Former megachurch pastor, evangelical wunderkind, and author of “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” Josh Harris, has since left his wife and renounced his faith. He’s now pitching himself as an expert guide for other ex-vangelicals. What does his story tell us about the evangelical subculture? Then, strange things are happening at John Piper’s church in Minneapolis where leaders are clashing over issues of race and abuse. And some pastors are resigning after being accused of “the sin of empathy.” Then, Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel return to discuss revisions to their 2017 book “The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb.” They stopped selling the book and revised it because one of the Christian leaders they celebrated as a “lamb” turned out to be a “dragon.” They’re now asking, why do we so often fail to spot toxic church leaders? Plus, scientists are making mini-brains from stem cells. But to their surprise, the brains have grown eyes. Leading Phil to ask, What could possibly go wrong?
News Segment
Updates from the crew (Jason’s cinnamon rolls and Christian’s film) [1:49]
Stem cell mini-brains with eyes [7:45]
Josh Harris [16:21]
“Bethlehem Baptist Leaders clash over ‘coddling’ and ‘cancel culture’” [33:20]
Interview with Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel
The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb (Revised and updated edition): https://www.thomasnelson.com/p/way-of-the-dragon/
Episode 238 (Prior conversation with Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel):
BONUS Patreon question: What do we do with the content and impact from toxic leaders?
Interview Start [1:00:39]
Why is there a new edition? [1:02:37]
Original story and role of book [1:06:35]
How they processed the news of Jean Vanier’s abusive behavior [1:10:43]
Discerning wolves from lambs - is there hope for progress? [1:16:17]
Ministering to people who have been deceived and hurt [1:24:04]
James Goggin (I believe it was him) referenced different types of prayers in the Psalms we can use as models for our own prayers, one was ”lament” and the other was…?
Just dropping by to say that Henry Cloud did write the book on it. Boundaries in Dating I think. My parents read Harris' book and were like, this seems a bit extreme here read this instead for which I'm very grateful.
Had the pastor at Bethlehem Baptist read his "dead authors" as Skye suggests, he might have contrasted the passion of pity with the action of pity as C.S. Lewis does in The Great Divorce rather than mangling the definitions of empathy/sympathy to fit his purpose.
Small correction, but can we say Josh divorced his wife or “he and his wife divorced” instead of Josh left his wife? Maybe I’m over sensitive right now, but one sounds overly judgmental to me.
While I hold the orthodox view that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, I have to wonder what it means when serious people conclude the Bible supports something ridiculous like a "sin of empathy". Should we conclude their interpretation is simply wrong and move on? Sometimes it seems like the Bible can be interpreted to mean almost anything, which is definitely NOT an orthodox position, but sometimes what else are we to think?