I BELIEVE

Was Constantine a hero or a villain? Did he help Christianity flourish or did he set the church on a course of corruption? Dr. Payne & Dr. Doak try to convince one another in this week’s smackdown!

What happens when the early church is forced out of Jerusalem and scattered across the world? How do they survive? And how do they remain faithful when put to the test of persecution? Dr. Doak and Dr. Payne talk about what life was like for the earliest Christians.

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This week, Dr. Doak & Dr. Payne explore how early Christians wrestled with who they were when they were expelled from Jerusalem, and they tackle the question: should churches be just like they were in the New Testament? Or, should they adapt to the times? Listen in and then share your thoughts with your discussion group!

Just google “Christian sandwich board” and you’ll see a lot of pictures of Christians standing with giant signs proclaiming a version of the Christian message. But should they? Most Christians agree that getting the good news out to the world is important. How should evangelism be done? Public preaching like in the book of Acts? Or should we let our actions speak first? Dr. Doak and Dr. Payne take up the question of getting the news about Jesus out in the world - one way or another!

This week, we talk about why learning about the Bible is just the starting point for understanding the depth and breadth of Christianity. WHY we should study the history of Christianity and why we should think about big theological ideas? And what sorts of things were some of the earliest Christians in Syria thinking about in the first century? Listen here to find out!

Have you heard of “the rapture”? Maybe, maybe not! But we’re going to tell you all about it, and then debate it. A fitting end to our journey through the Bible, arriving, finally, at the APOCALYPSE.
Our artifact: A poster Dr. Doak saw at Fred Meyer, for a rapture-themed paintball contest

Jesus returns to defeat evil: it’s the book of Revelation, our stunning last stop on this tour through the Christian Bible. Whose name is written on your head?

We invite Dr. Joseph Clair into the podcasting bunker because we need to know more about his lecture on the topic of Christian PRACTICE as it appears in the New Testament. We think together about the concept of Christian ethics and moral behavior. Dr. Payne asks an uncomfortable question which Dr. Clair and Dr. Doak struggle to answer.

We take up a topic Christians have debated for centuries: hell. Should we think of hell as “eternal conscious torment,” that is, unbelievers tossed head over heels into the fire to suffer forever, or is hell…something else? Is hell temporary? How might we think about the ethics of hell in light of a loving God?
Artifact for the week: “Farewell Rob Bell” (a tweet by Pastor John Piper, condemning Rob Bell and his book Love Wins)

Dr. Sarita Edwards is back into the studio to talk about the LETTERS of Paul in the New Testament. We talk about some of the locations where people lived who first received these letters, and we engage in a reading and discussion of an intriguing passage for Christian decision making in the first century AD—and today. Also: Was the Apostle Paul cranky?