Forging Ploughshares

In this sermon, Paul summarizes the book of Romans.

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Music: Bensound

Paul continues his study of I John.

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Music: Bensound

Using Scientology and Albert Speer as examples, Paul demonstrates how narrative misdirection or a truncated narrative can result in evil. This points to the need of the alternative narrative community of the church in which to ground our ethics.

The picture, then, of a Christianity that does not take into account [being enculturated] is the failure of Christianity in Nazi Germany—I think it’s the failure of a Christianity in the United States—because what Christians often imagine is that being a Christian in no way means that they have to sacrifice participation in the culture at any level. But that it means you can add those symbols of faith without any sacrifice or suffering while remaining comfortable.

Here the failure of humanity is the way that we would join ourselves together. If we would join ourselves for purposes that are inadequate—well that corporate community is subject to becoming evil. If we join ourselves to a Wall Street firm whose only goal is to make profit, do you think that could become evil? What happens with corporate cultures or cultures per se, is that their story is truncated—it’s too small. If we find our stories in these places, being rich on wall street, a movie star, an athlete, if that becomes a kind of end goal, then we’ve joined into precisely the problem. What Wink has realized is that even church—churches set upon numerical growth… you think they can become evil? Yes, because they’ve truncated the story.

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Music: Bensound

Paul continues his study in I John, emphasizing that a Christianity which is focused on punishment is inadequate and falls short of love.

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Paul and Jonathan Totty discus Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Kierkegaard’s key work, and bring to a conclusion his goals in authorship. The significance is the attempt to bring the psychological realm back into theology.

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Music: Bensound

Paul continues his study in I John.

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Music: Bensound

Paul explains the logic of Anselm’s ontological argument, what it does, and connects it to the death of Christ.

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Music: Bensound

Paul continues his study in I John.

And so John gives us the test, “You know the spirit of God—every spirit who confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” You do not distinguish between the man and the divinity, the incarnation, then, is God in the flesh. If you do a little church history it’s amazing how this same thing comes up again and again. I kind of like Luther’s phrase that “God died on the cross. “What he’s combatting is the tendency that he was running into of people splitting up God… Jack Cottrell does this most beautifully. He says, “Well, the spirit of God can’t die, it was the body of Jesus that died.” Oh, we’re right back into dualism and Gnosticism. Other than that it’s a wonderful doctrine, but John says it’s of the antichrist and by this test he would be a false kind of prophet… but I’m not going to say that… Okay, maybe I will.

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Music: Bensound

Paul presents a reconstituted, holistic form of apologetics that may provide effective witness.

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Music: Bensound

Paul invites Matt Welch to share his story and talk about his current work with the 91four ministry.

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Music: Bensound