Tag Archives: faith

177-Closing Remarks

 

“How should the church respond to Paul’s letter to the Galatians?”

Today we conclude a thirteen-week study of the book of Galatians. Paul was clearly not reinventing another religion but preserving the integrity of the gospel message which not only liberates all people from institutional powers, but from frees us from the inside out. By ridding us of external and internal pressures that are trying to define and derail our lives, Paul is showing all people the path to personal freedom.

Join me now as we see beyond the lens of modern evangelical Christianity and see Paul’s message for what it really was, a free-flowing charter on how to live, and find your true self transparently grounded in God.

169- Live like Sinners

 

“What does it mean to live like a sinner?

All religions have names for those they see as outside their religious tribe: Isalam calls non-Muslims Infidels, Christians call them unbelievers, Hinduism and Buddhism call them unenlightened, and Jews call them Gentile Sinners.

In today’s episode we will see how the Gospel freed religious and non-religious people from compliance to religious law and rules. This freedom caused them to be seen as living like sinners

Join me now as we explore what that means and why this is a central theme of Paul not only to the church in Galatia, but throughout the New Testament. It just might be that living as Paul describes “like a sinner “. is the ability to See Beyond Everything.

156-Wise Man Says: Nothing New Here

 

“Do you ever find yourself on the edge of despair?”

Has life not turned out like you thought it would? Did it not yield to you all that it seemed to promise while you were in your youth? If so, then you are not alone. In today’s podcast we take a look at the ebb and flow of life and take some advice from the wisest man that ever lived.

Join me now as we see beyond all of our effort and output and our climbing and striving, to discover what is really going on beyond it all.

154- The Illusion of Spiritual Practice

 

“Do you have a spiritual practice?”

That question is like asking if you like your pet.  In spirituality, people slip into one of two ditches: Taking spiritual practice way too seriously, or not taking it seriously at all.

In today’s podcast I share my experience with many diverse spiritual practices and what I’ve learned through my quest. You’ll be just as surprised as I was to discover that every spiritual practice creates an illusion that must be overcome, or the practice becomes void.

Join me now as we learn what is beyond our spiritual containers, to understand our connection to their divine contents.

To those who can hear the tune…

 

“Have you ever struggled to find words to describe something that is ultimately indescribable?”

 In today’s podcast I’m going to take a poetic approach in an effort to get at the heart of this online ministry.  From my first post in February of 2013 my blog and now my 152ndpodcast has served to help people look critically at their frameworks and ask the hard questions of faith, religion, and belief systems in the modern age.

As consciousness increases, the old wineskins and frameworks can no longer contain what is growing inside and new ways of understanding the old Truth must displace the familiar forms.

Join me now as I share the metaphor of following a sound to help us tune into our own inner experience and follow the liberating path of the Exile.

99- What is Sin?

 

The subject of sin is one that makes most people unplug, unsubscribe or disconnect. I hope you don’t today. In this podcast and post I am not going where you probably think I am. Instead I will explain how the concept of sin is a universal understanding and all systems and religions have some plan for dealing with sin. Of course the solution we choose has everything to do with the definition we use. I will introduce a surprisingly paradoxical solution that is often missed by modern Christianity which promotes a sin management system. I will prove how sin is the opposite of faith and as such the solution is not limited to a particular belief, but faith. Sin, in the end, is the design of love so that we will neither miss God nor our purpose in the world.

95-Burden of Belief

 

Religious system are constantly playing “Red Rover” with the world as they try to turn unbelievers into believers. They shift the burden of belief to outsiders and offer a binary choice of either “in” or  “out.” In today’s podcast and post I ask the question: “Can a threat create authentic faith?” I offer an explanation for why the faith of every person is valid and why we need to avoid competitive religions or truth claims. If we do, the result is an authentic belief that stems from the suffering and mess of everyday life. It’s accessible to all and there is no threshold or burden of belief. There are not multiple stories of varying validity of which we are burdened to choose, there is only one story retold in every person, which means faith is accessible to all.