Discipling By Jesus

How do we prove to the world that we don't need the same things they want? Warning: spoiler alert for Crazy Rich Asians . “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” ‭‭ John‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬-‭18 ‬...

What if the true opposition to the gospel is hidden inside our own implicit assumptions about reality? Identifying and confronting our emotional distress is essential for identifying our lack of alignment with the Father’s will. For you, I believe that taking up *your* cross would require you to actively pursue becoming aware of and confronting the roots of your emotional distress, because you hav...

Does Jesus -- unlike Pharisees and philosophers -- require His disciples to sacrifice our "digital abstraction of self" in order to confront the emotional distress that lurks beneath? My impression, partly from the poem you shared but which I suspect is a gross misunderstanding on my part, is that you think that Jesus is demanding that we daily re-live the emotional distress of facing the death of...

During most of the gospels, the disciples wanted a king who would destroy their enemies rather than a savior who would destroy their sin. My Christ-less failure mode is trying to destroy your sin instead of [before] confronting my own. Luke 9:18-26 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be ki...

Is a relationship with God about obeying His will or enjoying His presence? Or something else entirely?

Should our highest value be allowing God to rewrite our values? Can externalizing our eternal values enable us to maintain integrity while being fully emotional present for others?

What does it mean to love our community the way Christ does his friends? The Opposite Of Addiction Is Not Sobriety – It Is Human Connection Anthem: Follow The Way Of Christ (Becoming “Foot-Washers”) John 15:13 : Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.   Matthew 16:23 :  Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you...

What is needed to keep growing us all closer to Jesus? Our strategy (ultimate goal) is to love ( hesed ) the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength (particularly via loving our families as our selves). Our tactics include various spiritual disciplines (tools and tasks). Operational Discipleship is ensuring we accomplish the right objectives (management),...

What does Christ think about good and evil? Is anyone more evil than "you"? https://biblehub.com/luke/11-13.htm If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

"Productive Vulnerability" as the narrative protocol to both unmask our own self-deception and reveal the power of Christ. This is the redemptive alternative to either withdrawal or control (as a way to cope with the dysphoria from encountering our mutual brokenness). Withdrawal and control can be effective in reducing short-term pain, but fail to confront the underlying brokenness and are thus to...

Is working through "brokenness" (versus information or skill) our greatest challenge? Ernie struggles with broken audio to explain the joy of sharing/healing our brokenness (aka sin) with Jesus. Poetry reading: 8/8 Tri-Limerick: Don’t Look Down https://2transform.us/dbj/ The only real answer is Jesus. The only real problem is Sin. The only real work is the Cross. In the end, we only have Him.

What happens when the law meant to unite us ends up diving us? Is God calling us to shift from Jehu to Elisha?

# Ernie Not wanting to incarnate into other peoples dysfunction Do I want to heal people from their brokenness so that I can identify with them? VS Am I willing to identify with people in their brokenness so that God can heal us # Robby Jesus, how do I grow closer to You in such a way that Your Spirit most deeply shapes what I want and what I pursue? A common tension -- between pursuing the missio...

How do we balance the tension between: Performance: getting the job done Conformance: getting along Precisely by confronting those areas where we are unable to hold that tension, in order to experience Christ's transformation https://biblehub.com/luke/9-23.htm Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

# Decenter Civilization  - Civilization as we know it is endemically (widely? intrinsically?) corrupt - This corruption is manifest in individuals caught up in a systemic web of toxic incentives - We can't go back to "innocent" societies of autonomous villages - God wants us to seek something better What should be our response? - our goal - our role - our soul ## Systemic Corruption 1. Societies b...

What is the source of large-scale, structural evil? Is it endemic to civilization? Can civilization be reformed, or must it be transformed? # Decenter Civilization  - Civilization as we know it is endemically (intrinsically?) corrupt - This corruption is manifest in individuals caught up in a systemic web of toxic incentives - We can't go back to "innocent" societies of autonomous villages - God w...

Discussion of 5/21 Poem: Peaceful See Robby's Feel/Like/Observe/Wonder: F: Ambivalent L: Moving from Blindness to Seeing O: Focuses on sin within W: Is this the ONLY way God calls us to overcome societal evil? Ernie's response: I prefer the category of "cultural" evil, which includes both personal and societal evil caused by our conditioning I agree God the Father often calls us to "oppose" extern...

How do we take responsibility without taking control?  Is there a difference between Stewardship and Headship?  Can we maintain cohesion without top-down compressive structures? 

When we connect to God  With ALL our heart, soul, mind & strength We will connect to our neighbor As we connect to our self

My birthday episode, recording from my car in a parking lot. Possibly after too much beer...

Is shame necessary for productivity?

#ComeUnion as an alternative to Problem-Solving

Prior conversations 2021-11-26 Zoasophy: Beyond Enlightenment w/Elijah Ware (THS YouTube) 2021-11-09 Does Religion see Questioning as Doubt? w/Elijah Ware (DBJ podcast, S2 E41) 2021-10-30 Zoasophy/Divine Metaphysics: Necessary Anxiety w/Elijah Ware (THS YouTube) 2021-10-28 GROMP: Reconciling Perspectives #zoasophy with guest Elijah Ware, Divine Metaphysicist (Twitter @stoosian) Other references Ze...

Luke 9:18-27 ( Who is Jesus to Me? ) 1 John 1 The Incarnation of the Word of Life 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has...

https://www.bible.com/bible/100/rom.8.13-14.NASB1995 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Someone just claimed that a) this is the only verse that explicitly talks about "being led by the Spirit" and b) it is focused prima...