Hosts debate church prayer language and platitudes
- Does it matter whether our words truly represent God if our intent was good?
The hosts push back on and refine the words-matter question. One admits his 'I love you God' is often his dialed-off signal; Mike tells of praying over the school by naming God's attributes and defends Spirit-led, uncurated prayer even in church gatherings; they discuss denominational prayer accents, the 'smells like Jesus' phrase, not 'preach-praying' after teaching, and whether believed platitudes matter if they drew someone to Jesus. The thread lands on distinguishing stream-of-consciousness prayer from claims about who God is.
More on Prayer
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'When God is silent': what counts as hearing from the Lord?
- What does it mean to 'hear from the Lord,' and how often should we expect it?
Mike brings a question from his Bible study, whose paragraph heading was 'when God is silent': the author wrote that he experienced God's silence for a couple of weeks and freaked out, and Ben expected a relatable years-long drought story — 'Oh, two weeks.
From No. 603 · Found Out
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'What would I fight God on?': buildings, pews, and the zero-fruit youth group
- What would I fight God on — and would my heart go along with following him?
Ben shares what he ran into in the last couple weeks: 'what would I fight God on even if I knew it was him?'
From No. 603 · Found Out
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Is modern Christianity biased toward a personality type?
- Is modern Christianity (its sermons and worship music) biased toward a certain personality type?
A host asks whether what churches teach, focus on, and sing is biased toward a certain personality type — prompted by emotive worship lyrics (the 'sloppy wet kiss' line in a…
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Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
- Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
A host asks whether following Jesus should feel more comfortable as time goes on — noting the low-level tension many feel around am-I-doing-enough and the stigma that contentment equals laziness.