All in Spirituality

346 Boxing the Holy Spirit

346 Boxing the Holy Spirit

Uncensored Unprofessor
Bible, Spirituality

Most Christians worship a binity: Father and Son, and that's when their binity isn't merely Jesus and the Bible! The Holy Spirit routinely gets boxed up, put away, and ignored. Functionally, He is the Cinderella of the Trinity: only brought out on special occasions, like a baptismal service: "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." But the Scriptures, Old and New, have much to teach us about the third person of the Trinity. I expore how the New Testament builds upon but then expands what the Old Testament revealed about the Spirit. I also work through 5 different ways the Church (and culture) box up the Holy Spirit, keep him on the back shelf. Let's prayerfully welcome the dynamic, creative, and beautiful work of God's Holy Spirit into our lives!

335 RfYtB (8) Vivid—Life in God's Spirit

335 RfYtB (8) Vivid—Life in God's Spirit

Uncensored Unprofessor
Reasons for Your Belief, Spirituality, Beauty

Christianity is not first the study of a book, or a new ethic, or a set of doctrines, as important as all those are. It is, instead, a lived experience. Or more carefully? Christianity is a felt telos: a orientation to life that filters and orients all our other experiences (even going to football games!). More specifically still, Christianity is (or can be) life in the third member of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. And that is because the Spirit is a person, not a forcefield, not an it. In this episode I think pastorally and personally about life in God's Spirit. During the show's opening I reflect on the pastors—the Black Robed Regiment—who helped to foment the American Revolution. Would that revolt have occurred if it were up to today's pastors and priests? Why does that question even matter?

334 RfYtB (7) Election—Israel as Proof for God

334 RfYtB (7) Election—Israel as Proof for God

Uncensored Unprofessor
Reasons for Your Belief, Spirituality, The Spiritual World, Current Events

Election is a thoroughly biblical doctrine. Among many—Protestants especially—election goes to the matter of who is eternally saved, or not. But that's not where the Bible begins with the doctrine of election, and it's not even where Jesus began in his practice of election. No, instead? Election has to do with mission, being called to mission, and sharing in the mission of God's redemption of creation. With that formulation as a foundation, why then are the Jews so globally hated? Why, across all of written history, have the Jews been so targeted for pogrom, genocide, and Holocaust? And with that, why are the Jews so deeply hated and targeted for massacre today?

333 Israel & Gaza—Is this THE End?

333 Israel & Gaza—Is this THE End?

Uncensored Unprofessor
Current Events, Spirituality, The Common Good, Why Does Morality Matter?, World Religions

Immediately after an episode (last week) where I explained why governmental power (because it is too commonly insidious) should be slow-walked? Hamas invaded Israel. After I narrate some of the horrors of that, I explain my initial reactions to this heart-breaking event. What do we do to mitigate the "cycle of violence"? Or, is "cycle of violence" even the accurate way to assess what's going on? Then I frame our catastrophic-feeling era in light of both history and theology. Many Christians today—Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox—sense how apocalyptic this all feels. So, are we in THE end times? 

329 RfYtB (4) 2am Mozart?, Parsing the word 'Faith'

329 RfYtB (4) 2am Mozart?, Parsing the word 'Faith'

Uncensored Unprofessor
Reasons for Your Belief, Bible, Spirituality

This episode's content in order: a Sawtooth mountain campfire conversation; a from-the-future newscast; recognizing patterns; prayer to wake and shake; how to play it when you're outmatched in a conversation; carefully defining the meaning of faith; faith as Holy Spirit-ual attunement; the Jesus Seminar on Gospel manuscripts; and, the bulk of textual evidence behind the New Testament. Please, come think and laugh with me!

328 RfYtB (3) Organ of Divine Vision, Honest about Errors

328 RfYtB (3) Organ of Divine Vision, Honest about Errors

Uncensored Unprofessor
Reasons for Your Belief, Current Events, Spirituality

Had a grand talk with my mom last week. Turning philosophical it was about the organ of vision, the sensus divinitatis, that characterizes human nature; we cannot help but spectate about transcendence. This episode's latter half touches on ancient copyists errors in the process of biblical formation; concerning truth it's better to be frank than pompous (re. covering up embarrassments). I also variously muse about politicians who go vacant in front of cameras, what to do when you're outgunned in a conversation, and how the Dems might play 81million's next roll out. Come laugh and think with me.

321 Secular vs. Sacred (11) Gutting Evangelical Minds

321 Secular vs. Sacred (11) Gutting Evangelical Minds

Uncensored Unprofessor
Bible, Christian Worldview, Current Events, Knowledge, Spirituality, Secular vs. Sacred

If it's hard to look back on one's personal history it's doubly hard to do that concerning group history. But to that end I unpack American Evangelicalism's trio of emphases: conversion as a subjective experience, turning pastors into celebrities, and a hyper-individualistic expression of Christian life. All three are two-edged blades, having both healthy and injurious qualities that help (or not) us navigate turbulent times. I also start the show with a prayer for broken relationships. Come laugh and think with me!

316 Secular vs. Sacred (6) Life's Deep Meaning

316 Secular vs. Sacred (6) Life's Deep Meaning

Uncensored Unprofessor
Christian Worldview, Current Events, Spirituality, Secular vs. Sacred

Most every self-aware person asks two questions, "what is life all about?" and, "who am I?" The human race always has, and does today, yearn for meaning. The Secular and the Sacred go about deep meaning in oppositional ways. Because it says the universe is empty and without purpose, Secularism shouts that we must create our own meaning. The Sacred, an element of reality that lives deep down in our bone marrow, says that the cosmos is sated with meaning. We don't just "need" religion, we are religion! I compare and contrast the Secular and Sacred on this ever-present question: what is life all about?

306 Ukraine War, Asbury Revival

306 Ukraine War, Asbury Revival

Uncensored Unprofessor
Christian Worldview, Current Events, Spirituality

The war in Ukraine is 14 months old and 250,000 people have been killed. It's time for peace, so I pray to that end. I also work through why the Whitehouse wants to shut down natural gas. Then, as an act of humility, I confess three errors of prediction I made two years ago; you gotta own when you are wrong! Across the last half of the show I discuss the recent Asbury revival and frame it in light of America's history of revivals. Our national imagination has been deeply shaped by huge revivals! Then I both affirm and critique revivals.

246 Me and My Churchly Experience

246 Me and My Churchly Experience

Uncensored Unprofessor
Spirituality

At the invitation of a friend I've been attending a liturgical church. What has me drawn there? What elements do I particularly love? How biblical are the services? At the show's start I also reflect on a double-crime that is ravaging society. Why would a Church, of all institutions, be motivated to do criminal things?

245 Eyes Wired for Meaning? Things Angels Long to See

245 Eyes Wired for Meaning? Things Angels Long to See

Uncensored Unprofessor
Jordan Peterson, Spirituality

Why can humans see and perceive more efficiently, accurately, and beautifully than computers? Jordan Peterson wondered, then answered, that. I press his thoughts into a Christian worldview to brainstorm about both God's incarnation and how believers, indwelt by God Spirit, experience something that even angels do not. I also further unpack diakrino (discernment) in and for a 21st century context. Why do so many leading Evangelical pastors have radar that is spinning off the dial?

244 Eyes Wired for Meaning? The Gaze

244 Eyes Wired for Meaning? The Gaze

Uncensored Unprofessor
Jordan Peterson, Spirituality

Have you ever wondered how eyesight works? Jordan Peterson explored that on a recent podcast of his own, but went deeper by asking, “how and why do we continually find meaning at work in life?” Do we only see the raw data of life? Or do we instead only see the meaning that we want to see? I take Peterson’s questions and work them through more resolutely Christian lenses to perceive the magic at work in reality. I also offer some reflections on the history and bio of Anthony Fauci, as well as the palpable resistance to changing the official establishment narrative. And at the show’s beginning I pray for those feeling hopeless.

205 More Christian Groundings—God and Talk

205 More Christian Groundings—God and Talk

Uncensored Unprofessor
Spirituality

Millions ask themselves, "Does God exist?" But that's not the rub; as if God were only happy that we acknowledge his existence. The more probing question, the one that is more foundational for Christian faith, is "Does God communicate?" And then, why does God allow for people to reject or manipulate his words? Come think and laugh with me through these seminal matters.

198 Atlas Crushed—When do You have too much Compassion?

198 Atlas Crushed—When do You have too much Compassion?

Uncensored Unprofessor
Spirituality

Who's against compassion? Not me. Out of compassion God sent his Son. The Bible shows God is constantly looking to extend compassion towards us. But today's PoMo culture over-burdens millions, they are taught they need to "own" and solve all the world's problems, by themselves. How might you check to see whether your compassion pendulum has swung too far? Also in this episode: why I go to church.

183 What is Christian Spirituality?

183 What is Christian Spirituality?

Uncensored Unprofessor
Spirituality

Spirituality means a kazillion diverse things today. But in the bible there are specific ways of framing what spirituality means. Variously the doctrines of creation, eschatology, and incarnation reveal what spirituality looks like through godly lenses. It's time for believers to process more biblically and less Gnostically on this important topic.

182 Beauty in Theology—A Conversation w/Pastor Mitchell

182 Beauty in Theology—A Conversation w/Pastor Mitchell

Uncensored Unprofessor
Spirituality

Beauty is not in a fight with reason, but transcends reason. Beauty flows from the character and being of God himself. So why do Protestants so miss out on God's beauty? How might we recover a sense of beauty? How might beauty be used as a conversation starter in our relationships? All those topics and questions are addressed in my conversation with PhD student, pastor Michael David Mitchell. Come laugh and think with us!

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