All in jerry
How do governmental vaccine mandates mirror an episode of the Twilight Zone I saw as a kid? How are officials going around the Constitution to censor freedom? What does "enlightened despotism" mean? The Bible teaches God is sovereign. Given evil's existence, how is that possible? Is God a puppet-master kind of king? What does belief in God's utter control do to social engagement?
Long before Jesus walked on to the historical stage the ancient Hebrews celebrated life. They were themselves surrounded by cultures that promoted death. Building on that, Jesus upped the ante by emphasizing life eternal. What are the implications of all that for life today? For being a disciple? For babies? What do I think about the new Texas pro-life law?
Many folks have good personal reasons to get a Covid shot. Herein I work through six reasons why I am not, for now, getting an injection. I also explain some of the biases and limitations at work in science and how those have played out, or not, during the Coronavirus mess. What has concerned me? What about our context has made me leery throughout? Come think with me. Or come disagree with me!
Sixteen years ago Michael Mitchell fought off cancer. Five years ago it returned. He's been battling with it, off and on, but is now confronted with two-to-four months to live. By having him on the show again I want to honor both he and his ministry, but also talk with him about a topic mostly avoided in our culture: death. What would he have us consider? What is important in such a critical season? How does one keep one's sense of humor through all that. Come and join us in a poignant and important conversation.
Most coups are local and violent over-throws of rulers. Soft coups involve a gradual, incremental, willing handing over of power. Are we in the midst of a soft coup? Sure looks like it. So how'd we get here? What is the strategy that has brought us to this historic crux? Answer: a massive societal loss of nerve, a loss of nerve driven by a moral re-structuring. In this episode I relate all of this to my own golf game. Weird things happen when you lose your nerve!
Today's civil unrest is not a simple racial dichotomizing dynamic. The impetus, the drive, the energy is very particular: Marxist ideology. Specifically, we are witnessing the results of a sixty-some year long moral re-wiring of society. We've gone from personal morality to societal morality following the class structures of Karl Marx. A moral vacuum was created and guess what rushed in to fill it? White Guilt. Come think with me about what white guilt means and why millions feel vaguely guilty.
Pulling down statues? Fairly easy. Totally erasing the past? Now that's a more difficult task. But that's precisely what we are witnessing across America. How can we discern what is going on? What "poker tells" are at hand that let us know the deeper agenda at work? And why does so much of what we are witnessing have a cult-like quality to it? What is a Christian response to the unrest?
Christians tend to assess movies by the number of swear words or exposed body parts. That all the while we ignore the power of story to shape, twist, bend, and re-make our imaginations. Samuel Lively explains how Disney studios uses story to entirely supplant a Christian perspective on life. We focus on Frozen 2 and how it bends a Christian worldview to shape little girls' imaginations. I learned much from Samuel. You will, too!
Why the societal freak out? Why the unprecedented hysteria? Do the facts suggust this is the worst virus to ever hit our shores? Why do I believe there is a massive over-reaction at work? What are going to be the long-term effects of this meltdown that go far beyond the impact of the virus? I wrote a song and a lovely haiku about this event that you aren't going to want to miss! Come and laugh and relax for a few minutes while we think together.
What kind of out-of-the-box things did Jesus do regarding women? Were those specific things approved by Jewish culture? Was Jesus only kind and gentle toward women? Still more, was Jesus a feminist? Should the Church embrace feminism in order to bless women?
Western society is in love with love. Yet how do we, should we, define love? If love is the bottom line for life-together, just what is love? Christians will want to know how the Bible defines love. 1 John 4:8 says, "God is love." What does that mean? What does that mean inside its own context? Come and think with me!
Does our brain control our sex or does our sex control our brain? Why are men and women at odds in the West? Why can't we see the beauty that is each, female and male? What happens to us regarding our sex during gestation? During puberty? Why is their such open hatred for male and female? How do the book of Genesis and genetics align? We are "sexed" beings from the moment of our conception, so why does the radical Left want to eliminate the sexes and their unique contributions?
The sexual revolution is moving ahead full-steam. Homosexual rights have morphed into transgender rights. How long has the transgender movement been around? Who is promoting it? What actual steps are taken in transgender morphing? What does a child undergo to change gender? What philosophy is driving transgenderism? What are some of its blatant contradictions? Whereas compassion is needed for many issues, it's a good time to stop and assess this totalizing movement. It is going to hurt women, most of all.
Christians seem leery of talking about homosexuality. And so they usually just get swept up by the larger cultural trends. Yet, Jesus called us to an often difficult way of life, one characterized by grace and truth. How do we live that out? How should Christians show love on sensitive matters? For instance, should one go to a homosexual wedding? What is the core issue for one's identity: sexuality or Christ? Or, can one be a Christian and a homosexual? Are people born gay? Is it possible that one's homosexual temptations are one's cross to bear? Is it wrong to have feelings for someone of the same sex? I ask and answer several uncomfortable questions in this episode.
The apostle Paul in Romans 1 is quite pointed about the violation he witnessed in his Gentile context. What did he see? What did he mean? Was he consistent with Jewish teaching thereon? Was he concerned with temple prostitution? Was he worried about cultural violations? What in the world did Paul mean in these passages? Did he go beyond what Jesus had taught? Let’s consider a foundational passage for a Christian worldview on sexuality.
What was the world like when the apostle Paul was writing? Was he naive about the sexuality at work then? Was he able or not to make distinctions between behaviors and orientations? This episode will examine a trove of historical data to clarify what the ancients did and did not know or understand about human sexuality. I will also explain why this information matters for contemporary Christianity and Christian ethics.
What did Jesus teach and imply about human sexuality? Was he merely silent on the matter? Was he different from his Jewish background? Did he follow other rabbis on the matter? Was he permissive and lenient? Or, was he legalistic and strict? We do well to know what our Lord taught. How might we replicate Jesus' own m.o. regarding sex, dealing with sin and sinners, and our own heart's attitude?
Atheism, scientism, and nihilism—because they lack imagination— all fail to give a sufficient account of what it means to be human. The Bible, starting in Genesis, gives us a towering view of what it means to be human, but foundationally roots that in our maleness and femaleness. In mysterious and beautiful ways, we mirror the Triune God. But how is that possible? Is God 1/2 male and 1/2 female? Come and think with me.
We are witnessing a swift but enormous societal shift concerning human sexuality. What does that mean? What is driving that shift? Really, just what does it mean to be human? What kinds of issues are related to those questions? Why is any of this important?
