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. Ben describes the shift from declaring God's light from outside the cave to sitting inside it for two days, two months, two years. They wrestle with which of God's promises can be personally claimed when people remain free to refuse what God offers, concluding the tension does not diminish God's goodness but makes the crisis real.
More on Doubt
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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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Don't take macro action based on micro analysis
- Am I taking macro action based on micro analysis?
A host introduces his principle — 'don't take macro action based upon micro analysis,' or 'don't take broad action based upon narrow analysis' — and the room tests it across examples.
From No. 450 · Good News of Narrow Focus
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What would it take for you to stop believing Christianity?
- What would it take for you to think that Christianity wasn't true?
A host poses the question directly: 'Dan, what would it take for you to think that Christianity wasn't true?'
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Pope-style advice: obedience before confirmation
- How do I know whether I've heard God correctly or just manufactured the prompting myself?
- Are Christians — or people generally — too risk-averse to take steps of obedience?
Dave Herrick — whom a crowd of followers has decided is the pope, and who was trapped by them in a cave over the weekend — delivers pope-style advice on the order of faith: we…
From No. 234 · The Messiah Complex