Brian Seagraves's Blog, page 12
December 27, 2017
Episode 141 - Two Simple Questions for Better Conversations
The new year is almost upon us, and as often happens, people start thinking about how they're going to read their Bible in the new year. In this way I think new year's resolutions and those types of rhythms can be helpful if we look at them in terms of establishing long-term practices. If you're looking to say, "How can I read my Bible better in 2018?" and you didn't read it much in 2017, it would probably be wise not to choose a plan that has you reading the whole Bible in a...
December 20, 2017
Episode 140 - The Four Virgin Births of Atheism
Which virgin birth do you believe in? Atheism offers at least four, and Christianity offers one.
It's that time of year again. At Christmas, we remember and celebrate the incarnation, the taking on of flesh, by Jesus Christ, the adding of human nature to his divine nature in the incarnation. The virgin birth is a very important part of that. We'll talk about that a little at the end of the episode today.
It's interesting, society thinks that Christians are the only ones who b...
December 13, 2017
Episode 139 - Christmas Is a Great Time to Talk About Evil
Christmastime is a great time to talk about evil.
I hope everyone is having a good and cheery and reflective advent and Christmas season. Merry Christmas to you!
I figured this season would be a good time to talk about evil because that makes sense, right? Presents and gifts and tinsel and a little baby in a manger, and... evil. They all fit together, right?
Well, actually, in a surprising way I think they do.
If you read the Christmas story, you are struck by the fact that...
December 6, 2017
Episode 138 - Are You Unknowingly Proclaiming a Gospel of Works?
Evangelicals have an interesting relationship with the concept of works, because on the one hand, we want to clearly and confidently affirm that a person is saved by grace through faith, and it's not of themselves, it's not from their works. Works, at least our works, do not contribute to our salvation; it is Christ's work and our faith in his work on the cross, and in him more specifically, that brings about salvation.
But then, on the other hand, how do we live after that?...
November 29, 2017
Episode 137 - Why is God So Hidden?
Why is God so hidden?
One of the questions that cuts across many different groups of people deals with the hiddenness of God. I don't think it's uncommon for someone to say or have thought or felt at some point in their life, "Where is God? Why is he so hidden? Why can I not easily discern his presence or his involvement in the world? Why does he not feel closer?" This isn't just an intellectual question; it often has an emotional component too, where at times of great distres...
November 15, 2017
Episode 136 - If You Want to Survive Trials and Suffering, You Need Good Theology
��
If you've lived for even a little while, you're acquainted with some form of sickness, pain, suffering, or evil. You can't live in this world and not experience that sort of thing. Now, of course, some people have worse experiences than others, and some amounts of evil, some kinds of sickness or suffering or pain are more severe or more acute than others, but nonetheless, we are all acquainted with the problem of evil, both in its human dimension���where people commit evil a...
November 8, 2017
Episode 135 - Why is there Natural Evil in the World?
Why is there sickness, pain, and suffering in the world?
When we talk about sickness, pain, and suffering and disease and those sorts of things and we try to reconcile that with the God of the Bible, what we're really doing is thinking through the problem of evil. This is a little different version of the problem of evil because often times when we talk about evil, we're talking about personal, human evil like murder and abuse and rape and theft, and those sorts of things. Tha...
November 1, 2017
Episode 134 - The Reformation: God's Glory Alone
��� Today, as we finish up our Reformation series, we're going to talk about the glory of God in salvation and in life. ���In October in 2017, and more specifically on October 31st, we remember the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, or at least the start of it, where it hearkens all the way back to when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses���95 points he wanted to discuss about th...
October 25, 2017
Episode 133 - The Reformation: Christ Alone
���We are nearing our final week here in this Reformation series. We've been looking at the five solas of the Reformation, five statements of something ���alone��� in the Reformation. We started looking at Scripture alone, Sola Scriptura, how Scripture is the sole, infallible authority of the church for the Christian. There is no higher authority. And then we looked at Sola Fide, how salvation is through...
October 24, 2017
Apples, Bananas, Men, and Women
CNN posted a video saying that an apple is an apple, even if people tell you it's a banana. The video makes the straightforward and common sense point that a thing is what it is, regardless of what someone thinks about it. If we're consistent, this line of thinking applies nicely to men and women.
A man is a man, regardless of if someone (including that person) believes the man to actually be a man. Just like an apple is an apple even if someone believes it to be a banana.
Watch the two videos...
