Two guys thinking out loud about life beyond the box of institutional religion
One of the side-effects of stepping out of the customary way of practicing Christianity, and exploring life in Christ outside of the institution, is a feeling of uncertainty as to where one actually fits in. For many of us, we were so accustomed to wearing certain labels, being “members” of certain organizations, and being identified [...]
In a continuation of last week’s episode, Ray and Steve continue to talk about a variety of issues related to what we speak and how it affects what we believe and experience. If you haven’t already listened to part 1, go listen to that first. By the way, Beyond the Box has a new twitter [...]
Beyond the Box: The Power of Your Words Potpourri, Part 2 [41:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadRay and Steve begin a 2-part episode on the power of what we say…or something like that. There tends to be some tangential discussions here, but all somehow related (albeit distantly) to the subject of the power of our words. So often, the notion that what we say can actually affect our lives gets relegated [...]
Beyond the Box: The Power of Your Words Potpourri, Part 1 [43:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadFollowing some lengthy banter, a recap of the Bearcrawling episode that Steve co-hosted, and some lousy voice impressions (!!), Ray and Steve jump into a somewhat rambling discussion about security. Riffing off of a quote by Martin Luther, the discussion covers several elements of western culture and our tendency to try to be secure in [...]
Steve can’t remember what month it is, so the initial mentions about an upcoming guest-host slot on Bearcrawling say June 10, when it’s actually this coming Friday, July 10. Also, happy anniversary to Beyond the Box, now starting its second year of podcasting! In sort of a sequel to the last episode, Ray and Steve [...]
For a long time, western Christianity has sat back and let the government fulfill mandates given to the body of Christ, including the care of the poor and orphans. And for a lot of Christians on the conservative end of the theological spectrum, “social gospel” was relegated to liberal denominations and was viewed as less [...]
This week, Ray and Steve take up part 2 of the audio comment from John over at Jesus Geek. In this part of his audio comment, John asks a very pointed question about support (financial and otherwise) of the current state of Israel. This episode ties in with the most recent episode about eschatology. For [...]
Beyond the Box: Should Christians Support the State of Israel? [57:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadJohn from The Jesus Geek sent an audio comment to BtB that bounces off a passing comment Ray and Steve made in the last episode. Part 1 of his comment asks where they stand on their view of the end times. While both Ray and Steve agree with John that this issue should not be [...]
Quite ironically, considering our recent podcasts about non-violence and the seeming (to us, at least) contradiction between the words and example of Jesus and the notion that violent means can be justified in some situations, a recent news story comes out regarding the murder of an abortion-performing doctor. News interviews have painted a picture of [...]
In a follow-up to last week’s episode, Ray and Steve continue to discuss the importance of taking the words of Jesus seriously. It seems that the words of Jesus get so easily explained away or altered to be more palatable to our cultural conditions. But why don’t we just start with what he said and [...]
Beyond the Box is the podcast of Raborn Johnson and Steve Sensenig. We have been encouraging each other in the journey outside the bounds of institutional religion for several years now and share many of our candid thoughts and questions in our podcast. Read more...
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