The Free Believers Network - Into the Wild

Darin and Robert talk about how living under law eventually poisons us and transforms us into a law-minded and heartless people. Thinking according to law requires that you bypass the heart altogether and live according to what\'s on paper. Unfortunately many Free Believers are just as heartless in their freedom as they were in their bondage. They use their freedom as an encouragement to not have any personal convictions whatsoever. The fact is; we each need our own inner religion to live by. Finding our convictions is impossible unless we live from the heart in all honesty about who and what we are. 

Darin and Amy discuss what true relationship is and how far from it we\'ve drifted. This generation views relationships differently than any other generation in the past. The very topic has become so abstract that we often believe things that are down right silly. Part of the problem is that we\'ve lost touch with ourselves. Our religion has taught us to judge ourselves so harshly that many of us can\'t even decipher the difference between a simple thought and a heart attitude. This is such a great conversation because it sheds light on how blind we\'ve become from overexposure to rules and laws. 

Darin and Aimee talk about the two ways people receive the message of \"The Misunderstood God.\" Some take it to be a picture of what they must be DOING in their life as a Christian. Others see the book as a revelation of God\'s heart. The latter would be the correct way of viewing this book. It\'s interesting to see how many of us follow in line with the way institutional Christianity has taught us to think. We have been taught that Christianity is about improving our moral behavior and it\'s almost impossible for us to read this book without interpreting it as a list of new rules and regulations. There is a switch in our hearts that must be flicked in order for us to receive and live in the power of Grace. It takes both guts and confidence to flick this switch, and until we do it we will experience a road of bondage and confusion. 

Darin and Amy Ramos talk about the difference between our heart and our feelings. For so long Christianity has taken a negative stance against feelings. We have been taught that we can\'t trust any part of our feelings because they have nothing to do with our heart. Could it be that we are wrong about this? What if our feelings and our hearts are really connected? Is there a way to live with both heart and feelings without getting caught up or led astray by feelings? Our version of Christianity has disregarded our feelings so much that we\'ve convinced ourselves we can\'t tell the difference. Darin and Amy talk about how Christians today CAN tell the difference and how we short change ourselves on this subject. 

Darin and Aimee talk about how each Free Believers comes to a point in their lives when they are again faced with things they abandoned when leaving the institution of church. For many of us, those things are of a supernatural flavor. Because of the fact that supernatural topics such as prophecy, healing and the anointing have been so abused and misused in modern day Christian circles; it\'s easy for Free Believers to toss them out completely when entering into the wild. Most of us have left our worlds of religious oppression with a desire to embrace rational thought and a new appreciation for normalcy. We are a thousand times more likely to NOT believe something is supernatural then we were ten years ago. The question is; when is it time to revisit the supernatural and embrace it once again? 

Darin and Amy Ramos have a great discussion about the difference between living in the institutional church world and living in the wild in regards to our freedom to be authentic and transparent. In many cases the church system that we have been raised under simply does not allow us to be our authentic selves. We literally have to live in insincerity and fakeness if we want to survive. Being able to break bread with a sincere heart is like a breath of fresh air for so many of us because we haven\'t been in a safe place where that way of living was acceptable for so long. Sincerity is the missing link that the Christian world has lost long ago. It has been reawakened in our generation and it\'s spreading like wild-fire. 

Darin and Aimee pick up from where they left off last week and discuss how the one-size-fits-all mentality we learned in church has woven itself to our very existence as Christians. It has become an easy way out for those of us who lack confidence in our ability to create a life worth living. We are constantly faced with the temptation to run back and follow the prescriptions for Christianity that “church” gave us because trusting in our ability to feed and dress ourselves takes a confidence that not all Free Believers have come to yet. It seems that for a large number of honest Free Believers, we are continuously in a state of transition from once-size-fits-all-ism to discovering who-we-really-are-ism.

So many Free Believers worry about their present state in life and wonder what they should be doing to fix it. Many of us are alone and have no one to fellowship with. We constantly beat ourselves up and stress out about what we \"should be doing\" in order to get more \"like minded\" friends to spend time with. People send us emails on a daily basis that are filled with worry and stress because they\'re terrified that they are dying in the wild. Darin and Robert have an excellent conversation about all the little stresses we have as Christians and how we are quicker to try to \"fix\" our situation rather an \"embrace\" it and accept that if life is a certain way; it\'s as it should be.  

Darin and Aimee talk about how not all Christian rules fit everyone. Often times we talk about a Christians \"basic needs\" in a way that suggests that everyone is the same. Things like fellowship and alone time with God are turned into, \"one size fits all formulas\" that just don\'t fit everyone the same. Some people need heavy amounts of fellowship and others are \"fellowship camels.\" They can go long periods of time alone and be just fine. Some people need an alone time with God every morning and others don\'t need it but once a month or less. Being able to stand up and embrace what kind of a person you are is key to living in freedom. This is a great discussion that is bound to speak to the hearts of many Free Believers. 

Darin and Robert discuss the difference between people who came from religious oppression and people who came from spiritual oppression. When finally set free, not everyone will remain a believer. For many people, God was nothing more than a concept, or a series of teachings they carried in their head. Once the oppression is removed, they are left with nothing because they never knew Him to begin with. It all depends on what world you lived in, in your church years. Was it a world of the heart or a world of the head? Head people gripe endlessly about teachings and doctrine while heart people spend their time getting to know the heart of God.

Darin and Aimee talk about how too much grooming can cause a person to completely lose themselves. Many Christians have experienced the kind of grooming that religion dictates and as a result, they\'ve given up their entire heart, mind and soul to a system that is interested in creating clones rather than growing individuals. Our generation seems to be marked by our inability to connect with ourselves. Amazingly, we have lost our desire to fight for what\'s in our hearts and we\'ve become docile and domesticated. It\'s almost as though our religion has taken our fight from us. We\'ve lost our spirit and we don\'t even know it. This is a great conversation that\'s certain to get you thinking. It might even make you angry. 

Darin and Robert talk about the direction of the Church today and why we can\'t put our hands on the steering wheel in an attempt to take control. For the first time in decades people are breaking through the barriers that religion has set up to cage them with. People are realizing that there really are no \"cant\'s\" in the kingdom. While the present state of the Church universal may not appear to have a structure that is satisfying to the human mind, it is growing organically and isn\'t in need of our help. Learning to just let go of it all and trust that although things may not look like we think they should; God is in control and things are right on schedule.  

Darin and Aimee talk about the real meaning of \"bringing correction\" or \"stopping a brother from sinning.\" This is an interesting discussion about how this generation of people seems to have produced an epic amount of \"socially illiterate\" folks who seem to be missing a piece if their own puzzle. We are no doubt a lost group:-) The real question is whether or not we are able to receive grooming from those who love us or will we shun them and keep to ourselves. Each of us have the ability and potential to become weird over time and most of us do just that. Taking advantage of the grooming power of others is a gift from God. 

Darin and Robert talk about the picture of community that each of us have been fed in the Christian world. Every church tries their best to create an atmosphere where everyones needs are met and everyone is accepted and loved regardless of who they are and how they act. We judge churches and ministries based on this idealistic concept that we\'ve all been given. Our entire lives end up being a search for that perfect community of believers where everyone is accepted and loved with no strings attached. Every ministry claims to have it, but no one does. The real question is whether or not that kind of community exists anywhere and should it. 

Darin interviews Ted Haggard from St. James Church in Colorado Springs. The two talk about the picture of grace that Ted has come to after his notorious fall over four years ago. Ted talks about where the Institutional church is failing and what he believes is the main problem with today\'s Christian mindset. With a renewed heart, Ted is now a preacher of love and restoration.