Verity by Phylicia Masonheimer

How does translation work? Are some translations better than others? And how did we get the English bible we have today? All this and more in this episode!

Ever wonder why the Catholic Bible has more books than Protestant versions? This episode will answer that question and many more! What Protestants call “the Apocrypha” (and Catholics call the deuterocanon) is a group of books that have caused much debate over the last few centuries! We will talk about where these books came from, why they are so controversial, and some little known facts about how...

In this episode we discuss the epistles of Paul, John, James, and more! We cover how they came to be used in the church, how early they were used and quoted, and why there was debate surrounding their inclusion. This wraps up our five-part walk through of the canonization of the bible - but wait there’s more! Next week we will discuss the Apocryphal books and the gnostic gospels. Stay tuned!

Now entering the New Testament, this episode discusses the questions surrounding reliability, timing, and authorship of the gospel accounts. Are the gospels our only way of knowing Jesus lived? What about secular testimony and connection to eyewitnesses? We discuss gnosticism and why certain “gospels” were excluded from the canon in this first of a two-part episode series on the NT canon!

In this episode, we discuss the Ketuvim: the third portion of the Hebrew Old Testament. Also known as the Writings or in Greek, the Hagiographa, this group of books is represents an different way of looking at God than do the Prophets or Torah. Writings also contains some of the more hotly debated books in the canon. 

As we discuss the second section of the Hebrew Old Testament, we talk about why early authority matters for the prophetic books of the Bible, what books were contained in the original list of “prophets”, and why prophetic canon matters for Christians today.

In this episode we discuss the authority of Torah, or Pentateuch - the first five books of the Bible! We chat about JEDP theory, whether or not Moses authored the book, and why it was considered authoritative for Israel. This is a very detailed episode so be ready to take notes!

In this episode, we talk about the three “Is” of the Bible: Inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility. We also talk about the meaning of canon, why it matters, and how authority of Scripture affects us today.

What if we stopped consuming “pink fluff” teaching? It would change us - but it would also change our world! In this episode, Phylicia talks about how a deep spiritual life transforms community, motivates evangelism, and equips the saints. We spend the second half talking about the nature of evangelism, what it looks like, and why every Christian is called to share her faith.

If we view ourselves as unworthy, we act unworthy. The world knows this, so it approaches shame from a self-centered perspective - if we love ourselves more, we will feel shame less… right? But how many of us have seen that repeating “you’re worthy” doesn’t remove the sting of what we’ve done, or resolve the pain of who we used to be?   In this episode we talk about what shame is, how lo...

Ever read the book of Job and find it a little… unrelatable? Confession: It was Phylicia’s least favorite book for a long time! But Job teaches us some fundamental principles about who God is when we are grieving. In this episode, we dive into who God is when we face grief, regardless of the cause. How do we trust Him when we’re disappointed and full of loss?   Looking at stories of people like Ha...

If you’ve lived with anxiety for most of your life, the thought of overcoming it sounds like an unrealistic dream. Yet this is what Jesus promises (Matt. 11, John 14, Matt. 6). Jesus’ promise was not as simple as “pray about it” or other Christian platitudes thrown at anxiety. There is no quick fix. But Jesus never makes a promise He won’t bring to fruition.   In this episode, we break down why ap...

One of the issues with legalism is that it tries to manufacture the spirit led life without the Holy Spirit. It removes the Holy Spirit and proof texts the scriptures.

Here's a little history behind how a blog-post-gone-viral turned into my book Stop Calling Me Beautiful. 

The reality is that the Bible is the most sex-positive book that exists when you understand it rightly. There isn't this dichotomy between people who hold a Biblical sexual ethic and people who are sex-positive who believe that sex is awesome, wonderful, exciting, healthy and that you should be able to talk about it. These aren't two opposite camps. They aren't polar ends of a spectrum. 

There is a confidence much deeper than what the world has to offer, and it starts with fearing God more than we fear man.

The reality is faith in the living God has always been communal. When we understand that and begin to embrace it, we begin to grasp the importance of community as Christians.

We know that the Word of God is the Power of God. It transforms us. It strengthens us. It shows us who God is and how He interacts with man. It's how the Holy Spirit speaks to us primarily.

COMING SOON!