Lisa Harper's Back Porch Theology

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the final episode, – the compelling caboose, if you will - of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? The brilliant spiritual diamond we’ve been examining from all kinds of angles is theodicy – which means the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. And the facet we’re going to gaze at today reflects our responsibility as Christ-followers to pursue unity in this wildly diverse community called humanity. Despite lots of Christian’s comfort zone, homogeny is not a characteristic of the New Covenant. In fact, the “every tribe and tongue” part of John’s glorious vision in Revelation negates our natural tendency toward tribalism. Following Christ’s ascension in the New Testament, it becomes increasingly clear that avoiding our own version of Samaria is no longer an option, nor is keeping our head in the proverbial sand. As Elie Wiesel (pronounced El-ee Wee-zell) soberly observed in his classic book “Night,” which recounts his experience in Auschwitz during the Holocaust, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Since Alli’s still unpacking boxes after she and Jonathan moved to a new house, my brilliant spiritual brother E.J. Gaines graciously agreed to guest host another episode. And quite frankly, there’s not too many people I respect more when it comes to dealing with difficult topics like theodicy and reconciliation with wisdom and grace. So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible – unless you’re anxiously attempting to park a chunky, rental RV into a skinny parking space on what you thought would be an epic family road trip, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co  Check out the P O U R Over podcast each Monday, Wednesday and Friday wherever you listen to podcasts Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the second to last episode of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? The weighty and wonderful biblical truism we’ve been exploring is theodicy – which means the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. Frankly y’all the fact that the infinite, all-powerful Creator of the Universe allows us to question His character when we can’t see around the corner of our finite human circumstances underscores the immutability – the changelessness – of His compassion. A God who was anything less than perfectly good would surely fry fussy, fickle followers like us into grease spots of oblivion! Now since Alli - my five-foot-twelve spiritual wing-woman – is still up to her ears in bubble wrap, we’ve got another great guest host this week and I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to love the brilliant baritone of my spiritual brother E.J. Gaines! So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible – unless you’ve got a white-knuckled grip on a shopping cart and are currently fending off other crazed parents in your quest to fill your child’s school supply list, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co  Check out the P O U R Over podcast each Monday, Wednesday and Friday wherever you listen to podcasts Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the fourth episode of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? We’re continuing our trek deep into the wild and wooly territory of theodicy – which is the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. Hillary Scott is back as our guest co-host because Alli’s playing hooky for a few more weeks – okay, okay, she’s not really playing hooky, she’s on a mission to unpack the last of what seemed like a mountain of moving boxes so as to get her family settled into a new house, and get their youngest son settled into a new school. And speaking of mission that’s the direction we’re headed today under the canopy of theodicy. In other words, what does it look like to lean into God’s kingdom purposes and live missionally when we feel like we’re languishing in a hot mess? How can we maintain momentum and keep moving forward into our own redemptive history and not get permanently stuck in disappointment or sorrow? So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible - unless your hands are still clasped over your eyes after watching too much Shark Week, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the third episode of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? The spiritual rink we’ve been skating in for a few weeks is theodicy – a fancy word which simply means the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. In other words, how do we hang onto the fact that God is for us when everything in our life seems to be falling apart? If today’s episode was a song lyric, it could aptly be titled A Broken Hallelujah. Or if country music’s your thing, Jesus Take The Wheel. Speaking of country music, since Alli’s still in the midst of moving to a new house, we’ve recruited some really spectacular guest hosts to ride shotgun for the next few weeks and today’s is none other than my dear friend and the sweetest member of the 9-time Grammy-award winning trio, Lady A, Hillary Scott! So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible - unless you’re in the backyard catching lightening bugs with your favorite kiddos, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the second episode of our sizzling summer series called If God is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? The refreshing spiritual topic we’ve been swimming in is theodicy – a multi-syllabic theological term that means the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. And in this episode of our series, we’re going to focus on the freedom that accompanies trusting more fully in God’s immutable – unchanging – compassion. I don’t know about you, but true freedom didn’t come quickly or easily for me. Even though I put my faith in Jesus as my Savior when I was a little girl, it took me a very long time to trust Him as my Liberator. Even as an adult with a seminary education, I spent years bound by chains of shame. I deeply resonated with what Pastor Steve Brown wrote in his book: A Scandalous Freedom, “The similarity between real freedom and the freedom experienced by many Christians is the difference between the taxidermist and the veterinarian; while you do get your dog back, one collects dust while the other jumps, slobbers and barks.” Our sincere hope and fervent prayer is that God uses this conversation to help at least one precious saint finally shake loose from the formaldehyde of religiosity, shame, or paralyzing guilt. Alli is in the middle of her move and will be back with bells on soon, but Kyle Hebert – whose contagious joy captivated so many of you last week – has graciously agreed to guest host again. So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible, unless you’re frantically clinging to a giant, inflatable couch-looking thingie while some sadistic boat-driver slings you mercilessly across a lake, of course, and come hang out on the porch with us.  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co  SAVE 20% by using code Lisa20 at ElevatedFaith.com Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is the first episode of our sizzling summer series called If God Is Perfectly Good Then Why Did ______ Happen? We’re going to dive deeply into the biblical truism of theodicy – which is the vindication of our Redeemer’s absolute goodness and providence in view of the existence of physical and moral evil. The term theodicy was coined by a brainiac German dude named Gottfried Leibniz almost 300 years ago when he combined two Greek words theos – which refers to God – and dee-kay – which is the name of the Greek goddess of justice and therefore represents a sense of moral order. So the etymological scaffolding of theodicy is the framework through which we justify our Heavenly Father’s divine mercy in a human milieu that includes horrific immorality and cruelty. And since Alli - my five-foot-twelve spiritual wing-woman – is in the middle of moving to a new house, we’ve recruited some really spectacular guest hosts to ride shotgun because hers are big shoes to fill! And today’s guest host – my friend Chaplain Kyle Herbert – is uniquely equipped to testify how to hang onto hope during an especially long and dark night of the soul because he did 31 years of hard time – 22 of those at Angola, the infamous maximum-security prison in Louisiana. My spiritual brother Kyle’s joyful story of restoration - of learning to lean fully into God’s absolute goodness despite being incarcerated for over three decades - will leave you gob-smacked by divine grace. If your heart isn’t rejoicing by the end of this episode, you need to get an EKG, baby! So please grab a cup of iced coffee and your Bible – unless you’re picking a banjo at a summer bluegrass festival, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co  SAVE 20% by using code Lisa20 at ElevatedFaith.com Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

Today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology is sort of like a great big, super friendly food-fight because Dr. Howard let Ally and I hurl any question we have about biblical conundrums and controversies at him without any advanced notice! If you’re new to this motley crew of a podcast – where we’re serious about our faith but not so much about ourselves – Dr. Howard is one of my professors and spiritual mentors in the doctoral program at Denver Seminary where I have the distinction of being one of their oldest and slowest-to-finish-my-thesis students. Furthermore, Doc H has five earned degrees, including a PhD from Dallas Theological Seminary, so he’s a brilliant academic who’s well versed in both Old and New Testaments, but he’s also a pastor and he loves to put exegetical cookies on the lower shelf so that everyone can enjoy them. The bottom line is: while today’s episode includes a few multi-syllabic theological terms, it’s more about leaning further into the unconditional love of Jesus than it is about accumulating cognitive information about God. So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible - unless you’re pitting avocados for homemade guac, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co  SAVE 20% by using code Lisa20 at ElevatedFaith.com Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to mosey into a subject matter that is most definitely not my strong suit, and that is the theology of rest. Now if you’re like me and haven’t quite figured out that busyness isn’t a spiritual gift, don’t press delete yet because I promise we’re not taking you on a guilt trip today! Instead, we’re going to consider the wonderful and wide continuum of biblical rest, because it’s not a one-size-fits-all concept. And frankly, even if you’re convinced that slowing down isn’t programmed into your personality type, there are lots of ways besides a complete cessation of physical activity for us to enjoy the divine gift of restoration and replenishment. Don’t forget, the first time the word rest appears in biblical narrative is early in Genesis 2 - before original sin crept into the Garden resulting in the fall of creation. That means rest is not an accommodation for human weakness and is instead part of God’s perfect plan for our blessing, protection, perseverance, and enjoyment. If you’ve been defined as a Type-A, an over-achiever, rest-challenged, or an Enneagram 1 or 8, just breathe and unclench, we’re in this together baby and I promise this conversation isn’t going to taste like medicine! So please grab a cup of coffee (and feel free to make that a double espresso!) and your Bible – unless you’re bringing home the bacon and frying it up in a pan, of course – and come hang out on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard and me.  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co  Learn more about Convoy of Hope’s Women’s Empowerment program at Convoy.org/LisaHarper.    SAVE 20% by using code Lisa20 at ElevatedFaith.com Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re continuing our trek through the lush theological landscape of Hebrews, that awesome New Testament treatise that highlights the glorious juxtaposition of the supremacy and accessibility of King Jesus! If you listened to last week’s episode, you probably remember that Hebrews was likely preached as a sermon before it was recorded as a book. And the original audience was a group of beleaguered Jewish Christians who were getting pummeled literally and figuratively in their ancient polytheistic culture. Which led them to consider apostacy – which means, they were seriously considering jettisoning the “Jesus” aspect of their belief system and just going back to the “Jehovah” part to try to stem the tide of abuse that was being afflicted on them. Which is why their pastor patiently explains what a massive mistake turning their back on the Messiah would be, how once you’ve experienced the unconditional love of Jesus, nothing – no spiritual leader, religious icon, or church tradition – can satisfy your soul. He uses contrast, and seven specific affirmations describing Jesus’s purpose and personhood, to prove that He is infinitely better than all the rest! Today is jam-packed with practical encouragement y’all, so please grab a cup of coffee, a yummy snack, and that divine love story we call the Bible – unless you’re shelling peas with your mama, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us.  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co  Learn more about Convoy of Hope’s Women’s Empowerment program at Convoy.org/LisaHarper.    SAVE 20% by using code Lisa20 at ElevatedFaith.com Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.

During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to hike into the beautiful New Testament landscape of Hebrews, a book that was probably originally preached as a sermon to a group of battle-weary believers who were seriously considering throwing in the proverbial towel because their faith journey was much more difficult than they had anticipated. As a result, their pastor – and the anonymous author of Hebrews - gathered them together for a much-needed come-to-Jesus meeting to remind them that once you’ve tasted intimacy with Him, nothing else will satisfy our hungry hearts. He enthuses that while King Jesus is the perfectly transcendent Son of God, He is also miraculously accessible. In other words, while our Savior is of the exact same divine substance as God the Father, He chose to be imminent. He chose to condescend from Glory and become an empathetic High Priest that people could reach out and touch instead of some faraway, ethereal entity. If your tail’s been dragging a bit lately because of difficulty at work, or dissension at home, or just plain old garden variety disappointment and dissatisfaction with the season of life you find yourself in, we believe today’s conversation will put some practical hope back in your tank. So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re massaging your temples after gulping a Slurpee and getting a brain freeze, of course – and come hang out on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard, and me.  Follow Us On Instagram! @BackPorchTheologyPodcast @LisaDHarper @AllisonAllen @Jim.Howard.Co  Learn more about Convoy of Hope’s Women’s Empowerment program at Convoy.org/LisaHarper  SAVE 20% by using code Lisa20 at ElevatedFaith.com Find out more from Hope For The Heart Here. Purchase NIV Application Bible here.