Gender “neutrality” on display in the streets of New York and the aisles of Target … Christian hospitality put to the test at Orlando International Airport … John Oliver “discovers” shady televangelists in America! What does it all mean??? Is it the END OF … (well, you know.)
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We must be careful to draw a distinction between loving people and enabling their error. We need to keep this in mind when discussing how we serve those who practice other religions. There’s a big difference between taking a homemade dinner to your new neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Lucien Greaves, and helping them build a satanic temple.
Hey guys. I listen to your podcast every week, and I agree with a lot, but there’s plenty I disagree with as well. This latest episode in particular frustrated me. The Free the Nipple campaign is more than just a movement to allow women to walk around topless. It’s about demythologizing the female body. In Western society, a woman’s body does not belong to herself. It is fetishized by the media, hollywood, and even church culture in the way Christians turn it into a stumbling block. The Free the Nipple campaign is about freeing women to take ownership of their own bodies, and not allowing the powers to control them so they can continue to exploit their bodies for profit. It’s so much more important than just letting people go around topless.
About Franklin Graham and the prayer room – Is he upset about the Muslim Prayer Room itself or the use of tax dollars to pay for it? That is different than the Gideons putting Bibles in motel rooms. I’m not an expert, but airports, while publicly owned are quasi-businesses and the airlines are their customers. If an airline was running direct flights to the Vatican or Jerusalem, would they put something in to accommodate Catholics or Jews also? This could very well be another case of economic interest. In any event, I think there is more to the story.
Love your podcast. I’m a new listener this year. In this last one I think you missed a huge point regarding the Muslim prayer room in the airport. I agree with you about hospitality and found those insights helpful. But it is also an injustice to use tax payer funds to create this prayer room when Christian monuments are being taken down or excluded in other parts of the country. Why is it appropriate to use tax payer funds to build a suite of rooms in an airport for Muslims but not appropriate to have the Ten Commandments in a court room? As you’ve said before, it makes more sense to be welcoming of all faiths, even if you end up with goat idols on government property, than to pick and choose some faiths over others or to exclude all. With the current atmosphere regarding separation of church and state it would be more consistent of them to build those rooms through private funding than through tax payer money. Otherwise I think it is reasonable to politely point out the inconsistency is creating an unjustice.
Fully agree with Christian on the Muslim thing, completely disagree concerning desensitizing men to women’s bodies. The last thing in the world I want is to look at my wife coming out of the shower and think…….ehh, whatever, I’ve seen it all before. Love the show, look forward to it every week!
Grr! You’re comment program hates my arrow keys! I was in the middle of a good story, and it got erased. But it’s still a good story, so here it comes, for the 5th time.
I love listening to y’all! I truly appreciate the way y’all bring your observations on the news, on culture, even on church culture, back to solid theology and Christ’s teachings. I’m 43, and yours is the first podcast I’ve followed on a regular basis. You’re on so much in my home that my kids will randomly sing, ‘Hey, it’s a podcast! What do you know?’ Pretty funny. Your discussion this week on being hospitable to non-Christians needs to be transcribed and read from every pulpit and church lectern multiple times over the next month. Even after growing up in the church, my personal walk has been challenged by Christ’s teaching to ‘love my neighbor as I love myself,’ and to ‘love my enemies, and pray for those who persecute me.’ Here’s how I got to apply it this week.
I’m a paramedic here in Columbia, MO, and we responded to a guy who was borderline suicidal. He drank a bunch of vodka and may or may not have taken a bunch of pills, he never would say. While I was climbing into the back of my ambulance, he looked at me and asked why we were helping him. I realize that he was probably speaking out of a drunken disbelief, but I felt a prod to hit him with Truth. I told him that I believed that he was made in God’s image, and that made him valuable. His eyes popped open, then he started laughing. Then he told me to lift his sleeve, which revealed a 5″ pentagram on his shoulder. I told him that that didn’t change my opinion, that he’s still carrying the image of God in him. I could tell that that visibly rattled him. We talked about a few other things, esp. his love for Scandinavian black metal music. When we dropped him off at the ER, we chatted for another minute. I asked him if he needed anything else, and he asked if I could pray for him. ‘Seriously?’ Yep. So I held out my hand, he took it, and I prayed for him, right there in the ER. It was an honor to get to touch someone’s life in that way. I’ve told people that my job is my ministry, but I hardly ever get to do stuff like this. He grabbed my hand with both of his, and squeezed hard, and hugged me when I was done. I’ve prayed for him pretty consistently since that encounter.
So that’s my cool story for the week. Love y’all! Keep speaking truth, and keep laughing. Even the inappropriate stuff that makes Christian roll her eyes. God bless!
Christian made a pun and no one caught it! When you were talking about the guitar guy in NYC she said “the bottom line is…”
Podcast pals,
Loved the thoughtful discussion. I know you have mentioned Franklin Graham a number of times on a number of podcasts, and I try to take things seriously, but maybe I’m weird (my wife might corroborate this view) but every time you mention Franklin, I just keep hearing the 1959 Twilight Zone episode “The Fever” where the slot machine keeps saying “Franklin” in a creepy voice.
Hopefully Franklin Graham will reconsider his comments and you won’t have to talk about him so much, and I won’t hear the creepy voice.
Thanks