Unshaken Faith

Today, Natasha and Alisa respond to a social media comment that read, “In my opinion, red letters/Jesus’ words are the most important in all the Bible.” Some progressive Christians will say that the word of God is Jesus himself, not the Bible. For Christians who are trying to live their lives according to God’s word, this can be incredibly confusing…especially if they can’t even agree on who or what the “Word of God” even is. Are the Red Letters more important than the black letters?

What happens when one person refuses to bow their knee to the cultural gods? Others tend to follow because courage is contagious. That’s exactly what has been happening in the world of professional hockey. It all started back in January, when Ivan Provorov, a defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers decided that he would not join his team in the warmups while they wore Pride-themed jerseys and wrapped their hockey sticks in rainbow-colored tape. After some significant backlash, his team and the NHL actually stood by him. Since then, entire teams have opted to not wear the pride jersey. What does this all mean? We’ll break it down in today’s podcast.

Russell Moore, David French, and Curtis Chang are coming out with a small group curriculum for churches called "The After Party." In anticipation of the presidential election cycle next year, they say they want to counter the "dangerous trend" of evangelicals having their political identity "formed by partisan forces, not by true Biblical faith." Russell Moore says that this After Party Curriculum was originally going to be titled, "The Post-Partisan Church." But should that be the goal? Should the church be post-partisan?

Theological conversations can be stopped in their tracks if someone simply pulls out the old, “Don’t put God in a box!” The most common way this phrase is used is by those who don’t want to be confined by the moral teachings of the Bible. Today, Natasha and Alisa discuss the implications and logical inconsistencies of this conversation stopper.

A public school district in Arizona recently terminated a contract with a Christian University who provided free labor for the past 11 years. Why? Not because any complaints or incidences had involved the Christian students. It's because school board members claimed the University's religious beliefs about biblical marriage and sexuality would make local students feel "unsafe." Today, Natasha and Alisa dig into the implications of this very important story, as well as unpack why woke culture thinks Christians are unsafe.

There is so much information available online. From where to find good Thai food to how to find a good pediatrician to how to fix your dishwasher, there is no end to the tutorials, websites, and social media platforms just waiting to answer all your burning questions. People also turn to the internet for church recommendations. It can be tricky to discern what’s going on at churches from looking at their online presence. Whether you’re looking for a new church for yourself, helping a friend evaluate churches in another city, looking for a church in your college student’s new town, or anything else, we hope today’s episode will give you some guidance on what to look for online…and what to watch out for.

Are Christians required to reach out to an author/speaker/pastor privately before criticizing their comments publicly? Sometimes when we bring up a current book or author to help our audience discern the ideas being taught by reasoning through whether or not they are true and reflect a biblical worldview, we receive comments like, “Hey, did you reach out to this person privately before calling them out publicly?” or “You should have that person on your show so they can explain their view before you criticize them.” Often, commenters will bring up Matthew 18:15 which tells Christians to go to someone directly if they have sinned against you. But is this what Matthew 18:15 is really teaching? Should we prioritize unity at all costs?He Gets Us, But Di We Get Him? The Case For Criticizing False Teachers, by Frank Turek:  

Word Salad Poppycock: this is what a well-known Christian influencer called Natasha's comments on the He Gets Us campaign last week. This was just a tiny part of a whirlwind of criticism she received for sharing concerns about the He Gets Us campaign. Meanwhile, Alisa was on the receiving end of her own wave of criticism this week in response to her comments regarding the question of revival at Asbury University. In this week’s episode, Alisa and Natasha reflect on the subject of how to deal with criticism when you share your beliefs.

We held our first Unshaken Conference last month in Dayton, Ohio. One of the sessions was a Q&A, where people could submit questions using their phone. We allotted 45 minutes to answer what we could, but attendees submitted dozens of questions…so we only had the opportunity to answer a small percentage of them. In today’s episode, we’re going to answer some of the ones we couldn’t get to at the conference. We’ll cover progressive Christianity, judging others, convincing people they are sinners, critical race theory, and abortion.

It’s no secret that many progressive churches started out as congregations that held to the historic Christian faith. It’s typically a slow slide, one compromise at a time, and before you know it your church is woke and progressive. Natasha and Alisa discuss how this happens and what you can do about it.