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In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter 8 of Darin Hufford’s The Misunderstood God. John notes Hufford’s lack of scriptural references is both refreshing and problematic (as Hufford globalizes his own experience to his readers).  Gregg replies that, in contrast to Kyle Idleman’s Not a Fan (where Gregg and John were able to evaluate Idleman’s views based on the scriptural texts from which he drew them and how Idleman interpreted them). The validity of Hufford’s positions (on God and Christianity) are harder to evaluate because they aren’t based on biblical texts and the only sources cited to establish their validity are Hufford’s experiences.

Gregg  notes in Chapter 7 how, in contrast to the notion that God created humans to “worship God and enjoy God forever,” he finds Hufford’s notion far more compelling: God created humanity “because love requires expression” (p. 76).  In other words, we are created to be in a love relationship with God.  John resonates with Hufford’s comments about being far more deeply complimented / appreciated by those who know him best.  For Gregg this co-incides with his own personal emphasis on truth and love being at the core of one’s relationship with God where one is truly known and deeply loved.
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In this episode John and Gregg discuss Chapter 7 of The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Tells About God by Darin Hufford. John begins with a quotation from page 72, “Why did God create us? Because love requires expression.” John finds this notion startling and compelling while wondering about its validity.

Gregg believes two factors, in combination, are necessary to validate the truth of an assertion about God. First, one must have the best understanding of who God is and what Christianity is about. Second we must bring our own self understanding. And so the discovery of truth comes through the bi-directional and mutually informing tension between the biblical text and our understandings from human experience / knowledge.

We need to allow our understanding of God that comes the biblical text to aid in solving conflicts between the competing understandings we have of divine and human identity.
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This week John and Gregg kick things off by reading an iTunes review that summarizes well what they are trying to do.  This being the 50th episode it’s also a good time to reflect again on how the podcast is going.  Gregg’s “high light” is that, really, there have been no “low lights.”  John relates some mixed feelings about how many new topics we’ve opened up without necessarily closing the ones we’ve already started.

Next the conversation turns to the different topics they have explored (or want to explore in more depth) as well as John’s reflections on the speed of his own journey to untangle Christianity.

John wonders where Gregg sees things going 50 episodes from now, when we get to Episode #100.  Gregg hopes to become clearer and clearer about what Christianity is and what it is NOT.  He also believes that we’ll continue to uncover the complexity of many of these issues–how they are not a simple as many people make them out to be.

John shares his hopes for the road to episode #100.  John thinks out loud about trying to systematize the subjects we are discussing and trying to make sense of in a way that would be more accessible to others, like an eBook or a longer document, without getting too carried away or attempting to create another systematic theology.
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Gregg begins this episode by relating how his mediation training can help people be their best selves, which he also sees as both the focus and result of being a Christian.  Part of his excitement concerns the hope that mediation can contribute towards restoring relationships–moving beyond the disposability of relationships to seeing yourself and the other person in new ways.

So in a mediation context each disputant has their view of the truth and each may well have a true view of their position, however putting that truth in the context of the whole often changes things.  John observes how, ironically, Christian culture is typically uncomfortable with “multiple truths” and instead there must be one “right” and one “wrong.”
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