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May 7, 2022Liked by Curtis Meliefste

Thank you for your service. It is relieving to hear educated leaders in the Church speaking with common senses on these issues. To see so many churches and theologians capitulate their spiritual power and have so little moral fortitude was shocking.

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Hello! I just listened to your first podcast and was greatly encouraged. My fear diminished and my faith was nourished. I agree with your analysis and reflections about the application of faith in today's COVID context. Look forward to future podcasts. Perhaps you could speak at some point about Christian resistance theory and what that looks like today. Your conversation touched on it today but I think it could be a whole topic in itself. In my spiritual community, the mantra is: "Believers should comply with government orders unless such compliance would entail sinning against God." I think this is a misguided understanding of Biblical teaching but would love to hear you hold a conversation on it. What if, for instance, compliance would entail sins of omission? What if such compliance undermines social cohesion and hinders love of my neighbor. My operating premise is: My duty to obey extends only so far as the government's authority to command. But I need help in fleshing all this out... Thanks again for a great conversation.

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I, also, just completed listening to the first of this series and thank all for your insights. I want to add a thought on the truth being out there and the question of unwillingness or indifference. I propose, Is it humanly possible? I mean that in both ways: 1. Is it possible to keep up with all that’s said and written? and 2. What criterion can we use to judge?

We have, it seems, many more speakers and writers than we have hearers and integrators of such a vast output.

Perhaps it would be helpful to take to heart Vico’s “Verum ipsum factum”.

Also, Ernst Becker in his Denial of Death has a good quote from Otto Rank about there being too much truth in the world, an oversupply that apparently cannot be consumed.

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Thanks for the wholesome encouragement. Just thinking out aloud: fear comes naturally to us, and I'd like to say it's a result of the fall. But then, what about Adam and Eve, were they driven to eat from the fruit through fear? As in, "The devil's right, I'm not cranked up to be what I could be" .... could fear have already existed before the fall? Would this mean that it's part of our DNA through creation and it became sinful through the fall ... Or am I just way out to lunch here! :)

...I love what was said about our identity in Christ. This is the overarching outcome of Christian Education. As what was said, everything flows from that perspective. It's our worldview. Mention was made of "Boniface Prison Poem." I'd love a copy of it. Is it possible for someone to point me in the right direction to find it/receive a copy? Many thanks.

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Hi Stephen, thanks for the great comment. We're planning to record episode 2 this weekend and we will be sure to discuss your question and get back to you.

As for Bonhoeffer's prison poem, it is in the anthology published as Letters and Papers from Prison. You can see the poem Jens referenced here: http://www.dbonhoeffer.org/who-was-db2.htm

Thanks for listening.

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The poem’s title asks the same question Jesus answered with, “Who do you say that I am?” The message seems to be that a person is named by those around him and not by the person himself. Also, God answered: I am who am. I’m going by memory here and realize that there may be other interpretations of the original.

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