Looking for the Real God

As Christy continues to move through the question of How Did We Get Here, she confronts our religious obsession with morality and goodness. No matter which side of a topic you are on these days, people automatically have a list of behaviors they expect from you. The Church is no different. Unfortunately a fixation on behaviors and the condemnation that follows when you don't measure up has been the cause of significant church hurt and spiritual abuse.

What if we actually believed in the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside out? What of we laid aside our focus on behaviors and instead cared about people's hearts? Christy passionately explores problems and possibilities as she shares this week's episode.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

Continuing on with her question of How Did We Get Here, Christy tackles what it means to be a Christian woman. Are women really supposed to be under authority and less than a man? Can women truly not be leaders in the church? What if the passages used to support these ideas aren't really being read in context? How have these ideas about women influenced the current broken state of our church?

Christy shares articles, videos, and information that she has found in the past few years of searching for answers. The information she shares might surprise you. For some reason this topic tends to be highly controversial so Christy hopes her listeners can come in with an open mind and be willing to do a little searching of their own.

Related Blog Post:
https://christylynnewood.com/not-so-silent-women/

Article Mentioned:
https://baptistnews.com/article/i-knew-the-truth-about-women-in-the-bible-and-i-stayed-silent/#.YHyX0GdKiM8

YouTube Video Mentioned:
https://youtu.be/tsyQlaC0btY

For Further Study:
https://www.faithgateway.com/ezer-unleashed/#.YHyYRmdKiM9

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

Christy continues to ask the question "How did we get here?" This time she tackles the idea of Biblical interpretation, specifically the problem with using a literal English interpretation of passages without doing any digging into context, author intent, historical background, or intended audience.

It is incredibly arrogant and ignorant to assume that 21st century Christians can read an English translation of an ancient book and automatically understand it without any extra research. Yet this is where so many of our problems within modern Christianity have originated. Ironically it’s misinterpretation where Christianese happens and also why many people reject the Bible and Christianity.

What if we attempted to carefully read in a way that honors the original authors and audiences, takes context into account, and humbly acknowledges that we are thousands of years and a totally different culture away?

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

Christy takes a break from asking the question, “How did we get here?” to ponder her love for Jesus and her awe of His death and resurrection.

With passion and emotion Christy invites her listeners to lay aside their ideas of God and look at the person of Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh. She celebrates the core of historical orthodox Christianity — the fact that God would sacrifice Himself in our place so that we could be redeemed and brought back into a relationship of oneness with our Creator.

Happy Easter! Jesus is risen!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

Christy continues to ask the question of how did we get here -- to this place where abuse and sin is so common within our Christian culture? Why are so many well-known leaders suddenly being exposed? Last week Christy tackled the topic of Biblical authority. She questioned if the definition of authority that many leaders use is actually accurate and she pointed her listeners back to the example of Jesus Christ.

This week Christy is questioning the common definitions of unity and gossip used within abusive Christian settings. She contrasts these false Christianese definitions with the actual definitions and gives examples of how we can choose as the Church to extend grace to victims and justice to perpetrators while standing for truth.

Scripture Referenced:
Ephesians 4:1-6
Galatians 3:26-28

Books Referenced:
"The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse" by David Johnson
"When Narcissism Comes to Church" by Chuck DeGroat

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

Based on some of the recent tragic news within the Christian community, Christy dives into the question of how we got here. How did we get to the place where it's common (although still devastating) for Christian leaders to be caught in sin and abuse? How did we create a culture where abuse is covered up or ignored?

Today Christy explores the concept of Biblical Authority and wonders if it's actually Biblical. She passionately shares from her own experiences and reveals the context behind the statement that is often used to prevent criticism of spiritual leaders.

Resources:

“The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse” by David Johnson
“When Narcissism Comes to Church” by Chuck DeGroat

Article mentioned:

https://www.relevantmagazine.com/magazine/the-woman-taking-on-sex-abuse-in-the-church/?fbclid=IwAR2R8wEn4CGqx0JioC8OHfY5OEj8HBLOtfQACwm5fPgFZAnaui1-WxVcAn0

Scripture Mentioned:

1 Samuel 24
Psalm 105:15

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

Christy talks about watching the animated movie Smallfoot with her family and how it was unexpectedly triggering. The yetis were encouraged to push their questions down and ignore them much like Christy was back in her cultic days. And yet ,much like Christy's personal experience, when the yetis ignored the "stones" and asked their questions they discovered a truth that was bigger than their false beliefs.

Christy encourages her listeners to embrace uncomfortable seasons of doubt and questions because it is only through these crises of faith that we are able to discover the Real God. A God who is not created by our beliefs or disbeliefs, but who is who He is no matter what. A God who wants us to search and find. A God who is only ever more than we can imagine.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

As Christy finishes up her series on missing theology she takes a philosophical look at death and life. What are they really? How could our understanding of them change the way we view sin and the effects of it?

What if death is really about separation? Separation from God, others, and even ourselves? Sin does indeed bring separation and death. But if death is about separation, could life be about oneness and connection?

Christy explores these ideas and points listeners back to a God who is bigger than we could ever imagine and who wants to be in a relationship with us.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

As she continues to ponder missing theological building blocks, Christy ponders the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom? And what happens to us when we fail to recognize it?

Christy explores two kingdoms that Christians are currently trying to build to replace the backwards, inside out, upside down Kingdom of Jesus Christ: Christian celebrity culture, and Christian nationalism. She again digs into over arching themes of Scripture while exposing issues with these false kingdoms.

Related Blog Posts:
https://christylynnewood.com/the-flawed-theology-of-christian-nationalism/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com

Christy continues her thoughts on the theological building blocks that we might be missing. Today she shares thoughts on embracing
paradox. A paradox is something that initially seems illogical or impossible but upon further study you realize that it's actually correct. There are many paradoxes that Christy has become sure of in her own journey to discover the Real God. She invites her listeners to join her in the Awkward Middle Way between behavior driven religion and intellectual progressivism where paradox is real because God is big and crazy.

Related Blog Posts:
https://christylynnewood.com/reconstructing-in-the-middle-way/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christylynnewood.substack.com