Brian Seagraves's Blog, page 13
October 18, 2017
Episode 132 - The Reformation: Grace Alone
��� For the last two weeks, and for the next two weeks after this week, we will be talking about the solas of the Reformation, these statements of some ���doctrine alone.��� For instance, the first week we talked about sola scriptura, that scripture alone is the sole, infallible rule of faith for the church. Then we talked about sola fide, that salvation comes through faith alone, not by faith and works. We looked at Ephesians...
October 11, 2017
Episode 131 - The Reformation: Faith Alone
Last week we started what will be a series of podcast episodes for the month of October recognizing and in some ways, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. This is actually a really big deal, because those of us that are Protestants or Evangelicals today, are that in many ways because of what happened 500 years ago and because of the theology that came out of the...
October 4, 2017
Episode 130 - The Reformation: Scripture Alone
I don't know if you know this, but this October, specifically October 31, marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Now, there may be a lot there that seems a little foreign to you, because if you're anything like me, I didn't grow up in a Christian context that talked much about Christian history. I think that's fairly common in some circles, sadly. A lot of people don't realize that Christians have a long, rich tradition and heritage of robu...
September 27, 2017
Episode 129 - Are Words or Worldview More Important in Media?
Before we dive in today, I'd just like to say that the reason we didn't have an episode last week was because my wife unexpectedly delivered our first child. There were some unexpected health complications, so she actually had a C-section at 34 weeks. But our daughter is doing great. She's just needs to gain some weight and learn to regulate her temperature on her own, and then she'll be able to come home. So that's kind of what's been going on with me the last few weeks and s...
September 13, 2017
Episode 128 - What Are Creeds And Why Do They Matter?
As far as Christianity goes, the listeners of this podcast are fairly diverse. We have people from many different denominations, some would not claim a denominational affiliation, some have very different spiritual backgrounds. Some are new Christians. Some have been Christians for a long period of time.
And so, when we talk about a topic like creeds, many of you, and myself included, are going to approach this from many different directions. So for instance, just to give you...
September 6, 2017
Episode 127 - Is There Actually a "Biblical" View of an Issue?
It's fairly common today to hear religious conservatives say something like, "Where the Bible speaks, God speaks." They're affirming this idea that scripture is the word of God, that he breathed it out to us. We've looked at this before in Matthew 22, Jesus says, "Have you not read what God spoke?" Claiming scripture is the word of God. Paul, in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is God breathed." Or 2 Peter, "That men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God in scripture." There's...
August 30, 2017
Episode 126 - The Bankruptcy of the Sexual Ethic of Consent
I don't know if you've noticed this, but the new sexual ethic in society today is not based on a biblical morality where God says such and such is wrong. What it's based on today is not even necessarily a legal declaration, although those often follow. What it's based on is consent.
Today sexual ethics and what's right and wrong have boiled down, at least in common society and thinking, to consent. In order to know if a certain sexual act was right or wrong, you don't have to...
August 29, 2017
A Response to the Liturgists Statement
On Tuesday, August 29th 2017, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood released a statement (���The Nashville Statement)��� on marriage, sex, and gender that reflects positions the church has held without question until recently. This caused quite a stir, needless to say.
The Liturgists, an LGBT affirming group, put together a statement of their own in response. It is extremely liberal in the types of behaviors it permits as God-honoring, like incest, adultery, polygamy, etc. It also cla...
August 24, 2017
Episode 125 - "Christians Are Atheists For All Gods But One"
How should we respond when atheists claim that Christians are atheists with regard to every other god except for one. They just take it one step further. We'll stay tuned to find out. An unapologetic.
There's a popular argument (or at least assertion) that atheists like to make. And it goes something like this.
"Well Christians are actually atheists with respect to every other god except for one."
So for every possible god out there Christians are atheists for that god excep...
August 16, 2017
Episode 124 - Does God Hold People Accountable for What They Believe?
I don't know about you, but I've heard this objection to God and Christianity several times, and it goes something like this: "Would God really punish someone who just grew up being taught the wrong things, who grew up being taught to believe the wrong things? Does God punish people for wrong beliefs?"
You may notice something about the way I said that. That's not actually an assertion, at least formally speaking; it's a bunch of questions. And there's a tendency today for man...
