This is part 15 of the Early Church History class. We are shifting gears away from Christology to talk about the desert fathers and mothers. These were people that decided to leave the city and go off alone or in communes to practice spiritual disciplines and asceticism. They denied themselves pleasure in their pursuit of Read more about 497 Early Church History 15: Monasticism from Anthony to Benedict[…]
What is the proper role of your emotions? Should you trust them? How do you know when they are helping and when they are hurting? Today we’ll take a look at another exciting advantage that Christianity provides. In this episode, you’ll learn about the problems endemic to emotional reasoning, the robust biblical teaching about your Read more about 400 Why Christianity 13: The Heart (Sean Finnegan)[…]
Have you noticed the shrill tone that permeates public discourse in our time? It seems like everyone is on a hairpin trigger ready to rage and vent at their ideological enemies. What is a Christian to do? Should we stand up for our beliefs, morals, and politics? Should we disengage from conversation about controversial issues? Read more about 369 Civil Discourse (Peter Miano)[…]
It’s all too common today to hear someone criticizing God along the lines of, “I could never worship a God who does that.” The critiques of God that are most growing in strength today relate to morality rather than logic, science, or society. One classification of these criticisms relates to God allowing seemingly pointless suffering, Read more about Why You Can’t Judge God[…]
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)[…]
This is part 4 of the Calvinism Debate Did Jesus die to make it possible for anyone to be saved or did he only die for the elect? In this discussion between Blake Cortright and Jacob Rohrer, they discuss this important issue and how it relates to evangelism. Blake affirms limited atonement while Jacob argues Read more about 140 Calvinism vs. Arminianism 4: Limited Atonement[…]
John McCave has faithfully served God as a minister for 36 years. In this interview he shares his story of how God brought him from a hardened tough guy to a humble servant, motivated by love. McCave also shares key insights he’s gained along the way, especially with regard to his wife, Mary without whose Read more about Interview 29: God’s Faithful Minister (John McCave)[…]
No one joined the Pharisees out of desire to practice professional hypocrisy. They were the devout, the separated, the ones who took God and holiness seriously. However, by the time of Jesus, they had confused godliness with self-righteousness and lost compassion in the process. It’s so easy for us to root for Jesus as he Read more about Podcast 78: The Insidious Danger of Self-Righteousness (Sean Finnegan)[…]
The 19th century philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, believed that our desire for success, money, or love really went back to our “will to power.” Whereas other philosophies focused on calibrating our internal state to accept reality, Nietzsche focused more on conforming reality to our desires. Although it’s terribly out of fashion to admit one desires and Read more about Off Script 26: Worshiping Power[…]
Pastor Victor Gluckin of Living Faith Christian Church (Warwick, RI) shares about his journey of faith. He was Mr. Popularity in High School; everyone loved him. However, he was spiritually dead and lifted up with pride. His breaking point came when he left his small town and attended George Washington University in DC. He planned Read more about Podcast 66: What I’ve Been Saved From (Victor Gluckin)[…]
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[…]
This election cycle American political discourse has sunk to a new low. Rather than presenting facts and offering persuasive arguments based on policies, we’ve seen a whole slew of false claims and personal attacks. The exchanges between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have been so caustic and shameful that when I discovered my ten year-old Read more about Off Script 16: Christians Discussing Politics[…]
Who determines truth? Is there such a thing as objective truth or are all claims subjective in nature? Join Rose Rider, Daniel Fitzsimmons, and Sean Finnegan as they discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly about relativism before bringing in a biblical perspective to help you think through this critical issue.
This is part 3 of a series of posts called, “Identifying and Subverting Cultural Narratives.” Tolerance is the idea that everyone should have the freedom to be themselves. You shouldn’t try to change people or hold them to your standards. You certainly shouldn’t push your religion on others. Religion is a private matter, so proselytizing Read more about Tolerance[…]
Historical Jesus 8: Paradoxical Submission Jesus enjoyed an intimate relationship with his Father. He often spent time with him in prayer, sometimes all night long. Throughout his ministry Jesus frequently spoke about how his words and deeds were not his own, but the Father’s who sent him. Paradoxically, by utterly submitting himself to God, he Read more about Podcast 32: Paradoxical Submission (Historical Jesus 8)[…]
Historical Jesus 4: Baptism and Temptations Before he began his ministry, Jesus first had to receive John’s baptism and then overcome Satan’s temptations. After briefly explaining his baptism, we’ll go into detail exploring why Satan’s temptations were so tempting as well as what we can learn from Jesus’ example. How does Jesus defeat Satan where Read more about Podcast 28: Baptism and Temptations (Historical Jesus 4)[…]