How do you engage with culture? Are you aware of how culture is shaping your sensibilities about meaning, power, morality, religion, and aesthetics? Do you blindly reject everything in the culture so that you can remain separate from the world or do you blindly accept everything so that you remain relevant? My guest today is Read more about 480 Interpreting Your World (Justin Bailey)[…]
Last Sunday, I shared this message about God’s amazing grace. Instead of focusing on how gracious, merciful, and forgiving God is, I labored to explain why we don’t deserve God’s grace. I’ve observed this not only in my own journey, but also with many others who grow up in the church. We hear a thousand Read more about 454 Amazing Grace (Sean Finnegan)[…]
Today we are addressing Progressive Christianity. To be clear, we are not talking about politics, though they often go hand in hand. Progressive Christianity is an outgrowth of liberal Christianity, which accepted the modernist ethos of the Enlightenment and merged it with Christianity. Likewise Progressive Christianity brings the assumptions and moral commitments of postmodernism to Read more about 448 What’s Wrong with Progressive Christianity? (Mike Winger)[…]
Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts This is part 1 of the Why Christianity class. In a culture where biblical Christianity is falling more and more out of fashion, it’s increasingly important to have confidence in your faith. Today we are beginning a class called Why Christianity, in which we will lay Read more about 388 Why Christianity 1: Introduction (Jerry Wierwille)[…]
Today in our fourth and final part of our series on postmodernism Pastor Jacob Ballard explains four key guidelines for cross-cultural ministry. Always change the language, but never change the message Exchange meta-narrative for personal narrative or community narrative Exchange certainty for humility, clues, hints, and mysteries Exchange absolutist morality for personal accountability and communal Read more about 373 Postmodernism 4: Cross-Cultural Conversations[…]
Today, in part three of our series on postmodernism we ask the question, “How is postmodernism affecting our world today?” Pastor Jacob Ballard explains how narrative, experience, community, and subjective truth are key ways that postmodern-minded people go about making sense of reality. Then he shows how movements like Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ rights Read more about 372 Postmodernism 3: Postmodernism’s Effect Today (Jacob Ballard)[…]
In our last episode, Pastor Jacob Ballard explained what worldviews are. Today he covers the two major worldviews: modernism and postmodernism. Although many today still approach life from a modernist mindset, postmodernism is here in increasing force. What are we as bible-believing Christians to do about this? The first step is to become aware of Read more about 371 Postmodernism 2: Modernism vs. Postmodernism (Jacob Ballard)[…]
Have you noticed the shifts happening all around us in our culture? Skepticism of traditional institutions from the government to the media to churches is at an all time high, while increasingly we’re told to discover our authentic self and live it out courageously. Universal truth claims sound like power grabs while individual personal truths Read more about 370 Postmodernism 1: Worldview (Jacob Ballard)[…]
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)[…]
In the second presentation of this Apologetics Conference, we delve into a comparison of three major time periods: (1) the age of authority, (2) the age of reason, and (3) the age of authenticity. We look at how people practiced their faith in each as well as what criticisms apologists answered. For our post-modern time, Read more about 144 Apologetics Conference 2: A Strategy to Reach Our Postmodern World (Sean Finnegan)[…]
Today we are starting something new. I’m very excited to present to you in its entirety, the apologetics conference held in Paducah, KY last June. We’ve got a great line up of speakers for you including Jerry Wierwille, myself, Kenny Willenburg, Dale Tuggy, Kegan Chandler, and John Truitt. It was a wonderful time of meeting Read more about 143 Apologetics Conference 1: The Problem of Privatization (Jerry Wierwille)[…]
Last weekend I participated in an apologetics conference at John and Lisa Truitts’ home in Paducah, Kentucky. It was a wonderful time of meeting people and working together to figure out ways of reaching the millennial generation with the gospel. As it turned out, a great majority of the presentations focused on understanding the post-modern Read more about 2018 Apologetics Conference[…]
This is part two of our discussion about Charles Mathewes’ Washington Post article, “White Christianity is in big trouble. And it’s its own biggest threat.” Check out part one here. In this episode we consider gun control, immigration, the death penalty, and treatment of the poor in an effort to understand and respond to evangelicalism’s Read more about Off Script 41: Guns, Immigrants, and White Evangelicals[…]
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[…]
Unbelievers often criticize Christianity because of how it takes away personal freedoms. If I agree to follow Jesus, then I can no longer do as I please; I’m no longer free. Christians limit sex to marriage. They don’t party. Their book won’t let them express themselves without worrying about “corrupt communication.” I’m sure you’ve come Read more about Does Christianity Limit Personal Freedom?[…]
This is part 6 of a series of posts called, “Identifying and Subverting Cultural Narratives.” Consumerism capitalizes on the thrill of buying something new even when you don’t need it. In order to keep people buying, advertisers craft penetrating messages to inspire dissatisfaction or fear that buying their product or service can assuage. Consumers must Read more about Consumerism[…]
Daniel Fitzsimmons and I probe the culture by discussing one of the most influential hidden philosophies of life in our culture today–hyper-individualism. In a nut shell, hyper-individualism is a two step process: search within your heart to discover your deepest longings realize your dreams over against any external resistance This mindset has benefits and detriments Read more about Off Script 2: Hyper-Individualism[…]
In what ways is the culture putting a filter over your eyes? How is our world rewriting your script, adjusting your plausibility intuitions? For our first ever “Off Script” episode, I’m joined by two cohosts, Dan Fitzsimmons and Rose Rider, to discuss how our culture influences our lives as well as how to share the Read more about Off Script 1: Seeing the Filter[…]
This is part 1 of a series of posts called, “Identifying and Subverting Cultural Narratives.” Last week I learned how to surf at Jacksonville Beach in Florida. While I was in the ocean, I constantly battled the waves pushing me towards the beach and the undertow pulling me back towards the sea. However, it was Read more about Seeing the Filter[…]
I was listening to Tim Keller’s sermon called “Culture” in his series, The Vision of Redeemer, and encountered this amazing summary of the Christian hope: In the future you have all these cultural activities going on. Why? Because our future is a material future. The book of Revelation makes it very clear. At the end Read more about Tim Keller on the Kingdom on Earth[…]