All tagged dignity
What is it like to serve the homeless? How can or should we help them? Reverend Bill Roscoe has been a leader in homeless ministry for thirty years. In this interview he explains the grounds for ministry—short and long term—to people created in the image of God. What is involved in training the staff? What's it like to work with local government? What is the shelter's denominational affiliation? How have the clientele changed over the decades? How does he keep from becoming mired in depression?
I refer to it all the time: a Christian worldview. But what is it? What essential elements go into such a worldview? How does that worldview compare to common philosophic and religious worldviews? Or, how does it compare to a postmodern worldview? I explore how the Bible presents reality, the infection, and the topic of agency. Come laugh with me!
What elements comprise a cell? How many human cells are there? What does the complexity of a cell suggest about the origins of life on earth? How many scientific articles explain life's beginnings from a bio-molecular level? What does Scripture say about wisdom and creation? Is God an artistic show off? In this episode I weave together biblical wisdom and scientific evidence to help explore the wonders of life itself. Come laugh and pray with me!
The mantras in bumper-stickerish Christian-ese are that Christians should always turn the other cheek, always be pacifistic, always defer, never upset anyone. But sometimes, out of the constricts Christ places upon us, we are required to take a stand, to draw a line in the sand. When should we do that? How should we do that?
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?
The Common Good in a Christian Worldview: is it just a matter of doing the most good for the most amount of people? Why or why not? How is it that majorities can be their own tyrannies? As a case study in societal formation, why did the Founders establish the Electoral College? Was that really a fair way to do things? What should we learn about the instillation of the Electoral College?
What economic system does the Bible prefer? What is the basis for a flourishing economy? How are economics interwoven with human nature? Which is better, Socialism or Capitalism, and why? How would we make such an evaluation? What can we learn from those who lived under resolutely socialist states? Come and think with me about these important matters.
Whereas the Bible presents multiple ways we might account for and celebrate diversity, Lord Zeitgeist says there's pretty much only one way to account for it: skin color. What are some simple reasoned ways to highlight diversity? And then, I dare to ask, which is more important for the Common Good, diversity or excellence? Come laugh and think with me.
God cares about everyone, but he does so from first commitments and then works outward. That's the biblical pattern. That was Jesus' own pattern. What does that mean? How does that apply to specific societal issues? This episode frames both what the Common Good has meant in history and what it might mean going forward.
The quest for market relevance has produced a vacuum, a black hole, that is now confronting the Low churches. Will we continue to drift inside that hole or make the much needed turn back to the character of God? In this episode I explore the beauty, need, and relevance of God's holiness. I also offer 5 practical steps to touch upon God's holiness.
Was Jesus anti or pro nuclear family? More carefully, what did Jesus believe was the center of family? And just why today is family so under assault? Me, I have had many experiences of non-family folks who felt more like family than some family! Why is that? What are some of the most famous TV shows about family?
Historically what has come after Christianity? Logic? Dis-passionate reason? Or a new brand of religion? I argue it is the latter. It has its own dogma, its own Elect, and it is alarmingly self-righteous. One of the more fascinating aspects of post-religious religion is that it is ardently post-logical. You’d think that as a sophisticated ideology that post-Christian religion would be utterly committed to facts; herein lies the amazing irony. This thinking has moved beyond mere fideism and for all of its opposition to organized religion, it is not about thinking logically.
What is the philosophy of religious pluralism? And what then is universalism? Is it true that "all religions are different paths that lead to the same mountain top called God"? What happens when we bring just a smidgeon of logic to bear on things? What happens when we bring a smidgeon of Jesus to things?
The human soul is not hard-wired, it gets shaped. Two authors I just read argue that our souls get shaped more by the western marketplace than by Christianity. How does that happen? What goes into that? Are they simply irritated with capitalism? Should we be? And then, what shapes your soul? Are you being intentional? Have you ever met beautiful souls? How can we go about shaping our souls?
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.
What was Jesus about? How did eschatology define both he and his ministry? If Christianity is about going to heaven when we die, why does morality even matter? Jesus was stunningly oriented to eschatology (end-life, after-life) and eschatological themes. These themes still matter today for those of us who follow the risen one. Christian morality is inseparable from eschatological underpinnings.
