The Fourth Way

Continuing the Sermon on the Mount working through Mt. 6:1-4.

Since today is Veteran's Day (and the armistice of WWI - the war to end all wars), I will take a look at the horror of war. Here I don't mean the atrocities of gruesome violence, but rather the horror which Solomon recognized so long ago, which is that all things we do to seek pleasure and control are ultimately vain. War is no exception. This episode explores the horror of war in its vanity - its futile attempt to control the world, and the wake of corpses, both literal and metaphorical, which it leaves trailing behind it. Today I want to honor veterans not by propping up the glorious facade of war, but by unmasking it for what it is. My hope is that when darkness is brought to light, it allows a true, deep honoring of veterans, and the beginning of healing.

Continuing the Sermon on the Mount working through Mt. 5:38-48.

Continuing the Sermon on the Mount working through Mt. 5:33-37 and Mt. 7:1-5.

Continuing the Sermon on the Mount working through Mt. Mt. 5:27-32.

This episode is a response to Scott Klusendorf's interview on Wretched Radio. The interview is focused on Klusendorf arguing that Christians should be one-issue voters. I attempt to point out nine major problems I have with Klusendorf's arguments. Since Klusendorf's argumentation seems representative of most conservative Christian voters, I think addressing his interview is important prior to the upcoming election.

Continuing the Sermon on the Mount working through Mt. 5:21-26.

Continuing the Sermon on the Mount working through Mt. 5:17-20 and Mt. 6:5-15.

Continuing the Sermon on the Mount working through Mt. 5:13-16 and Mt. 6:24.

Our first dive into the Sermon on the Mount looking at Mt. 5:1-12 and Mt. 7:12-29.

Today is the "Day of Peace," so we're taking a short break from our series on the Sermon on the Mount. This episode focuses on that one characteristic which always seems to rear its head when violence prevails - the objectification of other. In keeping with the theme of our SOTM series, this episode will contain a poem. We'll specifically discuss slavery and abortion, taking a look at an objectification past which is now so obvious, and compare it to an objectification present which many can't see. Hopefully our assessing of objectification will help us to evaluate our views of others, as well as our cultural blind-spots, leading to years of peace.

We begin a new series on Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. This passage has been transformative in the lives of many, and is both unique and challenging. In this episode I explore my own experience with this passage and why I think it's so important to study. **A wonderful resource and a classic you must read in regard to the SOTM is Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy." Willard excoriates modern Christianity and our easy believism and refusal to emphasize works, but he also does a great job doing what I failed to do in my consequentialism series until the Bonhoeffer episodes, which is to make clear that following Jesus leads us to right actions, it is not right actions of themselves which we are seeking. I would take exception with Willard on two parts, however. The first is that Willard seems to view some of the SOTM (especially the beatitudes) with a more eschatological lens. While he definitely emphasizes that the Kingdom is now, there are moments where I feel like he overspiritualizes it into two distinct kingdoms (the spiritual and the human/physical) rather than integrating the two kingdoms, though he certainly does this much less than most other Evangelicals. The second area I'd push back on is Willard's dismissal of the Beatitudes as prescriptive. While I do agree with him that at least some are not prescriptive in the sense that we should go out and seek them (e.g. seeking persecution and trying to get killed for your faith is not good), I think they are semi-prescriptive in an indicative sense. What I mean by that is I don't think we seek persecution, but I think that when we truly seek and follow Jesus, our lives are the type which will almost certainly bring some level of persecution. Most, if not all of the other beatitudes fall in that same vein. If we are humble we will likely be meek and poor in spirit. If we hold our resources with an open hand because we recognize they are God's and don't worry about tomorrow, we'll likely have a difficult life. And Jesus told us that the gospel will bring division in families. So we will be a people who have much opportunity to mourn. In that sense, I think the life which is prescriptive, if followed, tends to lead towards the Beatitudes, while some of those things are not meant to be sought in and of themselves. https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Conspiracy-first-Text-Only/dp/B004TJWC7M/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2TKRZIONHZRVE&dchild=1&keywords=the+divine+conspiracy+by+dallas+willard&qid=1587258908&s=audible&sprefix=the+divine+conspiracy%2Caudible%2C178&sr=1-2-catcorr

A short synopsis of some of the main ideas in our just war series.

We end our series on just war by looking at the application of the theory to specific wars in United States history.

We probe the coherence of just war theory one more time by asking some general questions about it.