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Flashback Friday: Zack Hunt - Don’t be an a#$hole for Jesus
Manage episode 325705886 series 2818029
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As a teenager in the buckle of the Bible Belt, Zack Hunt was convinced the rapture would happen at any moment. Being ready meant never missing church, never sinning, and always listening to Christian radio. But when the rapture didn't happen, Hunt's tightly wound faith began to fray. If he had been wrong about the rapture, what else about his faith might not hold water?
Part memoir, part tour of the apocalypse, and part call to action, Unraptured traces how the church's focus on escaping to heaven has it mired in decay. Teetering on the brink of irrelevancy in a world rocked by refugee crises, climate change, war, and rumors of war, the church cannot afford to focus on the end times instead of following Jesus in the here and now. Unraptured uses these signs of the times to help readers reorient their understanding of the gospel around loving and caring for the least of these.
We talk about how Zach grew up in the bubble and how he grew in college. Now Zach still finds the way of Jesus as attractive although he feels less excited by many aspects of organized religion.
Fundamentalism is a lot like racism. It's not something you're born with, it is something you're taught.
Zach talks about meeting his wife in college who wasn't afraid to call him on his way of thinking. He also describes meeting with a college professor to talk about his views on theology where he thought his hardline approach would be rewarded his professor challenged him to start with an understanding that we are living in the end times now.
After initially getting angry and rebelling for a couple of years in what Zach calls a pretty typical rebellion for a Christian kid (trying alcohol, listening to rock music, and getting a tattoo) he began to understand what his professor was saying. Zach felt that when you look at the Bible and need to interpret it you should begin from the standpoint of love and not fear. If your interpretation doesn't cause you to love God and your neighbor then your interpretation is wrong.
You can follow Zack on social and check out his book on Amazon.
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