Features
A House of Cards
Rather than bringing his congregation to a pool of water to drink, or into a lush pasture to be fed, or over the hills into a wide gracious land to settle, he is making sure they live always in that dark, strange room of screens, experts, and a paltry scrabble of self-help.
#131: Topic? We Don’t Need No Stinking Topic: A (Meandering) Stand Firm Conversation
Matt, Jady, and Nick turn on the mics with no plan. They end up talking about the Church of England, why people might stay in liberal churches, and the modern strangeness of biblical Christianity, among other things.
That Sounds Miserable
Ninety percent of western people who suddenly found themselves in the Middle Ages would not be able to cope. Who said that the past is a foreign country? Going there suddenly would be a terrible shock to the modern system and cause deep feelings of misery.
Why I Love Watching The Chosen Part Deux
We believe with our minds that the Bible is sufficient, but we don’t know it with our hearts. We confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, but we don’t think his message will be clear unless we communicate it in only one kind of way. Ultimately, that mistrust has become the turgid pool of really bad art merch.
I’m Sorry, I Do Love The Chosen
I’m pretty sure–wouldn’t stake my salvation on it, of course–but am feeling fairly confident that watching The Chosen falls into the realm of adiaphora.
Lessons from the aftermath of Damar Hamlin’s injury
When God is trustworthy, and man is not.
That Is Super Cringe
Here is no metaphorical dream baby. Rather, God rules over the details of your daily life from a cosmic angle. He could come and knock on each and every door, but he wouldn’t be looking to you for any particular wisdom about how to fix your intractable community problems. He can handle it with his own strong hand and mighty arm. You need to get onto his page, not the other way around.
#130: The Great Escape? An Exvangelical Conversation with Dustin Messer
Matt and Jady talk to Dustin Messer about the exvangelical phenomenon. They discuss what people who leave evangelicalism are really rejecting, how they can be engaged, and why it’s important to defend the Gospel where it’s being attacked.
The Gospel for People Who Say They Are Christian But Aren’t Actually Christian
This is completely unexceptional, and not unusual at all. Indeed, the whole project reads to me as someone trying to get attention and running out of shocking material. In one last ditch effort, she figures out that she can scare everyone by calling herself a Christian
Here’s My Advice
Yeah, that’s what prayer is for. More self-knowledge. It can’t ever, not even for a moment, just to repeat myself, be for any other reason, like communing with the Divine or discovering something about someone else, like God or the Universe or Whoever.
Marriage is About the Gospel: Clarifying the Boundaries of Christian Orthodoxy
To reject what the Bible reveals about sex and marriage is to reject the gospel.
What Is Sunday For?
So no, the point isn’t the sermon. But the sermon is the way that God brings people who were far off near, it is one of the ways that he makes you who were not a people into a people. It is the means by which you, who were called Forsaken, gradually discover that your name is My Delight is in her.
Have You Considered Not Trying At All?
Remember, you do not have time to read the Bible because it is very hard and you will be tired and unable to for some reason. Not reading it will give you a lot of time to do these other things which are not hard at all. In fact, you probably wake up in the morning ready to fight injustice And meet your neighbors.
#129: About Face: Fidelity, Apostasy, and Capitulation
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the election of a bishop in The Episcopal Church, the apostasy of a formerly orthodox cleric, and the comfort of Gospel truth in the face of the world’s pressure and lies.
2022 Wasn’t So Bad
The new year is almost upon us and boy am I delighted that the old one is almost over. 2022 hasn’t been, by any means, a thoroughly bad year, not like 2020 or anything. But, like all of them, it is well nigh full up to the brim of trouble and anxiety. It is time to trade it in for a bright, shiny new one.
The Data Is In: It’s Better to be Rich and Healthy than Poor and Sick
Those are the people who can’t know things until they find a bunch of data to explain it to them.
In Which I Spend A Week Watching A Lot of Hallmark Movies
Whenever you hear the phrase, “the Universe or God or whoever” when you’re pursuing the content of people like Gabrielle Bernstein or Oprah or Rachel Hollis you should replace the “whoever” with “Santa” and in this way you will have plumbed the depths of American Religion TM.
Try Saying Yes
And then, one mustn’t forget the ever-present anxiety of every age, but particularly this fractured one, where ordinary human tasks and institutions are maligned, unsupported by famlilial and common life because there are no robust, as they say, ‘thick’ communities to join themselves to the efforts of online people
#128: Easy Like Christmas Morning: Feast Days, Heaven & Hell, and an Eternal Perspective
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about whether or not to have church on Christmas Day, the importance of remembering the reality of heaven and hell, and how eternity affects the here and now.
#127: And Again We Say Revoice: A Conversation with Bethel McGrew
Matt, Jady, and Nick are joined by Anne Kennedy and special guest Bethel McGrew to discuss all things Revoice, Spiritual Friendship, and “Side B.”
Podcast
#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.
#10: Free Will was Bound to Come Up Again
Matt, Jady, and Nick continue their conversation about free will, discussing the differences between Reformed views, Pelagianism, Arminianism, and even Molinism.
#9: Robots Bound for Glory: A Reflection on Free Will
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk free will on the occasion of Independence Day. Is the biblical assertion that we are slaves bad news…or is it ultimately Good News?
#8: To Err is Human: When is a Christian Not a Christian?
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss theological errors. What’s the difference, they ask, between a Christian who is wrong about something and someone who has put themselves outside the scope of the faith?
#7: Monumental Change: The Broken Arc of History
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the removal of statues and the renaming of buildings, talk about the complicated nature of history, and rejoice in the Good News of the Gospel for people with sins in their past.
#6: A Whole New World: SCOTUS, Self-Definition, and the Christian Life
Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the Supreme Court’s recent Bostock decision, continue their exploration of the world’s anti-Gospel, and consider what the Christian life will look like in a world that, more and more, rejects Christ.
#5: Bad to the Bone: Good News and Original Sin
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about one of Christianity’s core doctrines, original sin. How does a proper understanding of sin make the Gospel news sound all the sweeter?
#4: Race, Justice, and the Gospel: Beginning the Conversation
There’s a difficult national conversation around race and justice happening right now. What is the Good News for this divided time?
#3: Feeling All the Feels: The Holy Spirit and You
Matt, Jady, and Nick talk about the Holy Spirit, some common misunderstandings, and how the Spirit connects to the Good News about Jesus.
#2: Silence of the Lamb: Atonement Theories and the Justice of God
What does Jesus’ death on the cross mean? Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss the atonement on this episode of The Stand Firm Podcast.