On This Episode

MATT CHANDLER

You probably heard one of the most prominent figures in American Christianity is taking a "disciplinary and developmental" leave of absence. I'll provide details and recognize the warning in the story for all us. That major warning: be fastidiously mindful of what you do on the internet.

CHRISTIANS AND HOUSING POLICY

The New York Times published a story recently about how well-off, mostly white and mostly liberal residents of Connecticut are fighting tooth and nail to keep housing being built in their neighborhoods for lower income folks. It seems the hoity toity don't want to be around the holloi polloi. I'll take a Biblical worldview perspective on housing policy, and by what method Christians should desire and pursue housing for all people.

US LIFE EXPECTANCY FALLS AGAIN -- THE MOST COMMON DEATHS FOR SERVICE PEOPLE ARE DRUG OVERDOSES

We're finding that heart disease, liver disease, and suicides (accidental and intentional) are major factors affecting our life expectancy. We are eating, drinking, drugging, and then literally killing ourselves to death. What's at the root of this, and what role can the church play in addressing it?

NEW YORK TIMES INTERVIEWS HISTORY TEACHERS ON CRITICAL RACE THEORY

The New York Times did interesting journalism here, and they explored what teachers are telling students about America, the Founders, slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. I'll give you those details and then tell you what I think SHOULD be taught in schools on those subjects. There might a bridge here to unite disparate people on how we tell the American story.

WHAT'S THE POINT OF EDUCATION?

We'll finish answering this question posed recently (also) by the New York Times. My take is that school is for intellectual formation, social cohesion, and economic development. It should also be for moral formation, but our morals are so divided, there's no way to do that in schools anymore.

On This Episode

Well, I did an entire episode on why the current plan to transfer student loan debt from borrowers to tax payers is a morally hazardous, intellectually vapid, and obviously self-interest vote-buying.

Here’s a synopsis on why to oppose the Biden Administration’s plan to transfer student debt onto all of us.

1. It’s illegal.

There is no Constitutional or statutory authority for presidents to spend over $300 billion on a whim. I will play you audio of Nancy Pelosi saying so and remind you the president’s administration said this EXPLICITLY last year.

I suspect attorneys general from conservative states will have to intervene and sue the administration like they did when the administration used power they didn’t exist to expand the eviction moratorium and to implement illegal vaccine mandates.

2. It’s unfair in countless ways.

It’s unfair to people who avoided student loans, to those who already paid them off and to those who are about to take student loans out. It’s also unfair because the policy advantages the privileged, those already making more, and those with more potential earn more over time.

3. It’s going to exacerbate inflation.

Even Larry Summers (on the Left) and OBAMA’s chief economic advisor, Jason Furman, have said the policy pours “gasoline on an inflation fire.”

In this section, I also give you data over the last 20 years that demonstrate everywhere the government is involved in the economy, prices skyrocket. When they’re not involved, prices are stable or decrease over time.

4. It’s typical Leftist redistribution of wealth through taxes.

I illustrate it this way. If you received a receipt for your taxes in 2021, it would include a line item for social security, medicare, Medicaid, WIC, unemployment, the military, and a bunch more.

If this is implemented, in 2022, there would be a line where you absorb the cost of someone else’s debt. That’s wrong.

5. We already have a solution.

I’ll explain how the Income Based Repayment system is the solution to this current problem. We still have to work on preventing future debt, but we have the tool to solve this one.

If the plan would have just been to lower the minimum payment, I would have shut up and moved on. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of votes in lowering payments.

On This Episode:

ARE YOU A “QUIET QUITTER”?

There’s a new phenomenon called “quiet quitting,” wherein employees are making a statement by doing the absolute minimum required, but doing it excellently. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think one is generational. I think my generation and younger saw our parents POUR their lives into jobs that didn’t appreciate them, and we’re not making the same mistake.

However, for the believer, we cultivate the world and act as salt and light in our jobs. We can’t be quiet quitters. There’s too much Kingdom opportunity at work.

BRIDGET PHETASY: “I REGRET BEING A SLUT”

A former Playboy writer makes the compelling statement that this culture decoupling sex from significance, intimacy, and meaning was sold as empowerment, but it made her miserable. She found, finally, that being DESIRED isn’t the same as being ESTEEMED.

We have a couple of generations of people wrecked by a low view of sex. The church has a compelling message for those people.

THE COUNTRY IS BECOMING LESS LIBERAL

This study shows the number of people identifying as “liberal” is falling.  The numbers among Black and Hispanic Americans are especially striking. That’s what “defund the police,” “men can get pregnant,” “some women have penisis,” and “every blade of American grass is racist” will get you.

At the same time, conservatism hasn’t grown at all. What does it tell us that when liberalism was diminishing, conservatism couldn’t appeal to more people.

STACEY ABRAMS IN A CHURCH GOES AS WELL AS YOU’D THINK

An apostate church invited Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams to speak. She spoke demonic heresy. I’ll respond.

On This Episode:

BEING FAITHFUL IN AN ANTAGONISTIC WORLD

Recently, my Facebook memories were full of condemnations of what happened in Charlottesville, VA 6 years ago. I saw me and many people of God rightly condemning the sin of racism and white supremacy. It occurred to me while looking back on those posts that we have to be faithful to call out the sins of the culture of this moment as well. It was popular to call out racism. It won’t be popular to call out sexual deviations from God’s design, gender confusion, and family breakdown. We’re called to be faithful, though – whether it’s popular or not.

WE JUST HATE EACH OTHER

I saw this – unsurprising but saddening to see how divided we are. It reminded me of this.

In a world where we think the “other side” is close-minded, immoral, dishonest, etcetera, I have some ideas on how to try and bridge gaps.

IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON

The recent events at Mar a Lago have led me to this conclusion: the country needs to move on from the most recent president. The Right was slowly forgetting him – Fox wasn’t featuring him (even counter-programming against him), polls were starting to show the Governor of Florida slightly leading him, and other polls started to show more and more on the Right were ready to move. And then Mar a Lago happened. Now instead of talking about inflation and crime, Republicans are spending time defending one of the most unpopular people in the country. The Left can’t quit him for other reasons I’ll discuss.

I just argue this: we all need to move on.

On This Episode:

ENTERTAINING OURSELVES TO DEATH

An important book by this title came out in 1985. I recently went through it, and it's important. He primarily argues that George Orwell's vision of totalitarianism coming from an outside force was wrong. Instead Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" correctly demonstrates that totalitarianism will come from our triviality, addiction to distraction, and love of entertainment.

THINK ABOUT YOUR PHONE

I have long argued that it's the CONTENT of anything that matters and not the thing itself. I think I'm wrong about that. In an oral communication era, those with wisdom and age were desired. In a written world era, logic, preciseness, and rhetoric thrived. In a TV world, entertainment was king. In our new media world, we've designed it to reward all the wrong things. The devices themselves matter, and we need to rethink our relationships to our devices because of that.

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE FBI

I'm not even really talking about the execution of a warrant on a previous president. I'll wait to get more details before pronouncing judgment on that. However, there is a lot of oddity going on at the FBI that undermines its credibility. That's a dangerous development. I'll provide details.

A LOT MORE

On This Episode:

SOCIAL SCIENCE CATCHES UP TO THE BIBLE -- AGAIN

A recent study demonstrates the very real outcomes when lower incomes kids become friends with higher income kids. The study demonstrates what he know is obvious: who we choose as are social circle largely determines who we become. The Bible has been saying that for millennia. 

AOC, MTG, AND BURNING IT ALL DOWN

I want to compare Nancy Pelosi/Paul Ryan on one side and Ocasia-Cortez and Taylor-Green on the other. There's something instructive here about reforming a system instead of seeking to burn it down.

WHAT'S IN THE BILL?

We have a half-trillion dollar bill working through Congress. Let me give you the details about what's in it. Hint: it's mostly just taxes and spending.

On This Episode:

SIGNIFICANT DEPRESSION STUDY

Psychology today published a study that concludes the "Chemical Imbalance" theory of depression has no empirical evidence. Some folks are OVER-interpreting this data, but this is an important moment to assess our thinking on the future of mental health treatments. I have a ton to say on this one.

C-V-D19 THOUGHTS

Dr. Deborah Birx made an important admission I want to address, and a Canadian Court issued an import vindication of a pastor who refused to close his church during lockdowns. I have some other thoughts after looking back on the response.

VENGEANCE IS A TERRIBLE MOTIVATOR

The party on the Right in the US is poised to win a majority in at least one chamber of The Congress. It seems some have an agenda designed to extract revenge -- not to solve problems. In politics and in life, vengeance is a destructive motivator.

 A LOT MORE

ON THIS EPISODE:

PATRIARCHY VS. COMPLEMENTARITY

I found a group of believers recently that want to use the the term "patriarchy" to describe the Bible's teachings on gender roles. I want to argue that we don't need that word and all its baggage. We have better ways to explain the Bible's revealed truth and wisdom: masculinity and femininity are good, of high honor, and complement each other. Men still take the heavy responsibility to lead, care for, provide for, and protect in the home and the church in complementarianism. Women still fill their vital role. We just don't need that alienating term.

A NEW "ISM."

The culture is full of "isms." There's a new one, adultism, that claims, GASP, some of us believe parents and adults must set up boundaries to keep children safe without the children's consent. I'll tell you all about this madness.

3 STORIES IN 15 MINUTES

1. The Justice system's slowness is causing injustice and more crime.

2. A recent video tried to make me sympathetic to Christian bands who lost their fame over their support of aberrant sexualities. It did not succeed. We can treat the sinner outside the faith with grace, kindness, and winsomeness. If someone inside Christianity is claiming that which is evil is good, we must act for the purity of the church.

3.Everyone is talking about the political realignment happening now. I have some thoughts on how white, woke, Leftists are driving people in my direction.