The Uncensored Unprofessor

Where our treasure is there is our heart. What we worship makes evident what we believe. The Low churches have, unintentionally, turned worship into a private experience, something not unlike what we enjoy at the mall or the theater. We can have private experiences even when we're in a crowd. And all this? Precisely when people are starving for community and so leaving the Church. I probe some painful lines of inquiry and make some simple curative suggestions.

The quest for market relevance has produced a vacuum, a black hole, that is now confronting the Low churches. Will we continue to drift inside that hole or make the much needed turn back to the character of God? In this episode I explore the beauty, need, and relevance of God's holiness. I also offer 5 practical steps to touch upon God's holiness.

Why is the Church sick? Because in different ways we get distracted with the values of the age, something I call "Lord Zeitgeist." And the wild thing is? It doesn't even need to involve moral decay, it can just involve a mis-directed focus. We can fail to target what Jesus exhorted us to target. Come and think through some hard questions and lines of inquiry with me.

The Gallup Poll reports that church membership is notably down from just two decades ago. Why? What is going on inside the church to cause this decline? As a remedy, if not only as ballast, to what did Jesus call us? What kinds of things are distracting and side-lining the Church today? Come and think both critically and constructively with me.

What are the biblical perspective and the Jesus perspective on wealth and riches? Is it sinful to be rich? How was wealth gained in the first century? How did the ancient Jewish world seek to span the wealth gap between the rich and poor? What was the central issue for Jesus concerning wealth? What's all that mean for today?

Was Jesus anti or pro nuclear family? More carefully, what did Jesus believe was the center of family? And just why today is family so under assault? Me, I have had many experiences of non-family folks who felt more like family than some family! Why is that? What are some of the most famous TV shows about family?

There are so many misunderstandings, mis-truths, about the resurrection—even among Christians! What is it decidedly NOT? Per the four Gospels, what decidedly IS it? What does it mean for your self, your body? Why does bodily resurrection fill me with more hope than simply my soul going to heaven? How do crucifixion and resurrection go together? What would I do with Christianity if the resurrection were not true?

We all know Jesus was crucified, but what did a crucifixion symbolize for ancient Romans? What kind of capital punishment did Dracula impose, a method that the Romans believed was not enough? What are some amazing theological truths about Jesus' crucifixion? What does the common biblical hermeneutic do to both our reading of the New Testament and our understanding of Jesus? Come and go deeper with me about Christ's passion!

The too-common Christian assertion is that in light of Jesus the Old Testament law is no longer effective, or necessary. But is that really what Jesus taught? Is that what the apostolic community espoused? If those Old Testament laws are meaningful, how is that the case? What should Christians believe and do about the Law? (I also weigh in on the Joe Biden touching controversy.)

Jesus argued over tradition with the Pharisees: they each focussed on different elements. Does that mean he was opposed to all tradition? Did he come to extinguish all rituals? What does the Lord's supper tell us about Jesus' view of ceremony? And then, how do we contemporaries get wrapped up in everyday tradition? Just what does the Lord want from us?