Belief, Experience, and Expectations of God

Why do we struggle to rest in the love of God? Perhaps, says Steve Cuss, it’s because we’ve never “wrestled to the ground our own preconceived notions.”

On this episode of The Russell Moore Show, Moore and Cuss dig into some of those preconceived notions about God and Christianity. They talk about fear and anxiety, persistent sin, and addiction. Their conversation covers the differences between a preventative and a redemptive gospel, the power of community as an antidote to despair, and how to determine when a failure is an inevitable part of life or when it is a sign that something is wrong. Moore and Cuss discuss the five false needs in every human, what it looks like to give our anxiety to God, and the great hope of the thief on the cross.

Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:

• Abbey of Gethsemani 
• The Silence of God
• The Expectation Gap: The Tiny, Vast Space between Our Beliefs & Experience of God by Steve Cuss
• Being Human
• Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard
• Herbert McCabe
• Managing Leadership Anxiety episode “Dr. Andrew Newberg”
• Frederick Buechner
• “‘I Wish You Bad Luck.’ Read Supreme Court Justice John Roberts’ Unconventional Speech to His Son’s Graduating Class”
• “The Man on the Middle Cross Said I Can Come”
• Philip Yancey

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