Ep. 7: Demons, Women, Jesus, and Silence, Pt. 1: The Four Temptations of Steve the Builder in the Wilderness

  Introduction. How we met. Monasticism. Demonic attacks in a monastery. “Logosmoi” and the ego. “Fuck it if it didn’t happen again.” “Jerusalem Syndrome” Steve plays Jesus. Olivia Chug makes herself known.   “Shipwreck” by Cookbook & Uno.Mas from The Roberson Bullies EP   Steve has an affair. “It was at that point that I knew that my own sense of who I am and my own sense of my spiritual life and my own sense of how to be a Christian is never to be trusted.” “I never doubted my Christian faith. For me that has just been a given in my life…. I have never really thought about “Am I saved?’” “I know that there is a god. I don’t experience God. I don’t, in a sense, consciously think about God.” Steve works in absolute silence. “I don’t consciously pray. I just live in a sense of this presence of God. It’s there. It’s nothing spectacular. It isn’t even something that I feel.” “I am grateful for the good things, and I don’t look for the judgment of God in the bad things. I’m grateful for the good things, and I wrestle through the bad things. But I don’t attribute them to a malevolent or benevolent god who is looking at my life going, ‘Oh you did good there, Steve, here’s your brownie.’”   “We Are the Music Makers” by Royal Ruckus from The Summer of the Cicadas double LP.   All things are meant for our salvation. We should look to difficulties as opportunities for growth. “If I start attributing good and evil to God, then it almost puts me in a position of manipulating God for less of one and more of another.” “Am I going to take this as an opportunity to be loving and kind, or am I going to be a jerk?” Chunjay talks about Samson Society. “When somebody comes in broken and needing help, those are actually the people that are the most helpful.” - Chunjay   “Samson (You Are Not)” by Royal Ruckus featuring Brotha SouL from Rumors of Our Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated   Chunjay on daily devotionals. On the importance of prayer and the struggle to maintain it. Steve’s struggle with church services. On structured services. “This year, Lent just sucked.” - Chunjay Steve’s multi-generational household. Steve talks about his grandchildren. Steve’s priorities. On excommunication and adultery. “I screwed up big. Really big.” On Church of Christ practices related to marriage and divorce. “Everything I believed about myself was all turned to crap. And I kinda realized I was full of crap.”   “Next Best Thing” by Royal Ruckus from Self-Titled. Available for free at http://noisetrade.com/royalruckus   Steve on being driven out of a church. “I don’t think I could walk away from God and Christ permanently.”   “Easily Forgotten” by Royal Ruckus featuring Pigeon John, from Pocket Lint and Spare Change. Available for free at http://noisetrade.com/royalruckus