Podcast #26: Mythical Christianity, Racial Stereotypes, and Handling Change

14 January 18, 2015 by

finalIn this episode of Drunk Ex-Pastors, Christian and Jason start off with a voicemail from a listener who describes an unsuccessful attempt at introducing a friend to the podcast which ends with that friend thinking they’re racist. A question about Christian’s agnosticism leads to a discussion about whether or not the Bible is reliable and if Jesus could be who the Bible claims he is. Another caller, not realizing that Jason and Christian have been labeled as racist, brings up the issue of racial stereotypes. Alcohol encourages them to go ahead and take on the topic. A couple of other callers ask questions about how Christian’s and Jason’s personal lives were affected by their change in beliefs, which Christian is happy to answer. Jason remains dodgy. Finally, Jason is biebered by the fact that money makes it so that he can’t be more lazy.

Also, Jason admits to feeling emotions once after some champagne.

14 Comments (click here to leave a comment)

  1. The level of obsession you’re displaying would be flattering if it weren’t so creepy. Just so you know, I don’t own a bunny rabbit. So you can forget the Fatal Attraction approach.

  2. Dear Erik,

    I have no dog in the fight to defend Christian and Jason, they seem pretty capable of handling themselves. But as one who does listen to the podcast and enjoys their banter about life, culture, politics, and religion, I am not sure as to what gets you so “juiced up”. You seem, as Jason says, quite obsessed about them to the point of creepiness. I don’t know if you think this plays well to the Old Life crowd and thus, you throw these rabbit punches for the “amen” corner or if you really are this consumed by their every word. It is hard to tell what in fact is motivating you. I hope for your sake that you are just playing a role rather than this being representative of who you really are. Regardless the reason, Erik, it reflects poorly on you, and I am confident that you don’t really want that to be the case. Anyway, those are my two cents on the matter.

  3. Money talk – this is why Roddenberry made up the economic structure that he did for the Star Trek universe.

  5. Fellas, you are pretty entertaining! Keep up the good work and thank my friend Cory for telling me about you!
    Ed

  9. I just realized that I got a shout out on this episode! Sweet. Apparently some other episode as well…. I dont know which one that was on though since you taped these out of order lol I hop around on podcasts and rarely listen straight through. A couple of things.

    1. For some constructive criticism I think you guys spend to much time on your podcast talking about your podcasting. It is the least interesting of all topics. 26 episodes in I think we can move past talks of headphones, editing, FB shares, etc. Besides that, the conversations are awesome! I find myself constantly frustrated at not being able to join the conversation… which is a feeling I dont get on my other 10 podcasts so congrats on that!

    2. Thanks for the talk on Christians agnostic beliefs. Jason played the role of inquisitor well and I think all of my questions were answered.

  10. Christian,

    Now that all the nice guy stuff is out of the way…. It seems like you have fallen victim to a kind of probability mania. Christianity is “probably” false, but “maybe” not. God “probably” doesn’t exist but “maybe” does. The gospels were “probably not” written by eye witnesses, but then again “maybe so”. I thought this was interesting because it doesn’t seem like you live the rest of your life out in the same way. You have strong, definitive, and opinionated answers on politics, the environment, police aggression, capitalism, etc, but then on religion hedge your bets. That’s cheating. Economics, sociology and politics are AT LEAST as difficult to navigate through as religion. You should give it all a second look and pick a team.

    Things you might want to consider when picking a team. Is the teams worldview:

    1. Logically consistent
    2. Balanced (not too simple or complex)
    3. Provide explanatory power and scope
    4. Correspond to well-established facts
    5. Be verifiable (truth claims can be verified or falsified)
    6. Be applicable to real life
    7. Fill existential needs
    8. Provide a cumulative and comprehensive approach
    9. Compete in the marketplace of ideas

    The team of “I don’t know” can’t even be evaluated by this criteria. But Atheism can be. So can Christianity. Being a perpetual free agent is for the birds.

    (btw the above 9 tests are explored in Kenneth Samples book “a world of difference” which pits the Christian worldview up against its competitors. If Jason is gonna read Bart, maybe Christian can do some reading too eh)

  11. Erik

    there are abridged versions with less patristic quotations, historical references etc.

    I think both of our denominations strike a good balance between simple and complex. Both can be explained to a child and both could be studied for decades.

  13. Insider tip: Barnes & Noble has a much better business plan than Borders did. Was sad to see Borders close…sad but not surprised. FYI, like, way too late to be of use.

  14. Jason,

    I can totally relate with what you shared about your wife’s reaction to you thinking about Catholicism. When I first told my wife I was considering Catholicism, she actually took it surprisingly well. Later, once she realized how serious it was she became hurt and sad. We tried talking about different theological issues, but she just isn’t that into theology in the first place. So that meant that I had to first explain (and argue for) the protestant/reformed position, then argue against it with the Catholic position. She stopped wanting to talk about it all together saying that I would win any argument.

    When it was getting closer to Easter (when I converted), I would on occasion get cold feet. I would tell her that I don’t think I could convert, if it was just going to be myself. But she would tell me that I had to follow my conscience. So was actually strangely supportive in that way. She caught herself arguing in favor of me converting, but not wanting me to do so. Now whenever the Catholic thing comes up she is just sad. So likewise, it is basically “off the table”. I think she is mostly sad that I’m doing something that she feels she can not do, thus I have something she can’t share in. That makes me sad also.

    Maybe she will come around, maybe she won’t. We were never promised an easy life.

    Good luck!

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