My third and final interview with Dr. Greg Austring about worldview. How should the Church and Christians engage Christian mission? Should we totally accommodate or entirely resist culture? On what things should we never compromise regarding Christ and his Gospel? Does the Church ever have anything to learn from society, or is society only to be learning from the Church? What was the original perfect form of the Gospel?
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!
What comprises a worldview? Don't people merely live based on their beliefs? How do behaviors shape our understanding of reality? How should we think about worldviews that are not our own? This humor-filled interview w/Dr. Greg Austring will address questions like those and help Christians think about their own worldview. Come and laugh with us.
The producers of the new Living Biblically sitcom have taken a pretty big risk. I like that they've brought religion into the public conversation. What do they get right? Where have the missed the point? Give this 8 minute podcast a listen.
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?
Life is both beautiful and interspersed with pain. How should we process the latter? How might Christians process intense pain? Is God causing everything? Does prayer matter? What about mercy ministry to those enduring intense pain? How does gratitude help? What kinds of things should we say and not say to those with intense pain? I worked through these kinds of questions following major back surgery.
We live in an unusual era where ideals, and with them heroes, are seen as burdens to be avoided rather than goals to be sought out. But is this helpful? Is this necessary? What might be a better perspective for we as individuals and for society? (This is a quick hitter.)
My neighbors will be happy when there is a fence adjacent my jacuzzi. There are sights they need not behold! :) Much of life is like that: we need to draw a line, a border, a boundary in order to protect the dignity of all the parties involved. Boundaries, psychological and physical, are necessary for health.
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.
Morality matters to Jesus. In fact, sometimes he was downright forceful about morality! He didn't come just so we could go to heaven when we die. In his ministry he modeled all manner of ways he wanted to transform society; and I develop those herein. God cares about the common good. Indeed, he wants shalom for us, and salvation is shalom is salvation.
The Old Testament shows us that morality truly matters to God. But why did God take a huge chunk of 39 books, a huge chunk of human history, and go on and on about morality? Isn't Christianity just about being saved and going to heaven? I reference the movie Apocalypto to help us understand the OT context. (I also review Star Wars: The Last Jedi.)
