The Uncensored Unprofessor

The effects of Charlie Kirk's public murder continue to emerge. What are the patterns we—my friend Mark and I—are recognizing that follow in the wake of Kirk's assassination? Was the murderous shooter just a lone nut? Is society's Overton Window closing? Why is the Left inciting such violence? And then here's one for you: when should you move to another town or state? Is it a lack of trust in God to pick up and move? (Why did Ed's ancestors move out of Eastern Europe?) How does false piety get in the way of wisdom about staying or leaving a given place? At bare minimum we are seeing a public hatred of authority and an intentional Balkanization of America (and the church) taking place. Will Charlie Kirk's murder cause the frog to leap out of the boiling kettle? Come think and laugh with me and Mark!

The Scriptures are full of admonitions both to fight for the Lord and his ways and to rest in the Lord. But what does that look like in everyday life? When to fight? When to rest? And even worse for everyday-Sunday believers, what to do when a syrypy-goo is poured thick over all that?! We talk through everyday realities between the poles of fighting and resting, then we also ask what it means to fight (or whether to fight) for the health of culture and sign. On the one hand we're called to be gracious (which gets corrupted to mean "we must be nice!"). On the other hand we're called to be faithful. What did seizing the problem mean for Mark as a mailman? What did seizing the problem mean for Ed as a professor? What did Dietrich Bonhoeffer have to say about what it means to be a Christian in the midst of a fracasso? Come think and laugh with us!

Like me, you have seen and heard the folks who are either celebrating or giving a pass to Charlie Kirk's assassination. That celebration's been pretty obvious. More subtle are the attempts to cause moral confusion. And that confusion comes specifically through both moral equivocation and the drawing of false moral equivalencies. What do those two means look like? I give examples. How do some pastors and churches fall in with equivocation and false equivalences? Why do they do that? I also mention how one Southern California university has been dealing with the Charlie Kirk murder and what it says about their values. We are now in a season of profound separation and crystallization. Is that good or bad? What do I do with the calls for unity that are now beginning to sound? Come and think with me in this formative and historic season.

On Wednesday, September 10, a prophet was assassinated in Utah. That public horror was an archetype of desecration for us all. Truth is, Charlie Kirk was a prophet. What do I mean by that? What does the Bible show us about prophets? What do I think Charlie's public murder represents about where we are in Church history? What do I, building out of Charlie's vision, believe is the way forward for Church mission? Charlie's vision was filled with Christ, an eternal perspective, love, and family; his was a celebration of what it meant to be male and female and children and families. How can we build on that? Particularly, after spilling my emotional guts out, I explain what I believe this all means for Church mission vis-å-vis Progressivism. War has been declared on the Church, the Gospel, Christ, and God by Progressivism. How should the Church respond? How should you respond?

Will the Earth last forever? It's an interesting question that goes into several areas: worldview (bible and theology vs. science), what it means to be human, what the Eschaton (resurrection life) will be like, biblical prophecies, the nature of Jesus' own resurrection, the doctrine of creation, God's nature, and the power of God. With my friend, Mark, I discuss pertinent biblical passages, formative biblical teachings, the reality of continuity and discontinuity in Jesus' resurrection. Mark has a minor degree in horticulture, so I ask him what would planet Earth be like if all the plants were finally burned up? So many Christians today look at the earth and think, "oh well, it's all going to burn anyway!" But really, is it? Is that the biblical portrayal? Let's build our hope together as we think about the future of our planet.

Does God change? If we answer yes how can we know whether our salvation is certain? And here, 2000 years into the fray, the question is more pertinent than ever. We have, what, half?!, the Church that thinks God has changed his mind about several critical matters: the mode of salvation, morality, truth, and even whether male and female are essential human qualities. But then if we answer no, God cannot change does that mean God is frozen inside his own self? Is he unmoved by what happens in time, on the earth? With my friend Mark I explore these questions with regard to pertinent Bible passages, theological formulation, philosophical infiltration, and the issue of Christian mission. Just how do we partner with God? With which God are we partnering? Is following Christ a matter of divine fatalism? Is God really causing every single thing that happens in life? Come think and laugh with us! We mean to help you hone your faith.

Christians are called to love the world as God did. But believers are also called to forsake worldliness. So, what 's the difference between love for the world and forsaking the love of worldliness? In this, third, conversational episode with my friend Mark we discuss that tension and go on to variously discuss: the definition of love, pertinent Bible verses about love, the arc of one's life, and life's true North star for Christians. Just what does it mean to go against the tide? How did Mark go against the tide at his job? How has Ed resisted worldliness across 8 years of producing his show? How does the world "turn on the spigot" for us so that we conceded much of what it means to follow Christ? After all, there are openly wicked temptations but then there are ways of just going along with the tide; both sides can be equally destructive. Come laugh and think with the two of us!