Crucible of Thought

"Miche like quiche," as she says. I'm very pleased to bring to you an interview with Dr. Miche van Essen, of Transmission Ministry. I learned about her through Zach Lambert, after my interview with him in a previous episode of this podcast, and after watching some of her content on Instagram and other social media, was very interested in speaking with her. She graciously agreed, and we had a wonderful conversation for about an hour. I could easily have continued on, as I had so many more questions than time would permit, and I hope you'll find this conversation just as stimulating as I found it to be. We covered a range of topics, from ethnic identity and assumptions, to queer theology and intersectional theology, and it was deeply enlightening.

You can also watch this episode on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gutJsL4uNA

I repent of hell. I'm sorry that I believed a lie about God and how God deals with humanity. I see how that was harmful to both me and to others, and I'll change and do better in the future.

You can also read this in text form on the blog at https://crucibleofthought.com/repenting-from-hell

Deep dive on Infernalism:

https://crucibleofthought.com/a-discussion-of-individual-eschatology/

Book reviews related to salvation and the afterlife:

https://crucibleofthought.com/book-reviews-salvation-and-end-times/

Cover art from YongL at

https://www.deviantart.com/yongl/art/Hell-Or-Heaven-278094639

(Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives Works 3.0 License)

Today, I had the real privilege of interviewing Zach Lambert, pastor of the Restore Austin church in Austin Texas. Zach showed up on my radar in early 2022 as I began to seriously study the issue of LGBTQ rights and whether it was possible to be a Christian and affirming at the same time. I saw Zach's powerful sermon on the topic, which I'll link in the show notes, and it really impressed me and motivated me to study the topic harder.

What's the difference between a powerful testimony, and a sad story that we perceive as condemning the one who experienced it? Often, it's only our dogma. We listen and swing from "that's amazing" to "that's horrible" in moments, based on our preconceptions of how valid that story is. Maybe, though, we can learn quite a bit from people whose stories don't fit our existing framework of understanding.

You can also read this at https://crucibleofthought.com/the-conditional-power-of-testimony/

P.T. Barnum is famously reputed to have said "there's a sucker born every minute." I'd add a modern corollary that says "there's a grifter born every minute to feed those suckers," especially in today's social media world. The recent bridge collapse in Baltimore brought plenty of Barnum's minions out of the woodwork. What can we learn from this?

You can also read this episode at

https://crucibleofthought.com/barnum/

and watch it at

https://youtu.be/ONVeSdXBs_Q

Americans seem to worship efficiency and scale - and American Christians seem to apply Henry Ford's innovations to building Christians, just like he built the Model T. But maybe that's not the best way to advance the Kingdom of God.

This is episode #103 of the Crucible of Thought podcast. You can also read this in text form at https://crucibleofthought.com/henry-ford-christians/

and watch it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zL0ZOvHRbwM

Is God's salvation truly limited to those with right beliefs? Or is Gal 2:20 better translated as living within the faithfulness of God's son? One puts the burden on us to believe correctly. The other rests in the completed work of Jesus. And that covers everyone, not just those who believe the right things.

You can also read this episode at https://crucibleofthought.com/yes-them-too/

Other related posts:

This is part four of a four-part series on the various Christian doctrines of the afterlife.

I grew up in an evangelical church environment, and I don’t think it’s possible for any good evangelical to not know all about heaven versus hell, and streets of gold versus fire and brimstone, and to vigorously defend those concepts and then use them to convince people to repent and believe to avoid eternal punishment. But those views are not universal to Christianity, and I just began to realize this in the last couple years. So I’m making these videos to provide some awareness of the alternatives, and to discuss the doctrinal positions which I believe are probably more correct.

The following link is referenced in this video.

https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-severity-of-universal-salvation/

The text version of this video, with clickable links and all the Bible references in popup form is also available in blog form at https://crucibleofthought.com/a-discussion-of-individual-eschatology-part-4-of-4/

You can also watch this on YouTube at https://youtu.be/3sNnUw7Y4eU

This is part three of a four-part series on the various Christian doctrines of the afterlife.

I grew up in an evangelical church environment, and I don’t think it’s possible for any good evangelical to not know all about heaven versus hell, and streets of gold versus fire and brimstone, and to vigorously defend those concepts and then use them to convince people to repent and believe to avoid eternal punishment. But those views are not universal to Christianity, and I just began to realize this in the last couple years. So I’m making these videos to provide some awareness of the alternatives, and to discuss the doctrinal positions which I believe are probably more correct.

The following link is referenced in this video.

https://www.hopebeyondhell.net/articles/further-study/eternity/

The text version of this video, with clickable links and all the Bible references in popup form is also available in blog form at https://crucibleofthought.com/a-discussion-of-individual-eschatology-part-3-of-4/

You can also watch this on YouTube at https://youtu.be/pmpdSkc6Bww

This is part two of a four-part series on the various Christian doctrines of the afterlife.

You can also watch this on YouTube at https://youtu.be/84HlLjeFKoM