The Uncensored Unprofessor

What should be a Christian's position on murder and its punishment? In this second episode where I converse with my old friend Mark, we work through the biblical framing on killing vs murder. Is the New Testament full of mercy whereas the Old Testament was full of vengeance? Were there two different Gods, and Jesus brought with him news of a loving God? Do most people live according to love or fear? Why? Why is an appropriate level of fear not only helpful but necessary for society to flourish? Or, here's a hard question: is the anti-capital-punishment church of today more wise and/or virtuous than the church of seventeen hundred years? More locally, how did the recent plea bargain deal offered to the Moscow murderer play here in Idaho? How'd that plea bargain play with some of the family members of the murdered? Let's think through this difficult topic from a biblical angle. Come laugh and think with myself and Mark.

First episode in a new series! Conversations with my friend Mark, "Blessable vs. Earning God's Favor." Psalms 1:1 reads, "Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers." This verse echoes the whole Bible which teaches that God wants to bless, but that He especially wants to bless a certain kind of person. In this rolling mutual talk Mark and I work through the (apparent) tension of being a person God wants to bless versus thinking one has earned God's blessing by being virtuous (or any other number of means). Is it wrong, selfish even, to want to be blessed? Should we entirely eliminate personal desires when it comes to seeking God's blessings? Come and think with the two of us!

On Wednesday, July 23, 2025, Director of Nat'l Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard gave a Whitehouse Press Briefing. She explained her office now has documents that prove the highest level scandal in American history. This is no longer a conspiracy. Who was involved? For how long? What did they do to promote their narrative? I explain why this scandal is a nuclear water cannon compared to the squirt gun pee that was Watergate back in 1972. Unlike Watergate this more-recent scandal cost people friendships, wrecked extended families, divided churches, cost people jobs and potential jobs, and even infected how people view international relations. How can the country recover? How will trust ever be rebuilt? In the show's second half I work through various traditional positions of Christian on political engagement. What are the dominant "no" and "yes" models? In the show's opening I talk about why Boiseland has such a tiny homeless problem. Come and turn on your beautiful God-given brains with me.

From 2020 to 2025 the Barna Polling Agency conducted 15 minute polls on nearly 18,000 Americans and their worldview. Recently Barna published the results of that poll and displayed the percentages of population that embraces a Christian worldview. The results are both shocking and fascinating. I work through all 50 states and humorously muse aloud on the results. Which region is the most Christian? Least? What are some of the surprises? In the show's cultural-assessment opening I discuss the election campaign of Zohran Mamdani, a young Muslim running for mayor in NYC. As it turns out, Mamdani's strategy has been both employed and successful in Europe. It also reveals what the Progressive movement will be attempting for many years to come here in America. Come think and laugh with me!

Many Christians feel lost when it comes to prayer. How should one go about praying? Other believers feel aimless, "how can I come up with a novel & unique prayer every single day?!" In this episode I explain how the Lord's Prayer (Our Father, Pater Noster) serves as a scaffold for my own praying. Or, perhaps better, how the Lord's Prayer serves as a targeting system for my praying. Jesus' prayer is a prayer for soldiers. We were born into a war when we exited our mother's placenta and we were born into a war when we confessed Christ and became new creations. So I name each phrase of the established prayer and then theologically unpack what it means, peel back some layers, and even clarify how I pray with regard to that phrase. In the show's cultural-examination opening I variously discuss: the attacks on ICE agents, the rioting in Portland and Dallas and California, the ongoing opaque nature of the Epstein files, and what I want to happen with regard to what went on at Epstein's sex island. Come laugh and think with me!

In this quick hitter (21:10 mins) I variously discuss: why I prefer Christ to Messiah; the Crusades e-booklet I will give to $10+ Patreon pledges; the two sermons I recently preached; the value of asking questions in a Post-Christian culture; our recent trip to the Oregon coast (all the animals I saw, all the brokenness I witnessed); my son's experience of coaching tee-ball here in Spudlandia; our culture of non-participation with continued expectation; and the WNBA phenom, Caitlyn Clark. There is a new biography out about Caitlyn as a person. She keeps it classy when questioned about how the majority of the WNBA players resent her, take cheap shots at her. What do I admire about Caitlyn? How much is she helping the WNBA tv ratings increase? Come laugh and think with me!

The siege of Vienna (1683) was an epic history-making event. Sultan Mohammed II and his Grand Vizier, Kara Mustafa, eyed the "Golden Apple" of Vienna with great hunger. If Vienna, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire fell, the spoils of Poland, Germany, France, and Italy lay ripe for the picking! At first two hundred thousand Muslim soldiers fought against twelve thousand Austrians at the Vienna city walls. Weeks later sixty-five thousand Poles and Germans arrived and fought the Muslims out on the battle field. In this last episode in my Crusades series I narrate the heart-stopping battle. What finally woke Western Europe from its long-standing languor, its sleep? What kind of ostentatious things did Kara Mustafa keep at his war camp? In the show's opening I raise two challenges each for Christianity and Muslim. No, my questions are not theological. They are more simple: what will each religion do in order to safeguard the future of humanity's existence? Come and think deeply with me about our lives in Christ.

What was it like, if you were not a Muslim, to live under Muslim rule? Even though the Koran calls for religious freedom why did that not, in fact, ever serve as the way of life? How would the Muslims carry out forced religious conversions? What kind of daily realities did the Dhimmi (subjugated, humiliated) live with? How were Jews treated? Then, in the show's second half, I describe the siege, battle, and 1453 fall of Constantinople. Byzantium, later Constantinople, successfully withstood 2110 years of siege attempts. So, how did Sultan Mohammed II finally enter and capture the city, "the giant thorn" in the side of Islam? Why did the Muslims practice pederasty? Who, when a city was siezed, would be ganged raped? (Warning: graphic execution practices are described in detail.)

France's King Louis IX led the 7th Crusade. But he broke with established crusader order by starting first in Tunis instead of Cyprus. Why? And what happened in Tunis? I peel back the layers of the seventh Crusade. We explore the great battle between the Mongols and the Muslims, show why Sultan Baybars earned the nickname "the merciless," and talk about the profound political spin that contemporary authors have put upon the Crusades. In the show's opening reflection I recount some of the details of Israel's bombing (and assassinations) of Iran. Why I reject the dominant interpretive Neo-Marxist frame for understanding the Middle East. Then I work through questions like: How do the people of Iran feel about the bombings? Whom did Israel specifically target? We also examine the recent peaceful riots occurring in America's major cities. Is Thailand racist to require immigration visas? Why don't they allow Cambodians and Malaysians to wander across the Thai border? To set up the immigration question I note a FB post I read from one of my former students. And then, to establish a biblical perspective, I note what the Bible has to say about national boundaries and borders. Come think and laugh with me!

The sixth Crusade is famous for the involvement of France's King Louis IX. What was he like? Why was he so beloved? What decision did he make that led to the disastrous end of the sixth Crusade? I also clarify what I admire about Medieval Crusaders. They had something that I see nowhere in the contemporary American Church. In the show's news-review I variously comment on: the Deconversion trend at work; the number of NFL teams no longer celebrating Pride month; the unprecedented number of universal injunctions being used against Donald Trump and what it says about the Democrat party; young Americans are having more strokes than at any time in history, what's going on?; an extended reflection about a video on X.com where a 26 year old brand-new teacher explained why she's quitting; a narration of the pizza-pie-chart I made 8 years ago when I myself quit teaching college. Come laugh and think with me!