Peace, Love, & Understanding: Recent Episodes
Steve Dehner
Welcome to my podcast, Peace, Love, & Understanding. I am a believer, wandering in the wilderness, rethinking and re-examining some long-held beliefs. Wandering, but not lost. In the meantime, I want to be with other not-lost wanderers. I'm a Christian who believes that the words and the work of Jesus are just as relevant to the 21st century as they were to the first century. I believe he speaks to us and to all our concerns, life and death and everything in between: ideas, art, beauty, nature, work, play, books, movies, music, history, governance -- everything -- and most importantly, our connection to him and to one another.
But I think his people are in a shambles. The edifice of institutional Christianity is crumbling, not in its foundation, but from the top, where leaders and shepherds have turned so much of the beautiful thing Jesus created and intends for us into a political action committee, and a religious empire, and a business franchise. I’ve been thinking hard about how people who love and follow Jesus can perhaps help clean up this mess, see and think more clearly, listen more, and return to the beauty and simplicity of the life and the work -- and the mission -- that Jesus calls us to.
If that piques your interest, why don’t you listen in? I am talking with people who are speaking the truth in love, or least the glimpses of truth that they have found and we can benefit from. I want to dialog rather than debate, in hopes of finding a better way forward for our faith in this century.
Regardless of your journey or your beliefs, you're invited to join us. I think it'll be interesting. And I think it'll be fun. Come check us out.
- Wikipedia, 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
- Politifact, July 21, 2020, Is Black Lives Matter a Marxist movement?
- Pew, October 7, 2014, Black vs white attitudes toward homosexuality
" Our aggregated 2014 polling has found that about four-in-ten black Americans (42 %) support same-sex marriage, 11 percentage points below the comparable figure among whites (53%). Meanwhile, seven-in-ten African Americans (70%) say that homosexual behavior is a sin, compared with 47% of whites who say this, according to our new survey."
- JAIDS, December 1, 2010, Persistence of racial differences in attitudes toward homosexuality in the United States
"The proportion of African Americans who indicated that homosexuality was “always wrong” was 72.3% in 2008, largely unchanged since the 1970s. In contrast, among white respondents, this figure declined from 70.8% in 1973 to 51.6% in 2008, with most change occurring since the early 1990s. Participants who knew a gay person were less likely to have negative attitudes toward homosexuality (RR=0.60, 95% CI: 0.52–0.69)."
- Rhiannon Giddens, "Birmingham Sunday."
Lyrics:
Come 'round by my side and I'll sing you a song
I'll sing it so softly it'll do no one wrong
On Birmingham Sunday the blood ran like wine
And the choir kept singing of freedom
That cold autumn morning no eyes saw the sun
And Addie Mae Collins, her number was one
In an old Baptist church there was no need to run
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The clouds, they were dark and the autumn wind blew
And Denise McNair brought the number to two
The falcon of death was a creature they knew
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The church, it was crowded and no one could see
That Cynthia Wesley's dark number was three
Her prayers and her feelings would shame you and me
And the choir kept singing of freedom
Young Carol Robertson entered the door
And the number her killers had given was four
She asked for a blessing, but asked for no more
And the choir kept singing of freedom
On Birmingham Sunday a noise shook the ground
And people all over the Earth turned around
For no one recalled a more cowardly sound
And the choir kept singing of freedom
The men in the forest, they once asked of me
How many black berries grow in the Blue Sea
I asked them right back with a tear in my eye
How many dark ships in the forest?
The Sunday has come, the Sunday has gone
And I can't do much more than to sing you a song
I'll sing it so softly it'll do no one wrong
And the choir keeps singing of freedom
Songwriter: Richard Farina
Birmingham Sunday lyrics © Vogue Music
Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at podcast@stevedehner.com
Support: If you like the show, please subscribe to the podcast by tapping the the FOLLOW button in your podcasting app.
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What did the earliest Christians do when they met together? It would take too long to list all the things your church does that they did not. But it only takes a few minutes to say what they did do. Check out the third and last installment of Sunday Morning at the Movies.
Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at podcast@stevedehner.com
Support: If you like the show, please subscribe to the podcast by tapping the the FOLLOW button in your podcasting app.
If you would like to keep the show ad-free, help defray my productions costs, and support the podcast, as well as me and my work, thank you! You may do so by visiting patreon.com/stevedehner.
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Did the apostles and the first disciples ever use anything but their own houses or open-air spaces to meet?
99.9% never. Ever wonder why? Everyone knows that the church building is not a feature of the primitive church, but a later development. It's one most people take for granted and do not question. But what if there are reasons beyond poverty, small numbers and simplicity that underlie the practices of the first Christians? What if those reasons are principles and wisdom that could still be applied the 21st century?
Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at podcast@stevedehner.com
Support: If you like the show, please subscribe to the podcast by tapping the the FOLLOW button in your podcasting app.
If you would like to keep the show ad-free, help defray my productions costs, and support the podcast, as well as me and my work, thank you! You may do by visiting patreon.com/stevedehner.
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References
Ezekiel 8:1, 20:1-3. Elders meeting at Ezekiel's house.
Acts 6:1-6. Distribution problem, and appointment of the seven.
Acts 6:8-15. Stephen gets in trouble.
Acts 7:44-50 Stephen on the tabernacle and the temple.
Acts 7:51-53. Stephen doesn't hold back.
Acts 17:18-34 Paul is invited and speaks to the Areopagus (ruling council of Athens).
2 Corinthians 6:16-18 "You are the temple of the living God."
1 Peter 2:5. "You are living stones in God's building."
Ephesians 2:19-22." You are part of the spiritual temple God is building."
Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit.
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Here is the Spurgeon quote in full and in context, from a sermon given February 17, 1884 on 1 Chronicles 12:16-18 (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 30):
"Then David puts the question, “If ye be come peaceably unto me,” and this was needful, for some are captious and quarrelsome. Some profess to come to Christ, but they quarrel with Christ at the very first. They would make terms with him, and they come intending to dispute with his people. From the first they are discontented and fault-finding, rather patronizing Christ and his cause than humbly uniting with him and his people. They do not think half as much of God’s people as God thinks of them. When I hear people say, “Oh, there is So-and-So, who is not what he ought to be, and he is a member of the church,” and then they begin finding fault with this and with that, I say to myself, “That critic is no true friend.” The church is not perfect, but woe to the man who finds pleasure in pointing out her imperfections. Christ loved his church, and let us do the same. I have no doubt that the Lord can see more fault in his church than I can; and I have equal confidence that he sees no fault at all, because he covers her faults with his own love— that love which hides a multitude of sins; and he removes all her defilement with that precious blood which washes away all the transgressions of his people. I dare not find fault with those whom the Lord has loved from before the foundation of the world; more especially since I find that I need all my time to find out my own faults and to get rid of them. If you are a faultless man I do not ask you to join the Christian Church, because I am sure that you would not find anybody else there like yourself. It is true that if you do not join a church till you find a perfect one you will not be a church-member this side heaven; but I may add, that if there were such a church, the moment your name was written in the list it would leave off being a perfect church, for your presence would have destroyed its perfection. If you are coming to pick holes, and quiz, and question, and find fault, and talk about inconsistencies and so forth, then you may pass on and join some other army; but if you be come peaceably to our Lord and to us, then I offer you a hearty welcome. We are not anxious to enlist men who love to have the pre-eminence, nor men of fierce temper, nor unforgiving spirits, nor proud, envious, lovers of strife: we want only those who have the mind of Christ. Come peaceably, or come not at all."
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Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at podcast@stevedehner.com
Support: If you like the show, please subscribe to the podcast by tapping the the FOLLOW button in your podcasting app.
If you would like to keep the show ad-free, help defray my productions costs, and support the podcast, as well as me and my work, thank you! You may do so by visiting patreon.com/stevedehner.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Show Notes
- New on Facebook: please like the page for this podcast, "The Peace, Love, & Understanding Podcast."
- The LA Times article on Van Morrison
- Here is a playlist of some of my favorite van Morrison songs
- Listen to the Lion
- False Teachers:
Matthew 7:15-20 (NKJV)
15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
- He was made sin for us:
2Co 5:17-21 (NKJV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at podcast@stevedehner.com
Support: If you like the show, please subscribe to the podcast by tapping the the FOLLOW button in your podcasting app.
If you would like to keep the show ad-free, help defray my productions costs, and support the podcast, as well as me and my work, thank you! You may do by visiting patreon.com/stevedehner.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
I saw an old friend at a party, and our conversation quickly went south -- to Naziville, actually. How does one respond to these situations? Well, here's how I did.
Email me: You may reach me with comments or questions at podcast@stevedehner.com
Support: If you like the show, please subscribe to the podcast by tapping the the FOLLOW button in your podcasting app.
If you would like to keep the show ad-free, help defray my productions costs, and support the podcast, as well as me and my work, thank you! You may do by visiting patreon.com/stevedehner.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Thank you for listening! Today I introduced the show by explaining its purposes and goals, and philosophy of public discourse
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Support the podcast by visiting patreon.com/stevedehner.