All in top25
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!
Postmodern definitions of personhood are both ambiguous and ambiguously grounded. Let alone the confusion, why is that dangerous? What kinds of demographic subgroups will be targeted in and through that strategic ambiguity? Why are Christians called to discern the Zeitgeist (spirt-of-the-age) in which they reside? Come laugh and think 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.
Have you ever witnessed social media flaming? Me too. What drives that? Why is it addicting? Why is it like sexual pornography? How is power involved? What is Christian etiquette when it comes to social media posting? How does all of this affect the Common Good?
Where our treasure is there is our heart. What we worship makes evident what we believe. The Low churches have, unintentionally, turned worship into a private experience, something not unlike what we enjoy at the mall or the theater. We can have private experiences even when we're in a crowd. And all this? Precisely when people are starving for community and so leaving the Church. I probe some painful lines of inquiry and make some simple curative suggestions.
We all know Jesus was crucified, but what did a crucifixion symbolize for ancient Romans? What kind of capital punishment did Dracula impose, a method that the Romans believed was not enough? What are some amazing theological truths about Jesus' crucifixion? What does the common biblical hermeneutic do to both our reading of the New Testament and our understanding of Jesus? Come and go deeper with me about Christ's passion!
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?
Miracles are not logical, so what does that suggest about the Christian life? Why didn't Jesus blast people with the miraculous? What do miracles point us toward? And, what is an indirect miracle? Finally, did Jesus use symbolism to make his points? Why or why not?
What is animism? Where is is most commonly practiced? Why is it so arbitrary? What is the number one goal in animism? What sports athletes are the most superstitious, and why? What strange superstitions do Eastern Europeans observe?
If Heaven (Intermediate state) is not our final God-intended goal, what is? Just what will resurrected life be like? Will we lose our memories? Will we lose our identities? Will we lose our friendships? What is God going to do with the earth? Will he destroy it? Where will there be continuity with this life? And, why will there be continuity with this life, this eon? Yeah, just what on earth is the Eschaton?! Come and—following the trail blazed by Scripture—think theo-logically with me about the future that awaits us!
This is episode #1 in a series on Heaven & Hell. Why don't Christians any longer talk about or imagine life following the resurrection? What caused believers to make the afterlife irrelevant? What did Jesus believe about the afterlife? Answering questions like those, we will also look at some Barna polling agency stats on American belief in the afterlife. And, of course, I'll mix in some of my dry and zany humor!
What makes one a Christian? Good works? Being nice? Humility? Love? What is the core, the center, of the Christian life? Today there are all manner of pretender answers to that question. Come and think deeply with me about your identity in the Lord.
Today isn't today for no reason. All kinds of philosophies and turns and twists across western history landed us on this doorstep. In my second interview with Dr. Greg Austring, himself a missionary to Guatemala for 10 years, we will explore the Pre-Modern, Modern, and Postmodern eras and address how those unique eras affected Christianity. You might see your own self in a new light. Come and laugh with us!
