What's Trending: Brittany Maynard and end-of-life questions
- When is it okay for a Christ follower to take their own life?
The serious trending item: Brittany Maynard, who ended her own life on November 1 after a terminal brain cancer diagnosis. The question — when is it okay for a Christ follower to take their own life? (A) never, life is a gift; (B) to spare yourself and family the dreadful painful part; (C) glad I'm not God so I don't have to decide — gets a firm A from the host addressed as Boova ('it's not yours to take') and a leaning-A from the host addressed as Mike, who wrestles with Saul falling on his sword, the apostles' martyrdoms, and lifestyle choices as precedents. The hosts add that modern medications can distort thinking, that suicide is not the unforgivable sin, and that they're thankful God, not they, is the judge.
More on Suffering
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Midlife-crisis faith questions: when suffering gets close to home
- Which of God's promises can I count on as mine when people are free to refuse them?
The hosts name the first cluster of midlife-crisis faith questions: when the broken world's weight lands close to home, believers ask whether God is really good even when they cannot see it.
From No. 556 · A Christian Mid-Life Crisis
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Suffering, character, and the weed-whacking analogy
- Is suffering and going through hard things worth the good that comes out of it?
The host engages Emma's core doubt: is suffering worth the good that comes out of it? God isn't buying perseverance by hurting people — human suffering is reality, and he can use it for good; it's more call to repentance than punitive lesson.
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Why people ditch God
- Why do people ditch God?
Reading a Christian Post article by Robin P. Shoemaker, the hosts work through three reasons people leave faith: bad events that wreck a life, bad representatives of the faith, and bad morals that collide with sexual freedom.
From No. 505 · Because of Fussy and Fuzzy
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Temptation four: avoiding suffering and failure — "Dan, let me ask you directly"
- Are you tempted to avoid suffering and failure?
Ben reads the article's fourth temptation — avoiding suffering and failure — and asks Dan directly whether he's tempted by it. Dan and Mike both say no.
From No. 429 · Following the American Jesus