Lo-fi Faith

In this episode, Mike and James discuss what happens when church becomes a place of harm instead of healing. They explore religious trauma, spiritual abuse, fear-based religion, and the ways people can be deeply wounded by systems that claim to speak for God.

After exploring the role preconceptions play in forming our theology, Mike and James now put those ideas into practice using a real-world example from their own experience: the idea that vegetarianism represents a spiritual ideal that all Christians must aim for. Looking at passages like Genesis 1 and Daniel 1, they ask a bigger question—where does the Bible actually speak, and where might tradition be speaking for it?

Same Bible. Same God. Very different conclusions.What's going on?In this episode, Mike and James explore the gap between reading Scripture and forming belief. They examine how preconceptions influence understanding, why certainty can be misleading, and why the idea of "taking the Bible as it reads" isn't as simple as it sounds.

Continuing their conversation on spiritual bypassing, James and Mike examine how Christian culture can unintentionally reward performance while neglecting inner health. From prayer and Bible study to service and leadership, they ask an uncomfortable question: what if the things we praise most are sometimes the very things that help us avoid the work we actually need to do?

What happens when evangelism stops being about fixing people and starts being about loving them? In this episode, Mike and James look at how Jesus formed disciples, how He let people grow at their own pace, and why being genuinely present in someone's life is more powerful than perfectly crafted arguments. They explore why healthy evangelism requires time, patience, and integrity — and how living a decent life often speaks louder than anything we say.

Mike and James take a look at the “avoid anything pagan” impulse in some Christian circles. They examine why this approach quickly becomes inconsistent, burdensome, and divisive, and how it shifts focus away from what genuinely deserves attention. They also consider Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 8, which challenges the idea that a thing’s origins automatically determine its moral value.

Churches love to say “everyone’s welcome” — but what happens when “everyone” includes people who make others feel unsafe? In this episode, Mike and James unpack the paradox of inclusion: how the desire to make church a safe place for all can sometimes invite the very dynamics that destroy that safety.

In this episode, Mike and James confront the often unspoken pressure in churches to be upbeat, positive, and happy under all circumstances—sometimes called "toxic positivity". They explore how this mindset can unintentionally silence genuine struggle, cause people to feel that their faith is lacking, and distort the way we relate to God and one another.

In this episode, Mike and James dive into Last Generation Theology—the belief that a final, sinless generation must arise before Jesus returns. At the heart of the discussion lies an important question: is the idea of moral perfection as a necessity a faithful expression of the gospel, or a departure from it?

Shame and guilt often get lumped together—but are they the same thing? In this episode, Mike and James unpack the crucial distinctions between the two, and how shame-based thinking, in particular, can keep people stuck in cycles they were never meant to live in.

Is baptism the final step after a checklist of Bible studies — or simply a response to encountering and deciding to follow Jesus? In this episode, Mike and James talk with Pastor Ben Martin about the purpose and timing of baptism, and whether we've made it more complicated than it needs to be.

We’re kicking things off with Mike’s story — how he came into faith with a heavy dose of legalism, and what it took to start letting that go.