I'm so glad to finally have a chance to talk with Steev RX, musician and entertainer, whose song "Purpose" is the theme song of this show! Steev RX is a talented musician, "blending his original southwest emo roots with current trap and alt pop music to create his own unique sound." He is also a longtime worship leader, and talks about his commitment to being an authentic presence in church, imperfections and all. It's really refreshing way to break through the phoniness of church folks and talk about something real. (Even if it means a profanity or two!)

In addition to "Purpose," this episode also features clips of Steev RX's songs "Thoughts" and "Fold." To find more of Steev RX's music, visit his website at steevrx.com or find his music on most streaming platforms.

To find out more about my work, you can find me at my website www.kellywilson.com, and I'm @kelywilsn on FB, Instagram, and X. Thank you for listening!

Faith Still Seeking--Christian Theology, No Certainty Required. A series about Christian Theology (by someone who doesn't have it all figured out yet--but it hasn't stopped me from trying!)

Kelly Wilson is a writer, podcaster, and the co-creator/co-host of the podcast Radical Love Live. Kelly is a lifelong student of theology, a committed Christ-follower, and confirmed Episcopalian who lives in the space between the foundations of Evangelicalism and the inclusive expansiveness of mainline, Progressive Christianity. Despite the differences, he hopes that the world will come to know us Christians by our love.

Who or what is the Devil? Our culture has strong ideas about

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Faith and Theology

02:45 The Nature of the Devil

11:50 Satan's Role in Human History

19:20 Cultural Representations of the Devil

30:14 Exploring Paradise Lost

49:11 Reevaluating the Concept of Evil

There is not just one way to read a Bible. I thought I had it figured out when I was a kid—our church had it right and everyone else’s had it wrong. I didn’t know how they could miss the plain truth. It was RIGHT THERE ON THE PAGE, if they would only read it with open, faithful eyes. And then it happened. I was introduced to MIRACLES. Never before had I experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but here I was, speaking in tongues, getting healed, and experiencing the possibility of real-world magic and power in this world. And it was all in parts of the Bible I had never read before, and which my pastor had never preached. What other secrets did the Bible hold that I had not yet seen, heard, or understood? Was there some OTHER “right” way of reading the Bible, which all of us had missed? This is the story about how miracles taught me that there was more than one way to read the Bible. 

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Faith and Theology

01:45 The Journey of Faith and Miracles

10:42 Exploring the Charismatic Movement

15:34 The Nature of Miracles and Belief

29:49 Experiencing Spiritual Gifts and Power

38:30 Experiencing Miracles and Healing

45:40 The Power of Faith and Spiritual Warfare

51:30 Rethinking Salvation and Miraculous Power

57:32 The Nature of Miracles and Personal Experiences

01:01:55 The Complexity of Faith and Suffering

01:09:09 Love, Freedom, and the Essence of Christianity

Are science and religion natural enemies? Or can the methods of scientific inquiry help measure the truth of religious claims, although they are mostly based in words and feelings? This is a wide ranging exploration of the compatibility of religious and scientific thought, and the potential for cutting through bias and assumptions to a resilient faith, featuring quotes from a variety of sources, including Steven Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Baruch Spinoza, St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Pope John Paul II, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Matthew McConaughey's character from True Detective, Bible scholar Dan McClellan, theologian Thomas Jay Oord, the apostle Paul, William Shakespeare, and a sheep joke from a prominent mathematician. Set some time aside for this one, it's a lot of material!

00:00 Introduction to Faith Still Seeking

01:28 Exploring the Nature of Theology

05:48 Science and Theology: A Complex Relationship

12:32 The Debate on NOMA and Its Critics

18:08 Interpreting the Bible: Science vs. Spiritual Truth

25:15 Questioning Everything: A Scientific Approach to Faith

32:51 The Complexity of Biblical Interpretation

41:00 St. Augustine: Embracing the Unknown

44:24 The Challenge of Belief and Observation

47:39 The Pursuit of Truth and Knowledge

51:33 Understanding Justice and the Concept of Hell

55:56 Cherry-Picking Scripture and Its Implications

01:00:19 The First Cause Argument and Its Critique

01:04:33 Exploring Alternative Theological Perspectives

01:10:20 The Nature of God and the Problem of Evil

01:14:23 The Provisional Nature of Scientific Findings

01:25:48 Integrating Science and Faith

When salvation as I understood it stopped working for me, I had work out my own salvation based on what I understood. In this episode I summarize the version of salvation I learned as a child, which is probably very familiar to anyone from conservative evangelical traditions. I examine the questions I had about the logic and mechanics and justice of salvation, which became major stumbling blocks to my faith. And I share my current understanding of salvation, based on what I've learned, thought about, and meditated upon over the years.

00:00 Introduction to Faith and Questions

02:13 The Nature of Salvation and Sin

10:00 Understanding Grace and Perfection

18:13 The Conflict of Desire and Faith

27:58 The Search for Meaning in Theology

33:52 The Problem of Human Desire and Divine Expectations

38:43 The Weight of Sin and Divine Justice

44:04 God's Holiness vs. Mercy

50:58 Understanding Salvation and Forgiveness

56:01 The Role of the Resurrection

01:03:24 The Nature of Salvation and Free Will

01:10:34 Growing Up: The Adam and Eve Story

01:16:19 Conjectures on Salvation and Future Exploration

(NEW EPISODE) This episode explores the dynamic tension between faith and reason. Religion asks us to believe things we can't prove with scientific evidence, but science doesn't rule out the mystical and experiential. How does a person have an honest faith that is also intellectually rigorous?

Kelly Wilson is a writer, podcaster, and the co-creator/co-host (with Mark Dilcom) of the podcast Radical Love Live. Kelly is a committed Christ-follower and confirmed Episcopalian who lives in the space between the foundations of Evangelicalism and the inclusive expansiveness of mainline, Progressive Christianity. Despite the differences, he hopes that the world will come to know us Christians by our love.

Kelly is also grateful to musician Steev Rx to be able to use the song "Purpose," as the theme song for this series. Steev RX is an alt pop/trap musician with roots in the Southwest emo scene in Arizona, and his music can be heard on Spotify and other platforms, as well as on his website at https://steevrx.com. [The first time I heard this song--the authentic questions, and the genuine faith that infuses it, raw language and all--I knew it had to be theme for this show!]

To find out more about my work, you can find me at my website www.kellywilson.com, and I'm @kelywilsn on FB, Instagram, and X. To support my work, I'm at https://www.patreon.com/kelywilsn. Thank you for listening!

The first episode of the new podcast "Faith Still Seeking" from writer and perpetual student of theology, Kelly Wilson (he/him). This is the beginning of an earnest, curious, sometimes irreverent exploration of the core ideas of Christianity from the point of view of a faith that still has a lot of questions.

In this episode, Kelly shares his background from fundamentalist Evangelicalism though intense questioning, passionate scholarship hoping to reveal the "real" Christianity (or disprove it once and for all), eye-opening revelations that showed new ways of looking at Jesus and the Kingdom, and what keeps him connected to Christianity--despite doubts, uncertainty, and the stuff that still doesn't make rational sense yet.

Kelly Wilson is a writer, podcaster, and the co-creator/co-host (with Mark Dilcom) of the podcast Radical Love Live. Kelly is a committed Christ-follower and confirmed Episcopalian who lives in the space between the foundations of Evangelicalism and the inclusive expansiveness of mainline, Progressive Christianity. Despite the differences, he hopes that the world will come to know us Christians by our love.

Kelly is also grateful to musician Steev Rx to be able to use the song "Purpose," as the theme song for this series. Steev RX is an alt pop/trap musician with roots in the Southwest emo scene in Arizona, and his music can be heard on Spotify and other platforms, as well as on his website at https://steevrx.com. [The first time I heard this song--the authentic questions, and the genuine faith that infuses it, raw language and all--I knew it had to be theme for this show!]

To find out more about my work, you can find me at my website www.kellywilson.com, and I'm @kelywilsn on FB, Instagram, and X. To support my work, I'm at https://www.patreon.com/kelywilsn. Thank you for listening!