Postmodern Realities Podcast

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Anne Kennedy about her Practical Hermeneutics article, “The Upside-Down Metaphor: A Hermeneutical Critique of Josh Butler’s Beautiful Union“. https://www.equip.org/articles/the-upside-down-metaphor-a-hermeneutical-critique-of-josh-butlers-beautiful-union/ Also see Alisa Ruddell's Viewpoint article on the same book, "Beautiful Union by Joshua Ryan Butler and the Trouble with Borrowing Icons".https://www.equip.org/articles/beautiful-union-by-joshua-ryan-butler-and-the-trouble-with-borrowing-icons//

When you support the Journal, you join the team of to help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other recent articles and Postmodern Realities podcasts featuring Anne Kennedy:Hank Unplugged: Gaslighting, BLM, Cancel Culture and More with Anne KennedyPostmodern RealitiesEpisode 331 A Mountain Made Low—A Look at Brianna WiestA Mountain Made Low—A Look at Brianna WiestEpisode 325 Life in the Church and the Liturgical Church CalendarGo to Church! How Living Through the Church Year Can Help You Get a Grip on Your Life, Your Faith, and Your FamilyEpisode 316 Take Joy: Santa, St. Nicholas, and JesusTake Joy: Santa, St. Nicholas, and JesusEpisode 313 Spiritual Friendship: Temptation or Belonging?Spiritual Friendship: Temptation or Belonging?Episode 308 A More Unconditional Love: Modern Iterations of Platonic MarriageEpisode 299: I’m the Head and Not the Tail: A Christian Decides to Skip the Daily AffirmationI’m the Head and Not the Tail: A Christian Decides to Skip the Daily AffirmationEpisode 279: Haven’t We All Sacrificed Enough: A Christian Tries to Observe LentHaven’t We All Sacrificed Enough: A Christian Tries to Observe LentEpisode 273: Identity and Obedience in Revoice 2021Identity and Obedience in Revoice 2021Episode 268 I’ll Start My Diet Tomorrow: A Christian Makes a New Year’s ResolutionI’ll Start My Diet Tomorrow: A Christian Makes a New Year’s Resolution-Special limited previewEpisode 255 For Our Lamps Are Going Out: Gaslighting in the Age of Social MediaFor Our Lamps are Going Out: Gaslighting in the Age of Social Media

CRISPER biotechnology, an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, took the expensive and complicated world of gene editing and transformed it into a more accessible field. Born out of the ongoing war between bacteria and viruses, CRISPR scientists discovered a bacterial defense mechanism built around identifying and splicing genetic information in viruses and transformed that bacterial defense into a tool that promises medical miracles, cures, and the ability to edit DNA in areas as diverse as food production and curing cancer. Some worry intellectual and scientific advancement threatens to be divisive by nature if treatment costs and not medical need determines who receives care. The promise of CRISPR, like all medical treatments, comes with built in risks. Copying and editing errors may be a source of mild embarrassment for those who trade in the written word, but so called off target edits in our genetic makeup could have devastating consequences. How do Christians spiritually navigate a world advancing aggressively in the ability to alter the building blocks of life, for good or bad, in areas like CRIPSR research? An apparent lack of consideration for early human life fosters a distrust for the scientific community within many people who identify themselves as Evangelicals. This frustration will not deter advancement. It is incumbent on Christians to reflect deeply on what it means to be a human being in an age where some scientists actively seek to fundamentally alter the human experience or even leave it behind altogether.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Jay Watts about his online article, “CRISPR, Cures, and the New World of Gene Editing”. https://www.equip.org/articles/crispr-cures-and-the-new-world-of-gene-editing/When you support the Journal, you join the team of to help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other recent articles and Postmodern Realities podcasts featuring this author:Episode 326 Life After Roe: A Follow UpLife After Roe: A Follow UpEpisode 288 The Leaked Draft: Is this the Fall of Roe v. Wade?The Leaked Draft: Is this the Fall of Roe v. Wade?Episode 296 The End of Roe V. WadeThe End of Roe and the Beginning of a New FightEpisode 284 What Attorney Mary Ziegler Gets Wrong About Pro-Life TacticsWhat Attorney Mary Ziegler Gets Wrong About Pro-Life Tactics Episode 274 Filipovic’s Confused Claim that the Pro-Life Community Must Champion ContraceptionFilipovic’s Confused Claim that the Pro-Life Community Must Champion ContraceptionEpisode 249: Do Abortion Politics Hurt Women Enduring Miscarriage?Do Abortion Politics Hurt Women Enduring Miscarriage?Episode 230: Is it Ethical for Pro-Life Christians to Receive Covid-19 Vaccines?Assessing the Confession of Norma McCorvey in AKA Jane RoeEpisode 134 Are Laws Restricting Abortion Forced Organ Donation? A Review of Beyond RoeAre Laws Restricting Abortion Forced Organ Donation? A Review of Beyond RoeEpisode 117-Unplanned: An Imperfect but Brave Film Unplanned: An Imperfect but Brave Film

In the last few years, many Christians had said that all Christians need to be winsome at ALL times. Now, of course, Christians should always have the fruit of the Spirit in their lives and that absolutely must govern our conversations. But it is not that simple. Some Christian apologists are so nice and so accepting when talking with those who have rejected the truths of Christianity that the non-Christian they were talking to might not realize that their eternal destination is at stake. Also, believers need to be careful that winsome doesn’t become a cloak for cowardice. The word winsome is defined by Merriam-Webster as “1: generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence….: CHEERFUL, LIGHTHEARTED” (capitalization in original). The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “attractive and pleasing, with simple qualities, sometimes like those a child has.” Princeton Writes defines winsome as “pleasing or attractive in appearance, handsome, comely; of attractive nature or disposition, of winning character or manners.” Now Jesus may have evinced a “winning character or manners,” but “attractive in appearance, handsome, comely” perhaps isn’t true because we read in Isaiah, “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (53:2). And did Jesus always come across with an “attractive nature or disposition”? There is a great difference between Jesus’ ministry and much Christian public discourse today. Namely, Jesus wasn’t concerned about scoring political gains, except indirectly as He changed the hearts of those in power. Since Jesus was not trying to win the Pharisees over, He was laying out plain truth for the audience’s sake. Jesus was letting the crowd know that the Pharisees were evil and that their counsel should be rejected.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Clay Jones about his online article, “Jesus Wasn’t Always Winsome“.https://www.equip.org/articles/jesus-wasnt-always-winsome/

When you support the Journal, you join the team of to help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other articles and podcasts featuring this author: Episode 333 A Question Mormons Can’t AnswerA Question Mormons Can’t AnswerEpisode 270 The Divine Hiddenness of GodFour Types of Divine Hiddenness of God. For a special limited preview of this print article please click here! To read the article in it’s entirety please please click here to purchase this issue. Postmodern Realities Episode 247: Is It True That There Are Good Non-Christians?Is It true That There Are Good Non-Christians?Postmodern Realities Episode 233 You Probably Aren’t Saved If…(This Is about Sex)You Probably Aren’t Saved If…(This Is about Sex)Postmodern Realities Episode 202 Symbolic Immortality Projects Can’t Save YouSymbolic Immortality Projects Can’t Save YouPostmodern Realities Episode 183 Immortal: How the Fear of Death Drives Us and What We Can Do About ItImmortal—Epicurus, Sam Harris, and Bart Ehrman Are Wrong: Death Is SomethingPostmodern Realities Episode 176 Our Fallen WorldHank Unplugged: Why God Permits Evil with Clay JonesPostmodern Realities: Episode 114 Why Did God Let that Child Die?Why Did God Let That Child Die?Postmodern Realities: Episode 068: Something Made: The Role of Form in ApologeticsSomething Made : The Role of Form in Apologetics Postmodern Realities: Episode 030: Evangelizing the Cultural Christian Evangelizing the Cultural ChristianKilling the Canaanites: A Response to the New Atheism’s “Divine Genocide” Claims

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Cole Burgett about his online article, "Finding Family Among The Last of Us." the discusses the video game and HBO Tv Series, The Last of Us.https://www.equip.org/articles/finding-family-among-the-last-of-us/

When you to subscribe to and support the Journal, you join the team of print subscribers whose paid subscriptions help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.

.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other recent Podcasts and articles featuring this author: Episode 335 Let Faith Oust Fact: A Review of The WhaleLet Faith Oust Fact: A Review of The WhaleEpisode 330 Finding Empathy in the Trenches: A Review of Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western FrontA Review of the Oscar Winning Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front-Finding Empathy in the TrenchesEpisode 324 The Way of Family in Avatar: the Way of WaterThe Way of Family in Avatar: the Way of WaterEpisode 318 An Occasion for Just War: A Review of AndorAn Occasion for Just War: A Review of AndorEpisode 314 Tolkien Reimagined: A Series Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerTolkien Reimagined: A Series Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerEpisode 309 The Devil and Kristen Bouchard: A Series Review of EvilThe Devil and Kristen Bouchard: A Series Review of EvilEpisode 303 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the New Old-Fashioned WayStar Trek: Strange New Worlds and the New Old-Fashioned Way

​This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author John Ferrer about SatanCon 2023 held in Boston, MA on April 28th-30th, 2023 presented by The Satanic Temple.When you to support the Journal, you join the team of members who help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Please click here to support the ongoing work of the JOURNAL and for information on our Special Themed, Double Journal Issue on The Greatest Assault on Human Nature Ever Devised: Everything You Need To Know About the Cult of WokeismAnother way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other podcasts and articles by this author: Episode 327 A Christian Apologist Responds to Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s Satanic Grammy PerformanceA Christian Apologist Responds to Sam Smith and Kim Petras’s Satanic Grammy PerformanceEditor’s note: While nothing explicit is discussed in the article and related podcast above, the subject matter of the Unholy song lyrics and original music video is rated R. Episode 146 Recognizing and Responding to Occultism in Your Church and A Film review of Hail Satan?Satanic Lessons on Religious Freedom: A review of Hail Satan?Infiltrated: Recognizing and Responding to Occultism in Your ChurchEpisode 131 Sabrina The Teenage Anti-ChristSabrina The Teenage Anti-Christ

In discussions about modern infertility treatments, many articles concerning in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy, and even the ethics of using a third-party gamete donor, have been written. As an extension of the ethical conversation surrounding fertility treatments, the fertility industry itself must be examined. From lack of reasonable regulations, to targeting young gamete donors, to the problem of anonymous donors and non-transparent medical information, the fertility industry itself does not at present align with Christian moral values. In the United States, however, there is currently no federal law prohibiting doctors from swapping chosen donor sperm with their own, or any other sperm for that matter. The New York Times reports that since the popularization of commercial DNA testing in recent years, over fifty doctors have been accused of doing the same thing. This is the case even though only approximately twenty-one percent of Americans have taken a commercial DNA test. The number of offending doctors may be much higher. The fertility industry in America is largely anonymous. Anonymity leaves the door open for serial donors to run rampant, for sibling pods to grow to excessive numbers, and for significant mental distress to occur in donor-conceived individuals and recipient families. In America, there is currently no national donor registry, making it difficult to track serial donors across multiple clinics. Because American donors can remain anonymous, and each bank maintains its own records without necessarily communicating with other banks, this can lead to enormous sibling pods — some reaching over one hundred. With more couples than ever before opting to use fertility treatments to conceive, it is imperative for Christians to weigh the ethical issues of the fertility industry alongside the procedures themselves. From regulation issues to problematic practices, the industry at present poses many concerns that must be thoroughly considered, prayed about, and weighed by Christians who are struggling to conceive. There may be situations in which Christians believe they can ethically make the choice to use various types of fertility treatments, but this industry should not be opted into without significant care and concern, with full awareness about the procedures and the industry’s current practices.

​This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Lisa Cooper about her online article, “Is Participating in the Fertility Industry Ethical?”https://www.equip.org/articles/is-participating-in-the-fertility-industry-ethical/ When you to subscribe to and support the Journal, you join the team of print subscribers whose paid subscriptions help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other podcasts and articles by this author: Episode 276 Boba Fett’s Character Arc Actually Makes Sense ( A Review of The Book of Boba Fett)Boba Fett’s Character Arc Actually Makes Sense ( A Review of The Book of Boba Fett)Episode 197 Was God at Sandy Hook Elementary that Day?School Shootings and the Problem of Evil (Was God at Sandy Hook that day?)

“I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.” “Trans women are women.” “A woman is anyone who identifies as a woman.” Statements like these are now commonplace: they reveal that words, and the way we use them, change over time. That which used to go without saying is now being said in a way that implies its opposite. The words “woman” and “man” and the categories they denote, which used to be intuitive and axiomatic, are beginning to crack under the pressure of a culture determined to do away with nature’s limits, and to elevate freedom (underwritten by technology) as the highest good. On June 6, 2020, J.K. Rowling retweeted an op-ed piece whose title conspicuously replaced the word “woman” with a female bodily function. “‘People who menstruate,’” Rowling mused.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” she wrote. Rowling is right: there used to be a word for those people, but it has been pressed into the service of a new purpose. Rowling’s tweet dropped like a hand grenade into Twitter, and the sheer volume of verbally profane pushback she received, loaded with sexually violent threats, is astounding. Many people, myself included, are concerned that the word “woman” is decaying with repeated twisting and misuse, and that natal females will suffer from the “slip slide and perish” of its broken meaning. The problem of universals — how it is that we can recognize categories like Woman, Tree, or Cat — has been a source of philosophical debate since Plato and Aristotle, through Boethius and Augustine, to Thomas Aquinas and William of Occam.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Alisa Ruddell about her online Viewpoint article, “What Happened To The Word “WOMAN”? https://www.equip.org/articles/what-happened-to-the-word-woman/When you to subscribe to and support the Journal, you join the team of print subscribers whose paid subscriptions help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other podcasts and articles featuring this author: Episode 321 Carl Jung and the Modern World’s WoundCarl Jung and the Modern World’s WoundEpisode 307 Raised by Wolves: The Temptation and Trauma of an Android EveRaised by Wolves: The Temptation and Trauma of an Android Eve

Athenagoras of Athens is one of three great Greek pagan philosophers who, during the second century AD, converted to Christianity on account of the wisdom of its teachings and the moral lives of its followers. Rather than abandon their former training, Aristides, Justin Martyr, and Athenagoras all used their pagan learning as a springboard for bearing witness to the gospel before the most powerful rulers of their day.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Lou Markos about his online article, “Athenagoras of Athens”.https://www.equip.org/articles/athenagoras-of-athens/

To learn more about receiving the book that this is adapted from, Ancient Voices: An Insider’s Look at the Early Church, for your partnering gift, please click here. When you to subscribe to the Journal, you join the team of print subscribers whose paid subscriptions help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other recent Podcasts and articles featuring this author: Hank Unplugged:How to Explain Hell with Louis MarkosHow Dante’s Inferno Can Help Explain Hell to Modern Seekers (article)Atheism on Trial with Dr. Louis MarkosPostmodern Realities podcastsEpisode 332 Exhortations to College-bound StudentsSeven or So Exhortations to College-Bound StudentsEpisode 319 The Martyrdom of PolycarpThe Martyrdom of PolycarpEpisode 290 Just So ScienceEpisode 221: Tennyson on Theodicy: How a Victorian Poet Can Help Modern Christians Deal with the Problem of PainTennyson on Theodicy: How a Victorian Poet Can Help Modern Christians Deal with the Problem of PainEpisode 171 Why Christians Should Read the Pagan ClassicsWhy Christians Should Read the Pagan ClassicsC. S. Lewis on HellThe Legacy of G.K. Chesterton and Dorothy Sayers

Buried beneath a mountain of make-up and prosthetics so that he is nigh unrecognizable, Brendan Fraser has earned no small amount of acclaim for his portrayal of Charlie. The Whale, filmed on a $3 million budget (pocket change by the standards of modern Hollywood), first began making waves when Fraser received a highly publicized six-minute standing ovation at the movie’s Venice Film Festival premiere. The role has since netted him “Best Actor” accolades from outlets as varied as the Toronto International Film Festival, the Hollywood Critics Association, and the Academy Awards. But for all the acclaim that The Whale has received, perhaps its most important aspects are those overlooked by the vast majority of critics. The focus on Charlie’s homosexuality and the flaws of the Christian missionary attempting to proselytize him overlook the haunting themes of sin and guilt, as well as Charlie’s terrible need for absolution, which permeate Aronofsky’s film from first frame to last. Though The Whale tackles issues of sin, faith, homosexuality, and the family unit, there is no sense in which it lands the plane on any particular runway. The film is most certainly not the all-out assault on the church that some critics seem to think it is, but at the same time, it is still a product of the modern Hollywood machine. Charlie does not find Jesus. Nevertheless, The Whale is a film that is interested in the complexities of faith in a modern context, and that makes it worth paying attention to. Material abounds here for the Christian apologist or evangelist to take hold of and step into conversations with people struggling with homosexuality and feelings of guilt and depression. It would be unwise to ignore a movie that really does seem to be interested in interacting with people of the Christian faith, especially when the broader culture is so uninterested in what Christians have to say.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Cole Burgett about his online article, "Let Faith Oust Fact: A Review of The Whale."https://www.equip.org/articles/let-faith-oust-fact-a-review-of-the-whale/ **Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for The Whale.** When you to subscribe to the Journal, you join the team of print subscribers whose paid subscriptions help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here

Other recent Podcasts and articles featuring this author: Episode 330 Finding Empathy in the Trenches: A Review of Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western FrontA Review of the Oscar Winning Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front-Finding Empathy in the TrenchesEpisode 324 The Way of Family in Avatar: the Way of WaterThe Way of Family in Avatar: the Way of WaterEpisode 318 An Occasion for Just War: A Review of AndorAn Occasion for Just War: A Review of AndorEpisode 314 Tolkien Reimagined: A Series Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerTolkien Reimagined: A Series Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerEpisode 309 The Devil and Kristen Bouchard: A Series Review of EvilThe Devil and Kristen Bouchard: A Series Review of EvilEpisode 303 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the New Old-Fashioned WayStar Trek: Strange New Worlds and the New Old-Fashioned Way

​That those who do not believe might be converted to genuine faith has been the constant prayer of the church since the apostolic era. Every preacher hopes that God might use his preaching to bring this about. Within the context of this hope, the practice of the altar call has arisen. Most readers will be familiar with the altar call, but perhaps not all. So I will sketch out two of the most common methods. The first, popularized by Billy Graham, has antecedents stretching back to the 19th century and Charles Finney’s “anxious bench” (about which I will have more to say below). Billy Graham would typically preach a fiery sermon in which he spent a good deal of time calling his listeners to measure their own lives by the requirements of God’s law. Then, as his warnings of God’s judgment and hell reached their crescendo, he would tell of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and of the offer of salvation and forgiveness to all who believe. The first time I listened to a Billy Graham sermon after my conversion, I recognized much the same message I had heard from Dr. Sproul. But the crowning moment of Dr. Graham’s sermon was his invitation to come forward. The walk from your seat to the front of the stage (the figurative altar) was presented as the outward, visible sign of your inward decision to commit your life to Jesus Christ. Thousands of smaller local churches still use this method of the altar call in their regular Sunday lineup. A second method — perhaps more popular — still requires an active response on the part of the hearer but a less public display. The preacher proclaims the law and gospel, and after his sermon, presumably, he asks the entire congregation to bow their heads and close their eyes. Then he asks those who are willing to repent and turn to Jesus to raise their hands. Then the preacher leads them, usually still seated, in some version of the “sinner’s prayer.”3 The preacher sees those who raise their hands and, presumably, at some point the rest of the congregation will know, but for the immediate moment the act is between the preacher, those with raised hands, and God. Committing your life to Christ, in both forms of the altar call, involves some kind of more or less public act.

This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with JOURNAL author Matthew M. Kennedy about his online-exclusive viewpoint article, “Do Altar Calls Add To The Gospel?“.https://www.equip.org/articles/do-altar-calls-add-to-the-gospel/ When you to subscribe to the Journal, you join the team of print subscribers whose paid subscriptions help provide the resources at equip.org that minister to people worldwide. These resources include our ever growing database of over 1,500 articles, as well as our free Postmodern Realities podcast.Another way you can support our online articles is by leaving us a tip. A tip is just a small amount, like $3, $5, or $10 which is the cost for some of a latte, lunch out, or coffee drink. To leave a tip, click here