VB Fellows Podcast

Today’s episode is a talk that was originally released on the Mere Sanity Podcast. You can find the transcript at MereSanity.com. Please let us know what you think!

Why doesn't God just show himself? Why is he so un-straightforward? Why would Jesus say, "Ask and you shall receive?" if he didn't mean it in a straightforward way? Why did God tell Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Didn't they at least deserve a clear explanation before they ruined the world? And besides, wouldn't he have wanted their eyes to be opened?

Is Christianity a religion of clarity or of confusion?

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic "Your sins are forgiven," or "Get up and walk." Who do you trust when a loved one is sick, God or the doctor?  Which is better, to pour out your life savings on the ground in worship or to give it all to the poor? If God is real, why do we suffer? If Jesus came 2000 years ago to save us, why does the world still seem so un-saved? If Jesus had the power to feed thousands with a couple of loaves and fish, why did he only do it once or twice and then never again? Is Jesus not the ultimate example of the man who found the cure to cancer and then flushed it down the drain?

Is Christianity a religion of heaven or of earth? 

VB Fellows is a faith-based leadership development and apprenticeship program for recent college grads in Virginia Beach, VA. We're now taking applications for next year's class.

Another short topical clip from the lecture Patient Kingdom. Please forgive the audio issues. It will only get better from here.

The Pope Peter Paradox

Is it possible to trust Christ while not trusting other Christians or the church? What did Jesus mean when he said of Peter, "Upon this rock I will build my church?" Was Peter really worthy of such a claim? A few verses later, Jesus would rebuke Peter with the words, "Get behind me Satan! You are a scandal to me." A few chapters later, Peter would deny him. Of course, that was not the end of Peter's story, but it was a pretty rough start. Couldn't Jesus have found a better foundation upon which to build his church? Today, as church scandals increasingly flood the news, it's tempting to think he could have. As it turns out, Peter and the church have a lot in common.   What does that mean for modern Christians? Of course we are called to trust Christ, but are we also called to trust Peter and the church that was apparently founded upon him?

VB Fellows is a faith-based leadership development and apprenticeship program for recent college grads in Virginia Beach, VA. We are currently taking applications for next year's Fellows class. If you'd like to know more, please visit our website.

For those who prefer shorter topical excerpts, here's a clip from the lecture Patient Kingdom.

What do we do when new complexities in the world seems to challenge the foundations of our faith?  The modern answer: we deconstruct the faith of our past in order to see what it's really made of.  This makes sense. You can learn a lot about a car by taking it apart. But you can't see what a car is that way. A car is more than the sum of its visible parts. So is your faith. In this clip, we explore a more costly--but also more fruitful--alternative to deconstruction.

VB Fellows is a faith-based leadership development and apprenticeship program for recent college grads in Virginia Beach, VA. We are now taking applications for next year's class.

 

Why isn't God more obvious? Why isn't he more straightforward? Wouldn't it be easier if we could see him and walk alongside him? Except...Jesus's earliest followers dealt with the same problem when they were with him! Jesus was an un-straightforward Messiah. He did not usually operate in straight lines. Why? Because the problem he came to solve could not be solved that way. He was playing the long game. In the end, the mustard seed would become the largest tree in the garden, just as he had foretold. His kingdom is a patient kingdom. In the person of Christ, all the mysteries of Scripture come into a focus. The Bible is the story of the patient marrying of heaven and earth, of seed and soil,  of truth and trust, of God and his people.

00:33-13:42 -- Christianity is Reality (The Parable of the Mustard Seed)

13:58-25:39 -- Upon Which Rock? (The Problem of Peter & The Church)

25:00-43:49 -- Deconstruction vs. Death & Resurrection

43:50-47:10 -- Asking Hard Questions

47:23-59:00 -- The Madman, The Secret Messiah, & The Problem of "Getting Through"

59:00-1:15:30 -- Jesus, The Master Soil Tiller (The Parable of the Sower)

VB Fellows is a faith-based leadership development and apprenticeship program for recent college grads in Virginia Beach, VA. We're now taking applications for next year's class.

How do we make sense of the 'deconstruction' phenomenon we're seeing right now? 

In short, people's worlds are getting bigger and the Christian faith of their teenage years is staying the same size. So...something's gotta give. What happens when the Christian story we received when we were younger turns out to be too small--too small for the complexities of everyday life, too small for the complexities of our own hearts? We have two obvious options: 

1. Shrink your world so it fits your simple teenage gospel and insist that every complexity you face from now on can be solved with that one simple formula. (Then go help the world become as enlightened as you are.)

OR... 

2. Let your world keep growing and leave the gospel you once believed behind.  It was naive, anyway, at best. At worst, false and repressive. You know better now. (Now go help the world become as enlightened as you are.)

OR MAYBE...

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches." 

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"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a seed falls into the earth and dies, it remains what it is; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

VB Fellows is a faith-based leadership development and apprenticeship program for recent college grads in Virginia Beach, VA. This is our podcast.

[This episode was originally released on Ross's Mere Sanity podcast. You can find the transcript at MereSanity.com.]

VB Fellows is a faith-based leadership development and apprenticeship program for recent college grads in Virginia Beach, Virginia. If you’d like to learn more, visit our website at VBFellows.com.  The goal of this podcast is to showcase the kinds of conversations we’re having with our fellows on a regular basis, exploring what the Christian life and community should look like in an increasingly complex world. Let us know what you think.