Pocket Theology

The Book of 1 Peter has some wild verses in it. Peter talks about Spiritual prisons, calls women weak, and claims that we're smarter than prophets... Or does he? Today Martin and Jason are talking about some difficult-to-understand passages in 1 Peter and (hopefully) making them a lot easier to understand and apply to our lives today.

Martin and Jason talk about the author, audience, and themes of 1 Peter to help you prepare for reading an often-ignored book written by one of Jesus' closest friends.

You can help solve the shortage of full-time ministers the church is facing. In this episode, Martin and Jason finish up their conversation from last week, and then spend most of the episode telling you how you can help keep your pastor around, and a few ideas for how to raise up the next generation of pastors.

The church in America is running out of pastors. In spite of that (or maybe because of it) some people think the Church is due for a youth movement in its most senior leadership positions. In this conversation, Martin and Jason talk about some reasons why the Church is having so much trouble holding on to ministers, and reasons why the we might (or might not) have a wave of young pastors incoming.

Many of us were taught as kids that the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 is a story that tells us where different languages originated. In this episode, Jason and Martin talk about how the Tower of Babel isn't primarily about language at all, but is really a story about pride, arrogance, violence, and God's mercy.

In this episode Martin and Jason continue their debate on a hot-button issue in the Church: can Christians still perform miracles like the Apostles and Prophets did? In this episode, Martin argues that some Christians can still perform miracles, and Jason Responds

In this episode Martin and Jason debate a hot-button issue in the Church: can Christians still perform miracles like the Apostles and Prophets did? In this episode, Jason argues that Christians can't perform miracles, and Martin responds

We all know chronically upset Church People... so what do you do about them? No matter your role in your congregation, this episode will provide some insight on what to do when complaining and bickering crops up at your church.

Some churches get a "country club mentality". Highly vocal people (usually just a few of them) take charge and make sure that nothing changes, and that outsiders are forced to conform or leave. Why does that happen? What does the Bible say about that kind of behavior? Is there anything we can do about it? This is the first half of a conversation about Spiritual Maturity, difficult people...

This episode is a shortened version of a project Jason did for his MDiv. Jason fields questions about the context and meaning of one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible: Isaiah Chapter 11

Baptism is a really big deal in some churches, and is barely talked about in others. At Pocket Theology, we believe that Baptism is a vitally important part of our Christian faith, and that your questions about Baptism deserve to be answered. In this episode, Martin will talk us through a basic definition of Baptism, give us some reasons why it matters, and talk about when we should and shouldn&#3...

The doctrine of the Trinity feels like something heady that pastors and theologians argue about, but doesn't really matter for the rest of us. Jason just completed a projects arguing that our belief in the Trinity should drastically affect every aspect of Church life, and even transform how we define the word "church", and how willing we are to leave a congregation we've committe...

In this episode Martin interviews Jason about the doctrine of the Trinity. What is the Trinity? Why isn't the word in the Bible? Why did the Church not agree that the Trinity was a thing for hundreds of years? They'll answer all these questions and more in this episode of Pocket Theology.

Easter is a period of renewed excitement and commitment for many believers in Jesus... but often that excitement dies out within a week or two. In this episode, Jason and Martin talk about some thoughts and practices that can help Christians keep that Easter excitement going all year long.

God has a will, he interacts with us, and desires to have relationships with humans. In other words; God is a person. God isn't some disembodied force floating through the cosmos, he's a person. That truth has a lot of ramifications that Martin and Jason will explore in this episode.

God is love. God is compassion. God is.... We often hear all kinds of positive descriptions of who God is. In today's episode Martin is talking about what we mean when we say God is love, and how God shows his compassionate, loving nature to us in his actions.

In this episode Martin and Jason are talking about God's justice. The Scriptures describe God as just all the time... so why is it that sometimes God seems so distant, or so unfair? Today Martin will lead the conversation explaining how Exodus (and the rest of the Bible) pictures God's justice, and how we should respond with worship.

We're back with more of our favorite church stories that inspire us, or show us important aspects of our faith!

We can learn a lot from the Bible. In fact, Martin and Jason believe that the Bible is our first and foremost authority on all kinds of matters. We can also learn from the stories of faithful (and not-so-faithful) people who have gone on before us. In this episode, Martin and Jason talk about Samson and Polycarp, whose stories warn us to keep our priorities in order, and to be ready to give anythi...

".... or else you'll burn!" Most of us in the church have heard that kind of line over and over when preachers are talking about Hell. Here's the thing; that's not the only (or even the most popular) historic Christian understanding of Hell. Martin and Jason are talking today about Hell, about some of the different Bible passages that describe Hell differently, and about why "Hell is a giant bonfi...

This bonus episode is a snippet of a conversation between Martin and Jason where they talk about what Purgatory is (and briefly explain why most of our listeners probably aren't very familiar with it).

Most of us who grew up in Church think the Bible is clear; we know EXACTLY who is going to be in Heaven.... The problem is the church down the street disagrees with us! In this episode Martin and Jason explain some of the most common Christian ideas about who will be in Heaven and who won't.

It's Black History month, so Martin and Jason discuss somethings they've learned, read, observed, or been taught by others about how the church can grow more multi-ethnic, and how Christians can learn to be more empathetic when tragedies strike the African American Community (or any other community). If you're looking for more in-depth resources; check out the work of Albert Tate, Esau McCaulley,...

Martin and Jason talk about homosexuality and the church, why some Bible-believing people think homosexuality is okay, and why the case for traditional marriage is a lot deeper than "the Bible clearly says..." Our goal in this episode is to help listeners understand why Jesus-followers debate and disagree over the issue of homosexuality in our churches. We hope by hearing "both sides" our listener...

It's probably not a question your pastor talks about a lot... why doesn't the Bible mention Dinosaurs (or any other prehistoric creature)? Where do Dinosaurs fit into the creation story we read in Genesis? If Dinosaurs DON'T fit in, then why do we keep finding fossils everywhere?!?! Today Martin is asking Jason all about Dinosaurs, the Bible, and how the two fit together. Tune in to have all your...