The Uncensored Unprofessor

Many Evangelical churches today are "Bible-alone" communities. Or, or they think they are. In this theology uncorked episode I explain both why the Bible-alone perspective is not why the Bible was inspired, written, or preserved and why it is actually an impossibility. To make the case, I give examples. First, when I, in junior high, was beginning to read the Bible "for me." And second, from my time in Bible school when another student, reflecting on his devotional, said, "I learned that God is like a motorcycle." Then, from my time as a prof, I note how Calvary Chapel students especially (but not at all only) wanted to take a Bible-alone position; what they didn't know but what I knew was that they had made Chuck Smith into their new Pope, or their new Vatican. Let's think through why God gave us the Bible, and what is the role of the Bible's authority in both the Christian life and the Church community. Oh, and in the pod's opening I reflect on a biblical perspective concerning civilization; does God care or does he only care about who goes to heaven and hell?

It is common Christian fodder to discuss grace in the role of our salvation. But what about grace for everyday living? What does that look like? Mark and I think through several different angles of grace: divine-enablement? Relational co-dependency? Death to the self (what does that look like)? What about grace and pride? By accepting God's grace does one just become a puppet on a divine string? It may be helpful to think of grace as space, making space for the other. If we consider grace as divine enablement rather than solely unmerited favor we can press in even further into following Christ across our lives.

Two things caused this episode: a) my reading of a Roger Scruton philosophy book, and b) my attendance at a local county sherrif's graduation ceremony. Together those two have had me reflecting, again, on the power of form, the role that aesthetics play in our lives, and the role that beauty-to-the-honor-of-the-living-God has had for most of two millennia. Scruton talks, among other things, about how public architecture was always designed with an eye toward both the future and the past, but how today's architecture pays no heed to either. Today we prefer fads and/or immediacy. Following those two fads, we serve a god whom I call "Lord Utility." Sadly, immediacy and Lord Utility both have infiltrated the early 21st century Evangelical culture. Let's think through this amazing topic of form, space, and beauty together; all unto the glory of the beautiful one himself, Jesus the Christ.

Down in the bone marrow of following Christ is worship. In this free style conversation Mark and I discuss the whys, whats, and what-abouts of worship. Is God a megalomaniac who created us to worship him because he has need? Is there some lack in God that worship fills for him? If not, what is the reason for worship? Along the same lines, how do we take and make our daily lives—our chores, our work, our relationships, and even our physical dwelling space—an act of worship to Christ Jesus? What is the difference between ritual and ritualism? Why do we need both spirit and truth, heart-felt sentiment and doctrinal accuracy? And then, when we are worshiping, does God's Spirit come and overpower us so that it's only him involved? Come think and laugh with me and Mark.

It's not hard to find: anguish in the hearts and minds of twenty-first century church goers. Why? Why the existential shreddedness? Folks are torn. Torn between a deep sense of compassion and clear biblical values. Torn between Christianity that is Liberal/Progressive and Christianity that is Conservative/Confessing. And recent matters have torn folks, too. When a neighborhood teenage girl undergoes a radical mastectomy because she is confused, believers are conflicted. When ICE arrests criminals and immigrants, believers are torn. When people get shot in Minnesota more people are torn in half. What to do? I offer a kind of UU sorting hat, a series of biblical values (not doctrines) that I am using now when I myself am conflicted and torn. Come think with me about existential shreddedness and what to do. (This pod concludes the series on Christians in the Matrix.)

Gallup and Rasumussen polling groups are repeatedly showing that America's trust in the mainstream media is at an alltime low. Why is that? Moreover, America's Founders said they'd rather have a Press without a Government than a Government without a Press. Why? Why frame it like that? Why is a free (and truthful) press so critical for a nation? Then Mark and I move on to discuss the ways that Christians get programmed and played by the Media: emotion over logic, incrementalism, over-simplification, fomenting tribalism, mis-reporting, and more. But we don't just analyze the knotty situation, we also offer means and sources of discernment. Along the way Ed shares what a policeman friend of his said about the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Come laugh and think with us!

We might be stunned to realize it, but the characteristic of nice never shows up anywhere in the Bible. God is never called nice. Christian virtue, the fruit of the Spirit, never includes nice. Jesus was never described as nice. There aren't even any biblical stories about someone being nice. So why then is it so prevalent in Christian sub-culture today? Or worse, how does being nice make us susceptible to being manipulated and programmed? How does the quality of nice—and neither Mark nor I are against nice people!—lead to resentment? How is nice compared to kindness? Also in this 'sode Mark and I reflect on the invasion and disruption of a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul, MN, by godless agitators. What does that mean? What does it represent? What should the Church begin doing as a response? Come and think with us about how NICE is a marvelous way for Christians to get sucked into the Matrix.Come and think with us about how NICE is a marvelous way for Christians to get sucked into the Matrix.

How many Christians do not have the mind of Christ because they've been primed and played by propaganda? Mark and I fear to know the percentage of such believers would be frightening, and our hearts break to witness how many are openly turning against the Gospel because of propaganda. The show's outline runs thus: *A discussion of the American military's capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. *The kinds of propaganda used during COVID. *Defining propaganda. *How sheeple play into propaganda. *Church street-smarts? *Different methods of propaganda including: firehosing, selective presentation, emphasizing one lens, info blizzards, A.I. deep-fakes, dishonest framing, bandwagoning and its opposite of gaslighting, fearmongering, and normalization. For each of those kinds of propaganda we talk through examples and their power. Come think and laugh with us!