Features
#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.
On Reading Badly
In other words, it is very bad to go back and read modern virtues into the past, holding the long-dead accountable for sins they didn’t imagine to be sins. Though, I would say, doing that is what we do. We always judge the past, just as we will be judged, and it’s one reason literature goes out of fashion, and notes have to be made at the end of the page, and children have to learn how to read books and walk the delicate line between empathy and judgement.
Disney Is Evil
In Xinjiang, China, the producer of animated princesses and singing wildlife ignores genocide for the sake of profit.
Why Will You Die?
When someone like Jen Hatmaker veers sharply off the rails of Christian orthodoxy, and drags hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Christian women along with her into the darkness, she is not trying to be bad, she is intending to do good in the way that she understands it.
#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.
Totalitarian Moments V: Bon Appetit!
One might want to be careful where to dine – if you want to dine in peace without giving a salute of allegiance to totalitarians that is.
Anne’s Guide To Raising Children
I’m not homeschooling because I think I can do a better job than anyone else (I can’t), or because I want each child to reach his or her “full potential” or anything like that. They won’t. I certainly never have. That’s a terrifying burden to put on anyone. Rather, I want them to be functional, thinking adults and not have, through neglect or smothering or group think, all the interesting doors of the world closed to them.
#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.
Totalitarian Moments IV: “Guilt Was Hereditary”
In the Cultural Revolution, guilt, however false, was passed from generation to generation to generation.
#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.
Totalitarian Moments III: Elections and Dark Jokes
The jokes practically write themselves when it comes to totalitarians disrespecting and rigging elections. But maybe it’s not so funny.
#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.
Totalitarian Moments II: Speedy Descent into Genocide
One of the disconcerting aspects of totalitarian regimes is how speedy their descent into evil can be.
#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.
The Noose Tightens
The U.S. Supreme Court has turned religious freedom over to the tender mercies of politicians. God help us all.
#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.
Totalitarian Moments – “Silent As the Tomb”
It does service to society to warn that this or that has been tried before and did not work out so well.
#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.
At Such A Time As This
The best way to be someone now is to have suffered deeply and tragically in any number of ways. Not suffering or being too materially comfortable is almost a liability.
Podcast
#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.
#1: The Stand Firm Podcast
Jady Koch, Nick Lannon, and Matt Kennedy discuss the leftward theological and ideological drift on the part of a number of highly platformed ACNA clergy, how this drift affects the proclamation of the Gospel, and what type of Church it could produce.