Jesus At 2am - A Humorous, Intelligent Look At The Bible, Church History & The Life Of Faith

Paul’s teaching on the role of wives and  slaves in the Christian household are among the most (tragically!) misinterpreted passages in scripture.  In this episode we examine the tension between ideals and reality, between what is ultimately true and how close (or not) we can approximate it at any particular moment in time.   As […]

If, as Paul argues, salvation is by grace alone (a gift of God and not achieved by any act on our part), what does that imply for Christian ethics?  Can we therefore “sin boldly” — indulge our impulses and enjoy the party…?  I mean, if all is forgiven in the end, why not make good […]

Every philosophical and religious tradition has a view on the requirements of membership – what it takes to belong to the community of “salvation.”  In early Judaism, for example, membership within “true Israel” belonged to those who were at least: descended from Abraham, circumcised (men), obedient to the food laws and observant of the Sabbath.  For […]

What happens when you take people from different geographical regions, religious traditions, languages and cultures and tell them they are now “one in Christ” – the family of faith…?  As anyone who has ever sat in a church committee meeting will tell you, the answer is:  arguments!  Since there has been church, there has been […]

If confessing the full divinity of Jesus, or God who is simultaneously three Persons in one, strikes you as quite an intellectual stretch, know that you are in excellent company! After all, it is one thing to regard Jesus as a great religious teacher, a political leader or perhaps even some sort of (human) messianic figure. […]

Every Sunday Christians all over the world gather to sing, pray…listen to (a brilliant!) sermon… Styles may vary, but the pattern and basic content is stunningly consistent.  The question for today is:  Why?  What are the origins of Christian worship?  Why these particular elements?  And how do we know if we are “worshipping correctly”?  Can […]

What does the mean by spiritual gifts?  Are we to believe that Jesus bestows super powers upon his followers – healing people by laying on hands, speaking in tongues, foretelling the future…???  Are spiritual gifts signs of true faith (those who really believe can be distinguished from those who do not by their display of gifts)?  Are they […]

How do we know the Bible is true?  That is to say, why should we trust the biblical vision of reality is anything other than wishful thinking?  Or is faith inherently “blind”? Such questions are often met – both inside and outside the church – with philosophical arguments about the nature of being, first principles, Prime Movers and so […]

It is one thing to be declared “family,” and quite another to live out the relationships implied – particularly when new siblings come from communities deeply divided with one another.  And yet this is the first work of the church.  Those who have been called to bear witness to love’s triumph, to carry on Jesus’s […]

“Saved by works or saved by faith?”:  It is one of the oldest debates in Christianity (albeit not the most helpful).  By now, I hope it is becoming clearer that the idea of “being saved” refers to far more than simply one’s fate after death and relies neither on obedience to a divine law nor […]

Before we can understand Paul’s letters, we must first understand the man: the Pharisee, the zealot, the convert, the missionary and indeed the church’s greatest theologian.   In this episode, we examine Paul’s early life, his fervent commitment to Judaism and the extraordinary humility he demonstrates in his willingness to be wrong.  Saul of Tarsus […]

So what now???  What happens after the Messiah has been raised from the dead?!?  Is this when God comes to establish the fullness of his Kingdom of earth?  Is Easter – the day of Jesus’s resurrection – also the day of  judgment?  No. No?  Really…?  Because from what we know so far, it kinda seems […]

At last we put all of the pieces together, and I offer my explanation of the atonement –  how it is that Jesus’s death and resurrection fulfills the covenant with Abraham and accomplishes the salvation of the world.  It was not by satisfying a wrathful God (as though God was saving us from himself!).  Nor was […]

The most distinctive act of early Christian worship was participation in sacrament of Communion.  Sermons, scripture readings, the singing of hymns and psalms were indeed a part of the church’s worship, but much of this was done – originally – in the synagogues on the Sabbath.  Christians would gather again on Sunday – in celebration of […]

Why was Jesus crucified?  Was the cross an act of God (to satisfy the divine wrath)?  Was it simply the inevitable result of Jesus’s challenge to the Sadducees and Pharisees?  Was he betrayed by followers who felt he had failed his promises to deliver a political kingdom?  Or was this an act of sin itself […]

No symbol is more associated with Christianity than the cross.  And for good reason.  As we will see, the cross is indeed where God’s salvation is accomplished.  But too often the cross has been interpreted mainly in terms of Jesus’s physical suffering – as though the means of salvation is the physical torture of the Messiah. […]

One of the most troubling images in Jesus’s teaching is the sorting of the sheep and the goats (the “sheep” being the “righteous” who are rewarded with eternal life, the goats the “unrighteous” condemned to punishment).  At first glance the stakes appear to be “heaven” and “hell,” with our human actions the determining factor in […]

While Jesus certainly gave some famous speeches, most of Jesus’s public teaching was done by means of parables.  These short, fictional stories were intended as both calls to action and as a means of offering a vision of an alternative reality- the kingdom of God.  Yet they are more than illustrations, stories to be distilled down to their […]

This episode is guaranteed to make you SMILE!  And, if you’ll let it, it might just change your life.  Because today we hear the story of one, self-described “ordinary guy” who decided it was time to make the world a better place.  That guy is Todd Miller, co-founder (along with his lovely wife) of Global […]

“Who do you say that I am?”  This questions forms a turning point in the Gospel narratives and remains a central question for students of the Bible in every generation.  Precisely who is this Jesus of Nazareth?   As we’ve discussed before,  those who encountered Jesus would have understood him as a prophet (one sent […]