Protect Your Noggin

According to Jesus, blasphemy against the Spirit is bearing false witness to the sacred. Find out more about The unpardonable sin, a.k.a. the unforgivable sin, the eternal sin, or the sin against the Holy Ghost.

Mark 3:28-30
Luke 12:8-10
John 11:48

What is a cult (defined as a high? How can you get out of one? How can you help a friend who's got caught in their snare? 

For additional notes, go to https://www.protectyournoggin.org/podcast 

It's possible for the official leaders of a movement—even a righteous one—to completely miss the point. Meanwhile, it's possible that outsiders actually are better at understanding the movement’s mission. Jesus emphasizes faithfulness to his way over membership in the group. Moreover, in the case of the movement that Jesus was ushering in, those who harm or hinder children on their path are condemned in the strongest terms, while children themselves are held up as models of the true kingdom.

A nonpartisan discussion of the ways in which the psychological theory of moral injury parallels what most Americans are facing now, as they must choose to vote or not vote, or vote for a candidate accused of serious misdeeds. Whatever you think of Tara Reade, Joe Biden's accuser or the list of allegations against Donald Trump, being forced to decide here threatens to implicate all of us in injustice. How does this work, what light does it shed on  the ways we deal with similar issues in religious communities, and how can we restore moral perspective in our chaotic times?

The parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Jesus invites us all to let go of spiritual & relational bean-counting & to recognize the crushing burden of indebtedness. Those of us who cling to our systems of transaction & obligation end up condemned by those same accounting systems. If we let go of those systems, we can find peace. True nature forgiveness isn't meant to allow continued abuse or to force a traumatized person to move too quickly past their pain without processing it.

Sometimes, people keep you from adapting and thriving by labeling you in a way that limits your freedom to grow. We came to this topic because Stacie was getting to a spot where she wondered whether she might be cut out for podcasting, so instead of the episode we were planning, she applied lessons from the past couple episodes to her own life and to the question of whether we might be able to move past pre-conceived labels and self-doubt.

Jesus teaches his followers to be less judgmental about the lives of outsiders and yet more discerning about abusive behaviors in their own midst. Judgment involves condemnation with contempt.  Discernment involves radical honesty with deep compassion. Most importantly, discernment starts with assessment of our own situation. Jesus isn’t inviting us to negative self-talk, but rather an unflinching confrontation and merciful embrace of what psychologist Carl Gustav Jung calls our shadow selves.

Dr. Betsi Little (Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, Univ. of North Dakota & a faculty at Palomar College) shares a “Quarantine Positive Psychology Intervention Challenge” she offers to her students & provides tips for clearing quarantine head fog. Betsi's research focuses on the perceptions held of, and by, marginalized populations She lives in San Diego with her husband, toddler and beagle, Kyle.

The false sense of security we place on material wealth is detrimental to spiritual freedom. Jesus invites us to enjoy the peace and liberation that comes from letting go of our accumulated wealth and sharing with our fellow humans. Those who respond to Jesus’ invitation will find that, instead of feeling impoverished, they will receive the inheritance of the whole world, and will be free from the manipulations of people and systems that try to control us by dangling rewards or threatening to take away what we have.

If Jesus came to your place of worship, what would he think? If he were to tell you directly about the last being first, would you be ready to be last, least, and lost?

Jeff shares a message reflecting on the teachings of Jesus related to facing death, the concept of resurrection, childlike faith, letting go, and the nature of the true church. 

This is a special episode of comfort and hope amid the current pandemic. A significantly abridged version of this was sent to students at Concordia University, in lieu of in-person chapel.