providencebible Truth&Circumstances

Episode 24: Screwtape Edition – How can I demoralize my wife? (Pt. 1)

Episode highlights:

  • (Like The Screwtape Letters, we’re thinking about an issue from the opposite angle to help move us to action.)
  • Care nothing for your own spiritual well-being. You will then have no resources to lead your wife well, she’ll feel forced to lead, which she is not equipped to do.
  • Do not meet with other men for the sake of stirring one another up to love and good works. Expect your wife to carry the entire load of your need for accountability and encouragement.

 

providencebible Truth&Circumstances

Episode 23: There is a transgender person at work. My employer is requiring people to call this person by their preferred name or pronouns. What should I do? (Pt. 2)

Episode highlights:

  • To the objection “by using the opposite pronouns you’re endorsing their lifestyle,” we would say that’s reading too much into a simple agreement to call someone what they want to be called.
  • Regarding the objection, “by using the opposite pronouns you’re lying about who they are,” we would say that lying is deception. We’re not deceiving anyone. We’re calling them what they want to be called.
  • A personal example of how this willingness to use a person’s preferred name/pronouns has afforded opportunities to speak the truth.
providencebible Truth&Circumstances

Episode 22: There is a transgender person at work. My employer is requiring people to call this person by their preferred name or pronouns. What should I do?

Episode highlights:

  1. We need to pray for humility and compassion.
  2. We need to do what’s necessary to avoid losing an opportunity to share the gospel.
  3. The secular narrative is “they don’t agree with us = they hate us.” By overtly loving them and pursuing relationships with them, we confound that narrative. By immediately refusing to call them what they want to be called, we confirm that narrative to them and lose the opportunity to share the gospel.
providencebible Truth&Circumstances

Episode 21: Where is the line to be drawn when putting others first?

Episode highlights:

  • We’re called to go the extra mile (Matt 5:38-42)
  • One priority should be to the household of faith (Gal 6:9-10)
  • Another priority should be to provide for our own families (1 Tim 5:3-16)
  • There are some situations where it is most loving to say, “no” (2Th3:10-13)
  • Our willingness to help others should be bottomless
providencebible Truth&Circumstances

Episode 18: As an adult, how do I honor my parents who expect me to heed their authority the way I did when I was a child? (Pt. 3)

Episode highlights:

  • As adults, we can honor our parents by speaking to them respectfully, thanking them for all they’ve done, taking care of them physically, and inviting them into our lives.
  • When there appears to be a disagree about whether or not honoring equals obeying, it’s best to have an open, straightforward conversation about it.
  • If our parents still do not agree that we are required by Scripture to honor them while making our own decisions, we must continue to honor them, including by considering their counsel, even if unsolicited.
  • We need to avoid the mistake of thinking that our parents must agree with us in order to have a relationship with us.