In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they continue last week's discussion on Christians and politics to explore how Christians should interact with the government - especially when they feel their government isn't upholding Christian values. In case you missed it, we encourage you to go back and listen to CCP82: On Christians and Politics.

Dr. White referenced several passages of Scripture related to Christians and their interactions with the government. In Matthew's biography of Jesus, He is being questioned by the Pharisees who were trying to trap Him into making a political statement. Jesus gives a masterful response. We encourage you to read the full passage in Matthew 22:15-22 (NLT). It's also helpful to read Romans 13:1-7 (NLT) where the Apostle Paul is writing about respect for authority, particularly governing authority. Finally, in Acts 5:29 the Apostle Peter explains God's sovereignty above all else.

As in last week's show notes, we suggest you check out Dr. White's five-week series given at Mecklenburg Community Church titled “Where Angels Fear to Tread: Meck Talks Politics” as well as John R.W. Stott's book, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture.

Finally, you may be interested in listening to past podcasts from Church & Culture on topics related to today's discussion. These include: CCP46: On the Clash Over Religious Freedom, CCP37: On Christian Nationalism, and CCP12: On Legislated Morality.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the world of Christians and politics. What should Christians consider before entering into political conversations? Is it possible to come out of these conversations as brothers and sisters in Christ? Should politics even matter to a Christian? With the primaries nearly upon us, this is a very important conversation to be having.

Dr. White delivered a five-week series at Mecklenburg Community Church related to this topic that you'll definitely want to check out. It is titled “Where Angels Fear to Tread: Meck Talks Politics” and we received so much positive feedback about this series. He also talked about the fact that it's important for pastors to speak out on important cultural topics like gay marriage, gender and creation care. You can find a collection of series that Dr. White has delivered on cultural topics HERE.

There are two books that Dr. White mentioned in today's conversation to help you delve further into this subject:The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture by John R.W. Stott and Mass Communication and Everyday Life by Dennis Davis and Stanley Baran. In the latter, the authors cited an article from Daniel Boorstin titled “The Road to Diplopia.”

In the discussion they referenced a 2016 Christianity Today article titled “Bible Influences Only 1 in 10 Evangelicals on Immigration Reform,” revealing how little Christians let the Bible guide and shape their political views. Had Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taken this same approach to his Christian faith, he may have never been able to pen the words in his Why We Can't Wait (Letter from a Birmingham Jail).

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a topic that's been circulating lately, especially related to the current conflict in Israel (check out CCP80: On the War in Israel): are we in the end times? A recent Lifeway Research article titled “Fear Prevalent in Pews, According to Protestant Pastors” found that people have a growing sense of fear about the future, and that we may be rapidly approaching the end of all time. What are the signs and how do we know?

While every generation will express feeling this way, the fear and anxiety today is almost palpable. In truth, we've been in the end times since Jesus' resurrection. There is much to be found in Scripture tied to the end of time such as the “little apocalypse” found in Matthew 24, references in Ezekiel and Daniel, and then of course the entire book of Revelation.

Dr. White posted a blog related to this conversation that you may wish to read, titled “Are the End Times Finally Here?” exploring the eight signs that Jesus describes in Matthew 24. He also delivered an eight-weekend series at Mecklenburg Community Church called “The Apocalypse: The Message of Revelation for Today” that explores everything from the tribulation to Armageddon, the antichrist to the number 666, the second coming of Jesus and, yes, the end of the world.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the crisis that began overseas on Saturday, October 7 when the terrorist organization known as Hamas began to attack Israel. The brutality of these attacks has been difficult to watch. In response, Israel has declared war and is preparing for a ground invasion of the Gaza strip to target Hamas. How are Christians supposed to respond to this? Can war ever be just?

There is much to understand with this topic, and we encourage you to stay tuned to the Church & Culture blog for two releases coming out next week for more on understanding the history of this conflict. If you are new to Church & Culture, we invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog. Dr. White also mentioned a book that he suggested for understanding more about the history of Israel as a state - The World: A Brief Introduction by Richard Hoss.

We hope that this podcast is helpful for understanding the need for Christians to be able to intellectually engage this topic and to know where to stand.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss whether it is okay for those who consider themselves Christ followers to be cremated, rather than pursuing a traditional burial. This has become the preferred form of disposition, and is two times more common than it was even a couple of decades ago.

This discussion was prompted by a recent article in the Washington Post titled “The Stunning Rise of Cremation Reveals America's Changing Idea of Death.” It is uncertain whether the rise in cremation is due to people becoming increasingly uncomfortable with death and dying, the more transitory nature of our existence, or the incredibly high costs of traditional burials. What's for certain is that this form of disposition will only continue to rise.

Dr. White discussed the fact that cremation as a form of disposition is not prohibited in Scripture. There are two passages where cremation is mentioned: 1 Samuel 31:12 and Amos 6:9-10. In neither case is the decision to burn the body condemned. However, throughout Christian history the tradition has always been to have a burial instead.

Finally, at the beginning of the podcast Alexis mentioned earlier podcasts that have surrounded the idea of “Is it okay for a Christian to….?” You can check out Dr. White's series by this same title at Church & Culture HERE. And if you missed the past podcasts, we encourage you to go back and listen to:

CCP74: On Smoking Marijuana and Drinking Wine

CCP55: On Tattoos and Cosmetic Surgery

CCP38: On Attending Diwali Celebrations and Gay Weddings

CCP22: On Yoga

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the rising trend of women identifying as “trad wives.” The typical “trad wives” are Christian, conservative, homemakers handling all of the cooking and cleaning, and many who even adopt the dress and style of the women of the 1950s. And they're increasingly gaining attention and followers on TikTok with nearly 187 million views.

While in a recent podcast Dr. White and Alexis discussed a group called the “never marrieds” (you can listen to that episode HERE) who are quite happy with their independence, the “trad wives” go to the other extreme, taking pride in submitting to their husbands. In an article discussed in the episode titled, “What is a 'trad wife'? These controversial women are drawing attention – and opinions,” one “trad wife” stated that she doesn't even venture out of the house without her husband's permission.

This was definitely an interesting conversation, and brought up two other podcasts on related topics that would be worth going back to listen to. These include: CCP72: On Toxic Masculinity and CCP21: On Gender.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the reality and realm of angels. A fascinating poll from the Associated Press revealed that the vast majority of Americans believe in angels - more than God, the devil, astrology or reincarnation. This begs some questions: What's so unique about angels? Why do so many people believe in them? Are they real, and if so what do they do?

The aforementioned poll was discussed in an AP News article titled, “Do you believe in angels? About 7 in 10 U.S. adults do, a new AP-NORC poll shows.” 70% is quite the percentage of the population. As Dr. White mentioned, he has spoken on the topic of angels at Mecklenburg Community Church. You might enjoy checking out a series called “Paranormal” that delves into several issues related to today's discussion. The first installment titled, “A Map of the Spiritual World,” specifically focuses on the world of angels.

The conversation also talked about fallen angels, known as demons. Americans are far less inclined to believe in the demonic world than they are angels - probably because angels are so much “safer.” However the denomic agents of our spiritual world are not to be ignored. Dr. White mentioned a book written by C.S. Lewis called “The Screwtape Letters” that is definitely worth a read to understand why it's to our detriment to ignore the existence of demons in our lives.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

Welcome back to the start of a new season for the Church & Culture Podcast. In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the stunning findings of a recent Pew Research Center survey titled “A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married.” The survey, conducted in 2021, found that 25% of 40-year-olds in the US have never been married, and many never intend to get married. Today's episode will explore the cultural implications of these findings.

In addition to the Pew study, the Thriving Center of Psychology conducted its own study of unmarried Millennials and Gen Z finding that 40% believe marriage to be an outdated tradition. (*Note: this is the 40% that Dr. White refers to in his opening remarks and is separate from the Pew study findings). You can read more about this study and its implications in an article from The Messenger titled “Marriage Deemed ‘Outdated' by Millennials and Gen Z.”

The data from both surveys makes it clear that marriage, as we've traditionally known it, is in a free-fall. Whether because of reasons such as the cost of having a wedding or the increase in people living together before marriage, what our culture seems to have lost is the vision that marriage was created and ordained by God. It was woven into the very fabric of creation. Dr. White delivered a series at Mecklenburg Community Church to help people understand the significance of marriage titled “Holy Matrimony.” You can find other series he's given on the topics of both marriage and family HERE.

The conversation also touched on singleness, looking at this idea from several angles. First, since the pandemic culture seems to have become almost complacent about their state of loneliness. Dr. White wrote about this in his recent book Hybrid Church, and how we've essentially created a pandemic of loneliness with Gen Z. Second, there are some who view singleness as a sin. Our culture needs a good theology of singleness. Dr. White referenced an article from Christianity Today titled “Singleness Is Not a Sin.”

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how those outside the Christian faith often perceive the God of the Bible - particularly the Old Testament - as a moral monster. Largely this is due to the (sometimes) bloody violence found in its pages including holy wars, ethnic cleansing and even child sacrifice. Frankly, even those who consider themselves Christ followers find themselves grappling with the same questions as non-believers.

If today's conversation proved to be a good primer for you, but you'd like to go deeper on this topic, we suggest that you get a series that Dr. White delivered at Meck called “The Bloody Bible.” The series installments explore whether God is the same God in both testaments of the Bible, punishments, sacrifices and slaughters found in Scripture, and finally the differences between Christianity and Islam. If you're new to the Christian faith, and aren't even sure what is meant by “two testaments,” you may want to also check out a series called “How to Bible” which reviews the basics of reading and understanding the Bible.

Another resource that Dr. White mentioned that is very helpful is a book he wrote called Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians: Common Answers to Uncommon Questions. If you're engaging in conversations about the Christian faith with unchurched friends, family members, coworkers, etc., this would be great to have on hand to give to them so that they can explore more questions about the Bible like these.

Finally, there were several stories from the Bible that were discussed in today's conversation. We would encourage you to read: Genesis 22 (for the story of Abraham and Isaac), Exodus 12 (on the Passover), Deuteronomy 7 (on the slaughter of the Canaanites), Numbers 31 (on the conquest of the Midianites), Matthew 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount) and Matthew 26 (the Last Supper).

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, the idea for the topic came from a series Dr. White delivered at Mecklenburg Community Church called, “Is it okay for a Christian to…” This series explored questions that both Christians and non-Christians have about what is or is not okay to do once you cross the line of faith. So, is it okay for a Christian to smoke marijuana and drink wine?

Episode Links

When trying to determine whether the Christian faith allows you the freedom to do something, it's important to put those questions through a biblical framework that Dr. White outlined. For more on this framework and how to apply it to your life, check out his book After “I Believe”: Everyday Practices for a Vibrant Faith. It's also an excellent book to read whether you are new to the Christian faith or have been a Christ follower for years.

As the Bible is key to knowing whether it's okay for a Christian to do (or not do) something, there were a number of Scripture references that Dr. White gave that we wanted to gather for you:

* On your body being a temple of the Holy Spirit, read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

* On the benefits of wine for your body and mental health, read 1 Timothy 5:23, Psalm 104:15 and Ecclesiastes 9:7.

* On Jesus' words about wine, read Luke 7:34 and Mark 14:25.

* On warnings about your personal freedom leading others astray, read 1 Corinthians 8:9, Romans 14:21 and 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Finally, Dr. White read an excerpt from a Christianity Today article titled, “A Toast to My Journey with Wine” which you can read HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.