Brian Seagraves's Blog, page 8

Episode 174 - The Biggest Downside of the Modern Bible

Audio Transcript

We're going to talk about the most dangerous feature of the modern bible. Yes, that sounds overly dramatic, I totally agree. And no, it's not the super thin paper that might give you a paper cut, and no it's not the weight of many of these of bibles that may make your arm hurt or give you a backache carrying around.

Actually, what we're talking about today, is the verse number. Now, that probably sounds rather innocent and innocuous, doesn't it? Verse numbers, what could poss...

Episode 173 - "GENDER: A Conversation Guide For Parents and Pastors"

Audio Transcript

This week, we're going to talk about gender and parenting and why every single parent, especially Christian parents, needs to understand that your children will be affected by transgenderism. Your children will be affected by how society is viewing the issue of gender.

I'm going to explain why that is, how that is, because on the face of it, you're probably thinking, "That seems like a pretty audacious claim. Really, every child, every person will be affected by transgenderism...

Episode 172 - Does Paul Say that Something Can be Right for Your and Wrong for Me?

Audio Transcript

Can something be true for you and not for me? This is a popular idea today that when you confront some people with an idea or you make a statement that assumes morality is the same for everyone, they might say to you, "Well, that's your morality, or that's your religion. I'm glad you found something that works for you, but that's true for you. That's not true for me."

Now, as Christians, we would say, "No. God had spoken. Things are true or they are false. They are right or th...

Episode 171 - The Double Edged Sword of Human Flourishing

Audio Transcript

Today I want to talk about human flourishing. Human flourishing is a topic that in some circles comes up often, and in others the terms may just seem incredibly foreign. What is human flourishing and why is it something that we as Christians should think about?

Simply put, the doctrine or idea of human flourishing would say that God created us as people to enjoy his creation and to flourish, to grow, and to thrive, and to improve and enjoy each other and creation, to populate...

Episode 170 - Does Christianity Increase the LGBT Suicide Rate?

Audio Transcript

Today we're going to talk about a weighty topic, and if you have little ears in the car or with you, this may once again not be a topic to listen to as a family. But we're going to discuss the effect Christianity has on LGBT persons and their suicide rate.

This is a weighty topic and I think this is a very difficult topic to discuss, even if you know all of the facts, or as many of them as seem helpful in the conversation. Because we're really talking about people and their ve...

Episode 169 - What Is Truth and How Does It Relate to Scripture?

Audio Transcript

The beliefs we have convictions about as Christians are things we believe to be true, right? It wouldn't make much sense to have a strong conviction about something you knew to be false or you didn't think you could know. Now, this presupposes lots of different considerations, like how do we know things and what is truth? And that's an interesting question, because someone in the Bible asks that question, ���what is truth?��� In John, we see that Pilate says to Jesus, "So, you...

Episode 168 - A Common Parallel in How We Think About Transgenderism and the Gospel

Audio Transcript

Today, we're going to talk about a parallel, between how we should think about and approach transgenderism and how we think about and approach the gospel and moral issues. I think there's something very helpful here.

Now, when I speak about this today, there will be some people that don't necessarily think they're accurately reflected by this. I'm just trying to talk about transgenderism, kind of as a movement or a moment by and large, and in broad strokes. With that being sa...

Episode 167 - We Often Ask The Wrong Question About The Canaanites

Audio Transcript

This week, I want to talk about a very difficult Old Testament issue, the issue of the commanded destruction of the Canaanites. This is perhaps one of the most thorny Old Testament issues to discuss and to defend God's actions in, because it seems like God has commanded genocide, that God has commanded ethnic cleansing because he commanded Israel to go kill a certain group of people. And so let's look at that text from Deuteronomy 20. We'll just jump right into it.

It says,

...

Episode 166 - It All Pays Off

Audio Transcript

There's a lot to know, isn't there? There are a lot of convictions that we as Christians have that we need to be able to give an answer for, that we need to understand and be able to explain and defend to other people. We don't apologize for the fact that we are Christians and we believe the gospel, and we believe that God spoke in his word and those sorts of things. No, we need to be able to give an answer for them, for the hope that we possess in Christ.

But what you have pr...

Sermon: Psalm 73 - Where Is God When the Wicked Succeed?

VideoAudio Transcript

(Note: While this is a sermon, it addresses key issues of how we defend the truth of Christianity. Questions of evil, injustice, and God frequently arise in conversations.)

There are different genres of psalms, different kinds of literary formats. God has revealed His word to us in literature, and in literature we have to seek to understand it. But lest that sound difficult, today's psalm is one that will resonate with all of us. None of us are unaccustomed to the topic t...