The Desire Line

How do Christians engage in drawing closer to God in a real church environment? This is a break-it-down episode, where we spend time talking more about moralism + hedonism and how we experience M. Scott Peck's Stage 2 in our lives, and in our churches.

We break down the concept of inviting God into the darkness of our shameful thoughts by asking "God, how can you be so good?" in the midst of it.

Stage 2 can be associated with high degrees of rigidity

Brandon's theory: The Anatomy of Religious Rigidity

Two ways to soothe Anxiety: Moralism/Hedonism (maladaptive coping skills) that don't help us in the long run.

People have anxiety because they have insecurity, people compensate by being rigid, because that feels like piety, piety feels like God will like us, soothes our anxiety

"In"-- am i in? What if I'm rejected? Am I fully loved, accepted, respected by you?

Looking at expectations of pastors in church--how do church members respond when pastors talk about difficult concepts or try to deal with difficult issues in the church? How do Christians engage with their pastors, and what roles to they expect pastors to fill?

Susette talks about her experience in shifting her pastors out the expectation of being close friends, or in an intimate relationship, even though the pastor-church goer relationship feels so intimate.

But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. John 6:54

Integrating love into shame is a spiritual discipline, and a neuroscientific process. Inviting God's goodness into the dark thoughts that we have, instead of hiding as a result of the thoughts, can neutralize them.

Brandon invites us to an exercise: when we're angry, sad, ashamed or embarrassed, or in the darkest thought of hatred, sexual desire, etc, we can state "God, how can you be so good?". We invite "light" into the "darkness", which neutralizes it.

The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. John 1:4-5

This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7

More on: False self vs. True self

https://cac.org/the-illusion-of-our-false-self-2017-08-15/

Neuron info, with myelin sheath: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/human-biology/neuron-nervous-system/a/overview-of-neuron-structure-and-function

"One of the signs of maturity is the thought that no longer occurs to you." --Dallas Willard

Outro music:

Feel Your Love by Still Spoken featuring Soy Maulit

This is our third episode in an arc on Spiritual Development. We look closer at Stages II and III of M. Scott Peck's Stages of Faith, and how we can navigate tensions to this journey moving towards union with God. It's important to evaluate what part of Christianity we try to protect out of fear. Our goal: "Life in the Spirit" (see Romans 8) meaning to move into union with God.

Our guest music today is: Feel Your Love, by Still Spoken You can find it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3wWxnAjCikcl6Ug9Fymr09

Reminder of the M. Scott Peck's Stages of Faith: Stage I: Chaotic, Antisocial Stage II: Formal, Institutional, Fundamental Stage III: Skeptic, Individual, Questioner Stage IV: Mystic, Communal

Part of the dark side of stage 2 is high boundaries, but because of fear, there's no openness to tension.

Sermon on the Mount reference re: murder, adultery and divorce: Matthew 5:21

Jesus is moving the focus of spirituality out of the rules into the center of our heart, where we need God to be transformed. If faith is not marked with compassion, and is not moving you towards openness in God, then it'll become religious and legalistic. The point of healthy boundaries is to lead you into LIFE.

Recommended podcast on Jewish & Hebrew culture: "Stuff Jews Should Know."

Examples of Stage II to Stage III transitions in the Bible: -Galatians 6: Paul reframing the importance of circumcision vs. being transformed into a new creation through Jesus Christ. -Peter having a vision about allowing "unclean" foods to be eaten. (Acts 10:9-16) -Jesus breaking sabbath laws with healing, eating grain, etc.

This transition is usually a result of suffering. These "rules" or the way that God and the world make sense based on religion until suffering happens in life, and the rules stop making sense.

Matthew 12:1 A Discussion about the Sabbath 12 At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. 2 But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, "Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath."

3 Jesus said to them, "Haven't you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. 5 And haven't you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? 6 I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! 7 But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.'[a] 8 For the Son of Man[b] is Lord, even over the Sabbath!"

Development is a process of maturing over time, through life stages. We can get stuck in different development stages, and never move past them.

From the therapeutic perspective: Looking at the amygdala + limbic system, the amygdala triggers "fight or flight" in our reactions. Even though in our current culture, our lives are rarely threatened day to day, we'll continue to experience life day to day as "threatening."

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Viktor E. Frankl

Our guest music today is: Feel Your Love, by Still Spoken You can find it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3wWxnAjCikcl6Ug9Fymr09

Looking deeper at M. Scott Peck's Stages of Faith M. Scott Peck, Stages of Faith Stage I: Chaotic, Antisocial -Antisocial (not caring about community or others, but only own self-interests). Stage II: Formal, Institutional, Fundamental -Faith is part of the person's life. -Can imagine this person giving a testimony in church. -Not only is belief the TRUTH, but the TRUTH is simple.

Stage III: Skeptic, Individual, Questioner -Life is more gray than previously acknowledged -There's struggle here-- questioning what you thought was TRUTH, or why it was truth.

Stage IV: Mystic, Communal Community/relationship focused (see Jesus: Love God & your neighbor)

Mark 12:30-31 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these."

John 17:3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.

Brandon's interpretation: I Chaos (Antisocial/Chaotic) II Boundaries (Institutional/Formal) III Tension (Skepticism/Questioning) IV Union (Mystic, Communal)

We talk divorce, sex and love addiction, and how to engage in boundaries in the midst of life events that we can't control.

Christian worldview is about union with God in the midst of suffering.

2 Corinthians 1: 4-6 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6 Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.

We talk about Rumspringa, an Amish + Mennonite rite of passage for adolescents.

Check out a new favorite podcast: "Stuff Jews Should Know,"

Psalm 91 If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

Every faith journey is different, but are there discernible patterns that are common among us? Law was good, but it could never transform It was good, it taught you that we live in a moral universe, you weren't designed to live under a baby-sitter for ever, meant to mature and live by the Spirit It's openness to God that transforms, Jesus is the path to openness in God, in his death, he demonstrated his absolute trust—his absolute openness—to God and to resurrection life in God

There often will come a point where you have to get off the paved path. Often times it's suffering or some sort of inner conflict, or a product of the Christian culture that we're living in today.

"If you ask anybody, 'What's the activity that you had that made you who you are?' no one says, 'You know I had a really great vacation in Hawaii.' No one says that. They say, 'I had a period of struggle. I lost a loved one. I was in the Army. And that period of struggle or that period of toughness made me who I am.'"

This idea of the dark night, some period where your faith seems inadequate or your suffering makes you ask, "Where is God?" is one of the key characteristics in the pattern of spiritual development

Every journey is different, but are there discernible patterns to the spiritual journey? This can help us normalize our journey! We are not alone. "It hurts to become real" -The Velveteen Rabbit

SCRIPTURE This development is actually normalized in Scripture We are all being changed (2 Corinthians 3:18) What matters is becoming new creation

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Law-NT Paul: law is a baby-sitter (Galatians 3:24)

Law was good, but it could never transform It was good, it taught you that we live in a moral universe, you weren't designed to live under a baby-sitter for ever, meant to mature and live by the Spirit It's openness to God that transforms, Jesus is the path to openness in God, in his death, he demonstrated his absolute trust—his absolute openness—to God and to resurrection life in God Development in the nation of Israel Jesus: Kingdom of Heaven: Mustard seed NT Wright: every generation must wrestle with… "We must stop giving 16th century answers…"

PSYCHOLOGY James Fowler Stage of Faith

M. Scott Peck The Road Less Traveled http://www.whale.to/b/peck1.html -Stage I Chaotic, Antisocial Antisocial in that it's all "me" (perhaps Hedonistic)

-Stage II Formal, Institutional, Fundamental Boundaries good Dark side: very either-or, all-or-nothing. Have difficulty explaining, or comforting when experiencing suffering.

-Stage III Skeptic, Individual, Questioner Life is more gray than previously acknowledged

-Stage IV Mystic, Communal Open to God

Notice, Every pattern or theory of development we're going to talk about today ends in some sort of "union"

It's possible, or probable to be in more than one at once. Not linear. We may be in both or all at different times.

Exercise: In the midst of a painful thought, relationship or memory, asking God: "How can you be so good?"

Intimacy with God is the process of Salvation -- we connect to Him more deeply through the process of Salvation. Salvation is more of a process than an "event" where our sins are forgiven. See Hosea, Song of Solomon, Eph 5 to see examples of intimacy with God. He's created a world where we can find Him and going deeper with Him. Paul's epistles: What God has done, who we are as a result (adopted, His children), therefore you live it out this way. This is a big difference from "works theology" something that we've been trained to live in fear of as Protestants.

We contrast between two verses that people use to defend that "certificate" of salvation vs. walking out our salvation.

Eph 1:4-5 (NLT) Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

James 1:26-27 (NLT) If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

How does "participating" in salvation change how we live? We talk about our anxieties about Works Theology, and how to engage in love for others in the way that Jesus prompts us in the gospels, and the way James 1 does.

Salvation is a relationship -- not something that we possess, but as a relationship that's transforming us.

12 Steps of Recovery are a process of sanctification or "working through salvation"... our behaviors towards others and in our life change as we lean in and accept that God is our "higher power".

Bianary perspective on Salvation-- how do we see Salvation as All or Nothing Thinking?

Review All-or-Nothing Thinking & Trauma responses to fight-or-flight experiences that train our brain (amygdala) to respond quickly, or fearfully.

More information on M. Scott Peck's Stages of Faith: http://www.whale.to/b/peck1.html

Depersonalization: when we're afraid, we turn our loved ones into "things" or thing-ify them as a threat, instead of someone who we love, or who has good and bad as part of their nature.

------------------------------------------------------ CELEBRATE RECOVERY 12 STEPS AND BIBLICAL COMPARISONS 1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Romans 7:18 NIV

2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:13 NIV

3. We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 NIV

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Lamentations 3:40 NIV

5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16a NIV

6 We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 NIV

7 We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 NIV

8 We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31 NIV

9 We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24 NIV

10 We continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 1 Corinthians 10:12

11 We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and power to carry that out.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3:16a NIV

12 Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and practice these principles in all our affairs.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore them gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Galatians 6:1 NIV

Fifth episode in an arc about Gospel & Salvation, Jesus, and the Gospels. Culture, and how we do not have a good conception for concepts of Kingship and Lordship--submission to a leader is not a quality that American culture values. We've divided the concepts of "Follow Me" that Jesus introduced to His disciples into conversion and discipleship. They're not two different things. How do we understand salvation and what it means to be saved? Salvation is a relationship. Reviewing the Hebrew definition of Knowing tied more to Intimacy than to Knowing "about" or observing like our concepts of knowing. Knowing in Hebrew is more about experience or encountering. We need both types of knowing to engage in full relationship with Jesus. We tend to think of Heaven as a place, instead of a relationship-- a place you go when you die, instead of abiding in a relationship with an God who saves. Jesus, in Matthew 7, not intended to evoke fear, but to point to what saves us is relationship, not a faux relationship, or a certificate. Jesus invites us into a relationship that transforms us, and leads us to caring for the poor and marginalized. Heaven, in this sense, is being in the place where God's presence is.

Susette's method of using this concept of God's presence as a form of prayer & relationship: 1. Remember first that the Kingdom of Heaven is God's presence here on earth, 2. Then I picture God's presence being here next to me. 3. Picturing Jesus sitting next to me. 4. Talk to Him.

John 1; the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, or "tabernacle'd" among us.

Described the tabernacle and what that means from a historical & biblical context. The temple points to holiness & being set apart. The book of Hebrews is a good place to start in learning about the Tabernacle, and Rikk Watts: https://www.regentaudio.com/collections/rikk-watts

John 1:51 Jesus is referring to Jacob naming the place Bethel in Genesis 28:10-22, where he saw the presence of God.

Continuing episode arc around The Gospel and Salvation. If you are just joining the Podcast for this episode, you may want to start at episode 9: The Gospel & the Gospels for the beginning of this arc.

New Perspective on Paul defined, a new perspective on Paul's letters in the bible and how they've been read since the Reformation. A quick background on why the Reformation was important, to correct the corruption at that time, an example of this being indulgences. Martin Luther also focused justification by faith alone (sola fide), faith being not earned by works, but given freely by God, once we believe. Pendulums can swing too far, when a good correction happens. It's important for us to sit in tension in the midst of truth.

NT Wright: "We must stop giving 19th- century answers to 16th-century questions and start asking 21st-century questions listening for 1st-century answers."

"Each generation has to wrestle afresh with the question of Jesus, not least its biblical roots if it is to be truly the church at all."

Good news: the New Perspective starts with God and the world, instead of me. We're starting to hear sermons (Mike Erre from Vox OC & John Mark Comer from Bridgetown Church in Portland) In Act 17:16-34, Paul gives a speech on God as creator, instead of salvation for individual sins.

See this pic of the firmament:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiduJ7Ml7rYAhUHw1QKHXcpDvcQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fronaldwederfoort.wordpress.com%2F2016%2F12%2F12%2Fnasa-and-all-o-f-them-knew-about-the-firmament-and-that-there-are-waters-above-and-no-vacuum-space%2F&psig=AOvVaw1eTEfPuGMnsqa9iVxIvvsW&ust=1515013588086396

Firmament description, and how Genesis 1 comes alive when we read the bible the way the authors viewed it. An article from Rick Watts:http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Bible-Science/6-02Watts.html

Knowing (Hebrew): "Yada" in Hebrew means "knowing" but in an intimate sense, not just intellectually.

When we talk about "Salvation" we're talking about relationship, that we're in a vulnerable standing with another person (a human being, or with God).

Embodied participation is included in this relationship. Embodiment: our bodies matter, and we live out our salvation with our bodies. Focusing, praying, committing, repenting in a way that includes our body in relationship with God.

Gospel: that God is redeeming the Earth and all of Creation, and SALVATION is our RESPONSE to the Gospel.

We answered our first LISTENER SUBMITTED QUESTION (yea!) about therapy, and how to search for a Christian therapist.

Please submit any question you have through https://www.desirelinepodcast.com/connect

Join our facebook group: Desire Line Podcast Community to connect to us and other listeners.

Website: www.desirelinepodcast.com Twitter: @mydesireline and @brandonalancook Instagram: @susette.magana.therapy and @brandonalancook

Gospel is bigger than the "plan of Salvation" or bigger than the question of "where am I going to go when I die? Heaven or Hell?" The story of the Bible in big picture is to restore the original "Garden of Eden", where we were able to walk with God daily, intimately, unashamed. Jesus came to restore that intimacy for all of us. Jesus breaks down tribalism. We look at denominations, and doctrine, and how we tend to leave tension earlier than we should. Check out the Welcoming Prayer, posted on Episode 6 post on www.desirelinepodcast.com/listen. Contemplative prayer connected to focus, and Philippians 4:6+7. Cultural understanding of individualized culture that we live in in the West, and using Susette's experience with her husbands family in Mexican-American culture in examples of family centered/collectivist culture that's closer to 1st century Judaism. How have we interpreted the idea of salvation through our Western eyes, while trying to live by the Bible, who's authors do not come from a Western American perspective culturally?

"Despite its protests to the contrary, modern Christianity has become willy-nilly the religion of the state and the economic status quo. Because it has been so exclusively dedicated to incanting anemic souls into heaven, it has, by a kind of ignorance, been made the tool of much earthly villainy. It has, for the most part, stood silently by, while a predatory economy has ravaged the world, destroyed its natural beauty and health, divided and plundered its human communities and households. It has flown the flag and chanted the slogans of empire. Wendell Berry

N.T. Wright Book: The Day the Revolution Began

Here's some video/podcast recommendations for N.T. Wright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX1GSVR0Tdc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AukgNlAgiI

Scot McKnight: What is the Gospel? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HdyhUQ3Krs

Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-n-t-wright-podcast/id447840163?mt=2

If you're interested in connecting with Susette re: online therapy (if you live in California), you can contact her here: www.susettemagana.com/contact www.desirelinepodcast.com/connect

What does "heaven" mean? What does "going to heaven when you die" mean? We take a look at the Gospel, Gospels, heaven and the Kingdom of Heaven. Is heaven a place that you go when you die? Or is the Kingdom of Heaven here? We talk about how Jesus, in the Gospels talks about His message of the Kingdom, and how His coming completes God's plan for new creation. Both tell stories of spiritual development and how our perspective started to change when we began to study the bible in college and read through the whole thing. There was a time when Susette began to be allow herself, through invitation from pastors and professors to ask questions and change her thinking. N.T. Wright quote: "Heaven is important, but it's not the end of the world."

The Gospel: an invitation to participate with God the King in new creation that was introduced when Jesus came, loved, taught, died, and rose from the dead, conquering death, and ascended to the Father. Our RESPONSE to the Gospel is often viewed as the Good News itself. It's not "you accept Jesus into your heart and he forgives your sins" (which is true) but not the central message

Jesus is the King. Our response to this good news is: Confessing: Confess our sins, recognize what we've done. Repenting: We turn from what we worshiped before. Believing: We believe He's the King, and new creation is here. Following: We follow Him and engage in relationship for our life.

Cognitive theory: Piaget https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html

Assimilation and Accommodation Jean Piaget (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004) viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. This happens through:

Assimilation – Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.

Accommodation – This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.

Equilibration – This is the force which moves development along. Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation).

Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it.

Jean Piaget's concept of adaptation

Example of Assimilation A 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father's horror, the toddler shouts "Clown, clown" (Siegler et al., 2003).

Example of Accommodation In the "clown" incident, the boy's father explained to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown's, he wasn't wearing a funny costume and wasn't doing silly things to make people laugh.

With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of "clown" and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of "clown". New information includes disorientation, because it shakes up what we've always thought was truth.

Quote from Frank Viola, "Pagan Christianity" "As stated previously, the sinner's prayer eventually replaced the biblical role of water baptism. Though it is touted as gospel today, this prayer developed only recently. D. L. Moody was the first to employ it. Moody used this "model" of prayer when training his evangelistic coworkers.

But it did not reach popular usage until the 1950s with Billy Graham's Peace with God tract and later with Campus Crusade for Christ's Four Spiritual Laws. There is nothing particularly wrong with it. Certainly, God will respond to the heartfelt prayers of any individual who reaches out to Him in faith. However, it should not replace water baptism as the outward instrument for conversion-initiation.

The phrase personal Savior is yet another recent innovation that grew out of the ethos of nineteenth-century American revivalism. It originated in the mid-1800s to be exact. But it grew to popular parlance by Charles Fuller (1887–1968). Fuller literally used the phrase thousands of times in his incredibly popular Old Fashioned Revival Hour radio program that aired from 1937 to 1968. His program reached from North America to every spot on the globe. At the time of his death, it was heard on more than 650 radio stations around the world."

The Gospel + The Gospels Brandon gets to talk about his training and perspective on this foundation of the Christian faith. We talk culture, understanding our own culture, and stepping outside of how we grew up to see how others see us, and expand our worldview.

Greek vs. Jewish worldview, and how these two are different, and bring different culture perspectives to how we read the Bible. -ex: faith is something that you "embody," not just something that you "think." How we are influenced by Greco-Roman thinking, shown in examples of hymns "I'll fly away."

Eternal life (heaven) begins now. If you believe it starts "when you die" then you're missing out on what Jesus can bring us now.

Susette talks about how she began to deconstruct what she had been taught in church in her first years of life, and how bible authors using language from Roman culture, to be provocative, brought her a lot of frustration and fear when she first learned it. It felt threatening to the idea biblical inerrancy to her when she first studied it.

Jesus as a revolutionary. He proclaims the Kingdom of Heaven in Mark as His first message.

The American Gospel: I'm a sinner, I can't save myself, I need a savior. Jesus died for my sins, if I invite Him in my heart, and believe he's the savior, my sins will be forgiven and I'll go to heaven when I die. All of this is TRUE, but it's not the full story of the Gospel.

We reviewed the 8 elements of the Gospel from Matthew Bates. 1. Jesus the King Preexisted with the Father 2. Jesus took on human flesh, fulfilling God's promises to David 3. Jesus died for sins in accordance with the scriptures 4. Jesus was buried 5. Jesus was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures 6. Jesus appeared to Many 7. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God as Lord 8. Jesus will come again as judge (51)

Bible: Book of Mark Romans 1:1-5 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

References: (You can check out all these authors on YouTube/other podcasts, too) Our Father Abraham by Marvin R. Wilson The Day the Revolution Began, by N.T. Wright King Jesus Gospel, by Scot McKnight Salvation by Allegiance Alone, by Matthew Bates