Summary In Episode 129 of Tearing Down High Places, Average Joe leads Pastors Tim Robinson and Jeff Kliewer through three interlocking topics—theonomy (God’s law), slavery, and evangelism— while discussing a by a recent incident at a Collingswood, NJ community pool. A man identifying as a woman appeared in a bikini; parents confronted him, and he appealed to an “inclusivity policy” while accusing them of transphobia.

The hosts use the event to press the central question: “By what standard?” They define theonomy as the application of God’s law (theos + nomos), affirm its goodness (Romans 7:12; Psalm 19), and distinguish biblical servitude from man-stealing/chattel slavery (which the law condemns with the death penalty).

Average Joe contrasts Mosaic justice—restitution, corporal punishment, banishment, and capital sanctions for murder, certain sexual sins, and other grave crimes—with the modern American prison system (1.5 million incarcerated). God’s approach is victim-centered and deterrent; contemporary incarceration is costly, ineffective at rehabilitation, and often arbitrary.

They address personal responsibility versus claims of mental illness, reject psychology’s shifting standards, and urge nouthetic (admonishing) counseling rooted in Scripture. The practical evangelistic payoff is clear: many people already feel the injustice of the courts and prisons. Christians can start on that common ground, demonstrate the goodness and consistency of God’s law, and point to Christ who fulfilled the law and offers mercy to sinners. Heart change must precede cultural and legal change. The episode closes with a call to study the whole counsel of God and to bring light into dark places such as Collingswood.