Doubt is authentic. It's real. It's something so many Christians struggle with. But is it good? Does doubt strengthen your faith or weaken it? And should we be praised for doubting or condemned? In this episode, we'll venture into the darkness of doubt, the silence of skepticism. 

Cannot wait to get going again! After a season of intellectual and psychological hibernation, I'm back, and things are getting even more awkward... This season we'll get into topics like doubt, apologetics, fundamentalism, worldliness, Satan, The Chosen, and some surprise interviews with friends you won't want to miss! 

After spending almost a year in Liberia, I'm back in the states and my brain is a scrambled egg. Culture shock, freezing rain, and dark days have left me in a state of muddled confusion. But I finally managed to squeeze out an episode. I recorded a version of this episode that was scripted, but I found it rather boring and wooden. So I plugged the mic back in and just went for it...

Christians can be pretty hard on themselves. We feel our unworthiness and our guilt and our shame. But do we ever stop despising ourselves and acknowledge the good within us? Is that even allowed? 

When the gospel becomes an instrument of cultural colonization, missions ceases to be missions. 

Alright, here we go... humor me for a moment. What if the gospel we've been preaching is not the gospel of the Bible? I know, I know... it seems heretical to even ask that question. But trust me on this one. If I didn't have verses to support this, I wouldn't bother much with it.  

In this special birthday episode, I congratulate myself for not dying for another consecutive year. 

Why are Christians afraid to die? It seems weird, since we're all about eternal life and resurrection and all that. Just sit back and enjoy the ride on this one. We'll cover a lot of ground but we'll end up where we began.

"Things are just goin down the drain. Jesus is comin back soon, y'all!" 
This is a sentiment shared by many American Christians. Things get bad. Then Jesus returns. That's how the Bible portrays this world, right? In this episode, we're going back to the Left Behind days to see why so many think this way and whether or not Jesus would agree. 

American Christianity seems to be centered around a once-a-week gathering. Is that... weird? We seem so adapted to it that we often don't stop and reflect on how strange that is, especially when so much of the bible covers topics outside of church worship services. And as community deteriorates in American culture, how does the church transcend the status of just another club to belong to and truly become the Church? I'm not going to pretend like I have all the answers, but these are certainly questions worth exploring. 

Why do Christians run and hide from the darkness of the world, from anything that would be considered "secular?" Is this biblical? After all, aren't we commanded to be holy and not to become like the world, not be be friends with the world, and to keep ourselves unstained from the world? I had a feeling there was something off here, and as I worked on this episode, I think I was able to find exactly what that is.  

"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" is a false proverb. People who think critically, offer new perspectives, or re-examine popularly held beliefs are not treated like kings. The more they search, the lonelier they feel. The more they shout, the more they hear their own echoes. And the more they question and explore, the more they realize that their journey is not the enlightening quest they thought it would be. Instead, it turns out to be an awkward endeavor that burdens them with questions that they aren't even sure how to ask. 

Are they kings? No. Not at all. They are normal humans with more questions than answers.