The Reckless Pursuit

Is the Bible Literal?

Is the Bible literal? Should the Bible be taken literally or figuratively? Are those stories we read really events that happened? So many questions! And the more you read, the more questions you come up with!

We view God through layers of distorted lenses we have picked up over the course of our lives. This week we are talking about how to unlearn what we think we know about God. We discuss how when reading the bible, often times we unknowingly lean on the information we have already been taught. This leads to confirmation bias and robs us of gaining a newer, deeper, or even more truthful understanding of scripture. We view God through layers of distorted lenses we have picked up over the course of our lives.

Judaism is a religion that thrives on personal understanding and contemplative thought around their scripture. Sadly, we are a culture of Black and White thinking and we have carried the mentality into our religion. When we realize that most of what we read was much more open to interpretation, it unlocks a level of Spiritual life that is so far beyond what we limit ourselves to. Don’t believe us? Then just how do you think we created so many different translations from the same original texts?

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RESOURCES:

Itinerant: biblical History Beyond the Bible - http://itinerantpodcast.com

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WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• What is something you have been taught about God that does not line up with what you have seen?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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Christianity has entered a new age.

Have you ever felt like what you were taught about faith was based more on a list of what not to do more than a freedom you feel Christ offers? Or have you ever wondered why we preach sermons of fear more than sermons about overcoming? If so, you are not alone!

This week, we are talking with Austin Fletcher, host of New Age Christianity. We are discussing the freedom of true spirituality versus the controlling fear religion can lead to. Whether you realize it or not, God has set us free from sin nature and law. Austin shares with us his life mantra of trying to live by the verse which states “Everything is permissible”. Most of the time, our first reaction would be to quickly try to finish the second half of the verse but let it sink in: Everything is in fact permissible. Sure, there are things we should not dabble in. This is not an excuse to justify sin. But when you are living according to the Spirit our desire falls in line with God’s purpose.

It’s been over a year since we have done an episode on this very topic and this time, we brought the guy who created the podcast about it! We have entered into a new age of Christianity so let’s explore what God is offering up. Austin’s words are strong and can challenge us but let them sink in. Just because it’s different from what you have always heard doesn’t make it wrong.

GUEST INFO:

Austin Fletcher:

Austin is the creator of NewAgeChristianity.org and is the host of New Age Christianity, a podcast exploring faith as it is changing and understanding the fullness of the Spirit free from the burdens of religiosity.

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RESOURCES:

Visit New Age Christianity: https://www.newagechristianity.org

Join the New Age Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1084653435008262/

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WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• How powerful to you, was the cross?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, we want to invite you, our reckless listeners, to join The Reckless Community! Follow this link and ask to be a part!

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CONNECT:

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PROJECT OUTCAST:

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On July 12th, 2018 Delena Carol Johnston, Cody’s mother passed away. Now one year later we are revisiting the topic of grief as it has sifted through the sands of time. Dealing with grief is a process. It takes time to unpack all the emotions: anger, resentment, sorrow, and acceptance. It is normal and healthy to feel emotions. But what is not healthy is to bottle them up. This week, we are talking about how to find beauty in the midst of sadness. This episode is a bit less structured. There was not any premeditated thought but rather raw feelings and emotion to be as honest and transparent as possible. People fear pain and death.

Obviously, no one wants to experience negative emotions or loss. But even in the bad, there is good that can spring forth from it. We give real-life examples of this, as well as sharing a few takeaways we learned from our loss and how to embrace every moment this gift of life has. We hope that in this we can shed a bit of light on those dark parts of life to help out anyone who might be feeling lost. There are laughs and tears a-plenty so grab a tissue box and settle in. Let’s see what it means to start the process of dealing with grief.

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RESOURCES:

Listen here to the episode Cody recorded the day after his mother’s passing: https://therecklesspursuit.com/episode022/

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, we want to invite you, our reckless listeners, to join The Reckless Community! Follow this link and ask to be a part!

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CONNECT:

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PROJECT OUTCAST:

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We all have questions. We all have doubts. We all have times of unlearning what we once thought we knew. But what we don’t always have is a community to share these things with. It can seem lonely to be isolated with all these questions and have nowhere to turn, but you are not alone! This week, we are talking with David Hayward, but you might know him better as “the Naked Pastor”. Through art and writing, David provides a sense of comfort to the many of us who are facing deconstruction by showing us we are not alone and we are not broken. There is beauty in the asking and though many around us might view us as challengers, backslidden, or even heretics, the truth is much simpler; we just want to know God without all the filters that water down His message. If this resonates with you then take a listen. You might be amazed that you’re not the only one with these thoughts and that you are most likely a lot closer to God than you give yourself credit for.

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BONUS CONTENT:

Follow this link to get free access to the final 5, as well as a ton of other cool stuff! This week we talked with David about tips to help someone who has recently started deconstruction. You don't want to miss it! Get it here: https://therecklesspursuit.com/subscribe/

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GUEST INFO:

David was baptized Anglican as a baby, came to faith in a Baptist church when he was a teenager, changed to Pentecostal in his late teens, married another Pentecostal named Lisa, was ordained Presbyterian, pastored a Vineyard church, went Independent, and planted others. He has a Masters in Theological Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, as well as a Diploma in Religious Studies and Ministry from McGill University in Montreal.

In 2010 he left the professional paid clergy after almost 30 years of ministry. He is passionate about how people can find and follow their own spiritual path with courage and joy, as well as in how people can freely gather and form community in healthy ways.

From David - “I help people lose their faith without losing their minds. I help people undress their religion to the core essential of their own unique spirituality. I call this spiritual independence”.

Visit David’s Site: https://nakedpastor.com

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RESOURCES:

Visit David’s Community: https://thelastingsupper.com

Support David! Visit The Naked Pastor on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/nakedpastor

Find David’s Books: http://www.amazon.com/David-Hayward/e/B006GARC8Q/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&tag=nakedpastor-20

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WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• How far are you willing to go to grow spiritually?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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BECOME A NOMAD:

NOMADS is a safe community to ask unsafe questions about faith, life, and religion. We all desire community. We all want to feel welcomed despite our doubts. In NOMADS all of your questions and doubts are welcome. We want to join you in your spiritual travels because after all, God is found in our journey not in our destination. Click the link and ask to be a part! http://therecklesspursuit.com/nomads

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CONNECT:

Web: http://therecklesspursuit.com/

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Instagram: http://bit.ly/trp_insta

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PROJECT OUTCAST:

A visual representation of the mission here at The Reckless Pursuit.

Find more info here: https://therecklesspursuit.com/projectoutcast/

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Is God inclusive? If so, why does Christianity seem so exclusive? With groups like the LGBTQ+ showing love so freely why is a belief based on a God who created everyone so unaccepting and worse, unloving of so many people? This week we tackle the topic, “Is God inclusive?”. We talk about how fear is a driving factor to the church’s exclusivity and we have divided ourselves off from the rest of God’s creation. We also talk about the downsides of evangelicalism and the uprising of the ex-vangelical movement. We have become so focussed on what people are doing wrong that it seems we have often lost the ability to see what is good and right in people. At one point the church feared those who are wolves. Now more times than not the sheep are the ones turning on themselves.

WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• How can I go out and show love to someone my religious baggage would have once kept me from doing?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, we want to invite you, our reckless listeners, to join The Reckless Community! Follow this link and ask to be a part!

http://bit.ly/trp_community

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CONNECT:

Web: http://therecklesspursuit.com/

Facebook: http://bit.ly/trp_fb

Youtube: http://bit.ly/trp_youtube

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Instagram: http://bit.ly/trp_insta

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PROJECT OUTCAST:

A visual representation of the mission here at The Reckless Pursuit.

Find more info here: https://therecklesspursuit.com/projectoutcast/

---

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At some point in life, we will all face having to navigate change. The true test is not the change itself but rather how we will respond to it. This week, we are talking with Tracy Winchell, host of the Reboots Podcast. Tracy is a radio broadcast veteran and has a passion to help people power through change. Tracy is an expert in journaling practices and shares a few basic questions we can ask ourselves to run a ‘heart check’ to help us evaluate our current mental health. She also shares her story of resentment towards God and having to overcome her misplaced blame. There is so much shared in this episode and we can’t wait for you to hear it!

DEFINITION:

trau·ma: /ˈtroumə/ - a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.

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GUEST INFO:

“I suspect I was born a storyteller. You’d agree if you’d heard my Daddy and his family spin yarns about growing up in Yell County, Arkansas.

Today I deal in the sharing of Reboots stories that brings redemption from suffering and hope to those in the throes of their own personal or professional crisis.”

Tracy’s Website: https://rebootspodcast.com

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RESOURCES:

Grab Tracy's free resource just for us!: http://rebootspodcast.com/recklesspursuit

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WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• How do you navigate change? Either by the choices that we’re making for ourselves or that moment a negative thing happens to us. Is our reaction healthy or is it not?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, we want to invite you, our reckless listeners, to join The Reckless Community! Follow this link and ask to be a part!

http://bit.ly/trp_community

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CONNECT:

Web: http://therecklesspursuit.com/

Facebook: http://bit.ly/trp_fb

Youtube: http://bit.ly/trp_youtube

Twitter: http://bit.ly/trp_twitter

Instagram: http://bit.ly/trp_insta

---

PROJECT OUTCAST:

A visual representation of the mission here at The Reckless Pursuit.

Find more info here: https://therecklesspursuit.com/projectoutcast/

---

Hey listener! If you don't mind, take a moment to subscribe/rate/review our show! It will only take a moment, it keeps you updated whenever a new episode airs, and it would help us out a ton!

DETAILS:

Church and media, two groups of people that don’t always see eye to eye. Yet despite the fact that we don’t always discuss our watching habits while sitting in the pews, we all enjoy (or should enjoy) a good movie. But what if Jesus was less concerned about a movies rating and more concerned about the lessons movies can teach us? This week, we are talking with Phil Strangolagalli, author of “Jesus Loves Movies”. We talk about what lead Phil to realize God can use media to speak to us, some of his favorite movies and their messages, and even a bit about how Jesus isn’t as uptight as we make him out to be. If you have ever found yourself receiving profound, life-changing inspiration from a movie; so much so that it just had to be from God than Phil is your guy. Heck, he wrote the book on it!

DEFINITION:

mov·ie: /ˈmo͞ovēt/ - a story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images and shown in a theater or on television; a motion picture.

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GUEST INFO:

Visit Phil’s Website: https://www.jesuslovesmovies.com

Phil’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philthatin/

Phil’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/philthatin

Phil’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhilThatIn/

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RESOURCES:

Jesus Loves Movies (Affiliate Link) - https://amzn.to/2K89LeW

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WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• In what ways are you putting God in a box? In what ways are you sacrificing yourself and not being true to the desires God has put in your heart?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, we want to invite you, our reckless listeners, to join The Reckless Community! Follow this link and ask to be a part!

http://bit.ly/trp_community

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CONNECT:

Web: http://therecklesspursuit.com/

Facebook: http://bit.ly/trp_fb

Youtube: http://bit.ly/trp_youtube

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Instagram: http://bit.ly/trp_insta

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PROJECT OUTCAST:

A visual representation of the mission here at The Reckless Pursuit.

Find more info here: https://therecklesspursuit.com/projectoutcast/

---

Hey listener! If you don't mind, take a moment to subscribe/rate/review our show! It will only take a moment, it keeps you updated whenever a new episode airs, and it would help us out a ton!

Some of us spend all our time in our heads. whether it’s acquiring knowledge, drowning out the negatives, or over-thinking things, the numbers 5, 6, and 7 all fall into the Head triad. The one thing the head hates is what it cannot process. This is why problems both big and small can overwhelm these numbers and send them down the dark road of fear. This week, we are talking with Enneagram coach Ryan Lui, author of the book “Being Is greater Than Doing”. Ryan has a knack for understanding the good in everyone and he’s here today to share his wisdom on the mind triad, and helps us answer the question, “How can the enneagram help you be a better Christian?”.

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DEFINITION:

fear: /ˈfir/ - an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

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RESOURCES:

Website: https://ryanlui.com

Be sure to visit Ryan's site and grab a copy of his free Ebook, "The Nine Kinds of Christians"!

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WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• What has been your motivation in life? What is that passion that has been guiding you and how has God been calling you to redeem it? And how has He been calling you to embrace it?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, we want to invite you, our reckless listeners, to join The Reckless Community! Follow this link and ask to be a part!

http://bit.ly/trp_community

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CONNECT:

Web: http://therecklesspursuit.com/

Facebook: http://bit.ly/trp_fb

Youtube: http://bit.ly/trp_youtube

Twitter: http://bit.ly/trp_twitter

Instagram: http://bit.ly/trp_insta

---

PROJECT OUTCAST:

A visual representation of the mission here at The Reckless Pursuit.

Find more info here: https://therecklesspursuit.com/projectoutcast/

---

Hey listener! If you don't mind, take a moment to subscribe/rate/review our show! It will only take a moment, it keeps you updated whenever a new episode airs, and it would help us out a ton!

Do you ever just get those gut reactions? Those things that just shake you down deep into your core? If you are lead by your gut, you might be an Enneagram number 8, 9, or 1. Whether you enjoy a good challenge, you prefer to keep the peace, or you feel everything has to be perfect, all of these personalities share the same common drive. This week, Justin and Nichole from the “God Is A Dad” podcast join us to discuss the most driven numbers on the enneagram. As an 8 and 9 respectively, we get a deep look into what makes this triad’s gears turn. We also talked about how the enneagram applies to parenting and how to give children room to develop their own identities.

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DEFINITION:

gut: /ɡət/ - used in reference to a feeling or reaction based on an instinctive emotional response rather than considered thought.

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RESOURCES:

God Is A Dad (Podcast Link):https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/god-is-a-dad/id1437706220

(Affiliate) The Road Back To You : https://amzn.to/2vVs4eg

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WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• What is it that you’re looking for in the world that you ought to find in God?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, we want to invite you, our reckless listeners, to join The Reckless Community! Follow this link and ask to be a part!

http://bit.ly/trp_community

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CONNECT:

Web: http://therecklesspursuit.com/

Facebook: http://bit.ly/trp_fb

Youtube: http://bit.ly/trp_youtube

Twitter: http://bit.ly/trp_twitter

Instagram: http://bit.ly/trp_insta

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PROJECT OUTCAST:

A visual representation of the mission here at The Reckless Pursuit.

Find more info here: https://therecklesspursuit.com/projectoutcast/

---

Hey listener! If you don't mind, take a moment to subscribe/rate/review our show! It will only take a moment, it keeps you updated whenever a new episode airs, and it would help us out a ton!

DETAILS:

Would the phrase “I just feel it in my heart” resonate with you? Do you embrace your emotions or do they terrify you? No matter which extreme, if emotions play a part in your life you might just be part of the Heart/Feeling triad. - This week we are continuing our series on how the Enneagram can help us better love others, ourselves, and Christ. Today we are going over twos, threes, and fours. So whether you are the Helper, the Performer, or the Romantic, this is your episode! Let’s get all up in our feels!

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DEFINITION:

feel·ing: /ˈfēliNG/ - an emotional state or reaction. / showing emotion or sensitivity.

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RESOURCES:

(Affiliate) The Road Back To You : https://amzn.to/2vVs4eg

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WEEKLY QUESTION/s:

• How does this whole discussion make you feel?

We’d love to hear from you! send your response to [email protected] or find us on social media! Links below!

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JOIN THE COMMUNITY:

If you'd like to keep the conversation going, we want to invite you, our reckless listeners, to join The Reckless Community! Follow this link and ask to be a part!

http://bit.ly/trp_community

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CONNECT:

Web: http://therecklesspursuit.com/

Facebook: http://bit.ly/trp_fb

Youtube: http://bit.ly/trp_youtube

Twitter: http://bit.ly/trp_twitter

Instagram: http://bit.ly/trp_insta

---

PROJECT OUTCAST:

A visual representation of the mission here at The Reckless Pursuit.

Find more info here: https://therecklesspursuit.com/projectoutcast/

---

Hey listener! If you don't mind, take a moment to subscribe/rate/review our show! It will only take a moment, it keeps you updated whenever a new episode airs, and it would help us out a ton!