Features
#30: Stand Firm FAQ: Does God Love Everyone?
Matt, Jady, and Nick respond to a frequently-asked question: if God doesn’t save everyone, does that mean he doesn’t love everyone?
About Advent and the Justice of God…
We interrupt your Christmas preparations to praise the wrath of God.
When Righteousness And Peace Finally Kiss Each Other
Peace, that glorious and desirable end, is only able to kiss righteousness under a mantle of blood. You might try to have peace without righteousness, making do with your own crooked way, but true goodness will have to divide itself from you. The division will feel violent, but that’s because embracing something sinful and wrong is a wicked thing to do.
#29: Teach Your Children Well: Catechesis and Political Engagement
Matt, Jady, and Nick wonder about putting too much faith in politics, discuss how politics is downstream from culture, and talk about the importance of passing the faith on to our kids.
The Incurious Woke
One would think if there was massive election fraud that rendered the votes of people of color meaningless, the woke would be erupting in outrage. One would think.
Fed with the Bread of Tears
I particularly like the line, “to make your name known to your adversaries,” the chief one being death himself, who continues to snatch and grab and claw his way along, pulling us down to the grave one by one. He is defeated already, and yet so am I—crushed to earth, unable to raise my head. “We all fade like a life, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
When Did We See You?
Meanwhile, over here in the state of New York, the resounding words of God crying out against the elders of Israel, who fed themselves at the expense of their sheep, feels pretty comforting.
The Sunday Next Before Advent
This Sunday is also the Feast of Christ the King. Yes, that is a recent and popish innovation… but a good one.
#28: Signs, Sealed, Delivered: Unraveling the Sacraments
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the sacraments of communion and baptism. They talk about what makes a sacrament, their symbolic-and-more nature, whether or not they “work,” and where the Good News is in these “holy mysteries.”
Totalitarians Moments? IX: Saturday in DC
Events this past Saturday in Washington D. C. speak volumes about where we are as a country.
The Do-Nothing Bit is a Lie
The man who ran off to bury his talent in the ground could have looked to the other servants for more information, could have questioned himself, could have wondered if maybe the other servants who went out and did what the master required knew more than he did. But why would he? Adam didn’t. It’s not the usual way.
#27: Who Are These People? The Limits of Compassion
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss election reactions, compassion (both real and fake), and having conversations with people who disagree with you.
Video Panel: How Can Christians Vote for Trump?
How can sensible, fair-minded Christians vote for a man like Trump?
I’m joined by fellow Stand Firm bloggers Greg and Matt to tease out what made the difference for them. A helpful video to share with your friend who wants to understand more.
Elections, Fraud, Oversight and the Need for Questions
Our electoral processes thrive on being transparent. That transparency comes from well-planned and executed systems that have the proper controls that are themselves open to full scrutiny. Where any of those parts don’t work we have a serious breakdown in confidence.
Till the Break of Day
Apparently, Mr. Biden made a speech yesterday and in it quoted On Eagle’s Wings. I thought about going and trying to find it, but I have a policy of never listening to any speech any politician makes, and I don’t intend to begin now, even to hear something so...
#26: The Cat in the (Pointy) Hat: The Good and Bad of Bishops
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about bishops and bishop-led churches. They discuss advantages and disadvantages of having bishops, whether or not they’re biblical, and consider the recent resignation of a bishop in the ACNA.
That’s Enough, Tish.
Did someone make Orange Man Bad the Summary of the Law while I was not paying attention during Holy Communion?
A Great Throng
He isn’t going to let us have this salvation in such a way that we can destroy it.
#25: A Coin the Coffer: Purgatory Then and Now
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about the Vatican’s recent statement about indulgences and purgatory, why the idea is such bad news, and how the attempt to buy one’s way into grace is widespread, both inside and outside the church.
#24: Mo Money No Problems: Give Unto the Lord
Jady and Nick discuss the intersection of the church and your money. Why does the church talk about money so much? Is there any Good News to be found in stewardship?
Podcast
#30: Stand Firm FAQ: Does God Love Everyone?
Matt, Jady, and Nick respond to a frequently-asked question: if God doesn’t save everyone, does that mean he doesn’t love everyone?
#29: Teach Your Children Well: Catechesis and Political Engagement
Matt, Jady, and Nick wonder about putting too much faith in politics, discuss how politics is downstream from culture, and talk about the importance of passing the faith on to our kids.
#28: Signs, Sealed, Delivered: Unraveling the Sacraments
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the sacraments of communion and baptism. They talk about what makes a sacrament, their symbolic-and-more nature, whether or not they “work,” and where the Good News is in these “holy mysteries.”
#27: Who Are These People? The Limits of Compassion
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss election reactions, compassion (both real and fake), and having conversations with people who disagree with you.
#26: The Cat in the (Pointy) Hat: The Good and Bad of Bishops
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about bishops and bishop-led churches. They discuss advantages and disadvantages of having bishops, whether or not they’re biblical, and consider the recent resignation of a bishop in the ACNA.
#25: A Coin the Coffer: Purgatory Then and Now
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about the Vatican’s recent statement about indulgences and purgatory, why the idea is such bad news, and how the attempt to buy one’s way into grace is widespread, both inside and outside the church.
#24: Mo Money No Problems: Give Unto the Lord
Jady and Nick discuss the intersection of the church and your money. Why does the church talk about money so much? Is there any Good News to be found in stewardship?
#23: Please Mr. Postman: A Stand Firm Mailbag
Matt, Jady, and Nick answer some listener questions, including what love has to do with honesty about sex, a potential referendum on abortion, and what it might mean to be called to celibacy.
#22: When Push Came to Love: The Myth of Progressive Tolerance
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the recent finding by The Episcopal Church against Bishop William Love. When justice and love are defined outside the Word of God, defenders of God’s Word find themselves labeled as unjust and unloving.
#21: Ibram Kendi and Adoption as Colonialism
Jady, Nick, and special guest Michael Neal discuss public reaction to Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, and especially to her adopted children.
#20: But He Actually Became a Person: The Problem with a “Personified” Jesus
Anne, Liza, and Ralinda discuss a transgender Icelandic Jesus, the downside of the Jesus Storybook Bible, and a few more thoughts on “Cuties.”
#19: No Second Opinions: On the Sufficiency of Scripture
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about the good news that the Bible is the only authority we need, the human urge to make new laws, and what it means that God’s Word once delivered is “enough.”
#18: The Sledgehammer of God? Discipline and Restoration in the Church
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about Jesus’ plan for discipline in the church and the Good News that comes along with repentance, reconciliation, and restoration.
#17: Truth Decay: The Sad Cynicism of Progressive Christianity
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the hesitance to make any claim of absolute truth. Intended to be welcoming, the idea that many opposing things can be true at once is really hollowing churches out from the inside.
#16: Nuclear War: A Defense of the Traditional Family
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the biblical warrant for the “nuclear family” and attacks on the idea from some evangelicals, more revolutionary organizations, and everything in between.
#15: Between Moloch and a Hard Place: Voting in the Abortion Age
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss why abortion is such an important issue for Christians and what a broad view of “pro-life” really means.
#14: WAP: White Aging Pastors Talk Whores and Hip-Hop
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s hit new single, the virtue of purity in light of the Gospel, and the role of sex in a world which refuses to hear the word of God.
#13: Ladders to Heaven and a Chute to Hell: The Will and Sanctification
Jady and Nick discuss the role a Christian plays in his or her spiritual growth. They decide that there is Good News for sinners wondering about their Christian development.
#12: Easy Like Sunday Morning? Disembodied Worship and Virtual Church
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the source of Christians’ desire to gather together. God commands it in the Bible, and it edifies the body, shaping it into Christ’s image in ways that online worship cannot.
#11: My Kingdom Come? Reflections on Our Pretensions
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the “kingdom mandate.” The Good News is that Christ’s kingdom is a promise, not a commandment.