interpretation, and targets biblical illiteracy.

John sees the article as “click bait”: dramatizing an issue in order to curry readership.  Gregg found one of the comment to the article very helpful, which stated that in the author’s examples the people seemed not so much biblically illiterate as historically and culturally under-informed.

Similarly, John wonders if this article is not proposing a “cure” without having accurately diagnosed the problem!  In other words, by presenting a loaded topic that has only one ‘acceptable’ answer (e.g., no good Christian would approve of biblical illiteracy).
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In this episode John begins by considering which is more important: “seeking” God’s kingdom or loving God?  In doing so John considers how Gregg speaks of loving God as a very intense involvement with God that seems to be oriented around feelings and emotion.  Yet what about the command to love?  Is God really “commanding” us to love God?

Gregg responds by noting that many Christians seem to need to emphasize that love is (or starts with) something one does rather than something that one experiences or feels.  Instead, Gregg pushes back against this by indicating the importance of both one’s feelings about / toward God and one’s actions for / in light of God.  In other words, love always begins as an emotional response that is awakened (and can be dimmed).
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