Pastor's Circle - Johnnie Moore

Rev. Johnnie Moore serves at Liberty College as the Vice President for Executive Projects and the Campus Pastor. He joined the Pastor's Circle do discuss his newest book, Honestly. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Does the Church have a problem with hypocrisy?

I'd say we do. Whether you talk to Christians or secular people, they'll all agree that the problem has always been that Christians say one thing and do another. I'd say this is our biggest problem.

Christianity is a religion for the not-good-enough people. That's what sets it apart. 

Jesus arrived like man, on the chance that men would believe if a man preached the truth. 

It's okay to be a hypocrite in transition. It's not okay to be a hypocrite unashamedly.

How can we overcome our hypocrisy?

It starts with honesty. We have to deal with the tough issues. People need to be able to come to the church with their doubts. 

Doubts that all Christians face aren't dealt with openly and honestly in the faith.

How can you "use disillusionment"?

You ask the questions. Jesus can handle the questions. 

It goes back to Doubting Thomas, the much-vilified apostle. He wasn't going to believe until he saw it and touched it. We always bash Thomas for not immediately believing. 

But what I find interesting is that Jesus allowed Thomas to touch his wounds. And Thomas had a strong faith afterward.

If our disillusionment and disappointment leads us to find answers to our questions, then it's a good thing. 

I think the church should be a safe place for people to express their doubts.

Another thing you say is that evil can support belief. Explain that a little bit.

I once had the opportunity to sit down with the Bishop of Rwanda, and I asked him how he had kept his faith in the face of everything he had seen. I asked him where God had been. 

He said, "I'll tell you where God was.God was with the dying children, helping them." 

We would only know what evil is if we knew what good was. What kind of God would God be if we understood everything he did? 

In the book I write about the Holocaust, and how people of faith dealt with that. 

In the end, while I don't understand everything that happens, I have enough faith to believe no matter what.

Talk to us about the "emaciated soul".

You need spiritual food as much as you need physical food. 

You have to feed your soul the Word of God. You have to feed your soul communication with God. 

When you put something in, you get something out.

How about the "distracted soul"?

Jesus had every single reason to be busy. 

But we find him going off almost every single day to be alone with God.
If I were Jesus, and I had the universe in the palm of my hand, I would've been playing soccer on the sea of Galilee, or turning my enemies into donkeys, or sneaking into Caesar's palace playing tricks on people. 

But not Jesus. He spent time alone with God.

The fifth part of your book is Mission to Vision. Is it possible to have sanctified imagination?

I don't think that God gave us the brilliance of imagination just so we could create art and movies. 

God gave us imagination so we could see what could happen in this world if we changed it.  

There's this theory that scientists have called the Butterfly Theory, that claims if a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa, it can potentially have an effect that causes a hurricane to hit the East Coast of America. 

God has intricately designed and balanced this world, so that the smallest actions can have the largest effects.

You can purchase Honestly on Amazon.com by following this link.