Halfway There

087: Mark Karris says Stop Being Superstitious and Put Your Faith into Action

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Mark Gregory Karris is an ordained pastor, licensed marriage and family therapist, speaker, musician, adjunct professor, and all around biophilic. He is the author of Season of Heartbreak: Healing for the Heart, Brain, and Soul and most recently Divine Echoes: Reconciling Prayer with the Uncontrolling Love of God which we talk about today. Mark shares the moment when he cried out to Jesus, how a controlling pastor shaped him, and the theological breakthrough that changed his understanding of God. Along the way he shares some challenging ideas about how God might want to use us to answer prayer.
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Stories Mark shared:
  • Growing up in a highly dysfunctional family full of violence, drugs, and mental illness
  • The experience when he finally cried out to Jesus
  • Getting involved in a highly controlling cult-like church
  • Leaving that church and the anxiety that went with it
  • The saving grace of going to college and finding male mentors for the first time
  • Why we put on a facade for other people
  • The hunger to heal and help other people through the journey as well that led him to become a therapist
  • The theological breakthrough that changed his understanding of God (hint: it’s huge)
  • How he now sees God’s intervention in the world as uncontrolling love
  • Why petitionary prayer can be dangerous and may contribute to suffering in the world
  • Why we should sometimes take action instead of pray
  • What is conspiring prayer?

    • Great quotes from Mark:

    God if you’re real, show yourself to me. I need you.

    My trust grew stronger when I realized God was not in control of every event, action, or reaction that occurs in the world.

    Superstitious petitionary prayer contributes to suffering in the world.

    How many times have we prayed fervently for the distressed placing all the responsibility on God to answer our prayers while those for whom we prayed suffered needlessly because we took no responsibility to be God’s answer to our prayers?

    Resources Mark mentioned:

    • Divine Echoes: Reconciling Prayer with the Uncontrolling Love of God by Mark Karris
  • Season of Heartbreak: Healing for the Heart, Brain, and Soul by Mark Karris
  • Find Mark at his website and if you buy Divine Echoes and want a free workbook, go to Mark’s website and email him to get it!
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    The post Mark Karris says Stop Being Superstitious and Put Your Faith into Action appeared first on Eric Nevins.

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    Halfway ThereBy Eric Nevins
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