This is part 9 of the Read the Bible For Yourself. The 17 books of the prophets comprise 27% of the Old Testament. Although some parts can be difficult to comprehend, they reveal the heart of God with raw pathos and brutal honesty. To read the prophets, then, is to draw near to God. No Read more about 542 Read the Bible for Yourself 9: How to Read the Prophets[…]
Community is so important. As so many continue to struggle with the ache of loneliness, anxiety about social encounters, and the gnawing pain of depression, we who belong to Christian communities have a huge opportunity and obligation to invite outsiders in, provide them a taste of God’s goodness, and welcome them with a spirit of Read more about 401 Why Christianity 14: Hypocrisy and Community (Daniel Fitzsimmons)[…]
Finally, we arrive at practical theology or Christian ethics. Although, we could easily spend fifteen lectures together building up a full edifice of how God wants us to live, in this episode we’ll simply lay the foundation stones of following Jesus. What I mean by follow is to read his words and do them, especially Read more about Theology 20 — Follow Jesus[…]
Our culture longs for authenticity. We’re tired of fakers and phonies who say one thing and do another. People should just be true to themselves and have the courage to flout tradition when it holds them back from genuine self-expression. However, this mentality results in major individual and social problems from sexually transmitted diseases to Read more about 153 Be You — Colossians 3 (Sean Finnegan)[…]
How do you deal with difficult people? Jesus teaches us that there’s nothing noteworthy about showing love to those who love us. Rather, he says we are to be like God who sends rain on the just and the wicked. He calls us to love annoying people, boring people, monopolizing people, vengeful people, shallow people, Read more about 131 Love without Limits (Victor Gluckin)[…]
While scrolling through Facebook, I came across Charles Mathewes’ Washington Post article, “White Christianity is in big trouble. And it’s its own biggest threat.” At first reading, I was infuriated at what I felt were unfair criticisms, but after I thought about it, I realized what an opportunity this article presented. It collects together no Read more about Off Script 40: Roy Moore, Gay Wedding Cakes, and White Evangelicals[…]
In part two of our series on objections to Christianity, we look at the issue of hypocrisy. Many are unwilling to even consider Christianity as a viable option because they’ve witnessed or heard about some horrible act of hypocrisy by a Christian leader. It’s hard to deny that hypocrisy is a major problem in Christianity Read more about Off Script 18: Christians Are Hypocrites[…]
Historical Jesus 10: Conflict From his birth to his untimely death, conflict dominated Jesus’ life. During his ministry the Pharisees disagreed with Jesus about the Sabbath, purity, divorce, and his style of ministry. Jesus called them out on pride, greed, and hypocrisy. Looking at how Jesus handled conflict serves as an example to those of Read more about Podcast 34: Conflict (Historical Jesus 10)[…]