The Parrhesians

In this Special Edition of the Parrhesian Podcast, Nate, Peter and Kyle discuss a recent article in Christianity Today entitled  Above Reproach? Fewer Americans See Pastors as Ethical and the erosion of pastoral confidence in the culture.

https://theparrhesians.com/

“People's lives come to ruin not because they pursue intrinsically evil states,  but because they prize lower goods to the neglect of higher goods.” Byron I. Bitar, Classical Christian Worldview: Ethics 

Worship is job number one.  But that viewpoint is not shared by the therapeutic church, which endeavors to make us feel good, nor by the missional church, which seeks to repopulate the church and perpetuate itself.  The worshipping church, however, seeks to glorify God and have a people formed after the image of Christ.  

Such formation doesn’t always feel good, it's not always convenient and it’s rarely pragmatic, but the highest good for every Christian is a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Having a relationship with Jesus means regular and frequent worship of Christ, which brings us into greater and greater conformity to Christ.  

So join Nate, Peter, and Kyle as they boldly proclaim what the point of our salvation really is. 

https://theparrhesians.com/

If evil pervades the church, you should not shrink back from breaking with the church organization, and you should not rest until Zion is revived. ~ Abraham Kuyper (1883)

In this Special Edition, episode 3 of the Parrhesian Podcast, Nate, Peter and Kyle discuss the challenges within the local church, opposition they’ve faced in their home church, and why they are seeking to leave the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

https://theparrhesians.com/

If evil pervades the church, you should not shrink back from breaking with the church organization, and you should not rest until Zion is revived. ~ Abraham Kuyper (1883)

In this Special Edition, episode 2  of the Parrhesian Podcast, Nate, Peter and Kyle discuss the challenges within the local church, opposition they’ve faced in their home church, and why they are seeking to leave the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

https://theparrhesians.com/

If evil pervades the church, you should not shrink back from breaking with the church organization, and you should not rest until Zion is revived. ~ Abraham Kuyper (1883)

In this Special Edition of the Parrhesian Podcast, Nate, Peter and Kyle discuss the challenges within the local church, the opposition they’ve faced in their home church, and why they are seeking to leave the Evangelical Presbyterian Church denomination.

https://theparrhesians.com/

"True religion, in fact, is a kind of friendship: it is friendship of character with God. In short, friendships of character bond us to God and to each other now and forever, and perfect our nature."  Byron I. Bitar, Classical Christian Worldview: Ethics 

Does the church rightly understand friendship?  Does it possess an adequate theology of friendship?  Or is the church confused about friendship?  Has the category of friendship been coopted in the church by the “gay Christian” agenda? Theologian Wesley Hill claims in his book Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian that spiritual friendship is a helpful category for celibate “gay Christians” and a biblical means through which they can share and enjoy love.  Hill Writes, 

“I want to explore the way my same-sex attractions are inescapably bound up with my gift for and calling to friendship. My question, at root, is how I can steward and sanctify my homosexual orientation in such a way that it can be a doorway to blessing and grace.”

Rosaria Butterfield, however, in her recent book, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age, voices grave concerns about the “gay Christian” identity and the movement that has grown out of it.  She offers bold truth and asserts that Wes Hill and the “gay Christian” identity are in direct contradiction to Scripture. If Rosaria is correct, then the concept of “spiritual friendship” is also sub-Christian and adds confusion to the question of “what is Christian friendship?”    

Understanding Christian friendship is the subject that The Parrhesians tackle this week.  So, join Kyle, Peter, and Nate as they proclaim bold truth about what it means to be friends with God through his son Jesus and with others in the church.

https://theparrhesians.com/

In December 2022, Peter Chace, Kyle Bennett, and Nate Devlin sat down to record Season One of The Parrhesian Podcast.  Sadly, those recordings were buried under the tyranny of other pressing matters in church and life.  They were buried but not forgotten.  The recordings resurfaced this week when Christianity Today published its 2024 Book Awards. Book of the Year was awarded to Christopher Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture.  When the book was released last year, it prompted a lively (critical?) conversation among the Parrhesians about critical theory and its challenges to and acceptance within the evangelical church.  Now that the awards for the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture have been awarded, what better time to inaugurate episode one of the podcast?  We hope you find the conversation enlightening if not mildly entertaining.

https://theparrhesians.com/