When God Feels Far and Church Feels Broken: Wrestling with Failure, Morality, and Belonging

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2018

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How do we understand failure, morality, and the pain of community disillusionment through the lens of Jesus? In this solo episode, Mike Erre explores deep listener questions around the emotional, theological, and cultural complexities of following Jesus in a broken world. Reflecting on how Jesus may have experienced failure, why even atheists hold moral frameworks, and discerning when it's okay to leave a church, Mike offers vulnerable insight, biblical wisdom, and compassionate challenge for anyone rethinking their faith journey.

Key Takeaways:
• Experiencing Failure with Jesus – Unpacking whether Jesus can truly relate to the kind of disappointment and vocational heartbreak many of us live through.
• God and Rejection – The idea that while God doesn’t “fail” in power, He does experience rejection, which reframes our understanding of divine empathy and relational pain.
• The Origin of Morality – How moral frameworks are not exclusively religious, but grounded in the Imago Dei—our shared image-bearing nature as humans.
• Genesis, Patriarchy, and the Fall – Interpreting the judgment in Genesis 3, not as prescriptive patriarchy, but as God's merciful disruption of our attempts to find life apart from Him.
• When to Leave a Church – Weighing mission drift, doctrinal integrity, and healthy leadership as grounds for transition while challenging consumeristic expectations around church “shopping.”

Guest Highlights:
None this week – It's just Mike, flying solo and digging deep into pastoral thought, biblical insight, and honest reflection on faith, failure, and community.

Resources Mentioned:
• Genesis 1–3 – Read with attention to the structure of creation, fall, and judgment
• Tim Mackie on moral foundations in Western thought – The Bible Project Podcast
• First Thessalonians 5:19 – “Do not quench the Spirit”
• Paul's command to the church – Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8
• Voxology Past Series: “Exile Series” – For deeper dives into the church’s cultural moment

If you're navigating deconstruction, disappointment with the church, or big theological questions, this episode is for you. Be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and follow Voxology Podcast on Instagram or Facebook to keep these conversations going.

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV
Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast: voxologypodcast.com

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, Mike here.
0:22.3	Welcome to the Vox podcast.
0:23.6	So glad you're with us.
0:31.2	I am flying solo today, which, you know, my goal is always to have somebody else on the phone or in the room to share conversation with.
0:35.0	I know that me monologuing isn't the most exciting thing ever.
0:41.3	But Seth Erie was not available and K2 is in Akron, Ohio, which let's be clear.
0:45.7	It's not always the place you want to be in a cold December day.
0:48.2	So you're going to be stuck with me.
0:54.1	We've got a few questions to get through, but it occurred to me that I need to say a couple of really big
0:55.8	thank yous. First of all, it dawned on me that we're going into year four of the podcast. And I can
1:02.5	remember exactly sitting at our house in Placentia, Ohio, talking to Andy on the phone and then
1:08.6	in person about starting a podcast. And I never in my wildest
1:14.4	dreams thought that this would turn into something like it has. And so I'm incredibly grateful.
1:22.1	I'm incredibly grateful to Andy, who was much more than a producer. I mean, Andy was a co-host and a dear friend and
1:29.1	somebody who had just really cool ways of looking at things and he's just tough to replace.
1:35.2	I'm so grateful for Vox community with Christina and David and Andy and Izzy to have started that community out of the podcast and the 80,
1:47.7	I think it was 87 people who launched that community with us.
1:51.1	I mean, that's unbelievable.
1:53.1	And thank you for, to you, of course, for listening and for engaging.
1:57.4	And I'm consistently delighted by the responses,
2:02.8	the emails,
2:04.1	the social media replies
	...

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