# Any of you guys ever listen to this podcast?



## jmharris23 (Feb 9, 2017)

Just ran across it today and made me think about my friends here 

http://www.lifeaftergod.org/


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## ambush80 (Feb 9, 2017)

jmharris23 said:


> Just ran across it today and made me think about my friends here
> 
> http://www.lifeaftergod.org/



Looks interesting.  Which one podcast did you particularly like?


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## ambush80 (Feb 9, 2017)

I googled "sensible christian" and I found this:

http://new.exchristian.net/

Some interesting stuff.


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## ambush80 (Feb 9, 2017)

Here's an article about Ryan Bell:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-wallace/that-pastor-whos-now-an-a_b_6430958.html


_"You can read a short interview with him here. In it, when asked why he no longer believes in God, Bell responds with the following incredibly interesting words:

"The intellectual and emotional energy it takes to figure out how God fits into everything is far greater than dealing with reality as it presents itself to us... the existence of God seems like an extra layer of complexity that isn’t necessary. The world makes more sense to me as it is, without postulating a divine being who is somehow in charge of things."

I’m a Christian minister. Despite its folly, its well-known crimes, and its millions of tiny betrayals of trust, I love the tradition in which I was raised. I believe that, deep down, it gives us a glimpse of what human life is really about. This is important to me so I’ve stuck with it. I do all the churchy stuff church people do. I do my best to love God and to stay connected to my divine source.

But I think Bell’s onto something. Three somethings, really. First, he is right: It does take intellectual and emotional energy to believe in God. It’s not at all easy to understand how God “fits into everything.” For some of us it’s fun, and occasionally enlightening. But if it becomes a mere chore you really should stop. I stop a lot. I have even, on occasion, tried to stay stopped. But here at midlife disbelieving in God would be indistinguishable from disbelieving in myself. Not because I’m God but because God is central to my deepest and most secret identity.

Which gets me to my second comment: I don’t see God as an extra. God is not a thing among things, or an idea among ideas. God is in no way addable to (or subtractable from) anything. In my experience God is most directly encountered in precisely the reality Bell deals with when he stops thinking about God and sees the world truly. “All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.” If he sees God as an add-on, as a removable idea, I can understand why trying to figure out God gives him a headache, and why a year off has been good for him.

Finally, I wonder about our classical Christian idea of God as a “divine being who is in charge of things.” Maybe our idea of an omnipotent God-in-charge is just an ego trip. Maybe it’s about what we want to be: in control."_


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