City on a Hill: Recent Episodes
City on a Hill
In this episode, we discuss what the Republican shift away from a pro-life platform means. For most of our lives, especially if you were a one-issue voter, you had to vote Republican. The new Republican platform has changed significantly. Is that bad? Could it be good?
NOTES:
New republican party platform vs. 2016 Republican party platform
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- This will force Christians to think more deeply about many issues as they vote.
- Issues that became "Biblical" because they were represented by the same party that was pro-life, we may have to re-examine.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
Here are a couple of resources that helped us:
http://www.robertbellah.com/articles_5.htm#_edn8
American Gospel
Music:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
In this episode from the archives, we visit voting as stewardship. It should pair nicely with last week's episode.
Aeric recommends David French’s two-fold test (https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/how-then-should-christians-vote) recognizing that your vote is your endorsement. That means that voting for the “lesser of two evils” remains an endorsement of evil.
Your vote is your personal commitment to the person you vote for, even if your vote doesn’t make a difference in the election. (https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2020/10/19/voting-for-life/)
The smaller the election the more clout your vote will hold and the more difference you can make. Apply the two-fold character and policy test to local candidates, too. You can actually reach out to them and meet them. Aeric did.
Get out there and vote next week!
Music:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
Good Christian's vote! There, I said it. Well, that's what I was led to believe as I came of age. Good Christians vote, better Christians vote for the right things! That's what we're talking about in this episode. I hope you find it helpful.
NOTES:
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all. (1Timothy 2:1-6 ESV)
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
In this episode, we're talking about memes. Pictures have become a short-cut for thinking. People can forward a meme faster than their good judgment can stop it. How do people make meaning with memes?
NOTES:
Def: Dictionary.com: an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations. "celebrity gossip and memes often originate on the site"
The word “meme” comes from the Greek mimema, meaning something that has been “imitated.” According to Britannica, the word was first introduced by Richard Dawkins, a British biologist, in his book The Selfish Gene; hisintention was for “meme” to sound similar to "gene.”
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Memes target emotions and are shared impulsively.
- Memes don't substitute for arguments. Forwarding a meme does not equate to knowing the truth or understanding an argument.
- Meme's fuel outrage, even over things that don't deserve outrage.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
The Olympics captivated us! We found ourselves pulling for the Red, White, and Blue...sometimes in spite of ourselves. It made us ask, is that okay? Can we be over-the-top fans, yelling at our TV, and still have our patriotism in its proper perspective?
We had a good time with the Olympics and a good time talking about it in this episode. I hope it helps you think about profound things like politics, but pausing to think about something as fun and as distant as the Olympics.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
We received a letter from a listener who noticed that people sometimes equate voting for one political party with being a Christian, as though being a Christian is Jesus plus voting correctly. Sadly, voting for a certain political party can be seen as an issue that affects salvation. In this episode, we are talking about adding politics to the gospel.
NOTES:
Galatians 2:11-14 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- In our circles, this has been more of an issue for Republicans who also claim to be Christians. The new Republican platform no longer has many of the elements that have been described as Christian for the past 40 years. So maybe adding Republican to Christian will be less of a problem going forward.
- Get to love the gospel of Jesus. Period.
- Jesus Plus doesn't save. Only Jesus saves.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
We had an assassination attempt and the bowing out of a presumptive nominee within 8 days. What will happen next? With a title like this, you might expect we are talking about end times. But, God is king over all the nations, including ours and he is doing just what he said he would do. He fulfills his word, sometimes in the usual way, sometimes in extraordinary ways. We have watched it in real-time.
NOTES:
- Daniel 2:20-22 Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
- Isaiah 40:22-24 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Don't read more into events than is there. You don't know for sure what God is doing until after the fact.
- Don't let historical events change your conduct. Unusual events do not call for panicked or un-Christian responses. Represent Jesus in your conduct.
- 1 Peter 1:14-19 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
- 1 Peter 2:11-12 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
- Avoid partisan passions.Do not interpret these events through the lens of your preferred outcomes. If the other team wins, it does not necessarily spell doomsday.
- Beware of a desire for more drama. The news can be addicting, especially when it is so unusual.
- Pray.
- Pray for President Biden and his family, Donald Trump, and Kamala Harris. Pray for the election results to be such that the church can live quiet and godly lives in Christ Jesus.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cityonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
Did God Spare Donald Trump? The short answer is "Yes." This episode discusses the implications of that answer. I hope it helps you think as a Christian about the events of July 13.
NOTES:
ABC News, July 18
Cohen, who specializes in the phenomenon of mass shooters, added that investigators may never determine a single or precise motive for the attack. Sources familiar with the investigation have told ABC News that a search of the suspect's phone history has revealed no indication of Crooks’ (Crooks was the shooter) political views or his motive for the shooting. Investigators have also found no digital footprint from the suspect suggesting any affiliations with international or domestic terrorist groups. They have also been unable to identify any ideological nexus to Trump and/or Biden, according to sources."Likely, it was a combination of mental health issues, ideological beliefs and a sense of personal grievance, the same combination of factors present in almost every school shooting and mass casualty attack over the past several years. As with those incidents, the warning signs were there, they were just not recognized," Cohen said. "The threat was real but people around him did not understand what they were witnessing or how it would play out last Saturday.”
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Pray First.
- Don't let social media drive your opinions, thoughts, or fears. Contrary to what you read on social media, the shooter's motives are unknown. At this time, they don't appear to be political.
- Get over the conspiracy theories. They are a fact of life. That does not make them true!
- God spared Donald Trump in the same way he spares any of us. Not a sparrow falls without his knowledge. (Matthew 10:28-29)
- God spared good kings and evil kings. Good and evil followed.
- This is not God's endorsement of former President Trump.
- Pray always.
- Be sure of this:
- Daniel answered and said: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. (Dan 2:20-22 ESV)
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cityonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
We are so happy to have John Inazu on the podcast today. We planned to interview him about his new book, Learning to Disagree: the Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect. Once our conversation began, we moved on to many of the other very important things he participates in. Learning to Disagree […]
In this episode, we discuss the material we used in the final of our three-part series at church called Family Conversations about Politics. This topic is right at the heart of what Christians claim to believe, namely the gospel. In what ways do promises made in campaigns function as false gospels? We hope this helps the church think clearly about how politics competes with the gospel.
NOTES:
We are deeply indebted to David Koyzis and his book, Political Visions and Illusions, for helping us see this for the first time!
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Political promises and political saviors function in gospel categories. They have a start (creation), a problem (fall), a solution or person (redemption), and an ideal outcome (consummation).
- Line up ideas about liberty, or capitalism, or democracy, or nationalism, and they all imitate the melody of the gospel.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cityonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
This episode finds the intersection of the Bible and politics. What can we "claim" from the Bible for America? What must we do to have God bless us? How do Christians identify who is who? While it isn't exactly identity politics, the way that term is commonly used, but we do need to be clear on who is who. Is America especially blessed by God, and are we on the verge of losing that blessing? Can we be moral enough for God to bless our country?
Scott spoke on another webinar for our association of churches. We are using the audio from that webinar for this podcast. Here is a link to the webinar series. He used material he did for our church during our "Family Conversations about Politics" dinners. I hope this helps.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- America is not Israel.
- Israel is not the Church.
- The Church is not America.
- The Church is most like Babylon.
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We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
We are happy to introduce you to the six conversations. We used this material in a workshop we did at church. We wanted to help the church have better Thanksgiving dinners after the elections. The best way to do that is to start by having better conversations, period. I hope you enjoy this and pick up the book.
NOTES:
We based our workshop and this podcast on this book:
The Six Conversations: Pathways to Connecting in an Age of Isolation and Incivility by Heather Holleman
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Foundation for a Good Conversation.
- Be Curious
- “It’s hard to be mad and curious at the same time.”
- Believe the best
- Express concern
- Share your life
- Use strong verbs.
- Be Curious
- Conversation Goals
- To be encouraging
- Help someone grow
- Provoke marveling or awe.
- Types of Conversations/Questions
- Physical: Body/Space/Sense
- Emotional: Feelings/Emotions
- Volitional: Will/Choice
- How did you come to make that choice?
- Cognitive: Knowledge/Thinking
- Social: Relationships/People
- Tell me the story about how…
- Spiritual: Biblical/Prayer
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
In this encore episode, we encourage Christians to pray for governmental leaders and suggest some ways in which Christians should pray. Our church is highlighting our need to Pray First this summer. We think it is much more important to pray first than it is to worry first, vote first, or fire off a social media opinion first!
Why Should We Pray?
God is sovereign over world leaders and world events. So, it only makes sense that Christians should pray. Isaiah 40:15; Isaiah 40:22-24; Job 12:13-25
How Should We Pray?
Here are Six suggestions about how to pray for our public leaders:
- Just Do It! 1 Timothy 2:1-4. Pray that they will govern in a way that will help the church be the church. Pray that we will live peaceful lives, godly, quiet, and dignified in every way.
- Pray for Justice. Psalm 9:7-8
- Pray God would direct them. Proverbs 21:1
- Pray that God's name would be seen as holy among the nations.
- Pray for God's kingdom to come and his will be done. Matthew 6:9-10
- Pray for them like you would normal people. Pray for their salvation, for wisdom (James 1:3), and for endurance.
- You can pray an imprecatory prayer, too. Like Psalm 35:8.
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com. Or, leave us a voice recording at https://www.speakpipe.com/cityonahillpodcast.
Music:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swingSorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
The topic of today’s encore episode: How did the Great Awakening affect the Revolutionary War? How is something so religious, that appeared other-worldly, stoke the fire of the American Revolution? What if religion was the engine for the rebellion against Britain? We are delighted to have Dr. Todd Miles on the Podcast with us this […]
We are so excited to have Dr. David Koyzis, author of Political Visions and Illusions, with us on the podcast today! This is an encore presentation of one of our favorite conversations! We did a book report on the Political Visions book in the past several episodes and invited Dr. Koyzis to bring the conclusion […]
It is so ridiculous, I think, to say the last Superbowl was Mahomes vs. Purdy. However, it was commonly billed that way. They are the quarterbacks, sure, but they are not even on the field at the same time. They are technically never in a position where they are actually playing against one another. It is similarly ridiculous to conceive of our government somehow being Trump vs. Biden. We place an inordinate burden on a presidential election because we cannot see beyond an individual contest. We love to oversimplify. We need to reduce the complexity.
In this episode, we address this way of thinking, which I hope will relieve some pressure on your presidential ballot.
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We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
In this episode, we reflect further on the question of whether morality equates to receiving God's blessing. We need to acknowledge that humans flourish when they live according to God's design. We need to acknowledge, as well, that a holy, sovereign God does have moral standards for human beings. Those moral standards spring from the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9:1-6. We look at the book of Amos to see how God holds nations accountable for justice and righteousness.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
In this episode, we consider the question of whether morality equates to receiving God's blessing. This is, of course, a question that people wrestle with in their own lives. If I am good, will God bless me? If you extend that to groups or nations, what is the connection between good morals and God's blessing? Then, do you reflect on all the good that we have enjoyed in America and infer that it is because we have been blessed by God because we were moral?
This is some of the Christian motivation for political involvement. If we can get our politicians and our policies to be more moral, God will restore his blessing. This assumes that America has a relationship with God that it does not have.
NOTES:
It is too easy for our moral hot spots to hide moral blind spots. -- Christopher Wright, Destroyer of Gods
Good morals may make good governments, but good governments will never make good morals. -- James P. Byrd, A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
We've all felt the pressure. How does God want me to vote? Who would a Christian vote for? These and more questions circulate around election time. In fact, you'll find no shortage of people trying to articulate a "Christian position" on an issue. In this episode, we bring this pressure to light in the hope that each person will feel free to vote their conscience.
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We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
It is easy to wash your hands of politics and disengage. It is also easy to overreact and make politics ultimate. How, and more importantly, why does a Christian engage politics faithfully? Ultimately, it comes down to a different vision for human flourishing. Christians seek to live under God's rule because that is the surest way to flourish. In this episode, we make a case for political involvement with a Christian view of human flourishing.
NOTES:
Scott mentioned that he listened to A Letter to the American Church by Eric Metaxas. (Normally, we make a link, but we don't want you to go buy this one!).
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- On many public issues, God gives us his will on how humans will flourish. We engage in politics because we love our neighbors and seek their flourishing. We seek the welfare of the city, and, truly believing God's will is best, we advocate for a life lived that way. We can't abdicate our involvement in public because we love our neighbors.
- Because people disconnected from God won't submit to his will just because "God says so," we need to find arguments explaining why God's way is best that they will hear.
- We cannot advocate for God's "what" without being governed by His "how." We must manifest the fruit of the Spirit as we engage publically, or we undermine our message. The manner of our engagement must match the message itself.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
The other Biblical author who has much to say about politics is the Apostle John. Today, we will look at a passage from 1 John and then at Revelation, which is full of figurative political statements. While Revelation is more than a veiled polemic against Rome, it is not less.
Just like the Bible starts out with a dichotomy between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. In Revelation, you have the tale of two cities, Jerusalem and Babylon.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-
This episode adds to Paul's thoughts on politics. You can't get the whole story about Paul and Politics without thinking about what he says about principalities and powers. In this episode, we discuss the connection between spiritual authorities and political authorities.
NOTES:
Here are some verses that speak to the thin veil between spiritual authorities and political authorities.
- Eph. 3:7 -- 7 aOf this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
- Titus 3:1 -- Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
- Ephesians 6:10-12 -- 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
- Ephesians 1:21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
- Colossians. 1:15-20 - He is the image of jthe invisible God, kthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
- Col 2:11-15 -- 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
- 1 Peter 3:21-22 -- 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- DO NOT use spiritual warfare as a way of labeling someone who disagrees with you as demonic. Please treat them as human beings made in the image of God.
- Daniel 10 includes a similar mash of spiritual and human authorities.
- It looks as thought physical powers and authorities are animated by spiritual ones.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-
We are still looking at what the New Testament says about politics. In this episode, we discuss how the Apostle Paul related to authorities and what he taught about politics.
NOTES:
Here are some key passage from Paul's experience and writing that we discussed.
- Acts 17:6-7 “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7 and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
- Acts 22: 25 But when they had stretched him out for the whips,4 Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?” 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” 27 So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” 28 The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” 29 So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
- Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for she is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, tan avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
- 1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
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Peter learned his politics from Jesus. He also had personal experience with authorities who would quiet his preaching of the resurrection. So, Peter had a lot to say about how Christians relate to authority. That is what this episode is about.
NOTES:
Here are a couple Biblical references in which Peter speaks about politics and authority.
- Acts 4:19-21. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, da people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,2 whether it be to the emperor3 as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. uLove the brotherhood. fear God. Honor the emperor.
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Jesus was political. He said, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's but to God the things that are God's." (Matthew 22:17-21) He was crucified as "King of the Jews." In this episode, we explore how Jesus was more political than we sometimes recognize.
NOTES:
- The birth of Jesus was political. Both Matthew and Luke set the birth of Jesus in terms of the political rulers of the day.
- Jesus began preaching the kingdom of heaven. The Sermon on the Mount tells us about its character, and his parables describe it. "The kingdom of heaven is like..."
- John 19:10-15 describes his trial before Pontius Pilate which sets his kingship against the Roman Empire.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Jesus was more political than we expected.
- Jesus relates politics or government in a way that we can imitate.
- Political leaders neither understand nor submit to Jesus’ authority.
- Jesus’ political vision and authority are the grounds of our ultimate hope.
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Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing
In this episode, we go back to the beginning, to Genesis, and establish some of the history and theology of government. The legitimacy of government rests on its connection with God's authority. We try to make that connection in this conversation.
NOTES:
The Biblical texts we cited include:
Genesis 1:26-28 -- Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Genesis 9:1-7 -- And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. 7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, teem on the earth and multiply in it."
Deuteronomy 16:18-20 -- 18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
2 Samuel 7:16 -- And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.'"
1 Chronicles 29:11-13 -- Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
Daniel 2:20-23 -- 20 Daniel answered and said:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. 21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 he reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. 23 To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
Romans 13:1-7 -- Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this, you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- God Rules
- God delegates rule to various systems and people.
- Our system of government is not in the Bible but accounts for theological ideas from the Bible, namely depravity and the dignity of the individual.
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In this episode, we take a look at some of the verses that mention the United States in them...yes, you are right. The United States isn't in the Bible. But, it is among the nations, and the nations are in the Bible. Listen to what the Bible says about our God and his relationship to the nations. See if it doesn't help you not to fear. The simple takeaway is this: Do Not Fear!
NOTES:
- Psalm 2 -- Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
- Psalm 9:19-20 -- Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before you! 20 Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah
- Psalm 10:16 -- The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.
- Psalm 22:27-28 -- All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
- Psalm 33:10 -- The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
- Psalm 46:6-10 -- The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 10 "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"
- Psalm 47:7-9 -- For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! 8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!
- Psalm 59:7-8 -- There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips-- for "Who," they think, "will hear us?" 8 But you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision.
- Psalm 66:6-7 -- There did we rejoice in him, 7 who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations-- let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
- Psalm 82:8 -- Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
- Psalm 86:8-10 -- There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. 9 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. 10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
- Psalm 113:3-6 -- From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised! 4 The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! 5 Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, 6 who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
- Psalm 115:2-3 -- Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" 3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
- Isaiah 40:15-17 -- Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
- Isaiah 42:1-3, 5-9 -- Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."
- Isaiah 52:13-15 -- Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14 As many were astonished at you-- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind-- 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
- Daniel 7:13-14 -- "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
- Malachi 1:11 -- For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. (All verses in ESV version).
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- A Christian who believes in the God of the Bible has no reason to fear.
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In this episode, we attempt to learn from Jesus about how to have a political conversation. Jesus raises the stakes and plays chess while his opponents play checkers. Is there a way that we can use the same board and play a different game?
NOTES:
The episode comes from Scott's recent sermon on Matthew 22:15-22:
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" 21 They said, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Shrug -- Patrick Schreiner, in his book Political Gospel, describes Jesus' response to the Pharisees as a "shrug." We thought that was a good way to think of your political response.
- "In the shadow of Rome, their most subversive act was not to oppose Rome but to deny its principal significance...Jesus didn't seek to unseat Caesar; he willingly went to a Roman cross...Jesus was asked the most politically charged question of the day: whether Jews should be complicit to Rome by paying taxes to Ceasar. He didn't respond by flying off the rail at their abuse of power. He also didn't speak in a soft and hushed voice, fearing their authority. Instead, he subverted their power -- not by calling for a boycott, but by shrugging: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God." We need to learn from this tactic. We are partially complicit in granting too much power to the current governmental systems by our feverish responses. By manically and incessantly speaking of them, we hand them the scepter." (p.208)
- Shrugging takes practice.
- Here are some differences between chess and checkers moves:
- Checkers is a move that can be described as partisan.
- Checkers starts by playing for America. If you play the game so America wins, even if you bring in Religion, then you are playing checkers.
- Chess starts by playing for the kingdom. Jesus invites you to play the same game whether you are playing in Brazil or China or America. His game has to do with his Kingdom.
- Checkers is complaining.
- Checkers is played in the news cycle.
- Chess emphasizes the kingdom.
- Chess strives to love your neighbor when the checkers game would label them an enemy.
- Chess seeks the city's welfare even if you are losing the culture war.
- Many of your chess moves are not in the realm of politics.
- Chess is proclaiming King Jesus and paying your taxes.
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What a privilege to talk with Kaitlyn Schiess in the studio today! She was in town and made time for us. We are honored to talk with her about her new book, The Ballot and the Bible: How the Bible has been used and abused in American politics and where we go from here. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.
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We have had some conversations recently that have made us ask, "How can I know something is true?" This is especially true when someone claims to know the "real story" about a news event. What separates real news from false news? In this episode we discuss how you can know something is true. Some people call it epistemology.
NOTES:
We mentioned a website for kids that helps them discern what is true. Find it here. It asks three questions: Who said it? What is the evidence? Do you want to believe it? (If so, go back and ask the first two again).
We also talked about Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Christians care about truth because Jesus is the truth:
- John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- We are encouraged to think about true things:
- Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
- Then, we talked about the CRAAP Test:
- Currency: The timeliness of the information.
- Relevance: The importance and applicability of the information to your needs.
- Authority: The source's credibility and the qualifications of the author.
- Accuracy: The reliability and truthfulness of the information.
- Purpose: The author's intentions and potential biases in presenting the information.
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During last week's webinar, one-quarter of the questions could be summarized with this question, "When do I not need to obey? This is a question about Civil Disobedience. Civil Disobedience is a last resort.
NOTES:
We are indebted to David Innes and his book Christ and the Kingdoms of Men for help with this topic. You can listen to our interview with Dr. Innes here.
We also found some helpful articles:
https://knowingscripture.com/articles/romans-13-civil-disobedience-to-unconstitutional-unjust-laws#1
http://www.ethos.org.au/online-resources/blog/christians-and-principles-of-civil-disobedience
https://www.gty.org/library/articles/A120/can-christians-participate-in-civil-disobedience (Note: John MacArthur seems to have changed his position on this. At least during the COVID -19 crisis he did not follow this article.)
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Can the democratic process resolve the issue?
- Christians should bend over backward to submit.
- And, submit until you can't.
- Is obeying this law breaking the law of God?
- Direct disobedience disobeys the law in question. Indirect disobedience disobeys a different law to draw attention to the injustice of the law in question.
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Scott was privileged to lead the first webinar for CV Northwest on the topic of The Church and Politics. They gave us permission to publish the audio here, too. You can watch the video version of the webinar here. Scott asserts that the church needs to be political disciples of Jesus.
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We realized we rushed last week and didn't apply the lessons from history. So in this episode we try to pull some lessons from the flyover of history we did in the last episode.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
Here are the lessons we pulled out of our conversation last week.
- Be humble. We’re all men of our times.
- Political machinery can’t solve soul problems.
- History is shaped by religion and belief.
- History/politics is more complex than we realize.
- We all have baggage that we don’t recognize.
- The lines have not been clear enough between God’s kingdom and the kingdoms of the earth.
- The church is not in service to the government. The point of religion is not to make men moral.
- Civil religion is not Christianity.
- The church is not a voting bloc. And it cannot become that.
- This is not the worst time in American History.
- Yes, the scripture is the answer, but it is not flexible in service of my viewpoint.
- Our temptations are not different than they have been before. The short-term temptation of power is always present.
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This week we take a quick look at 2000 years of church/state relations. Our goal is not to give the definitive answer on any one period, but to highlight the fact that there has always been challenges between the church and the state. It should provide a big dose of humility.
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In this episode, we go back to talking about words again. We talk about church and state, and then the separation of church and state.
NOTES:
Thomas Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association
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We recap 2023 in this episode and look forward to 2024. We trust the new year will be a one in which the church stands firm in the face of high political winds of the coming election.
We will take a couple weeks off over the holidays and return on January 8.
NOTES:
Aeric enjoyed Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking People Made the Modern World by Daniel Hannan.
Scott is doing a webinar for Venture Church Network and CV Northwest on January 3, 2024 at 12:00 Noon PST. Anyone can jump on, I believe. Here is the link.
Here is a link to the Western Seminary class Scott is teaching (Scroll down to ML570)
.
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We are so excited to have Dr. David Koyzis, author of We Answer to Another: Authority, Office, and the Image of God as our first return guest! We loved his book, Political Visions and Illusions, and talked with him about that earlier (listen here). He delivers gold again in this conversation about authority!
Dr. David Koyzis is an experienced theologian who taught for 30 years at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, and is currently a Global Scholar with Global Scholars Canada. David is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and the Canada 150 Flamborough-Glanbrook Nation Builder Award in 2017.
He earned a Ph.D. in Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s in Political Theory at Toronto’s Institute for Christian Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Koyzis has authored We Answer to Another: Authority, Office, and the Image of God and Political Visions and Illusions: A Survey and Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies. He has another book coming out in November of 2024, so you can expect us to talk with him again.
Dr. Koyzis blogs at http://byzantinecalvinist.blogspot.com.
He records music (!) at https://genevanpsalter.blogspot.com
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Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
Today we recognized that our failure to communicate has little to do with our wives, but everything to do with whether or not we are clear about what we mean by what we say. In other words, do we use words in a way that is clear and not easily misunderstood? This led us to do an episode on definitions and the meaning of words.
NOTES:
Aeric referred to a book by Chris Stirewalt, Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
We explored the definitions of...
- Politics
- Partisan
- Right and Left
- Progressive
- Liberal
- Conservative
- Nationalist
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In this episode, we remember what got us started with City on a Hill.
Scott is going to teach a class on the church and politics. We thought we would pass along some of the content from the class as we develop it. These stories remind us why this is such an important conversation to have.
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Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is at the top of our favorite holiday list!
NOTES:
Here is Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation.
Here is the article about the Mother of Thanksgiving and Abraham Lincoln.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Giving thanks is a command from the Lord. And, we have so much to be thankful for! Don't let any opportunity go by without give thanks.
- Thanksgiving is one Christian idea that mixes with difficulty with the American narrative. Colonialism and imperialism were already present in the earliest thanksgiving. U.S. History with Native Americans does not necessarily reflect Christian values.
- Abraham Lincoln's proclamation called for contrition and repentance rather than feasting. He, of course, was in the midst of the Civil War. Humility will always become God's people.
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We are pleased to welcome Scot McKnight on the podcast today. He is here to discuss his book, Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple.
Dr. McKnight was born in Southern Illinois, came of age in Freeport, Illinois, attended college in Grand Rapids, MI, seminary at Trinity in Deerfield, IL. Did a PhD at the University of Nottingham in England. He has been a professor of more than four decades and written numerous books.
We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.
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We have had more requests to talk about Israel than we have for any other topic. So, today we cave in to the pressure. We hope our conversation about Israel helps you discern at least how to think about current events in Israel from a Biblical perspective.
NOTES:
The book Scott quoted, Dispensationalism Today, is unavailable, even on Amazon!
You can find Lewis Sperry Chafer's influential Systematic Theology here.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- The name "Israel" is used in many ways in the Bible and outside. Make sure you know what you mean when you use it and what the Bible means when it uses the word Israel.
- Dispensationalism is a doctrinal framework that sees Israel and the Church as distinct and posits an eschatological future for the nation-state of Israel. This makes the formation of the modern nation-state of Israel to be extremely important in Biblical prophecy.
- There is no direct connection between Israel of the Old Testament, the covenant people of God, and the modern state of Israel.
- Genesis 12:1-3 is the pivotal text: Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
- Galatians 3: 14-16 identifies the fulfilment of that promise in Jesus: so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. 15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ.
- Here are other verses that suggest Jesus fulfills the promises of the Old Testament:
- Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Mat 5:17 ESV)
- For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Rom 10:4 ESV)
- For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory (2Co 1:20 ESV)
- Revelation promises a new Jerusalem where Jesus will reign: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
- So what are we to do?
- Lament evil and war.
- Pray for all involved.
- Avoid seeing this conflict as a Biblical one.Do not see this as the impending fulfilment of some prophecy.
- Pray for the salvation of souls through the death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 9:1-5) and for Jesus to return soon.
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Just when Aeric began to be depressed about the coming election, he realized that the problem was partially of his making and that he had some responsibility. In this episode, we spend a few minutes trying to encourage listeners that you have more power than you think.
NOTES:
Here is a summary of Stephen Covey's Circle of Influence.
Here is our episode on Social Capital and Intermediate Institutions.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Take your vote seriously.
- Take responsibility. You are not a victim of the system.
- Steward the influence you have in other areas of life, your social capital.
- Act within your circle of influence and your influence will expand.
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Separation of Church and State is one of the central topics Christians think about when they think about politics. Today we talk about what separation is and isn't. We also address why it matters more than you think.
NOTES:
Here is the First Amendment.
Here is Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of 1802.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Church differed from the state in the most fundamental way. We proclaim and live under the rule of a different king.
- God’s work in the world is through the church now, not through a nation-state. If there is an heir to God's work in the world through Israel, it is the church not the nation of America.
- The Church and State are different spheres. Each is ordained by God for His purposes.
- The Church and the State share common intermediate ends. Both fight evil. Both desire good, even morality.
- The Church has a very different ultimate end than the State. The Church must proclaim Jesus as risen king. That is subversive to the ends of the State. Therefore, they must be separate!
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In this episode, we talk about Biblical Justice. A few weeks ago we talked to Will Lathrop, candidate for Attorney General in Oregon. He mentioned the difference between social justice, criminal justice, and biblical justice.
NOTES:
We are deeply indebted to Tim Keller's thinking and work on this topic. Here is the article that formed the basis of our discussion: https://quarterly.gospelinlife.com/a-biblical-critique-of-secular-justice-and-critical-theory/
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
Keller discussed five aspects of Biblical Justice:
- Community:
- Equity:
- Corporate Responsibility:
- Individual Responsibility:
- Advocacy:
What is one thing you can do today to promote Biblical Justice in your sphere of influence?
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In this episode, we talk about how we might teach or disciple our children politically. Politics has split families in these past few years. How can you approach the politics on the front end in a way that will build your family rather than destroy it?
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 encourages parents to be genuine and always on the job of training their children:
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- Remind your children that Jesus is king. Over and Over.
- Help them find their tribe in the church.
- Don't lead your family out of fear.
- Model how to submit.
- Model how to interact with those who disagree.
- Be a person they talk to about life, so politics is not out of bounds.
- Guard your news and political intake and by extension guard theirs.
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In this episode, we begin to think about how we might interact with the sins of our fathers. Our guest last week got us thinking about how we interact with sins that others have done before us. Some are done by people we are related to. Others shape the places we live. Others are by institutions we are responsible for. We talk about how we process those sins.
NOTES:
Our interview last week with Sarah Sanderson, author of The Place We Make: Breaking the Legacy of Legalized Hate started us thinking about this topic.
Psalm 106:6-8 is one of many scriptures that talks about the sins of our fathers.
Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. 7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make known his mighty power.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS
- We think of sin as exclusively individual when the Bible and many cultures throughout treat sins as corporate.
- Identifying with the sins of my fathers is an exercise in humility. One of God's ordained ways to cultivate humility is identifying with sins of your fathers.
- Two options are open to you beyond ignoring sin.
- You can lament sin that is distant from you. Make it clear it is wrong or evil and express your sadness and regret at the consequences of it. Ask God to heal it. "How long oh Lord" is a refrain of lament.
- Or, you can confess those sins that you identify with most closely.
- Differentiate between sins done in the name of Jesus and sins that are committed by others.
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In this episode, we interview Sarah Sanderson, author of The Place We Make: Breaking the Legacy of Legalized Hate. We enjoyed a very fun conversation about a tragic historical event that happened within walking distance of our recording studio. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as we did.
Sarah L. Sanderson holds a master of fine arts in creative nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University, a master’s in teaching from Seattle University, and a bachelor of English and philosophy from Wheaton College. For the past eight years, she and her family—including her husband, their four children, her brother, and the family’s two dogs—have made their home in Oregon. These days, her pursuits include writing, speaking, teaching creative writing, learning to pray, and building a beloved community.
NOTES:
Here is the relevant text from the Oregon State Constitution:
No free Negro, or Mulatto, not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall come, reside, or be within this state, or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any suit therein; and the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws, for the removal, by public officers, of all such Negroes, and Mulattos, and for their effectual exclusion from the state, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the state, or employ, or harbor them. —amendment to the Oregon State Constitution, 1857, Oregon State Archives
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In this episode, we take another look at the ways people bend scripture to support their points of view. The number one most referenced chapters in published sermons during the hundred years leading up to the Revolutionary War were Judges 4-5. The Curse of Meroz was the highlight of those sermons.
NOTES:
The book that prompted this episode is Sacred Scripture, Sacred War by James P. Byrd.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
You are performing a biblical gyration when you:
- Don’t know what something means, but apply it to your life anyway (in any way you choose). The curse of Meroz fits here. No one knows what it was or anything about Meroz.
- Decide we are them. We, of course, decide that we are the good guys. Israel most likely. And someone else, like England, stands in for Egypt.
- Determine he is the man. Any linkage between a person today and a biblical character is completely arbitrary, like former president Trump and King Cyrus.
Again, read the Bible for what it says, not for what you want it to say or what you hope it will say.
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Last week our guest, Will Lathrop, challenged us to pray. He listed that as the first thing Christians could do for justice. We are taking that challenge seriously and reminding you all again that prayer is your best political tool.
NOTES:
- PRAY YOU LIVE GODLY LIVES WITHOUT IMPEDIMENT BY ENVIRONMENT/GOVERNMENT First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1–4.
- PRAY FOR THE CITY 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29:7.
- PRAY THE RULER WILL BE MOVED. The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. Proverbs 21:1.
- PRAY THE RULER WILL BE REMOVED! Daniel 2:21 - He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
- PRAY GOD’S CHARACTER IS REFLECTED IN LEADERSHIP OR POLICIES, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6–7.
- PRAY THAT YOU CAN BE SUBMISSIVE Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. Titus 3:1–2.
- PRAY GOD WOULD PUT YOUR HOPE, AFFECTION, AND LONGING ON HIS KINGSHIP 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:6–7.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
Which do you think will be more effective, praying without action or action without praying?
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In this episode, we interview Will Lathrop, a candidate for Oregon Attorney General in 2024. We found his answers to several questions to be very helpful. We hope you enjoy meeting him as much as we did.
NOTES:
You can follow and support Will in these places:
- Website: www.willlathrop.com
- Facebook: @WillLathropOregon
- Twitter: @LathropWill
Learn about the International Justice Mission.
Isaiah 1:16 -18 -- Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. 18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Will suggested a simple way ordinary people could work for justice was to serve as a CASA.
Will distinguished between Social Justice, Criminal Justice, and Biblical Justice.
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In this episode, we take an overview of Revelation to see that it must be read looking for the risen Jesus and the comfort of his church. How do you read Revelation if not looking for the antichrist and the signs of the times? We have a few suggestions...
NOTES:
Against my better judgment, here is a link to the Thief in the Night movie on YouTube. You can, of course, find the Left Behind movie or books pretty easily as well.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
Here are some things to keep in mind while reading Revelation:
- This is the Revelation of Jesus. Look for him.
- Revelation was meant to have an impact when you listen to it read, even before you study it. (Revelation 1:3)
- Numbers are important.
- Revelation draws from Old Testament images and pictures.
- More is going on in Revelation than meets the eye. Beasts intermingle with earthly kings as though you cannot distinguish one from the other. The first-century readers would not have understood hard boundaries between the physical and the spiritual worlds.
- Revelation was written to comfort a persecuted church. It was a support to them to help them persevere.
- Revelation is political because it exposes the spiritual powers behind world leaders.
Do you read Revelation for comfort, or does it scare you?
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In this episode, Scott could no longer postpone Aeric's exposition of Aquinas and his philosophy of four-fold goodness. Seriously though, it is a very helpful way to think about the decisions and the activities we engage in. What makes something good?
NOTES:
This episode was born after Aeric read A Treatise on Happiness by Thomas Aquinas.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
The four perspectives on goodness that Aquinas used are:
- Genus (Category): In general, is the thing you are doing good in and of itself?
- Species (Specifics): Is this specific instance good? Are the specific choices here good?
- Accidents (Attributes and Circumstances): Is there a unique context that would make this otherwise good action bad?
- Ends (Goals and Purposes): Is this action done for the right reasons?
Where do your decisions tend to go off the rails?
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If you should approach the scripture without the biases of the Revolution or Civil War, how should you approach it?
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- Read your Bible within a community.
- Be afraid to be wrong in interpretation. Be humble!
- Be aware of your own context.
- What did this mean to the first readers? It can’t mean something to you that it didn’t mean to them. The original meaning guides your Interpretation.
- Can you draw a straight line from the meaning of the text to the application?
- How does the church today have the same Bible reading problems as the Revolution or Civil Wars?
- Our treatment of Scripture still hinges on the same issues:
- Is there something special in God’s design for America? Or, is God’s special relationship with the church? (Covenantal relationship?)
- Are we misreading end-times to justify our opinions today?
- Are we parroting what other people are saying about issues and texts?
- Are we interpreting the Bible individually granting our view of it the same or greater authority as tradition and history?
- How do you see Romans 13?
- Are we disregarding the image of God in people?
- Our treatment of Scripture still hinges on the same issues:
- How could you read the Bible politically well?
- The Gospel is the good news that Jesus is King.
- If that is the message of the Bible, it IS political!
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In this episode, we discuss how the Bible was used in churches, by ministers on both sides, to inflame political fervor during the Civil War!
NOTES:
Here are the two books that motivated this episode.
- The Civil War as a Theological Crisis by Mark Noll
- A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood by James P. Byrd
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- Both sides of the Civil War tried to lay claim to the Patriot's heritage. Both used Scripture to tie into the Spirit of the Revolution.
- The same issues that colored Biblical interpretation in the time of the Revolution colored interpretation in the Civil War. The belief that America had a special place in God's program or a special relationship to him and an anti-authoritarian bias.
- The Bible could not settle the matter of slavery. The South relied on individual passages of Scripture as proof the Bible approved of slavery. The abolitionist relied on more general theology, like the implications of the image of God, to prove the evils of slavery.
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In this episode, we discuss how the Bible was used in churches, by ministers, to inflame political fervor for a revolution!
NOTES:
Here are the two books that motivated this episode.
- Sacred Scripture, Sacred War by James P. Byrd
- A Holy Baptism of Fire and Blood by James P. Byrd
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- Both great wars followed after Great Awakenings. The genuine religious experiences are something to be thankful for, to be sure. Both awakenings centered on individual experience and resulted in privatizing Bible interpretation. Both were, to a degree, anti-institutional. The First Great Awakening bypassed the traditional churches and the second majored on camp meetings.
- Ministers during the Revolutionary era equated America with Israel and saw the conflict with Britain in Apocalyptic terms.
- What can you do?
- Read your Bible.
- Beware of your own context.
- What did this mean to the first readers? It can’t mean something to you that it didn’t mean to them.
- Can you draw a straight line from the meaning of the text to their application?
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In this episode, we discuss Roger Williams's contribution to our understanding of church and state and how he shaped the liberal imagination.
NOTES:
Bonus fact: Our wives are descendants of Roger Williams! So we have a vested interest in his story.
- Here is the book that Aeric read: Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty
- Find out more about Roger Williams here or here or here .
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- The church argued over things that seem to us as minor things. Chances are someone will say that about our arguments in years to come!
- Colonists fled an established church and created another in Massachusetts Bay. It was all they knew!
- Roger Williams' key ideas were the separation of Church and State and the Freedom of Conscience. Because you could not coerce someone's conscience in matters of religion he felt the state could not require religious affiliations. It would, in his mind, compromise the genuine nature of a religious belief.
- This fostered liberalism as we know it. The individual is supreme.
- The legacy of this freedom of conscience has bred a fierce individualism so that in matters of the state, or church, or other institution, the individual is central and most important.
- We should all humbly recognize that our ideas, even our good ones, can bring about outcomes that are not good.
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In this episode, we talk about what is at stake for the church in politics -- namely, that people will draw their first opinions about Jesus from how his followers engage in politics. Between how the "evangelical church" is reported on by media and how people actually mistreat one another it is hard to find people who have a positive opinion of the church.
You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.
NOTES:
What is at stake here?
- Unity -- By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35 ESV)
- What is Jesus like? -- For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. (Joh 13:15 ESV) People SHOULD figure out what Jesus is like by what Christians are like.
- Character/Moral Authority of the church
- Identity -- Is identifying with Jesus more compelling than being Republican or Democrat?
- If Christians prioritize politics in the same way as everyone else in the world, onlookers cannot help but draw the conclusion that we don’t have anything better to offer than anyone else.
- Combining Christianity and Politics would lead the uninitiated to equate a certain political position with Christianity, further confusing that first impression.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- Assume people have an opinion of Jesus formed by popular media.
- Each person you talk with will either see Jesus as for their political ideals or against them.
- They will likely have a low level of trust in the followers of Jesus because of their political behavior.
- People really need "normal" Christian friends like you!
- Pause before every comment on social media, or every forwarded article, or every conversation, and realize the reputation of Jesus is at stake in your interaction.
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In this episode, we struggle to admit another election cycle is upon us. Then, we talk about what someone might to do help others grow as disciples in a politically divided environment.
NOTES:
Here are the verses we mentioned in this episode:
- Matthew 28:18-20 -- 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
- Proverbs 21:1 -- The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.
- Isaiah 40: 22-23 -- It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
- Psalm 100: 3, 5 -- Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
- Revelation 21:1-6 -- Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also, he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
- 1 Peter 1:3-5 -- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- We offered some suggestions on how you can help others focus on Jesus and not on the partisan nature of the elections.
- Listen, ask questions. That will surprise everyone!
- Point them to Jesus as their king.
- Humbly set aside your partisan or political opinions in conversation. Don't confuse what is yours as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and what is American.
- Be okay saying, "I don't know."
- Use some of the verses above to deal with FEAR.
- Use some of the verses above to remind them of HOPE.
- Keep learning.
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Scott is back from his sabbatical. In this episode, we catch up on what we've learned in the past few months and the books we've read.
NOTES:
Here are the books we mentioned in this episode:
- Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity by Lilliana Mason
- The New Reformation: Finding Hope in the Fight for Ethnic Unity by Shai Linne
- Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump by John Fea
- The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas (Five Volumes)
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- We are working on a seminar for churches that will help them navigate the next political cycle in a way that honors Jesus. We'd appreciate your feedback very much if you have any feedback.
- After listening to City on a Hill for a while, what do churches need to think about in the Spring and Summer of 2024 to handle the elections as citizens of a heavenly kingdom?
- We think it should be live. Would an online course work?
- Do you have thoughts about what a church leader would need to bring a seminar like this to their church?
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Scott is on sabbatical so we highlighted short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
Matthew 28: 16-20 -- Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
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Scott is on sabbatical so we highlighted short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
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Scott is on sabbatical so we highlighted short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
American Christianity has a hard time discerning what is American and what is Christian. Two of the simplest tools to help with this are time and space -- or history and geography.
Did the church at another time struggle with these same things? How does the church around the world deal with our questions?
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Scott is on sabbatical so we highlighted short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
Matthew 16:21-23 -- From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
You cannot accomplish heaven's ends by resorting to earthly means.
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Scott is on sabbatical so we highlighted short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
Matthew 22:15-21 -- Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
The action of the church is submission. The message of the church is subversive. There is another king besides Caesar!
We appreciate Patrick Schreiner highlighting these two words. Here is our interview with him.
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Scott is on sabbatical so we highlighted short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
Philippians 4:8 -- Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Your identity is formed by what you repeatedly think about. Your actions are formed by your identity, who you are.
The church is being discipled by what it listens to, and that may be news, podcasts, TV, or any number of things that take her away from trust in Christ!
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Scott is on sabbatical so we highlighted short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
Matthew 22:34-40. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
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Scott is on sabbatical so we are highlighting short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
1 Timothy 2:1-7 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
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Scott is on sabbatical so we aimed to highlight short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
2 Corinthians 11:2-4 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. (2Co 11:2-4 ESV)
Galatians 1:6-7 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. (Gal 1:6-7 ESV)
People believe the promises of many lesser gospels: Prosperity, Security, Nationalism, Liberalism, Socialism, and more. We have had several episodes that have highlighted the danger of idolatry or faith in false gospels.
Here is our interviews with Kaitlyn Schiess and Dr. David Koyzis, both about false gospels.
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Scott is on sabbatical so we aimed to highlight short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
Jeremiah 29:4-7 -- 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
1 Peter 2:9-11 -- 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
2 Corinthians 5:14-21 -- For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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Scott is on sabbatical so we aimed to highlight short thoughts that will help the church remain faithful in public life.
NOTES:
Matthew 4:17 -- From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Hebrews 12:28 -- Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
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Join us as we discuss the ever-challenging obligation of having a good attitude when it comes to paying taxes!
Key verses today were:
- Matthew 22:15-22 is the classic text about what Jesus thinks about taxes.
- Romans 13 addresses taxes and governmental authority.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
What to keep in mind when you pay taxes:
- Taxes are for the common good. They are part of your doing good to your city. Jeremiah 29:7.
- Not paying your taxes is NOT an effective way of political protest.
- Paying taxes is one of the ways you submit to God. You can trust him for the things your tax money is used for that you don't agree with.
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This Easter more Christians will gather to celebrate the risen King Jesus than ever before! Those worship services will, among other things, be political statements that Jesus is the true king.
NOTES:
Key verses today were:
- Revelation 21:5 -7 And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6 And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
- Ephesians 1:19-23 According to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
- Colossians 2:13-15 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
- Romans 8:31-39 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
Three impacts the resurrection should have on you and your politics:
- Don't Fear!
- Your future does NOT depend on who you elect. You already have a great, powerful, and good king!
- Jesus will not be "used" by other politicians for their ends.
- No spiritual power nor any political power can stop the resurrected king!
Christus Victor is a perspective on the atonement that is too often overlooked. You can read more about it here.
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In this episode, we talk about what will happen if we continue to allow certainty to substitute for truth.
NOTES:
If we have learned anything in recent decades, it is that we should not roll out heavy-handed political movements that recklessly toss around God-and-country clichés and scare off our secular neighbors. Our goal is not to grab power and impose our views. Instead, we should act through principled persuasion and responsible participation.
Chuck ColsonOur key verses were:
- 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
Three results of desiring certainty at the expense of truth:
- Uncritical confirmation bias
- We all look for confirmation for what we already believe.
- Unfounded moral conviction
- We will have more conviction than is warranted because it comes to us with certainty.
- Misplaced group identity
- We will sort into tribes based on levels of certainty
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In this episode, we talk about the implications of what it means to be secular as the church approaches the public square. We are greatly helped by James K. A. Smith's book, How Not to be Secular.
NOTES:
In addition to the Smith book, you can read the original Charles Taylor's book, A Secular Age. Another we found helpful was Collin Hansen's book, Our Secular Age.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- Taylor's definition of secular: Taylor’s notion of the secular as an age of contested belief, where religious belief is no longer axiomatic. It’s possible to imagine not believing in God.
- The church can be secular without even realizing it.
- Christians must learn to interact with a secular public square without becoming secular themselves.
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In this episode, we consider the question, Is Christian Nationalism a noble lie? While I'm sure none of our listeners would ever consider lying, it sometimes happens in ways you don't think about.
NOTES:
Definition -- In Plato's The Republic, a noble lie is a myth or a lie knowingly propagated by an elite to maintain social harmony.[1]
Aeric talked about Socrates. Scott thought he was talking about So-Crates from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. We thought they needed a shout-out.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- Why would someone tell this story?
- Unifying: is it a story that would unite people?
- Morality: We know America must be moral to function.
- Power: If this country was a Christian country, it makes sense that Christians should exercise power to keep in on course.
- Privilege: If this country was a Christian country, Christians were and should still be privileged.
- Human Flourishing: We really do believe that being rightly related to God is the key to human flourishing and we really do want that for our country.
- Putting an adjective (noble) in front of a lie doesn't make it okay.
- We cannot expect to get God's ends by dishonest means.
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I'm confident you will enjoy our conversation with Kaitlyn Schiess as much as we did! She is our guest for what is our second-anniversary episode! It was a great way to celebrate two years of the City on a Hill podcast. Kaitlyn is a colleague in helping the church represent Jesus in its public life! We are glad she joined us today!
NOTES:
It seems like Kaitlyn is everywhere!
Kaitlyn is a writer, author, and a ThD student at Duke Divinity School studying political theology, ethics, and biblical interpretation. She graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2021 with a ThM in systematic theology.
She is the author of The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor, released with InterVarsity Press in September 2020. She has a book coming out with Brazos Press in August of 2023, The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from Here.
She has written about theology, politics, and culture at places like Christianity Today, The New York Times, Christ and Pop Culture, CT Women, RELEVANT, Sojourners, Fathom, and the Christian Research Journal. She has also contributed to this New York Times piece and this HuffPost piece. She wrote a chapter about political theology, Augustine, and conspiracy theories for a forthcoming Eerdmans book, QAnon, Chaos, and the Cross, releasing in May 2023.
She is a co-host of the Holy Post podcast. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram, too. She really is everywhere!
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- Kaitlyn reminds us that we are formed by what we repeatedly do and what we are repeatedly exposed to.
- Christians believe other stories that substitute for the true gospel. Beware!
- Different generations experience the intersection of church and politics differently.
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In this episode, we consider Jesus walking on water. The disciples either trusted Jesus or were fearful. They didn't have many options in between. When you look at our world do you see a storm? What will it take for you to trust Jesus instead of fear the storm?
NOTES:
You can find the gospel retelling of Jesus walking on water in Matthew 14:22–33.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
- Beware of Christian ministries who solicit support or funds by whipping up fear. They are doing the work of the storm not the work of Jesus.
- Find counselors who increase your courage rather than increase your fear.
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In this episode, we talk about American Exceptionalism. America is exceptional. If the reasons for that exceptionalism bleed into a divine mandate or blessing, it reflects confusion about what the City on a Hill is all about.
NOTES:
Some helpful links:
- https://www.heritage.org/american-founders/commentary/why-american-exceptionalism-different-other-countries-nationalisms
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism
- https://www.pewresearch.org/2006/05/09/the-problem-of-american-exceptionalism/
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
The definition of American Exceptionalism is important. America is exceptional because of our system, our people, our natural resources, and probably many other reasons -- Not because it was endowed by Christian founders with Christian principles which gave it favored status with God.
American Exceptionalism is different than nationalism. See our previous episodes on nationalism:
- Nationalism as an Ideology
- Christian Nationalism Part 1
- Christian Nationalism Part 2
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In this episode, we talk about the political nature of the gospel and of the church. Could it be the church is not political enough?
NOTES:
Key Verse -- Isaiah 9:6-7
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
RECAP/TAKEAWAYS:
How might the church be more political?
- They could identify their message as a gospel heralding another king.
- They could identify with a kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, that does not fly the same flag as the local post office.
- They could see themselves as ambassadors or representatives of that other kingdom -- full-time! Recognize everything they do reflects on their true homeland. If they approach earthly politics in a way that reflects the kingdom of heaven, then it becomes larger and more significant than candidates, policies, and parties.
- They could be alert for differences in values and the ways of operating between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdoms of this year. One is poor in spirit, and the other is proud. One is meek, one is powerful. And so it goes.
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In this episode, Aeric brings his Great Conversations reading to City on a Hill! Is stoicism a viable ideology for Christians?
NOTES:
Epictetus is a Stoic philosopher whose ideas are very, very common today.
Epictetus quotes:
- “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will. ”
- “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems”
- “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”
- “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Stoicism may be helpful for an individual who is facing adversity but it fails when you have any kind of team or community.
- Like modern liberalism, stoicism focuses on the individual and defines freedom as individual expression and the absence of external constraints.
- Love and community depend on constraints.
- Stoicism, like so many ideologies we have examined, fails to account for enough of reality to be a viable ideology to live by.
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In this episode, we extrapolate from Aeric's C-SPAN addiction. Before the House of Representatives elected a speaker (which was also a spectacle) C-SPAN operated in the House without House rules. They did not have a fixed camera. We gave some thought to how this might change the government itself as well as our perception of it.
NOTES:
Key Bible verses today were Philippians 4:8-9 and Mark 12:29-31.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- We need to discern when we are watching to learn or discover and when we are seeking to be entertained.
- When a camera is on it changes reality. Authenticity can be performed for the camera.
- If legislators began to perform for the camera it would change their ability to do their job.
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In this episode, we remind listeners to pray and not to complain about their government leaders. In fact, praying for them might be a good New Year's Resolution, if you are into that kind of thing!
NOTES:
Our key Bible verses were 1 Timothy 2:1-4: First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Other verses we included were:
Romans 13:1-5
2 Thessalonians 3:1-2
Colossians 4:2-4
Philippians 4:5-7
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Why: Because the Bible tells us to. Because we have a great high priest. Because it is good for the leaders. Because it is good for you.
- Who: Find out who the leaders are in your city, county, state, and country.
- When: Set a time. Aeric has a recurring event in his calendar to remind him to pray.
- Where: Find a regular place. Aeric’s trigger event for reading his Bible is starting to brew his coffee in the morning. His trigger event for prayer is driving to work. That first drive is the "where" of prayer.
- What: Pray for decisions that leaders make so that you will have a peaceful and quiet life. Pray that each one has wisdom. Pray that you can submit. Pray for mercy and grace. Pray for their salvation.
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NOTES:
We highlighted three key Bible passages today.
Hebrews 11:10 -- For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Hebrews 12: 28-29 -- Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Colossians 3:1-4 -- If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- If your identity is in a kingdom of this world that can be shaken, you will ultimately end up insecure.
- We tell ourselves stories to understand who we are.
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We are pleased to welcome Dr. David Innes on the podcast today. He is the author of Scott's most highlighted book of 2022, Christ and the Kingdom of Men: Foundations of Political Life.
NOTES:
By day David is a professor of Politics at Kings College.
By night he is a prolific author. He has written Christ and the Kingdoms of Men: Foundations of Political Life and The Voting Christian. He has also written about Francis Bacon and the Christian Citizen. He has not one, but two Amazon Author pages.
Here is his CV. He writes regularly for World Magazine.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Government is built into creation: The sun rules the day and the moon rules the night.
- Civil Government is under God. It is for your good. Its purpose is to secure life, the conditions for human prospering, and secure spiritual flourishing.
- Tyranny is using public authority for private advantage.
- American government comes from three streams:
- A Christian stream.
- A classical stream.
- An Enlightenment stream.
- The problem of government is how to invest it with enough authority to accomplish God's purpose and keep it from having too much authority so it abuses its authority.
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We are pleased to have Dylan Pahman on our podcast this episode. We had a great conversation with Paul about his book and how Christians can apply economic thinking to their Christian faith.
NOTES:
Dylan Pahman is a research fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty, where he serves as executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality. He is the author of the book Foundations of a Free & Virtuous Society (Acton 2017).
His academic research can be found here: https://acton.academia.edu/DylanPahman
He blogs here: https://everydayasceticism.com/
He is working on a series on Orthodox social thought: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/every-thought-captive/author/dylanpahman/
You can hear more of him on Acton’s current events podcast, Acton Unwind, where he is a "semi-regular" host: https://www.acton.org/actonunwind
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- “Life is economic, but economics is not all of life.”
- Economics is the study of how to allocate scarce goods for specific ends. It involves exchanges, and thereby, requires risk.
- His view of economics must take into account the inherent dignity of human beings, which he derives from Genesis 1:26-27.
- Economics is therefore moral and theological by nature.
- Handouts are needed primarily when it is life-and-death, say, after a natural disaster. Beyond that, an interaction that includes an exchange would generally be preferable.
- He encourages churches to find creative ways to do more than mere handouts.
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The mid-term election is over and Aeric did not win. But, we did learn a few things. Here are a few of our reflection on the experience.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
SCOTT’S learnings:
So many things were out of Aeric’s (or any candidate's control).
The underlying numbers of Republican and Democrat voters in the district was a given that shaped the whole district and made the race hard to win.
The Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade overshadowed this election in a way that no one foresaw.
The world at large is not able to talk about issues. There is a knee-jerk attempt to automatically align with a tribe and pigeonhole an opponent with a tribe. No one was able to talk about substantive issues. The public has lost the capacity to discuss and even understand complex issues.
Changing underlying issues will be key to any revival of meaningful politics.
AERIC’S learnings:
The temptations for telling people what they want to hear are great.
There are no prerequisites to service.
Christians need to put themselves in situations to deal with hard questions
There are a lot of good people in politics.
There are a lot of bad people in politics.
I am grateful for institutions
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Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is at the top of our favorite holiday list!
NOTES:
Here is Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation.
Here is the article about the Mother of Thanksgiving and Abraham Lincoln.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Giving thanks is a command from the Lord. And, we have so much to be thankful for! Don't let any opportunity go by without give thanks.
- Thanksgiving is one Christian idea that mixes with difficulty with the American narrative. Colonialism and imperialism were already present in the earliest thanksgiving. U.S. History with Native Americans does not necessarily reflect Christian values.
- Abraham Lincoln's proclamation called for contrition and repentance rather than feasting. He, of course, was in the midst of the Civil War. Humility will always become God's people.
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We are so excited to have Dr. David Koyzis, author of Political Visions and Illusions, as the climax to our book report!
We did a book report on the Political Visions book in the past several episodes and invited Dr. Koyzis to bring the conclusion to the book. I think you will enjoy his perspective on how the ideologies in the book mimic the true gospel. He gives good advice to the church about how to think about our relationship with political entities.
Dr. David Koyzis is an experienced theologian who taught for 30 years at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, and is currently a Global Scholar with Global Scholars Canada. He has attained a Ph.D. in Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s in Political Theory at Toronto’s Institute for Christian Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Koyzis has authored We Answer to Another: Authority, Office, and the Image of God and Political Visions and Illusions: A Survey and Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies.
Dr. Koyzis blogs at http://byzantinecalvinist.blogspot.com.
He records music (!) at https://genevanpsalter.blogspot.com
We will be back with a new episode next week! Aeric's election is over.
Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. Spotify recently opened up ratings, so if you are a Spotify listener, please share some love! And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you!
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This is the sixth episode in our series on Political Visions and Illusions.
Socialism is the ideology that elevates communal ownership over individual ownership. It can be defined by its desire for economic equality. Liberals take exception to socialism because it seems to de-emphasize individual responsibility. The irony of socialism is that if a property is owned by a large number of people, then a few must be designated to care for, or govern it, and they then become privileged and the ideal of socialism becomes self-defeating. Marxism is a subset or expression of socialism that favors a revolution of the working class as the redemptive part of their narrative.
This and recent episodes have been heavily dependent upon this book, Political Visions and Illusions by David Koyzis. Come back next week. We will interview Dr. Koyzis!
Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you!
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This is the fifth episode in our Political Visions and Illusions series.
Democratism is the ideology that values the rule of the people above all else. Democratism is rarely, okay is never, as simple and pure as it sounds. As with each of these ideologies, in the proper place, Democracy is a great tool. Democratism crosses a line and becomes a creed, something to be believed and embraced. And, as with each of these, we must identify and decide what is good and how do we have the right ideas in the proper perspective and place.
This and recent episodes have been heavily dependent upon this book, Political Visions and Illusions by David Koyzis.
Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. Spotify recently opened up ratings, so if you are a Spotify listener, please share some love! And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you!
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Nationalism is the first ideology to take community seriously. We do live with other people and they matter. Nationalism defines who is in and who is out. The greatest evil is to be ruled by someone who is not one of us. Most of us are familiar with a nation/state, but many of the problems caused by nationalism have to do with a nation that is defined apart from the nation/state. Christian Nationalism defines who is in and who is out based on Christianity. While this is understandable given the rich heritage our nation enjoys because of Christianity, it is also problematic and idolatrous.
This and recent episodes have been heavily dependent upon this book, Political Visions and Illusions by David Koyzis.
Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you!
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Patrick's new book, The Political Gospel, comes out today. In honor of that, we rebroadcast our interview with him from earlier this year!
We interviewed Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor, Dr. Patrick Schreiner about his book, The Political Gospel. Earlier this year, Scott heard Dr. Schreiner present the plenary lectures at the Northwest meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society on topics in his book.
Patrick Schreiner is Acting Director of the Residency Ph.D. program and Associate Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He previously taught at Western Seminary in Portland Oregon (2014–20) and received his Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (2014).
He is the author of a number of books, including The Body of Jesus: A Spatial Analysis of the Kingdom in Matthew (T&T Clark), The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross (Crossway), Matthew, Disciple and Scribe: The First Gospel and Its Portrait of Jesus (Baker), and The Ascension of Christ: Recovering a Neglected Doctrine (Lexham Press). He has also contributed chapters to God’s Glory Revealed in Christ: Essays on Biblical Theology in Honor of Thomas R. Schreiner (B&H) and Baptists and the Christian Tradition: Toward an Evangelical Baptist Catholicity (B&H).
NOTES:
Dr. Schreiner suggests that the church relates to the political powers of this age in two ways. The church submits and subverts. In the life of the early church, submission and subversion take place in such a way that Rome could claim that Jesus, and Paul, were innocent. And Rome executed them anyway.
As of today, October 18, 2022, you can order The Political Gospel here.
You can follow Patrick on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- The subversion of the church was not in protests or disobedience but in the nature of the message itself.
- Romans 13 and Revelation 13 both inform the Church's relationship to the state.
- The primary role of the church is to bear witness to a new politic -- Jesus is king!
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The first ideology in The Political Visions and Illusions book is liberalism. Liberalism, in the classic sense, is as common to us as water is to a fish. We found it very helpful to think a little more clearly about our own political assumptions. This episode and the next several will be heavily dependent upon this book, Political Visions and Illusions by David Koyzis.
We also alluded to The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman.
Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you!
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What makes a political idea become an idol for Christians?
In this episode, begin to talk about how David Koyzis's book has helped us see that political ideologies are incomplete and as a result comprise a false gospel.
This episode and the next several will be heavily dependent upon this book, Political Visions and Illusions by David Kyozis.
Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you!
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We are pleased to have Paul Hoffman on our podcast this episode. We had a great conversation with Paul about his book and about how Christians can navigate divisions.
NOTES:
Paul is the pastor of Evangelical Friends Church of Newport (RI) and the author of Preaching to a Divided Nation and Reconciling Places, How to Bridge the Chasms in our Communities.
We mentioned several other books in the podcast:
- Generous Justice by Timothy Keller
- Uncivil Agreement by Lilliana Mason
- The Big Sort by Bill Bishop
Paul also mentioned a couple authors that he felt were of interest:
- Brenda Salter McNeil
- John M. Perkins
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
The Seven Steps of Preaching to a Divided Nation are these:
- The Theological Step: The Sins of Pride and Prejudice
- The Contextual Step: America’s Past and Present Reality
- The Personal Step: Facing Our Sin and Acknowledging Our Prejudices
- The Positional Step: We Are Heralds, Not Heart-Changers
- The Methodological Step: A Homiletic for Reconciliation and Unity
- The Practical Step: Pre-Sermon, Mid-Sermon, and Post-Sermon Practices
- The Categorical Step: Biblical Themes and Texts
Paul appreciated levels of justice that came from the Generous Justice book mentioned above:
- Relief
- Development
- Social Reform
Paul offered several suggestions for ways we can make a difference and begin now. Here they are:
- Pray. (1 Timothy 2:1-2) There has always been one king who can do something about the political situation.
- Take a relational inventory. Who are your friends? Do they all look like you?
- Start local. What is happening in your neighborhood, city, and state?
- Look for ways to be involved in reconciliation across ethnic, denominational, and political lines.
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This episode seeks to apply our admonition last week to engage culture specifically rather than in general.
NOTES:
One more plug for these two books:
Center Church: Center Church Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City by Timothy Keller
Culture Making by Andy Crouch
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Culture is what we make of the world. So make something specific.
- Rather than worry about what is outside of your control, focus on what you can control. (Aeric reminds us that it might be helpful to turn off the TV)!
- Seek the good of the City, Jeremiah 29:7 -- "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."
- Our three specific ideas for engaging culture this week were:
- Instead of polarization, pray. Specifically, take a prayer walk. The first application of Jeremiah 29:7 is to pray.
- Instead of fretting about education, tutor one student.
- Instead of complaining about government, serve on an advisory board.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
This episode continues our conversation about how Christians relate to culture. We hope you find it helpful.
NOTES:
Center Church: Center Church Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City by Timothy Keller
Culture Making by Andy Crouch
See the previous episode for a summary of approaches Keller details in Center Church.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
Keller closes his section on culture with four practical suggestions.
- Avoid arrogance.
- Avoid blame.
- Avoid frustration.
- Avoid naïveté.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
NOTES:
Center Church: Center Church Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City by Timothy Keller
Culture Making by Andy Crouch
Keller's Four Views of the Church's Relationship to Culture
- Transformationalist
- Relevance
- Counter-Culturalist
- Two-Kingdoms
Each view has strengths and limitations. We will get into more of the application next week.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Recognize you probably have a "take" or a model yourself.
- Understand churches or Christians that approach it in another way probably have good intentions to make Jesus known in culture. Give them grace.
- Humility and flexibility will be great virtues when engaging culture.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
In this episode, we talk about Religious Liberty from Andrew Walker's book, Liberty of All.
NOTES:
Liberty for All by Andrew Walker.
Definition of Religious Liberty: Religious liberty is the principle of social practice where in every individual, regardless of their religious confession, is equally free to believe, or not to believe, and to live out their understanding of the conscience’s duty, individually and communally, that is owed to God in all areas of life without threat of government penalty or social harassment. (10)
Walker's Big Three reasons:
- Eschatological (Doctrine of last things): The kingdom, now and not yet, means we live in a place in history where people have the right to be wrong.
- Anthropological (Doctrine of humanity): The dignity of human beings made in the image of God demands that governments treat them with respect, even with regard to religion.
- Missiological (study of the mission of the church): The mission of the church is best engaged in a context of freedom.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Use your religious liberty to engage as a citizen of God's kingdom to love your neighbors. Don't sit around aand wring your hands.
- Religious liberty means people have the right to disagree with you. It means you can treat them with respect.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
In this episode, we come right out and ask it -- Are you motivated by fear or by hope?
NOTES:
The Bible uses "fear not" 33 times and "do not be afraid" 38 times.
We refer to Jeremiah 29:1-4, 1 Peter 1:1-5, and 1 Peter 1:13-18 as prompts to help us think about fear and hope.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- Evaluate your own motivations. Are you driven more by fear or hope?
- Evaluate your inputs. Are they adding fear or hope to your outlook?
- Take stock of God's story of creation, fall, redemption and restoration. Are you believing the hope of the gospel or are you substituting a different story with a different savior?
- Ask how you can live proactively and be a blessing to your current situation, like Jeremiah 29:5-7 suggests.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
In this episode, we consider why the U.S. doesn't allow religious tests for office. This is a direct application of last week's episode about more Christians in politics.
NOTES:
THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND THE DEBATE OVER RELIGION IN REVOLUTIONARY AMERICA: A History in Documents Edited by Matthew L. Harris AND Thomas S. Kidd
U.S. Constitution: Article VI -- The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Center for the Study of the American Constitution
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-vi/clauses/32#:~:text=Watkins%20(1961)%2C%20the%20Supreme,%2C'%E2%80%9D%20the%20Court%20declared.
"The Dogma lives loudly within you."
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
Can you think of any reasons a religious test might be a good idea?
- It would be one way to ensure we had Christian leaders.
- See our previous episode about more Christians in politics.
- It would be one way to ensure we’d stay a Christian nation.
- Who defines a Christian? Protestant (and any number of denominations) Catholics?
Can you think of any reasons why a religious test might be a bad idea?
- What test would you apply? Would it favor a denomination? Just protestants? Monotheists?
- Would a test really keep a non-believer out?
- Like we mentioned a few episodes ago, is someone who would pass a test necessarily the best person for the job?
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
Aeric has heard people say, "We need more Christians in politics." Aeric also had some plumbing problems last week. Here are some of our thoughts about Christian politicians and plumbers .
NOTES:
Confidence in institutions is at an all-time low -- New Gallup Poll
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
Why do we think we need Christians in politics? There could be some not-so-helpful reasons. The best reason has to do with trust or confidence. As all Americans have less and less trust in institutions, we would hope Christians would be people we can trust.
We need politicians, like plumbers, with the requisite skill and the technical ability to carry out the job for which we hire them.
Christian politicians like Christian plumbers, need to be disciples of Jesus. They need to love God and love their neighbors.
We would hope that Christian politicians would further the cause of God's kingdom. In other words, that the political structure would give space for the church to be the church. This is what 1 Timothy 2:2 asks us to pray for!
In the meantime, all of us can:
- Pray for our leaders like 1 Timothy 2:2 suggests.
- Ask God to give you wisdom, clarity, and virtue as we select those who will publicly serve.
- Evaluate those we vote for.
- Do they have the technical knowledge and abiligy? Are they qualified?
- Do they love justice and mercy?
- Walk humbly?
- Evaluate their wisdom or ideas they will apply.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com. Or, leave us a voice recording at https://www.speakpipe.com/cityonahillpodcast.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States rendered its decision on Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization. It overturned Roe v. Wade after almost 50 years. We encourage you to read the decision itself.
NOTES:
Here is some further reading.
- The Dodds decision itself.
- The U.S. Constitution
- The Advisory Opinions podcast on Dodds Supreme Court Overturns Roe and Casey
- The Ben Sasse Civics Lesson at Kavanaugh confirmation
Here are some things our lawmakers said about the Dobbs decision:
Jeff Merkley:
Today, a majority of unelected justices acted as a self-appointed super-legislature to take away a right Americans have been guaranteed for over 50 years—one that large majorities of our people want to preserve.
Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a statement. "Yet, that is exactly the impact of this Supreme Court opinion for millions and millions of Americans, who suddenly find an overbearing government dictating their path. This assault on Americans' rights and freedom is shocking."
Elizabeth Warren:
"Six radical Supreme Court Justices have overturned nearly 50 years of precedent, stripping away the constitutional right to an abortion. After decades of scheming, Republican politicians have finally forced their unpopular agenda on the rest of America. They have decided that the government – not the person who is pregnant – should make a private health care decision and deny women the right to control their own bodies and futures. But these extremists will not have the final word. Democrats have tools to fight back, from legislation in Congress to executive orders from the President to initiatives at the state and local level – we just need to use them. We are angry – angry and determined. We will not go back. Not now. Not ever.”
Governor Newsome:
“The Supreme Court has made it clear – they want to strip women of their liberty and let Republican states replace it with mandated birth because the right to choose an abortion is not ‘deeply rooted in history’.
President Biden:
“Congress must restore the protection of Roe v. Wade as federal law…No presidential executive action can do that…Roe is on the ballot.”
“With this decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court shows how extreme it is, how far removed they are from the majority of this country.”
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
Civics allows us to avoid the polarized rhetoric you read above. It recognizes that the Supreme Court gave the decision back to the people. The Dobbs decision points out that Roe actually dispensed with the legislative process and imposed a law on the entire nation. The other thing that happened is that decisions about abortion limits will be delegated to the states.
President Biden is right. Roe will be on the ballot. What can Christians do?
- Pray. Always we can pray.
- Vote. Pro-life candidates at state and local levels will be writing laws about abortion limits. Aeric mentioned some potential legislation to keep your eye on, too.
- Care. Christians have cared for women and children for the entire history of the church. But, our culture needs to see Christians do it in significant ways now that Roe is gone.
- Civics. Think about engaging people in conversations about the Dobbs decision through a civics lens rather than an ideological lens. There are topics about which you may never agree. Yet, the system we have is as good as there is to work for everyone.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com. Or, leave us a voice recording at https://www.speakpipe.com/cityonahillpodcast.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
Occasionally it is the other way around, but more than I'd like to admit cultural moments shape what the church believes and practices.
Last week I read This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust. The book was about death and the carnage of the Civil War. It was a brutal book, not one I would necessarily recommend.
Roughly 2% of the population, an estimated 620,000 men, lost their lives in the line of duty. Taken as a percentage of today's population, the toll would have risen as high as 6 million souls. The human cost of the Civil War was beyond anybody's expectations. Soldiers who enlisted had about a one in four chance of dying! Up until the Vietnam War, the number killed in the Civil War surpassed all other wars combined.
The concept of the "Good Death," a classical idea given Christian shape by the Second Great Awakening, was challenged in the Civil War. Some began to wonder if dying for one's country or a cause would count.
The brutality of the Civil War changed the doctrine of the end times for much of the protestant church. Here is what Norman Kraus says, "Dispensational theology furnished a reasonable explanation for how God could be sovereign over a world that seemed to be increasingly evil. Americans had difficulty retaining postmillennial optimism in view of the Civil War and World War I, the development of slums, immigration, rising crime, big business, and other social conditions related to industrialization. Dispensationalism made sense to many Calvinists who were pessimistic about individual human nature and it followed that society as a whole was in the same condition. Just as individual salvation requires a miracle from heaven, so would society if it were to be changed." (Dispensationalism in America, p.60)
I also read Pale Rider, the story of the Spanish Flu of 1918. It was a particular moment in history that drove that virus around the world and changed history.
NOTES:
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust
Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney
Dispensationalism in America by C. Norman Kraus
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
Our hope is that listeners will stop and ask themselves how much their beliefs are shaped by historical moments as much as they are by the Scriptures. We are all products of the moment we find ourselves in.
The only way to escape or see more clearly is to transcend time by reading history or to transcend space by becoming familiar with the church of Jesus throughout the globe.
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MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
Like barnacles accumulate on rocks or a ship, so many, many things attach themselves to the church. Before long we can't conceive of the church without those barnacles.
The pandemic stripped the church of many things the church had grown accustomed to -- bulletins, hymnals, programs. Most notably, though, it affected the subjective experience of worshippers. We ask the question of all those things, is it essential? It is interesting that we made even our subjective experience essential. Of course, there are many psalms written by worshipers and for worshipers that are anything but a pleasant subjective experience.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
We hope this episode will cause you to ask yourself this same question: What is essential? The follow-up question is also important: Am I in love with a non-essential? Does that define for me what church is about?
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com. Or, leave us a voice recording at https://www.speakpipe.com/cityonahillpodcast.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
In this episode, we extend our conversation about intermediate institutions to include churches and 501C3 organizations. Should they be taxed? What should they do to make sure that they contribute to the common good commensurate with their tax advantage.
NOTES:
Here is some further reading.
- https://causeinspiredmedia.com/news-article/brief-history-tax-exempt-sector/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)_organization
- https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/tehistory.pdf
- https://taxfoundation.org/church-taxes/
- https://dailycitizen.focusonthefamily.com/why-are-churches-and-religious-organizations-tax-exempt/
- https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2011/03/31/what-do-churches-contribute-to-the-community/
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
It makes sense to give tax exemptions to organizations that contribute to the common good. It is incumbent on churches to make sure they invest in the common good because this will be an objection that we will hear.
GET IN TOUCH:
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at comment@cithonahillpodcast.com. Or, leave us a voice recording at https://www.speakpipe.com/cityonahillpodcast.
MUSIC:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry
In this episode, we discuss the important role of intermediate institutions. Those organizations that are bigger than your family and smaller than the government provide you with relationships, resources, education, and service opportunities are what we refer to as intermediate institutions. They provide social capital and form the fabric of America.
NOTES:
In 1831, during his historic visit to the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville observed:
“Americans of all ages, conditions, and dispositions constantly unite together. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations to which all belong but also a thousand other kinds, religious, moral, serious, futile...Americans group together to hold fetes, found seminaries, build inns, construct churches, distribute books...They establish prisons, schools by the same method...I have frequently admired the endless skill with which the inhabitants of the United States manage to set a common aim to the efforts of a great number of men and to persuade them to pursue it voluntarily.”
Robert Putnam speaks of two main components of the concept, the creation of which Putnam credits to Ross Gittell and Avis Vidal:
- Bonding social capital: the value assigned to social networks between homogeneous groups of people.
- Bridging social capital: the value assigned to social networks between socially heterogeneous groups.
Typical examples are that criminal gangs create bonding social capital, while choirs and bowling clubs (hence the title, as Putnam lamented their decline) create bridging social capital.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
The deterioration of social capital and intermediate institutions has been identified as a cause for all sorts of social problems. Political polarization, gangs, mental illness and many more things result from the loss of social capital.
Four ways intermediate institutions build social capital:
- Information flows (e.g. learning about jobs, learning about candidates running for office, exchanging ideas at college, etc.) depend on social capital.
- Norms of reciprocity (mutual aid) rely on social networks. Bonding networks that connect folks who are similar sustain particularized (in-group) reciprocity. Bridging networks that connect individuals who are diverse sustain generalized reciprocity.
- Collective action depends upon social networks (e.g., the role that the black church played in the Civil Rights movement) although collective action also can foster new networks.
- Broader identities and solidarity are encouraged by social networks that help translate an “I” mentality into a “we” mentality. -- Social Capital Primer, Bowling Alone
Do you have relationships and social bonds in your life? Where do you find them?
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In this episode, we continue our conversation about Christian Nationalism.
NOTES:
https://blog.choosetruthovertribe.com/10-signs-youve-fallen-for-christian-nationalism
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
How do you recognize Christian Nationalism?
- American exceptionalism
- We are great because of God’s favor. Or, because we have been moral and kept some “covenant” with God.
- God and Country
- Commitment to a sanitized view of American History
- Backlash against immigration
- Nationalism requires a definition of who is in and who is out.
- Are you more energized about July 4th or Resurrection Sunday?
How can a Christian interact with the nation without being a Christian nationalist?
- A country is a gift to be stewarded, not a god to be worshiped.
- Work to have properly ordered loves.
- View your identity as an Exile that can serve within the nation in which you live.
- What is your main identity? Or rather what is your identity. Period.
- Are you a Christian American or an American Christian?
- Christian is a noun, not an adjective.
- I don’t need to have a Christian nation to love my nation.
- The best patriotism is on display in Gratitude, in the Olympics, Camaraderie in War.
- “It asks only to be let alone. It becomes militant only to protect what it loves”
- Use your freedom to love.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. Galatians 5:13–15.
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MUSIC:
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Patriotism is different from Nationalism which in turn needs to be distinguished from Christian Nationalism.
NOTES:
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/february-web-only/what-is-christian-nationalism.html
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
Dr. David Koyzis has evaluated Christian Nationalism and found it distorting Christianity in at least four ways:
- First, it unduly applies biblical promises intended for the body of Christ as a whole to one of many particular geographic concentrations of people bound together under a common political framework.
- Second, it tends to identify God’s norms for political and cultural life with a particular, imperfect manifestation of those norms at a specific period of a nation’s history.
- Third, Christian nationalists too easily pay their nation a homage due only to God.
- Fourth, and finally, those Christians most readily employing the language of nationhood may find it difficult to conceive of the nation in limited terms.
- Koyzis, David T.. Political Visions & Illusions (p. 117-118). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
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In this episode, we talk about homelessness. It comes in response to a question one of Aeric's sons asked him, "Papa, why do those people live in tents. Aeric wrote this article for the newspaper in response to that question and it forms the basis of our discussion.
NOTES:
The complexity of the problem, of the environment, and of the solution is overwhelming.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
What can a Christian or a church do:
- Pray
- Be humble
- Find a reliable partner. Locally we recommend The Father's Heart.
- Give a cup of water.
- Sit and listen.
- Give.
- Open your home.
Matthew 25:31-40 should challenge us all to find some way to help.
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MUSIC:
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We interviewed Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor, Dr. Patrick Schreiner about his upcoming book, The Political Gospel. Dr. Schreiner presented the plenary lectures at the Northwest meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society on topics in his book.
Patrick Schreiner is Acting Director of the Residency PhD program and Associate Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He previously taught at Western Seminary in Portland Oregon (2014–20) and received his Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (2014).
He is the author of a number of books, including The Body of Jesus: A Spatial Analysis of the Kingdom in Matthew (T&T Clark), The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross (Crossway), Matthew, Disciple and Scribe: The First Gospel and Its Portrait of Jesus (Baker), and The Ascension of Christ: Recovering a Neglected Doctrine (Lexham Press). He has also contributed chapters to God’s Glory Revealed in Christ: Essays on Biblical Theology in Honor of Thomas R. Schreiner (B&H) and Baptists and the Christian Tradition: Toward an Evangelical Baptist Catholicity (B&H).
NOTES:
Dr. Schreiner suggests that the church relates to the political powers of this age in two ways. The church submits and subverts. In the life of the early church, submission and subversion take place in such a way that Rome could claim that Jesus, and Paul, were innocent. And Rome executed them anyway.
You can pre-order The Political Gospel here.
You can follow Patrick on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
RECAP & TAKEAWAYS:
- The subversion of the church was not in protests or disobedience but in the nature of the message itself.
- Romans 13 and Revelation 13 both inform the Church's relationship to the state.
- The primary role of the church is to bear witness to a new politic -- Jesus is king!
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MUSIC:
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The Barna Group released their recent findings on why pastors consider leaving the ministry. We discussed it on this episode.
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Music:
Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry