City on a Hill

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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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; his intention was for “meme” to sound similar to "gene.”

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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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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?”

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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:

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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.

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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 is an accessible and gentle introduction to practices and priorities that will help you thrive in a time like this, where people are all too eager to disagree with you. He uses the structure of an academic year at the law school. I hope you will pick up a copy of your own.

John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis. His latest book is Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect (Zondervan, 2024). He is also the author of Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (Yale University Press, 2012) and Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference (University of Chicago Press, 2016), and co-editor (with Tim Keller) of Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference (Thomas Nelson, 2020).

He is the founder of The Carver Project and the Legal Vocation Fellowship and a Senior Fellow at Interfaith America and the Trinity Forum. He holds a B.S.E. and J.D. from Duke University and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

You can find him on X at: https://twitter.com/JohnInazu

I signed up for my first Substack to follow him. You can do that here: https://johninazu.substack.com/

Last but not least, you can find him at his personal website: https://www.jinazu.com/

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

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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!

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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.

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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

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GET IN TOUCH:

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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