Beards & Bible Podcast

Fasting, New Year's Resolutions, & The God of Our Bellies

New Year, new you…well, hopefully. The reality is, for most of us not much has changed since this time last week when it was 2020, except for the new page on the calendar. For a lot of us, we’re carrying into the new year the same stubborn old habits, the same old struggles, and the same old sins that we wrestled with last year.
But what if the Bible gave us a regular discipline we could practice to remind ourselves that as followers of Jesus, our God is NOT our bellies, or our food, our TVs, or our screens? Fasting, the practice of voluntarily abstaining from food (or certain activities) for a period of time, has been practiced by Christians for thousands of years. In fasting, a believer abstains from food in order to be available for prayer and communion with God. Fasting isn’t easy, but it’s designed to separate you from your perceived life support so you can focus exclusively on the Lord.
Sadly, many Christians have never fasted. Just mentioning the practice is enough to cause some people panic. Why would anyone want to fast? Much less for longer than a day? What does the Bible say about fasting? Do you have to fast?

Jesus People, Televangelism, Youth Culture, and the Commercialization of American Church

In the minds of many American Christians, church isn’t a place to go to connect with the transcendence of God and contemplate the majesty, wonder, and beauty of the mysteries of the Divine- it’s a place we visit to be entertained and catered to. Some of our worship gatherings feel more like a pep rally or a pop concert than they do a worship service, and in many gatherings the teaching of God’s Word has been replaced by a more informal, conversational TED talk style sermonette about the importance of the journey of falling in love with Jesus. Oh, and on your way out of the auditorium, be sure to check out the church’s other offerings such as CD’s, books, and t-shirts for sale. But it’s not just in our churches, as American Christians we’ve created our own unique, heavily commercialized, highly monetized subculture. We’ve got Christian radio, Christian recording artists, Christian movies, Christian TV, Christian themed restaurants, even Christian amusement parks. 
We all know it, but most of us are just afraid to say it out loud- it’s big business. And we’re the customers. How did we get here? Is this the vision Jesus had for His Church 2,000 years ago? And what impact is this excessive commercialization having on our understanding of the Church’s mission? Is it wrong for worship services to be engaging or entertaining? Is it wrong to sell Christian books or make Christian music?

Reasons to be Thankful in 2020

1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us to, "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus". 2020 has been a very eventful year full of unexpected and challenging circumstances. So in the middle of a year like 2020, how do we continue to give thanks and practice gratitude? 

God & Government, Providence, and Post Election Madness

As American Christians, our relationship to politics and the political process tends to be a bit more complex. If you live here and you’re Christian you know, it’s just different. It’s actually kind of messy.
When you study the history of America, it’s undeniable that the nation was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs. Many of the values of America, such as charity, altruism, respect, tolerance, mercy, freedom, liberty, and peace are historically rooted in a Christian worldview. Not only that, but the vast majority of religious expression, terminology, and practice in America throughout our history has been Christian or heavily influenced by the Christian worldview. Of course, as a secular nation, the U.S. has also allowed free expression of other faiths,yet the primary religious outlook of the American people has long been that of Judeo-Christianity. Constitutionally, the U.S. government was designed to guide a population operating under a predominantly Judeo-Christian worldview, and it shows clear evidence of influence from that faith tradition.
So historically, America has been most certainly founded and guided by a “Christian” worldview. But culturally, America is absolutely not “Christian” in terms of its current attitudes and behaviors. The modern United States not only tolerates ideas contrary to Christianity, but it openly embraces and celebrates them. Sexual immorality, pornography, homosexuality, and premarital sex are widely accepted as normal in American society. Vulgarity, drunkenness, drug use, promiscuity, and other abuses of freedom are also celebrated as forms of entertainment. Abortion is rampant, as are widespread instances of violence, greed, and corruption. Many of those who participate and celebrate these sins even consider themselves “Christian”.
So here’s the rub- in a nation that was founded by Christian beliefs but is decidedly unchristian in its current culture- is the primary job of the American Church and American Christians to actively fight to influence the outcome of elections and the political process so that America can return to her Christian roots? Or is to stay away from politics all-together and focus only on making disciples and spreading the gospel? Is voting for a certain candidate or political party that supports the Christian worldview our primary Christian duty? What if the results of a crucial election we participated are disputed? How do we know what to do next?

The Grand Illusion of Progressive Christianity

The Christian Faith in North America has reached a critical juncture. Thousands of believers have begun to drift away from the major creeds and confessions of historic Christianity in favor of a more inclusive, societally acceptable ideology that favors tolerance, social activism and public policy over personal repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Skepticism about the Bible abounds, and Scriptures that seems out of step with contemporary values are either explained away or dismissed. In fact, certain scriptural subjects such as the atonement, gender and sexual issues, the lordship (and even divinity) of Jesus, and personal holiness get reframed as either unimportant, misunderstood, or even dangerous.
 
Is it possible to be a Christian that denies the infallibility of Scripture, the divinity of Jesus, the doctrine of atonement, and the necessity of personal repentance and exclusive faith in Christ? Is it possible to reframe the identity of Jesus as primarily a social activist and the Christian faith as primarily a self-actualizing movement that’s just one path among many, and STILL refer to yourself as a Christian?

The Divine Purpose of Marriage & Top Five Habits of Healthy Matrimony

The Bible tells men to love their wives, and for women to respect and honor their  husbands. Historically, marriage has been valued and celebrated by the Christian church. But the truth is, marriage is hard. The challenges, obstacles, and difficulties of life take a toll on a marriage- even a Christian one. Betrayal, heartbreak, and the pain of neglect can shake a marriage to its core and tempt many of us to give up.
How can we stay proactive and make sure our marriages are healthy? How do we actually put it in practice the teachings from the Bible of love, respect, honor, and understanding within a marriage?

The Social Dilemma, Fake News, and the Monetization of Truth

Imagine a reality in which almost every bit of information you consume is handpicked, edited, and abridged for your consumption. Information is given to you not because it’s necessarily true or factual, but because chances are, you’ll click, watch, read, like, or repost because, well, you already agreed with the headline before you even read the story.
 
Now imagine those who are feeding you this information. With every click, watch, share or engagement you give to the stories they’ve fed you, there’s money to be made. So what do they do? The same thing almost any human being would do. They seek to keep you constantly engaged and addicted to their platforms by catering the content you consume to your preferences, preconceived ideas, political leanings, likes, and dislikes. Can you imagine such a world as this? 
 
The scary thing is- you don’t have to. This is the reality you actually live in. Recently, conscientious defectors from big tech companies have claimed that the manipulation of human behavior for profit is actually coded into these companies with horrifying precision. Infinite scrolling and push notifications keep users constantly engaged; personalized recommendations use data not just to predict but also to influence our actions. As a result, this has turned users of search engines, social media platforms, and online news services into easy prey for advertisers and propagandists.
 
But at what cost? Experts and clinical researchers tell us that excessive consumption of online media and content can distort our view of ourselves, our relationships, our political and ideological opponents, and our broader reality. They also tell us that human willpower can’t be expected to compete with some of the most sophisticated A.I. systems on the planet that have been designed to keep us addicted and engaged to these platforms, not matter how hard we try to limit our consumption.
 
As followers of Jesus, we hold to the idea that truth is absolute- it doesn’t change based on our preferences or proclivities. But how do we find truth when it’s constantly being manipulated? Is there a way to develop a healthy relationship with these technologies? How can we make sure we’re actually understanding these issues and not just blindly consuming the information we’re being fed because it tells us what we want to hear?

How Should Christians Vote? Politics, the Bible, and Kingdom Values

Election season is upon us, and many Christians have conflicting emotions and deeply concerned about their role and participation in the upcoming election. What Biblical principles and ideals should inform our participation in the political process? How is a Christian supposed to vote? Is it simply along party lines, or one single "make or break" issue? And is it possible to have constructive, honest, and thoughtful dialogue about these issues?

Mary Magdalene, Blue Eye Shadow, & How the Bible Came to Us (with Amanda Hope Haley)

So often there are things we believe about the Bible, that just aren’t in the Bible. The Bible never talks about there being 3 wisemen present at the birth of Jesus, or that Adam and Eve ate an apple in the garden, or that it was a whale that swallowed Jonah. But so many of us, there years of tradition and human interpretation that have instilled in us (sometimes even unknowingly) misconceptions about the Biblical texts. So how do we read the Bible in its original context? How do we do the work of separating tradition from truth and our cultural interpretations from what the text actually says? How was the Bible written? How did it come to us? 
 

Genesis, Charles Darwin, and the Question of Origin pt. 2

Is Genesis just far-fetched, goofy, highly unlikely mythology that should be taken allegorical? Or is it a historical account of literal events? Are Christians rejecting science by choosing to believe it? If someone rejects the book of Genesis, have they rejected the rest of the Bible?
 
In the 2nd installment of a two part episode, we address these questions and discuss the various interpretations of the creation account in the book of Genesis.