Protect Your Noggin

The story of Jesus calling his first disciples, the non-institutional basis for his authority, the value of boldness, and how Jesus located the holy within people rather than places and structures.

This is part of a 12 part series studying teachings of Jesus that can help us protect ourselves from manipulative tactics of folks who might come in the name of Jesus, and then find empowerment in the peace to which Jesus points.

This second part is rather to the point (compared to some of our shows!) We start with chapter 69 of the Tao Te Ching then dive into the criteria of just war theory to discuss when and how to ethically engage problematic people in our lives, whether just annoyances or criminals. 

TW: sexual abuse, clergy abuse, guru abuse

This is the first of two parts this week. We seek wisdom regarding when to engage "bad guys" in our lives, reflecting on three news stories: 1) US military action in Iraq and the question of legitimate authority in acts of war, 2) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's act of backing out of the cult of the British royal family, and 3) the death of Ram Dass and Jeff and Stacie's initial reticence to take seriously criticisms of this pop culture icon. This will set us up for the subsequent second part, where the discussion will focus on the various principles of just war theory and how they might apply (or not) to engaging with problematic people.

Protect Your Noggin with Jesus, a twelve chapter study, is the focus for this season. Study along with us.
First ten minutes: Jeff introduces season two and why we are focusing on the teachings of Jesus this round.
Then Jeff and Stacie discuss the story of Mary and Martha, why religiosity gets in the way of listening to the core message too often, and why legalism can be exhausting. After the break, we discuss some of the questions we have in the study book (find out more about that at www.protectyournoggin.org).

Forgiveness is a mark of the community of the followers of Jesus, according to the Apostle's Creed. It is also often said in New Age self-help circles that you should forgive because it is good for you. While we recognize the importance and power of forgiveness we also discuss some of the ways in which forgiveness is misused to keep people quiet about injustice. We discuss the problem of the just world fallacy, our frustration with the Babylon Bee, why all sins aren't equal, Tao Te Ching chapter 5, the Book of Job, and the writings of Fred Alfred and Miroslav Volf. 

This is more of a laid back conversational show. Imagine we're just sitting around on couches, with a fire glowing. In the first segment we discuss how myths affect the way we approach life. How some myths become outdated and need replacement. Guest Auggie Mallinson talks about Gilbert Ryle on myth and the important lessons from the animated series Bojack Horseman, which teaches us that character is formed slowly over time, and it is unhealthy for us to expect quick resolution to life challenges. In the second hour, we interview Wayne Boyd, a recently retired army chaplain who is a pacifist who wrote a book called _The Twentieth Miracle_, which looks back on life challenges and renarrates them. We discuss the challenges there, and discuss his journey out of fundamentalism. His wife Sharon joins us part way through. 

TW: Combat Trauma, Discussion of Suicide Among Combat Veterans

What is it to be "spiritual"? How does this differ from magic and religion, and where does mysticism fit in? This week, we address the connection between the infinite source of all existence, and the importance of embodiment for that eternal reality to be expressed. We discuss our visit to some Voodoo spots in New Orleans. Stacie shares a bit from our translation of Tao Te Ching chapter 1. We address three listener questions that all relate to the connection between spirit and flesh, including questions about the connection between the human and divine natures of Jesus, the connection between grace and a new logic of life, and whether Christians ought to consider practices like meditation.

The main point of this show is that we are invited to pay more attention to the wisdom that our bodily senses offer, to carefully listen to what they are telling us, and yet to not judge the stimuli too quickly. We discuss the importance of intuition, and the idea that the non-human universe is actively communicating with us through various senses even when it doesn't use human language.

We start with a discussion of our new Tao Te Ching translation project and share a sample of that work. 

At 1:05 there's audio of Great Pyrenees working dogs in action, and what their barks mean.

At the end of the show, we address a listener email addressing the question of divorce in severely unhealthy relationships.

We mention abuse occasionally but not the details, only the ways in which intuition is important for navigating a world where not everyone is to be trusted. 

Christian education in the US tends to sell folks on the idea that they offer train students in a Christian worldiview. Setting aside the question of whether they've got the right version, on this show we question the fundamental issue of whether that's a smart or healthy move in the first place. Then, in the second segment (at time marker 01:15) we discuss the ways in which Castro took over the minds of a whole island nation. TW: in our discussion of cultural hegemony we bring up the ugly practice of female genital mutilation. 

This one is a grab bag. We discuss wisdom we've gathered from old and new friends on our cross country journey throughout the US. We share six lessons in the first hour from former students, a mariachi, a longstanding indie legend, and a moonshiner. Then, after the first hour, we chat with a friend who has a condition called hyperhidrosis, which kept her from going to church and also makes her feel guilty when she doesn't go to church now that she's found a cure.

Go to protectyournoggin.org for detailed show notes.