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Striving to build the Church of Jesus Christ, draw all Christians toward a closer walk with God, and enrich the faith of all believers through contact with the living God in His Scripture and through the witness of His Church throughout the ages. Drawing from their own Anabaptist tradition and the tradition of the ancient Church, we explore topics relevant to the lives of modern Christians that are needed to face the challenges of our time. With a particular focus on the unseen spiritual realities of the world around us, we strive to shake Christians from a shallow faith rooted in modern materialism and revive a faith deeply grounded in the Living Word.
Episodes
Saturday Nov 25, 2023
Your Desire is the Gift of God!
Saturday Nov 25, 2023
Saturday Nov 25, 2023
Continuing to read through the Theologia Germanica, a late medieval devotional work, we have a look at our desires, what we do with them, and how we should treat them.
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Why Separation of Church and State Doesn’t Really Work
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
Sunday Nov 19, 2023
In modern western culture, we hold the idea of freedom of religion and separation of Church and State in a very high place. But what does this mean for our world, and for the Christian? What are the consequences of having a nation and a people without a unifying religious force? And how has our modern concept of religion forced us into the place we find ourselves today? Join us as we explore these ideas, and consider its meaning for us today.
Saturday Nov 11, 2023
Christianity Wins - Why Religious Pluralism Can’t Work
Saturday Nov 11, 2023
Saturday Nov 11, 2023
Does it really work to not have a singular, unified identity? How does religion shape that identity and hold a culture together? Is our modern idea of tolerance and pluralism actually working?
Sunday Aug 15, 2021
Dreams and Biblical Interpretation
Sunday Aug 15, 2021
Sunday Aug 15, 2021
Since I am sick and feverish, David and I talk about fever dreams, which are like prophetic or religious experiences in that we did see and feel them, but they cannot be expressed using words. We may try, but what we say is not really what we dreamed. We riff on dreams for a while in an effort to mine the topic for what else it may have to teach us about religious experience and Biblical interpretation.
Sunday Aug 08, 2021
How Do Good People Fit in Bad Systems
Sunday Aug 08, 2021
Sunday Aug 08, 2021
After addressing a critique of logic that we mentioned in the previous episode, we move on to the question of how good people fit in bad systems. The nature of systems and institutions is always partly bad, so many righteous people avoid being involved in the government, in educational institutions, in major corporations, etc. The result of this is that these institutions are worse than they could have been if there were more good people involved. We see a Biblical pattern that suggests that it is the wicked who judge the institutions, and the righteous are a part of those institutions in a way that does not bring about their own condemnation. We try to explore what it looks like for a righteous person to be part of a flawed institution.
Friday Jul 30, 2021
The Mark of the Beast
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Our interpretations of the mark of the Beast typically involve some sort of totalizing system, classification, or regime that some or all people willingly subject themselves to. We discuss the nature of totalizing systems and explore the ways in which every person (good or evil) subordinates himself-- and indeed he must subordinate himself-- to systems that have spiritual consequences. We attempt to identify the pattern that the mark of the Beast reveals-- in modern society as well as in other passage of scripture-- and we discuss what it means to live in a society, in a world where we must subject ourselves to controlling systems, laws, and institutions.
Sunday Jul 25, 2021
Inspiration: Scripture Part 2
Sunday Jul 25, 2021
Sunday Jul 25, 2021
This episode explores some challenges to the theory of Verbal Plenary Inspiration of scripture, which argues that God gave the words of the Bible directly to the people who wrote it.
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Rigid Interpretation - Scripture Part 1
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
This episode applies the notion of the sins of the right hand (excessive order, rationality, rigidity, control) to the way that we interpret the Bible. It is part 1 of 3 of a long conversation chiefly on Scripture.
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Worship Is the Answer
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
In this episode of The Sacred Life, John and David Bahler explore the nature of worship, highlighting some of the problems with worship that focuses on the emotional experience of the worshipper. True worship that stands in awe of God may be the best solution to the whatever problems face the contemporary church.
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
What Is Mysticism?
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
Sunday Jul 04, 2021
We explore the question of "what is mysticism" in an every-day, no-nonsense manner.