Life + Faith = Mess

Michael has a run of inspiration to share with L+F=M listeners. He knows that the very concept of "belief" is something that not even Christians really fully understand. The fact is that it's a life-long journey and Ben and Michael discuss where they are on that life-long journey, which they know to be pretty much the same place; acceptance that Jesus' salvation for them is a done deal and time only exists now to continually accept this and reap the benefits.

Ben deliberately asks Michael questions interview-style to get into how this has manifested in his life. From there, it only gets deeper.

In our "mid-2021 reckoning", so to speak, we address what our year has looked like so far i contrast to the grand plans we had for the beginning of the year and break down where God was in all that, and how He's continuing to shape it all. Ben goes through his album projects and his plans for TikTok Videos as "The Only Autistic Artist" (note: he knows that he's not) and Michael shares how he's found himself at rest with personal goals and moment-based senses of inadequacy at work not manifesting as he'd like. Both are coming to terms with being at peace with God; one in the world of not caring about what people think of him and his art and the other in not caring how he expects himself to be when he knows where he's at with God.

Actually, we both know where we're at with God. That, sadly, is what makes us "controversial Christians". And that's we most willingly share.

We're back in the saddle with Pete as we rip through patience as we see it in everyday life and how it's a journey that never ends as a new thing always becomes the very element we need to consider and have patience with.

Hi there! This is a podcast where two guys talk about the journey of life and faith. We explore issues in the world together, and issues in Christianity. And how they're more messy than they seem!

Patience is the name of the game. Despite covering territory as varied as current political circumstances, fundamentalism in both church and non-church identities ("fundamentalism" is really extremism), social media and simply life issues, we're always linking it back to the idea of patience and the tragic reality that patience is a Godly principle that used to exist more commonly in society that has been swept under the rug. We argue for it in ourselves and others, understanding that true communication can only really happen when we embrace true patience.

Hi there! This is a podcast where two guys talk about the journey of life and faith. We explore issues in the world together, and issues in Christianity. And how they're more messy than they seem!

Beginning 2021 and looking back on 2020 appear to be a twin venture as we take stock of the fact that one year, though beset by the Covid Lockdown, set us up for this new one.

Michael delves into his own ideas of what 2021 has in store for him first, making a most impressive list of goals he wants to achieve and elements that he believes God has called him and his wife to in terms of foster care and church in particular.

It is this aspect of church life that really inspire a lot of what both Michael and Ben share later on as Ben in particular shares his journey with regards to why he's not in church at the moment to great length, beginning right back to when he was both training to be a priest (an unfulfilled ambition at this stage) and volunteering very often in church. He knows that 2021 has a lot in terms of creative growth for him, highlighting learning more about guitar, piano and singing. He also says he thinks this year he can and will balance that with his four simultaneous projects: a novel, an album, a comic book and a movie.

Ben first thinks Michael sounds too ambitious in his projection for the year when he realises that this reflects a lot of what he sees for himself as well. However, the main element focussed on is how the idea of "church" presents itself today and where and how both Ben and Michael see their ideas for the year either finding purpose within church or outside of it yet always in the context of God.

Hi there! This is a podcast where two guys talk about the journey of life and faith. We explore issues in the world together, and issues in Christianity. And how they're more messy than they seem!

Beginning 2021 and looking back on 2020 appear to be a twin venture as we take stock of the fact that one year, though beset by the Covid Lockdown, set us up for this new one. We discuss quite a bit - one big mouth at a time - how 2020 has contained so many new elements we weren't expecting to have to contend with, let alone be able to contend with, and we explore how grateful we are to have been afforded such a such breathing space throughout the last year. We also simply talk about what the Lockdown measures were in Victoria, Australia, and bow this has affected our day-to-day lives.

In terms of specifics, Ben delves into how he and Michael lost touch for a period of time before the Lockdown actually very much brought about the reality of this very podcast and how this has been one of the key elements of how 2020 was shaped. We delve into how we knew that, even before Lockdown happened, we'd developed a new calm approach to our lives. And we believe that this was the element that allowed God to carry us forward into projecting our friendship into podcast form, covering all areas of life and faith (and history and art and theology, etc.). Ben talks about how his creative projects - a novel, an album, a comic book and a movie - are all linked in specific ways, and how Lockdown has shaped this reality as being something he felt he could really pursue. He also talks about how his autism diagnosis journey happened at the same time and provided perspective on it all, opening him up to accept these projects as simply extensions of his own reconciliation with his identity.

Michael talks about the journey of 2020 as presenting new realities he's had to contend with in terms of work and family. He's had to make very responsible decisions throughout. Ben points out how this and all the other elements he's presented of church life and family life depict an identity of "being at one" with the elements of the world, and he contrasts that with his own ambitious desire to "shape the world". This all leads to a much more full breakdown of what it means to be truly adult, as we realise that our various life elements have worked along with the discovery of our desire to do a podcast in order to truly reflect on all of these things. Our addressing of the previous year is an addressing of the adult journey overall.

Hi there! This is a podcast where two guys talk about the journey of life and faith. We explore issues in the world together, and issues in Christianity. And how they're more messy than they seem!

Peter, as in "Pete's Topics", is Michael's brother, and a very capable, able and even whirlwind of an addition to the fold.

In this ep, Peter basically introduces himself as the theology and philosophy dilettante that he is and how he is continuing studying these topics and more. This provides the perfect background for our topical discussion as we delve into what Peter basically himself defines as "kinship". His thesis is basically that "kinship" is the word we can potentially use to define our relationship as Christians to God and each other in the same manner as a family, and how this idea crosses all cultural, religious and institutional barriers simply because when one is a member of the Body of Christ, one is a member of God's family.

Ben really presses on the idea that one needs to reconcile with the idea of the "visible" and the "invisible" church in response to this dichotomy, and he and Peter have plenty of breakdowns of the dimensions of this and what it means for both the Christian and the world. All of us also really critique the modern Protestant Church and how this has come to exemplify the idea of individualism and "church shopping" in the context of modern Christianity. Even then, we're all part of one big family, and hopefully exercise kinship.

Hi there! This is a podcast where two guys talk about the journey of life and faith. We explore issues in the world together, and issues in Christianity. And how they're more messy than they seem!

We tackle all aspects of the five different "types" of ministering found in Ephesians 4:11-12. Specifically, we break down the position, function and personality of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher as described there, breaking down how there are Pentecostal Churches that still use these definitions to identify the roles of Christians in various functions and how, in contrast, the majority of Christian Churches today do not consider them to really be anything today except for the assumption of some "roles" within church structure (particular the terms "pastor" "teacher" and even "evangelist").

Ben really delves into how he believes the nature of each role is the nature of an aspect of human personality manifested a certain way. Therefore, he argues that these types of roles have precedent in all areas of life and the world, not just the church. Michael goes further still than that to point out where and how one can see the functions of such roles and personalities in terms of their duty to the church, which really ties into the whole idea that these kinds of personalities have specific identities and functions in the Christian Church apart from the rest of the world. Hopefully, we've fully argued that both things exist in the church and the world, only for different reasons. Ben raises the controversial point that churches these days don't function in accordance with reckoning with these traits and, as such, cannot claim authority over the roles in this day and age until a fuller grasp of them has been reached. He also delves into how this affects modern people and Christians psychologically.

Hi there! This is a podcast where two guys talk about the journey of life and faith. We explore issues in the world together, and issues in Christianity. And how they're more messy than they seem!

We continue our exploration into Steven Spielberg by breaking down the idea that there are two distinct eras to his work. One would be his period from 'The Sugarland Express' up till 'Hook' which we've titled 'The Virtue of Innocence'. From 'Jurassic Park' until now, we've labelled this period 'The Folly of Innocence'. The aspect we most see as happening here is that Steven Spielberg is preaching the idea that adults must return to a state of innocence in his early career whereas later on he's realised where having that innocent outlook on life has resulted in foolishness when engaging with the adult world.

The most intriguing part of discussion here is how we arrive at the movie that seems to sum up this idea the best, 'Catch Me If You Can', in which a character is literally running himself ragged throughout adult life trying to maintain his innocence and outrun growing up whilst doing nothing but pretend to be someone else the entire time. We contrast this idea with the necessity for people to recognise the difference between what is "childish" and what is "childlike", as we argue for the idea that innocence is a virtue that must never be lost but it must not be given into as an excuse to not deal with the horrors of the real world.

Hi there! This is a podcast where two guys talk about the journey of life and faith. We explore issues in the world together, and issues in Christianity. And how they're more messy than they seem!

We begin our look into artists we most admire with the film director we both have the most mutual admiration for: Steven Spielberg. We talk about the meaning and thematic content we derive from his movies and often relate it to our own journeys as Christians. We share the belief that Spielberg has defined the idea of universal expression and the innocence of peering into that world, and how we find these notions to exist in the Christian world. Spielberg really seems to express that idea even better than any Christian.

This particular look into his works centres mostly on his early works and how his positing of the necessity of innocence in an adult world in every turn of every corner of subject matter and character and story he makes. It seems to be the perspective he most desires to bring forward and we discuss how he does this as well as how he does everything with cinematic language that is unique to him.