Undignified Christianity

Wanna know about the thing?  Listen in to find out about it.

In this episode:

bug fixes.

better sound quality.

The one and only Mose Yoder.

Holy Kissing.

Extreme Communion.

Ever have someone decide you're the expert on something just because you're adjacent to it?  The guys decide James is the expert on Australia just because he lived there 30 years ago.  

Enjoy!

What's Jared talking about in Sunday school this week?  Why are Aaron's guests always ditching him?  Why doesn't Joe like peace? 

Can the guys actually agree on what salvation is?  

Listen in to find out.

Ryan returns to prove his loyalty but gets booted from the future guest list for being more prepared than Joe, Aaron, and Jared were.  

Congrats Pete, you're the winner!  

But seriously, Jared starts out by dropping some bombs on Ukraine and then there's a transition between what should have been a cut between two episodes that turns up to be just about as jumbled as this description and the name for this episode.  

What's this episode really about?  

Ukraine, and then Romans 14, but you'll have to actually listen for that to make any actual sense.  

Is it Joe's personal therapy session?  Is it Aaron's personal music exhibition?  Maybe it's Jared's personal time to unwind from a long vacation.  Whatever it is, it's a lot like it used to be; before the microphones.  The guys take a while to play their guitars, chat a little, and look back over their relationship and how podcasting has or hasn't changed things.  Either enjoy it or don't.  This one's for them, not you.

Continuing their conversation with Pete the school board member, the guys dive deeper into the rabbit hole of what right and what's wrong with our school system and what we can do are parents and community members to be involved and improve things for our public education system.  

Joined by Pete, of an undisclosed school district in an undisclosed county from an undisclosed state, the guys discover they're also being joined by their NUMBER ONE FAN!!!  Who is that?  I guess you'll have to listen in and find out.  And if you find out that it wasn't you, maybe you just need to try harder.  

PTSD. Grief. Depression.  Your dog died. You lost a best friend.  You witnessed or were subjected to extreme physical or sexual violence.  Are these things all trauma? As a matter of fact, what is Trauma?

Joined by school social worker Nick, the guys dive into a topic that has touched all of them in some way.

Is it traumatic spending two hours with Joe, Aaron, and Jared?  Listen all the way 'til the end to see our guests answer to that question.

Aaron brings a guest named Richard who happens to be Amish.  Can he use electronics with the guys with spontaneously combusting?  Do Amish folks believe all of us "english" are going to hell?  Do they get callouses on their backsides from all that bike and horseback riding?  Listen in to find out.  

Wanting to get a little more detail on the discussion of Americans and how to play nice with each other, Jared brings the guys in for a slightly more in-depth discussion on what the good 'ole 'Merica actually has that holds it together anymore.  

Continuing their last discussion (after our normal foreplay of course) the guys bring "American" and "Christian" together and tackle the difficult conversation of how the two correlate.  Are we citizens?  Are we tourists?  Or are we exiles?  Join into the the conversation and e-mail us at undignifiedchristianity@gmail.com to share your thoughts.  

What does it mean to be American? What does it mean to be a Christian? The answer to those questions is explored in this episode as we set the stage for the big question of the next episode; how does one blend their American rights and freedoms with their Christian responsibilities and freedoms?  Stay Tuned for episode 26 next week!

Concluding the discussion (at least for now) on Afghanistan, the guys discuss what's happened, what's going to happen, and what we can or cannot do about it.  Why the title?  Gotta listen 'til the end for that.  

Jared is about to give you a timeline that's going to mess with your head.  Think Trump's a good negotiator?  He probably isn't.  Think Biden's doing things right or wrong?  He probably is and isn't at the same time.  Regardless how you see the situation, you're likely to learn something in this one that will surprise, shock, or intrigue you.  

Wanna know what it's like to be in the room when Joe and his wife argue the same point from different angles, making the same point while managing to make a whole room feel awkward?  In this weeks battle of the wills (sadly without Will) Jared and Aaron face off in an attempt to make each other be decisive about things they actually agree on but don't want to express clearly and verbally.  Does Aaron have an opinion on foreign policy?  Does Jared believe the word of God is inerrant?  Listen in to find out.  

Crooks robbed us.  The guy with the ear infection bailed on us.  Nick, where were you? 

In this episode, which ends up being about a little something but certainly some nothing, was inspired by the absence of our intended co-host and listener, Nick.  So thanks Nick. Even though you left us hanging on this one, you still ended up having it named after you.  

Love you bro!

Last week was messy and there was no closure . . . kind of like life sometime.  This week the guys try their best to search for meaning in the midst of the mess.  

What do incest, mass killings, dying because of bad orders, circumcision's, and Ai have in common?  Ever read a part of the Bible that just makes you cringe?  Ever wish you could ask God why the heck he included that story? Ever look into the mirror of introspection?  (shots fired!)  This week the guys dive into the Bibles' dirty laundry and hang it out to dry like a quarterback's lucky jock-strap.  

Just to warn you, there's no real closure in this episode.  Only things that are simultaneously in the categories of "in the Bible" and "difficult to talk to your kids about."  

Come back next week for their take on the answers to how any of these difficult stories could possibly add value to the life of the reader.  

The guys, along with Mick and Katie, dive a little deeper and focus a little more closely the specific question of what the Bible has to say about the topic of immigrants.  

Joined this week by Mick Hanna and Katie White, the guys wander down the rabbit hole of immigration in the US as it stands today.  Mick and Katie are pretty serious about helping people and Jared is trying his best to guide a conversation while Joe and Aaron run around with questions like a toddlers who stumbled across a book of the human body.  Tune in for the rest of the conversation in our next episode!

It's actually the second part of episode 10; but seeing as how ya'll get confused with the whole 10a and 10b thing, we're just calling it episode 11.  According to C.S. Lewis, if you put second things first, you lose both second things and first things.  The guys dive a little further into the conversation about popular idols in American culture.  

If you want to here more of what Lewis had to say, just search "second things first" essay's because in spite of his best efforts to bring it back to that topic, he forgets.

Jared lost a kid.  Joe's progeny is just as annoying as him and Aaron can't help but self promote.  But none of that's news.  

What do politics, sports, sex, identity, justice, and just about anything else have in common? They all become idols if we choose to worship them.  While starting a discussion on popular American idols this week the guys wrestle with important definitions and discuss the gray area surrounding the lines drawn between recreative activities and idol worship.  

The body of Christ is a wonderful thing to be part of.  The church is often a place where people experience things far from the love of Christ.  But aren't they both supposed to be the same thing?  Aaron thinks he can provoke some answers from Joe and Jared in this two part episode as the guys discuss the in's and out's of what the church is, perhaps what it ought to be.

The body of Christ is a wonderful thing to be part of.  The church is often a place where people experience things far from the love of Christ.  But aren't they both supposed to be the same thing?  Aaron thinks he can provoke some answers from Joe and Jared in this two part episode as the guys discuss the in's and out's of what the church is, perhaps what it ought to be.  

Jared is confused about how opening lines work, Joe and Aaron agree that he's confused, and the guys continue their discussion about recent proposed gun laws and dip their toes into their relevancy to Christian living.   

Oh yeah.  If you missed the last episode, you'll wanna catch that one before listening through the rest of this one.  Or not.  That's up to you.

Are ghosts real or just a story made up to scare you?  

What's the difference between a brace and a buttstock?  

Is this a red flag or just a red herring? 

Find out what the guys think as they shoot into a conversation that's all about things that go boom.

Joined by a mystery guest (Will, his name is Will) Joe brings the guys on a trip into the realm of holy water, bloody shoes, and outrage culture while Jared has a mini therapy session and Aaron think's he's kinda lame and gets all self conscious about it after the fact while you're not listening (boo-hoo).

Enjoy!  (Or don't)

Hearing from God?  Bits of Communism?  Secret friendships that make joe feel left out? What more could you want in a podcast?