Tension

There's been a lot of talk recently about the femininity of the American church. In this week's episode of the podcast, we answer an important question a listener sent in: What the heck does Biblical masculinity look like? __________________ Follow us on social: http://instagram.com/jonathan_carone http://instagram.com/ericw712 Email us: hello@tensionpodcast.com __________________ Tension was call...

Why is it so dang hard for people to love their neighbor? It seems like on of Jesus's easiest commands. But if 'love your neighbor' is so easy, why do we suck at it so often? This week we look at two ends of the pendulum for why it's hard to love our neighbor and try to find a way to get better at it. Article referenced in the show __________________ Follow us on social: http://instagram.com/jonat...

Tupac told us only God can judge us. But does the Bible actually say that? This week we expand on how we love people like Jesus and look at what the Bible says about "judging" other people. __________________ Follow us on social: http://instagram.com/jonathan_carone http://instagram.com/ericw712 __________________ Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons. Hosted on Acast...

You hear it all the time - we just wanna love people like Jesus. But what does that actually look like? This week we look at the tension between speaking truth and loving people and look at how Jesus did both as our example moving forward. __________________ Follow us on social: http://instagram.com/jonathan_carone http://instagram.com/ericw712 __________________ Tension was called Unlearning Yout...

It's got cooler clothes and a better marketing plan than the prosperity gospel we grew up around, but it's potentially just as dangerous. In the opener to Season 10, we talk about how the American church has swung the pendulum from young, restless and reformed all the way to the other side and how we live in the tension between the two. __________________ Follow us on social: http://instagram.com/...

This month we're not tackling anything controversial or hard hitting. Instead, we talk about what it looks like to find contentment in the midst of life's anxieties and how a simple biblical phrase can take on new meaning. And we give you an update on the future of the show. __________________ Follow us on social: http://instagram.com/jonathan_carone http://instagram.com/ericw712 _________________...

Did you know only 12% of evangelicals cited the Bible as their primary influence when thinking about immigration? Evangelicals turn to the media to form their views on the topic more than they rely on the Bible, their local church, or Christian leaders - combined. So how should Christians approach the southern border crisis and immigration? This week we talk through three basic ideas straight from...

If you grew up in the evangelical movement, you've heard it said that Christians vote Republican. The only problem with that is 86% of Black Christians vote Democrat. So which is it? In this month's episode, we talk about why we believe it's not theology that influences our view of government, but rather something else and how ultimately it's okay for followers of Jesus to disagree on political is...

You all sent in so many amazing questions for our Culture War Mailbag that we couldn't get to all of them in that Q&A episode. We're back this month with a bonus episode answering: (10:04) What's the role of apologetics in our faith and how do we keep from turning into debate bros? (19:41) How do we approach those who hold different Christian beliefs than we do? (35:20) What do we do with the...

This isn't the bonus episode we thought we'd be making this week but it's the one we felt like we needed to make. This week, as we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, we wanted to pull back the curtain and have a candid conversation about mental health and some of the stigmas around it, especially in the church. In this episode, Jonathan opens up about the anxieties he's been dealing with and all...

Eric has been asking to do this episode for two dang years. So in true Halloween fashion, he's playing the role of host and Jonathan is playing the role of Eric. But seriously - this is a topic people always talk about each year. You've probably already read at least one rant on Facebook about it. This week we close out season eight with a conversation about how Christians should view Halloween, t...

We invited you to send in your culture war questions and goodness, you did. In this week's episode, we're talking Israel, former President Trump, cultural marxism, churches who have been politically co-opted, something about Hobby Lobby, and Eric goes on another rant. Plus we discuss how we approach our church's leadership if we feel they've gone too far one way or the other, how to support friend...

There are pastors who have done terrible things. There are Christian organizations who have engaged in horrible practices. But despite those things, they have still produced things that were good - strong, biblical based teaching; engaging mission work; great music. What do we do with those things though? Do we have to throw them out because of who was responsible for them? Or can we still engage...

If you're in or around the church space in America, you've heard of all the scandals that have happened in recent years. From Driscoll to the Duggars, Hillsong to Harvest, there have been scandals, cover ups, and all sorts of general yucky-ness. But why do these keep happening? How does the same story play out over and over and over? This week we use our background on church staffs to look at thre...

We've all been taught our culture is at war with Christianity. But what if it's not? What if our culture doesn't even care about Christianity anymore? How does that change things? This week we talk about what we believe is the real enemy of the church today and how that perspective shift impacts how we interact with the culture at large. __________________ Follow us on social: http://instagram.com...

On one side of the aisle, you have Christians who want to ignore the things going on around us in the name of "just preaching the Gospel." On the other, you've got Christians who want to ignore core tenets of church history while focusing on "just loving like Jesus." But what if both sides of the tension had some truth in them? And what if we all were honest about our biases going into these conve...

If you've been in the church for any length of time, you know we've been boycotting things since before boycotting was considered canceling. After all, the evangelical boycott of a company and the secular canceling of a person is essentially the same thing. But where did boycotts originate from? And is there a better way to approach how we interact with the world around us? This week we talk about...

In our culture, we have two groups on the extremes who are at war with each other. One side is waging war against anything that doesn’t explicitly promote white, evangelical Christian fundamentalism. The other views any type of religious conviction as bigotry and hatred. This week we talk about how people trying to authentically follow Jesus survive this war. __________________ Follow us on social...

The way we view church has changed. The average "committed" church goer attends less than two Sundays per month and that number is quickly approaching only once per month. On top of that, of the people who *do* go to church, 40% are now going to a different church than they went to before the pandemic. That begs a few questions: Do we even need to go to church? What's the point of going if I can w...

We talk a lot about the problems in the evangelical church in America. In today's episode, we dive into the root of so many of those issues and give you a perspective shift that will change how you read the Bible and view Christianity. __________________ Follow us on social: http://instagram.com/jonathan_carone http://instagram.com/ericw712 https://www.tiktok.com/@jonathan_carone https://www.tikto...

If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that we're all walking around with layers of grief we aren't processing. We've lost loved ones in the pandemic. We've lost friends to the changes in our culture. We've lost ... you fill in the blank. And as Christians, we're never really taught what to do with our grief. Most of us are taught to just give it to Jesus and move on. But is that heal...

From the martyr obsession of the late 90s to the culture war fighters of today, the church - especially in America - has this weird obsession with being persecuted. But are we actually persecuted? Or does the culture at large just no longer represent us in the majority? In this week's episode, we talk about how we live in the tension between a society that is no longer predominately Christian whil...

We can't do a season without hitting on Purity Culture at least once! Boys who grew up in church were taught to bounce their eyes when looking at girls because, y'know, every girl is a sexual temptation just by existing. How do we stop viewing the opposite sex as sexual first as opposed to just a fellow human since 99.9% of the humans on this planet are not going to be the person you are supposed...

This week is the three year anniversary of George Flloyd's murder that kicked off a summer of racial unrest. During that time we all lived in the tension of one side saying to support police no matter what and the other side saying all cops are bad. But what does the Bible actually say about policing? How do we balance advocating for reform and equal protection for all people with supporting law e...

In the church, we often focus on the mind (knowledge) or on our actions (behavior) but never about the thing that influences those two (emotions). Because we should cling to the truth of scripture, we were taught to completely ignore the the idea that people make decisions based on the way they feel. This week we look at the two extremes (knowledge is everything on one side with behavior being sup...