The OddFather Podcast

Chris and Pete try to ask about this trinity thing. What is it? It’s not named in the bible but what have we made of it? It’s not a neat package but can it be understood? What gets lost when we get it wrong?

Was ‘Doubting Thomas’ at the dentist? Why did he doubt? Why does it matter? Chris and Pete try to find the right questions, like why is this story even in the bible? And what happens if we choose NOT to believe? Is that a problem?

We think we know about the things we shouldn’t do, but are there good temptations? Or bad ones? Chris and Pete try to look but not see and ask questions about temptation. Is it our own fault? Is it so bad?

Is it possible to go back to the faith of your childhood? Is it wise? And how do we be children… and mature people of faith… all at the same time? Join Chris and Pete as they get completely baffled and go camping instead.

Chris and Pete get themselves completely confused by asking one simple question. How can we understand what we can’t perceive? They speak of Gremlins and The Matrix and ask if science has the answers. And if it doesn’t, where are the answers? Take a deep breath and join them looking for things we don’t get.

Christians bang on about ‘The living word’. Have we made it into something magical? Is it a mystical force? Is there MORE power in bible words or Jesus sayings? Chris and Pete ask some tough questions like, maybe it’s actually really simple and can we find a more effective way to live with the word?

Is the Israel issue intractable? Chris and Pete take it on, head on because the problems in the middle east seem to have a distinctly religious flavour. Should they? Is this a war that God cares MORE about than others? How can we think, biblically, about the mess and what should I do about it?

Does life suck? How come we can’t get comfortable? And is it something God does? Deliberately? Or is discomfort OUR fault? Are you planning a comfortable retirement, or a comfortable life? Chris and Pete get uncomfortable asking this and more.

Chris and Pete read from the late Mike Yaconelli and find out why he thinks churches should be frightening, challenging and not comfortable. But who is responsible? Is it us in the seats that make the place dull and boring? Can we stop playing safe? Or does playing it safe mean taking risks with each other?

Chris and Pete are often baffled by the imagery and symbolism in the bible. Why can’t it just be a simple story? They talk Dragons, stop signs and science trying to find the meaning behind the myths. What happens when A plus B doesn’t equal C? Can symbols tear us apart? And if we don’t get the symbolism, what do we miss?

Quite possibly! Chris and Pete pick up a quote that says us humans are all insane, and ask what is Normal? And do we want to be it? Would you even know if you are insane? Perhaps we can celebrate our abnormality? What about being ‘dysfunctional’? Check out the craziness!

After celebrating the Prince of Peace at Christmas time, Chris and Pete wonder, why is there no peace in his homeland? Or, is there? What is peace anyway and why do some people have it, and others just can’t find it? Is it as difficult as it seems? And joy too? Do they mean what we think they mean? And what will YOU choose?

Pete has a problem with ‘prophecy’, or is it with something else? Chris has ‘been there, done that’, and even he reckons it’s one of those ‘weird spaces’. Is prophecy weird, or is there something normal, logical and powerful happening there?

Chris and Pete read a little Madeleine L’Engle to ponder, is there a ‘Good’ reason to do this God thing? What if being pious, moral, virtuous and ‘good’ is irrelevant to our success? Does God care if we are good? Maybe we don’t really understand what we should strive for?

Chris and Pete get into the Christmas spirit by asking if it is even a thing! If God didn’t make a big deal of it, why do we? What do we miss under all the flash and glitter? Chris presents his theory of the Christmas seed.

Chris is itchy about Leviticus, so he and Pete ask; are the bible’s books of law relevant today? Are they even law books? Is there anything wrong with being unclean and, how should we read these crusty old books and apply them to our shiny new 21st century? And yes, we ask the ‘gay’ question.

Missionaries have got a bad rap at times, so have we got it wrong? Can you be a person with a mission? Maybe a few missions? Or do you minister and does the difference matter?

Is having or wanting more a good thing? Did God make us for more? Chris and Pete ask what happens if we try for more and what happens if we are made for more but all we do is just want… more?

Chris and Pete look at what is NOT the smallest seed and ask, can you use a whole mustard seed? They try to grow a faith tree and ask what happens if we don’t hold back and, isn’t it terrifying?!

Chris and Pete pick the enormous brain of bible scholar and podcaster Sophie Gerrie about the human soul. What does she mean there’s no such thing? How did we get one and what has the confusion led to? Does the misunderstanding make it hard for us to rule the planet? Can you cope with being soulless?

Bible scholar and podcaster Sophie Gerrie joins Chris and Pete. Despite her years of bible nerding, she still can’t figure out what God was thinking! How can people be so harmful to each other? What was God thinking when he made this his best option and what can we do about it?

Lee had a real problem with his church offering sunshine, light, healing, and a bible that is infallible. Chris and Pete agree, he SHOULD have a problem. So they ask how we can identify what we SHOULD be hearing and reading, to find the right answers.

Do we always have a baddy in our lives and how come they seem so BIG? Chris and Pete examine the shadows and growling of things that can make us fearful and ask if we can ever get rid of evil in our lives.

We call God king, but, as Chris and Pete discover, maybe that’s just a way of fitting God into a human box so we can understand something impossible. So is there something better we can call God? And why can’t we easily find a way to refer to God that actually sums God up?

This week Chris and Pete get a very challenging email from Lee, who ran headlong into a church, who tried to help… but maybe didn’t. How do we know God is telling us something and how easy is it to get it wrong?