When Jesus was falsely accused of sedition and blasphemy, Pontius Pilate asked him a question which has persistently confounded every thinker before and since: “What is truth?”

Pinning down truth so that everyone can have access to reality has been notoriously difficult. One option is to hold that humans can figure out the truth based upon their own observations and experiences - but the human propensity to be mistaken often demonstrates this theory’s weakness. Another option is to hold that there is no such thing as truth (or, at least, no one can know whether there is or not) - and yet we humans continue to live as though some things are true and worth giving assent to and others are not.

The Christian solution is that no mere mortal can completely know and understand the truth, but that God has made the truth known in the person of his Son Jesus. In other words, any and all truth claims must be tested not against the standard of human experience or common sense, but against the person of the One who claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep99.

The cultural trope of the twenty-something guy living in his parents basement, not working, not exercising, and playing hours of video games, is perhaps a caricature, but it touches on a reality that is all too common today: the disillusioned and lonely young man.

Individualism has taught all of us that community responsibility and living life in relationship is unimportant, and guys who have bought into this lie pay the price of loneliness. But in addition, cultural currents which disdain the way God has created men to function (with energy, aggression, logical rigor, and decisiveness) make being a real man in public an almost impossible task. Part of this cultural pushback is, of course, a necessary reaction against the sexual aggression of some men who have felt loosed by the sexual revolution to treat women as objects. But Christianity insists that the solution to the problems of the sexual revolution is not to stifle biological manhood, but to channel the way God has made them in service of their families and community, by providing and protecting.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep98.

Sometimes churches close for demographic reasons: a small, rural community whose citizens are moving away will perhaps struggle to keep its churches open. But the primary reason why once healthy churches shrink and die is that they stop recognizing their foundation, Jesus Christ.

The liberal way of ignoring the foundation is to ignore his teachings, his strong Jewish commitment to the way God’s Law reveals God’s own character. The conservative way of ignoring the foundation is to ignore his mission, his desire - not to establish a theological ghetto of like-believing religious adherents - but to use his own people as his body to rescue the cities and neighborhoods where he has planted that particular church. But when God’s people remain faithful to his teaching and his mission, the Christian church grows and flourishes.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep97.