At the beginning of each year, we have a young adult event called Revive in Connecticut.  This year Leah Fronczek was one of the workshop leaders.  Her topic was detoxing your brain and I asked her to come on Restitutio to share with you what she learned in studying this topic.  This is so important for us as Christians, because God expects us to be able to control our thinking (Romans 12.2).  How do you get rid of toxic thoughts?  Leah is going to help us think through not only how negative thoughts affect us, but how to combat them.

Now, before we get into this, I want to make a distinction.  The mind, as we are using it in this discussion, is your mental state, consciousness, memories, feelings etc. , i.e. where you do your thinking, whereas the brain is the physical organ in your head that makes the mind possible.  Obviously, these two are connected, but they aren’t necessarily the same.  We’ll get into this more, but I just wanted to point that out before we get started.

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Last Saturday while I was attending a Christian festival in Ohio, a 21 year-old man entered a Walmart in El Paso, TX and murdered 22 people, injuring 24 more, making it the 7th deadliest shooting in modern US history.  What’s so crazy about this, is that walking into a huge store like Walmart and shooting a semi-automatic assault rifle and hitting 46 people is only 7th!  Can you agree with me that we have a gun-violence problem in America?

Then, the next day, a 24 year-old man shot 10 people outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio, injuring 27 more. He used another semi-automatic assault rifle.  What is the Christian response to all of this?

Well, today we are going to hear from two Christians who think it’s time for Christ-followers to lead the way in enacting and living out the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks (and our guns into mattocks.)  In fact, they’re already doing just that.

I went to see Shane Claiborne and Mike Martin on their “Beating Guns” tour when they came to New Haven, CT (the same town as Yale University).  I stood there outside the church watching as a woman whose life was traumatized by gun violence beat on a glowing hunk of metal, that had once been a gun, confiscated by the police and now being transformed into an actual garden tool.  As she brought the hammer down on the softened metal, she began weeping.  As she continued hitting it harder and faster she started wailing.  I stood there watching as she took out her overwhelming pain and personal loss on that piece of metal. It was cathartic, prophetic, and transformative.

Now I realize that gun-violence is a hot-button issue in our culture today and that many of you listening to this own guns for a variety of purposes.  I don’t expect you to just change what you believe about guns after a single podcast episode, but I simply ask that you listen to these guys as they talk about this subject from a Christian perspective.

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Bill Schlegel lived in Israel for 34 years, much of that time spent studying and then teaching about the geography of the scriptures.  In this interview he provides three reasons why every bible-student should study the land of Israel:

He also talks about his upcoming tour to Israel (March 19-April 2).  Get more information about that here.  Lastly, he weighs in a little on the modern situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

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An Antique Map of Palestine

What do you know about Palestinians?  In this eye-opening interview with Gloria Olivier, we discuss the plight of Palestinians today.  Did you know that thousands of Christians live in the West Bank today under Israeli occupation?  In this interview, you’ll learn a little about the history of this conflict as well as what conditions are like on the ground.  Now I realize this can be a sensitive subject, but I just ask that you hear out Gloria and keep an open mind on this important topic.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Also, here’s a picture of some of Gloria’s family when she was only 9 years old and visited Ramallah.  (She’s on the right with white top and dark skirt.)

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In our last episode, we laid the theological foundation for a new covenant doctrine: Christ fulfilled the Law and ratified the new covenant, which opened a new way of relating to God apart from obedience to Torah.  Now we will discuss a number of texts that sometimes confuse Christians into thinking the Law is still in effect today.  We’ll cover Jesus’ obedience to Torah, several scriptures that imply the Torah is forever, the sabbath’s association with creation, and a number of prophecies that mention keeping aspects of the Law in the kingdom.  Although, I realize these are not all of the texts and strategies that Torah-observant Christians use to make their case, these are some of the significant ones.

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Because of Christ’s obedient life, atoning death, and justifying resurrection, he has opened a new way of relating to God via the new covenant.  Thus, the old covenant (the Law of Moses) is obsolete for both Jews and Gentiles.

Acts 15.23-29; Rom 2.25-29; 3.21-31; 4.13-16; 6.14-15; 7.1-7; 8.1-4; 13.8-10; 1 Cor 9.20-21; 2 Cor 3.1-18; Gal 2.14, 19-21; 3.10-29; 4.21-31; 5.1-6; 5.13-25; 6.15-16; Eph 2.11-19; 3.4-6; Col 2.11-17; Heb 7.11-12, 21-22; 8.4-13; 9.11-15; 10.8-22; 12.18-29

Hebrews 4.15

Numbers 15.32-36 (the guy who collected sticks on the Sabbath)

Matthew 5.17-20

We are now in our second-to-last episode in this 24-part theology class, covering the major biblical doctrines as well as various counterarguments.  Today we will focus our time on the New Covenant.  We’ll make our way through biblical history in order to understand the grand sweep of the bible, paying special attention to the old and new covenants.  Of special note for this lecture is what happened when Gentiles started entering Jewish Christianity.  We’ll briefly touch upon the first Jerusalem council, Judaizers, and Paul’s capitulation to Jame’s request.  Lastly, we’ll see how Paul’s epistles as well as Hebrews make it clear that neither Jewish nor Gentile Christians need to keep the law in order to be saved.

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Gentiles begin entering the church

Paul’s Influence

Jerusalem Council

Some “Judaizers” teach Gentiles need to keep the Law, especially in Galatian churches Paul started

Pull up a chair and listen in as we discuss and wrestle with some verses that proponents of eternal security use to make their case.  Now there will be some overlap here with our last episode, but also some new content as well.  We’ll discuss texts that seem to imply that salvation has nothing to do with works, that we already have eternal life, that salvation is permanent, and lastly that the holy spirit guarantees salvation.

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Salvation is a gift given by God’s grace that we receive by faith and repentance, resulting in a lifestyle of obedience.  If someone turns away from following Christ, whether in a definitive moment of rejection or through a gradual turning away into sin, he or she becomes lost.

Mat 7.21-23; John 15.1-8; Rom 11.16-24; 1 Cor 6.9-10; 9.27; 15.1-2; Gal 5.19-21; 6.8-9; Eph 5.3-12; Phil 3.11-14; Col 1.22-23; 1 Tim 4.16; 5.8; 2 Tim 2.11-13; Heb 2.1-3; 3.12-14; 4.1, 11; 6.4-8; 10.26-29; Jam 2.18-20; 2 Pet 2.20-22; Rev 3.1-5

Below are a number of texts used to teach that salvation cannot be lost.  Also, here’s a website (jesus-is-savior.com/Believer’s Corner/eternal_security.htm) to present a strong argument for eternal security.

John 3.16

“believe” in John is more than just mental assent; it implies obedience

John 3.36

Ephesians 2.8-9

The initial moment of salvation is truly by grace through faith.

However, once saved we need to perform works

Ephesians 2.10 (very next verse)

several other verses in Ephesians make it clear that sinful living results in destruction

Ephesians 5.5-8

2 Timothy 1.9

Titus 3.5-6

We’ll delve into the multifaceted theology of salvation (aka soteriology).  We’ll look at all three tenses of salvation: how we were saved, are being saved, and will be saved.  Now, I realize this can be a very sensitive and controversial subject, depending on what your preexisting doctrinal commitments are.  However, I simply ask that you listen carefully and test what I say here against the scriptures to see whether it holds up.  Be a good Berean and see where God leads you.

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In Paul’s letters we find several different ways of talking about what God has done in Christ.  The most common is that we are “saved.”  Here is (perhaps) the most famous Scripture about how God has saved us.

Ephesians 2:8-9   God’s salvation is a gift that we accept by faith.  His grace reaches down, and we reach up through faith.  Then He pulls us up and out.  Because salvation doesn’t depend on works, no one can say, “I’ve earned it; I’m so great.”  Instead, we say God did it.  Isn’t He glorious?

In addition to describing gracious act as “salvation,” we also see these other ways of talking about, each emphasizing a different aspect of what He has done for us through Christ:

When considering salvation (in the past tense), we may ask the question, “What are we saved from?”  This question is extremely helpful in clarifying our understanding.  Fortunately, we need only go back up to the beginning of the chapter to get the answer we seek.

Ephesians 2:1-10   According to verses 1-3, we’re saved from being dead in sin, going along with evil spiritual forces, living in the passions of our flesh, and being a child of wrath.  Verse 7 tells us we have a future to look forward to as well.  But, if we’re saved, what does that mean about how our lives should look?  Verse 10 tells us the purpose of our salvation is for good works that we should walk in.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2   The Corinthians had already received the gospel some time ago; they believed it when they heard it.  Now they are “being saved.”[3]  Salvation is not just a one-time event, though there is an entry point.  We become saved, and then we continue in that reality.  Is it possible to lose your salvation?

 Southern Baptist Convention

Article Nine: The Security of the Believer[4]

We affirm that when a person responds in faith to the Gospel, God promises to complete the process of salvation in the believer into eternity. This process begins with justification, whereby the sinner is immediately acquitted of all sin and granted peace with God; continues in sanctification, whereby the saved are progressively conformed to the image of Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit; and concludes in glorification, whereby the saint enjoys life with Christ in heaven forever.

We deny that this Holy Spirit-sealed relationship can ever be broken. We deny even the possibility of apostasy.

Lutheran Churches

Formula of Concord: XI Election

Therefore we should judge concerning this our election to eternal life neither from reason nor from the Law of God, which lead us either into a reckless, dissolute, Epicurean life or into despair, and excite pernicious thoughts in the hearts of men, for they cannot, as long as they follow t

Finally, we arrive at practical theology or Christian ethics.  Although, we could easily spend fifteen lectures together building up a full edifice of how God wants us to live, in this episode we’ll simply lay the foundation stones of following Jesus.  What I mean by follow is to read his words and do them, especially when what he says conflicts with our sensibilities, comfort, or common sense.  If we only “follow” Jesus when what he says agrees with us and then diverge when he disagrees, then we are not following, but merely walking in the same direction occasionally.

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“The Christ that Harnack sees, looking back through nineteen centuries of “Catholic darkness”, is only the reflection of a Liberal Protestant face, seen at the bottom of a deep well” –George Tyrrell[1]

Mk 3.31-35 Those Who Do God’s Will Are Jesus’ Family

notice what Jesus doesn’t say

here Jesus redefines the family!

Lk 11.27-28 Blessed Mary Becomes Blessed Obedient

27 While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed.” 28 But he said, “On the

In this lecture, you’ll learn what Jesus and the book of Acts have to say about conversion.  From Jesus, we will examine his parable of the Sower with special focus on the good soil–those who hear the message, understand it, accept it, hold it fast, and bear fruit.  Next we’ll work through all of the conversions in the book of Acts to discover the four elements of conversion: belief, repentance, baptism, and receiving the holy spirit.  Lastly, we’ll dig deeper into each of those elements to understand them better.

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comparison of soils in Sower and Seed parable

Mt 13.23; Mk 4.20; Lk 8.15

hear, understand, accept, hold fast, bear fruit

These examples of conversion from Acts that show 4 elements of conversion:

what is the gospel?

what the gospel is not

Old Testament

New Testament