Halting Toward Zion

We worship the Living God. That statement distinguishes Christianity from every other religion, and also tells us something about how we are to treat our neighbors and our world. "Thou shalt not kill" is a bright line not to cross, but not just because killing is violent and nasty--but because God is who He is. This Episode Features: Life (And The Universe, And Everything); Aliens; We Say Cult; Th...

Why are we supposed to honor our parents? What is this fatherhood thing, anyway? We know God as Father and Son--He is the source of these concepts. We'll also discuss motherhood and the role of tradition in Christian life and Pagan myth. This episode features: The Fifth Commandment; Where Is That Written?; Unholy Tax Evasion; Let The Reader Understand; Should Mothers Monsters Prove; The Wisdom Of...

When God commanded Israel to "remember the Sabbath day," what were His purposes for society? We don't have a list of dos and don'ts for your Sunday, but with this episode we want to start you thinking about the patterns that the Fourth Commandment builds into our lives and our community. This Episode Features: No Lists Of Rules For Sabbath-Keeping; Enough Of The Sarcasm; Happy Shovel Day; Liturgy...

Today we're talking about the Third Commandment: what it means to "take" the name of Yahweh, and to do so in vain. God's will for how we use His name stands in stark contrast to a magical approach to words, names, and reality in general. This Episode Features: Magic And The Name Of God; Sassy Demons; A Chicken And Egg Problem; Power Of Attorney; Don't Mess Around With Slim; Good Vibes; and Low-Lev...

Join us for a talk about worship and tradition, as Bryan introduces us to the Regulative Principle of Worship--what it means, and what it doesn't mean. This is an area where legalism pops up on every side, as our sin nature really wants a list of rules to follow (or claim we've followed). This Episode Features: The Regulative Principle; Skimming The Constantinopolitan Weeds; Bible Man; Traditional...

The Second Commandment requires, in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, that "We are not to make an image of God in any way, nor to worship him in any other manner than he has commanded in his Word." In other words, after settling the question of authority with the First Commandment, Yahweh establishes a principle of representation--how He intends to communicate to us, and how we are to offer H...

In this episode we continue our discussion on the First Commandment and culture. Do Christian books have to be about missionaries? Do Christian shoes have to be tied with Christian shoelaces? We don't think so. But the Bible does shape our culture--the things we make--as we grow in conformity to the image of God's Son. This Episode Features: Groups Of People Making Stuff; Pswaydoh Dragons; Christi...

In approaching the topic of the First Commandment, we come to--surprise! The gospel, because God's plan was always to conform us to the image of His Son. Every human action is religious, because the very existence of humanity is for the sake of covenant with God. So if we are in Christ, everything we make and do is holy and acceptable to God for His sake. That applies to philosophy and art, as wel...

What's better than perfect justice? Swift, reliable justice--at least, that's the case we make in this discussion of the appellate court system that Jethro recommended to Moses in Exodus 18, with God's blessing. Going to court these days is notorious for sapping time and energy from everyone involved... surely there's a better system. This Episode Features: Justice Systems And The Nature Of Man; G...

This week we're talking about the Song of Moses--both as hymn to God and as a national anthem... of sorts. This Episode Features: The Song of Moses and National Anthems; Almost Heaven, West Virginia; Praise Choruses and Imprecatory Psalms; Running Away; Those Cheating Gibeonites; Stealing Bryan's Antiphonal Thunder; #Unhitch; and The Punisher. Transcript: https://bit.ly/3aCP1X3-htz-33 Links: Count...

Who are you? And whom do you serve? If these two questions aren't exactly the same, they're at least very closely related, as we see from the account of the Exodus. When God called Israel out of Egypt, He gave them a new identity--new answers to these questions, and new demonstrations of their answers. Join us this week for a discussion of the Passover. This Episode Features: The Passed-Over Ident...

If you've ever read the books of Chronicles in the Old Testament, you may have wondered, "Are these nine chapters of genealogy really necessary?" The short answer is, yes, they are. God put the boring bits in the Bible on purpose. He cares about keeping track of the years and dates; chronology, the precise ordering of events, is necessary to history--necessary to finding meaning in a sequence of e...

After sharing our favorite first lines of books, we return to Egyptology and the problem of chronology. In the ancient world, the task of history as we understand it today was rarely undertaken--the glory of the regime was more important than accurate records of events. With the few archeological records we have, it's quite a puzzle to piece together a timeline of ancient Egypt... if you overlook...

To wrap up our discussion of the life of Moses, we talk today about the Exodus as co-opted by Liberation Theology, and as a true historical even by which God accomplished His purposes--both bringing about and foreshadowing the coming of Jesus Christ. This Episode Features: Garlic and Onions; Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (and also Death); Why Do The Mormons Have All The Good Sci-fi; Stars Of The M...

In Part 2 of our series on the life of Moses, we look at the showdown between God and the Egyptian magicians (together with the gods they serve). Not only does Yahweh utterly overpower the Egyptians, but each of the miracles He works also confirms His promises to those who believe, and reminds us how He governs the world at every moment. This Episode Features: We Don't Need No Stinking Frogs; Houd...

If you had four years to teach your son everything he needed to know, where would you begin? That was the question Jochebed, the mother of Moses, had to answer when she was hired on as nursemaid by the pharaoh's daughter. Join us as we discuss Christian education, how our own parents brought us up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and how unbelievably smart kids are. This Episode Features...

In this episode we bring together a few topics we've covered before--Ziggurats, Power Religion, and Egyptian beliefs--as we consider the great pyramids. It's still a mystery how exactly the pyramids were built, but we're busy with a different question: Why? This Episode Features: Moderately Intentional Puns; A Man In Black (Not); Because It's There; The Winchester Mystery House; Follow The Money;...

Today we're investigating the Ancient Egyptian understanding of burial magic and resurrection. (Spoilers: it's pretty messed up.) We also take the opportunity to talk about Christian burial and the true resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This Episode Features: There's A Myth For That; How To Grant Immortality; True Crocodile Facts; Return To Cream Of Wheat; Telegrams Jesus Never Sent; and Smoking...

In this episode, we get to know Isaac as the beloved, sacrificed son of Father Abraham, as well as in his role as the father of Jacob and Esau... and if you know Jacob and Esau as the Mama's Boy and the Man's Man, you may want to take another look at the text. This Episode Features: And Robin; Cousin It; Hebrew Verbs That Aren't There; How To Impress A Shepherdess; That Red Red Stuff; No One Hunts...

Today we’re talking about Abraham, Isaac, Kierkegaard, Resurrection, and the nature of faith. What exactly did Abraham think he was up to when he followed God’s commands to sacrifice his son? This Episode Features: Unsatisfactory SparkNotes; Ancient Greek Ballistic Gel; Hebrews Hint Hints and Nudge Nudges; Probably Apocryphal Stories; and Bardic Inspiration. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2Y6UeRo-htz-...

This week we begin to ask, “How should a Christian relate to his society? How does Christianity advance within society?” There are essentially three answers, and two of them are wrong. This Episode Features: Our Favorite and Least Favorite Star Wars Movies; And Put On Pants; Missionary Tourism; Rod Dreher Is, In Fact, Roman Catholic; General Cincinnatus; Level 15 In Dream Interpretation; and Disce...

As we continue in the account of Abraham’s life, we come to the topic of hospitality--its cost, its importance, and its purposes. This Episode Features: Proto-Indiana Jones; Spiritual Cookies and Phantom Chicken; Bad Wine Tastes of Bitter Death; Emily Is Female; Fancy Food and Fancy Dishes; and a Title Drop. Transcript: https://bit.ly/2yrRjty-htz-21 Links Genesis 18-19: https://www.esv.org/Genesis...

Today we dig into the nature and role of oaths in covenant life. Scripture often uses the word “oath” to summarize the whole of a covenant, but we may not encounter many oaths these days. In our conversation, we try to recover some sense of an oath’s meaning and gravity, as well as what an oath that God Himself took means for our faith and life today. This Episode Features: Wedding Rings; Awkward...

In this episode, we talk about Abraham’s hope and expectation for “a city, whose builder and maker is God.” There’s a lot that makes up a city, including shared laws and language, a variety of skills and resources, and community. While Abraham looked forward to the heavenly city and eternal fellowship with God, he also started building that city, after an earthly fashion, in his own life. This Epi...

This episode kicks off our discussion of Abraham, as we dig in to the “blessing” that God promised to him. In the ancient world, being friends with the gods didn’t factor into religion: the gods were scary. But Abraham was called the Friend of God, on account of the righteousness credited to him through faith. In Galatians, Paul explains the meaning of this friendship for us in salvation. This Epi...