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!
What are some common things that have led to vast societal fear about Coronavirus? What's the apparent tell-tale sign of infection? When is societal freedom more important than our safety? What's now wrong with the early predictive models? How has the media fostered our chaos? Do I believe God is causing this? And what are herd mentality and herd immunity? Come reason and laugh with me in a time of terror.
We've been mandated to swallow a societal vaccine. What are some of the trade-offs involved? How is the topic of worldview involved? What is some of the collateral damage involved? Might the required vaccine actually be worse than the disease? How so? I tell a joke and sing a song and try to think out loud with you about questions I'm not much hearing in public. Come, think and reason with me.
Our emotional experiences are memorable, formative. So we naturally think they are foundational to our own story. On top of that? Culture prods us to embrace and emphasize emotions. What does all that do to our Christian walk? What are some practical steps for being bigger than, and less influenced by, our emotions? Join me for a bit of thinking, some laughter, and some ways out of being mere sock puppets!
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.
If you're like me, you get frustrated when God doesn't answer your prayers the way you want him to. Even when you're praying sincerely and regularly, nothing seems to be happening. Why is that? What kind of microcosmic and macrocosmic factors play into that? Is God indifferent? Is he unable? I also address the question of whether prayer is control. And along the way I discuss how I use the Lord's Prayer in my own prayer life. Come, laugh and think with me!
The now-common meme says, "the New Testament is a phony construction, the product of men who got together after Jesus' death and conspired to hoodwink us all." I work through multiple layers of history and truth to expose that trope for just what it is: a time-worn meme. In this episode I also describe a new species of being I've encountered in Idaho. Come think and laugh with me!
A now-common take: Paul corrupted the simple and loving message of Jesus. Jesus was about care of neighbor while Paul infected that ethic with religion. So Paul is the one who established traditional, and now passé, Christianity. But was Paul really different from Jesus? How was Paul true to Jesus? The answers could build or wreck Christian faith. And my invisible conversation partner suggusts we publish a pink lettered bible: Jesus’ words about inclusion, diversity, tolerance and not hurting other people’s feelings all in pink.
Is beauty only in the eye of the beholder or does beauty factually exist? Lord Zeitgeist the uglifier teaches us to block out the existence of beauty, and I give some examples of how IT does this. What does graffiti do to people's experience of reality? How does graffiti mirror the diseased nature of society's soul? Why does beauty require a sensitive soul, a patient soul? What is a mere aesthetic? And how is beauty inextricably woven with goodness? Take some time to consider this critical Christian topic with me!
Part 4 in my hard questions series. Is my faith pure enough? Good enough? Sincere enough? These are common questions in our confusing era. But what does the Bible have to say to us about faith in God? How should we process the Bible's warnings? Also in this episode I speak personally about the soaring cost of higher education. To whom and where has all that moolah gone?
Last week I watched Frozen 2 with my grandaughter. How did she and I react? What was funny? What was insightful? How did the "cast" of actors do? What went wrong? What was stereotypical? What philosophical messages did Disney jamb down? Listen and laugh with me. (Originally a Premium listeners' episode.)
How can you get your kids to think critically about Christianity? What are apologetics? How might believers go about standing for truth in our emotion-driven society? What are compassionate compromisers and terrifying truth tellers? What's it like to be a woman doing apologetics from a conservative wing in the church? This is my delightful interview of Hillary Morgan Ferrer, general editor and author of Mama Bear Apologetics.
We are meme-barded with the following, "all religions are just different paths to the same mountain top," "all religions want salvation," and "all religions are mystical at heart." But when we look carefully do those hold up? What two facets of western life drive all those memes? What is the de-facto western religion? Let's laugh together even while we process carefully. This is part two of my series on questions that can wreck faith.
We are meme-barded, "Science has disproved Christianity!" Is that true? Can science disprove something it has no capacity to measure? How might we think about science and religion as different disciplines to benefit humanity? What are the limitations of science? Truth is truth, but there are different ways to get at, and realize, truth.
Most Christians do death just like unbelievers: avoidance, aversion, escape, pretending as though it's just not that real. But Jesus is Lord of everything, even death. What if we gave our death—now—to God as a gift? How might we go about that? What would that look like? What would the effect of that be like?
Our normal default is to consider guilt a bad thing. In Christ, however, it can be a glorious thing. Why is that? And what should we do about collective guilt? Are we supposed to feel guilty for the past sins of our forebears? Specifically, I consider the nation of Germany and whether it should continue to feel guilty for the Holocaust. What does prolonged guilt do to an entire nation?
What was the best movie of 2019? Worst? My favorite reads of 2019? Worst? What were the biggest international stories from 2019? What was the U.U.’s most and least listened to episodes of 2019? What do I think about the impeachment of Donald Trump? What was the highest grossing musical tour of the year? And then, what about college life in 2019? Why are college students so depressed? Let’s look back together.
We sentimentalize baby Jesus' birth. But what if his coming actually suggested important values, approaches, and attitudes for our own Christian mission? What might we learn from how he entered space and time? (This is a 6 minute quick hitter.)
There were two angel songs to the Shepherds outside Bethlehem. One announced great joy to all people, the other announced peace to all upon whom God's favor rests. The first, we will see, goes toward inclusivity. The second goes toward exclusivity. How should we make sense of these two songs?
The Shepherds heard an angel, saw a heavenly angelic host, and they were afraid! Is fear of God healthy? For how long? Moreover, Jesus is a man of wonder. His coming is wondrous! So how can we practice wonder? And why does wonder transcend our intellect? Come, and like human tea-bags let us steep our identities in the peace-filled identity of Christ!
