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Podcast 352 -- Men on a Mission Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 1:6-8 Jan 21, 2025

Show notes

The fellows talk about their experience in mission work locally in Houston, and their trips to Mexico and to Kenya. We discuss the importance of being a part of church efforts that create connection and empathy with neighbors. We also talk about the way, in the post-colonial, post-Christian era, patronage has given way to partnership in response to the explosion of Christianity in the Global South.

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Podcast 351 -- Why Do We Go to Church? Acts 2:42-47, Hebrews 10:24-25 Jan 14, 2025

Show notes

Statistics tell us that church net closings in the U.S. reach about 3,000 a year and every year 2.75 million churchgoers fall into inactivity. We look at the reasons for this decline and address the importance of regular church attendance to growth in the faith. The fellows talk about growing up in various denominations, and the changes they have seen in parishes and congregations—for good and ill—over the course of their faith journeys and how today’s churches can make themselves more meaningful for skeptical Christians.

This week's podcast is sponsored by Magic Mind. Visit www.magicmind.com/NCAJAN and receive 45% off your first order.

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Podcast 350—What if Brian Thompson Was a Member of Your Church? Proverbs 22:16, 28:27; Ezekiel 16:49 Jan 07, 2025

Show notes

Is there moral equivalency in shooting someone in the street

and using AI algorithms to deny medical care to thousands of patients, perhaps leading

to untimely death? To start the new

year, the fellows take up the topical concept of structural violence, the idea

that organizations and institutions, just because of the way they work, can be

as much a source of human suffering, injustice and harm as an angry man with a

gun. The Bible says murder is a sin, but what about cold indifference? Is sin

so pervasive it inevitably infects all worldly mechanisms? What do Luigi

Mangione and Brian Thompson tell us about the human need for salvation?

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Podcast 349 -- There's Something About Mary Luke 1:27-56 Dec 17, 2024

Show notes

For our fifth annual Christmas podcast, we look at the Virgin Mary. Beneath the trappings of tradition and legend, we find a Biblical narrative of an ordinary young woman responding to extraordinary circumstances. We look at the arc of Mary's faith, from her skeptical question "How can this be?" to her courageous affirmation of God's promise of salvation and her resolve to move forward as mother of Christ. The fellows are joined by Ruth Opiyo, a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and currently a Christian marriage and family counselor.

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Podcast 348 -- True Gratitude vs. False Positivity Psalm 31:9-18, 21-22 Dec 10, 2024

Show notes

Scripture exhorts us to be grateful. But can well-meaning Christians apply the message of gratitude the wrong way or in the wrong situations? We discuss the idea of "dark gratitude," which instead of providing support, steers us away from confronting problems, difficulties and outright hardship we need to face. Hat tip to Elizabeth Bernstein, whose article "The Case for Being Ungrateful" in the Nov. 24 Wall Street Journal sparked this week's discussion.

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Podcast 347 -- Dignity and Diversity 1 John 4:19-21, Galatians 3:26-29 Dec 03, 2024

Show notes

Woke culture has made diversity a dirty word. Christians can reclaim it by rooting human diversity in the context of God's creation, not racial, ethic or sexual identity. Every human is made in the image of God, which alone confers dignity and value to every human life. Diversity follows, as Paul notes, but we remain united--and equal--by the claim God makes on us. Join us as we discuss another paradox: organizations, including churches, that set "diversity" as an end goal invariably fail at it. So, how do Christians allow diversity to bloom organically?

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Podcast 346 -- The Promise of an Abundant Life Jeremiah 29:2-14, John 10:7-10 Nov 19, 2024

Show notes

What is the Christian idea of a flourishing, abundant life? Can the Bible's metaphorical green pastures measure up to a 10.000-acre Texas ranch? And can people flourish in exile, as Jeremiah urges? Download and listen before you buy that next graduation card!

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Podcast 345 -- "Hey Google, Write My Sunday Sermon" Genesis 11:1-9 Nov 12, 2024

Show notes

We wrap up our study of Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option debating the author's contentious view of the Internet, social media and the accompanying cultural message to envelope oneself in a virtual world to escape the real one. We add a discussion of AI, which has exploded since Dreher published, and what ethical questions it raises for Christians. And is "Transhumanism," Raymond Kurzweil's vision of combining humanity with AI, an attainable goal or a false idol? Can we use technology to create a better human being or is it doomed to be a post-modern Tower of Babel?

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Podcast 344 -- Christians vs. Sex 1 Corinthians 7:1-7, Song of Songs 1:2-4 Nov 05, 2024

Show notes

"To reduce Christian teaching about sex and sexuality to bare, boring, thou-shalt-not moralism is a failure of imagination," Rod Dreher writes in the The Benedict Option. Instead, Churches should strongly proclaim the stability Christian sexual ethics offer men and women who seek true intimacy, romance and fulfilling partnerships in their love relationships. Even as the media and elites attempt to glamorize hook-up culture, pornography and single parenthood, there is growing pushback from many young people, religious or not, who see something terribly wrong with these messages. Christians, in reaching out to those seeking deep and committed love, can provide the vocabulary they need to validate their countercultural decisions. Join us as we discuss the Bible's ringing endorsement of God's gift of human sexuality and physical intimacy.

Past podcasts to check out: "Six Battles Every Man Must Win" (46 and 48), David and Bathsheba (110 and 111), "Does Adultery Still Matter" (212).

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Podcast 343 -- Modern Witchcraft Deuteronomy 18:10-14, Ephesians 5:11 Oct 29, 2024

Show notes

It's Halloween, so the fellows discuss what Bible authors might have meant when they condemned witchcraft and sorcery. Rather than supernatural black magic, were they pointing to talented manipulators whom today we would call narcissists and psychopaths--persons who know there is no greater human flaw than the ability to fool oneself? Jeffrey Epstein and the Sacker Family were welcomed within commanding heights of politics, business and culture while doing little to hide their heinous crimes. Upon their downfall, the excuse in these heady corridors of power was a 21st Century version of "He hath bewitched me!" Are Christians vulnerable to modern "spells" that use the psychology of gaslighting, rationalization and distorted facts to convince others that they don't see what's obvious? Or worse, make destructive choices of their own? If so, how do we fight for truth?

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