Jesus taught us to love our enemies. This is not some side teaching, but the heartbeat of what it means to follow Jesus. Here in the US, we tend to think of loving our enemies as loving that person who rubs me the wrong way. But that's only scratching the surface. It also means loving my political opponents, the enemies of my country, and the people groups I despise. In this episode, Michael, Jim, and Loren get personal and share their challenges living this.

Last podcast we began a fascinating debate between Mark Karris and Thomas Jay Oord on free-will or determinism. This week things really get interesting as our guests examine how these play into desire and our relationship with God.

Is there such a thing as free will? Some would argue yes while others say no. Mark Karris and Thomas Jay Oord join us today for a fascinating debate on the topic of free will.

When people begin questioning the contradictions they see between Jesus and the God in some of the Old Testament passages they are often accused of Marcionism. But who was Marcion and what did he teach that caused him to be labeled a heretic?

In this episode, which was recorded on 4/20 (an important piece of information), Jim, Michael, and Loren discuss commonly used Christian terms that are misdefined and misapplied.

In Romans 14 Paul discusses the weak eating vegetables while the strong eat meat. This passage is often interpreted as saying, "Don't do things in front of others that will cause them to stumble." Jim, Michael, and Loren take a look at this passage and as we'll see, we've been looking at this through a 21st-century lens.

1 Corinthians 5, the passage dealing with kicking a man out of church because of incest, is a difficult passage. Many churches use this passage as justification to kick people out involved in certain sins. Is that what Paul is instructing the Corinthians to do? On the surface, it appears that's the case. But as Michael, Jim, and Loren discuss, Paul may not be saying what we thought he was saying.

At a recent gathering, Michael made an interesting statement, "God doesn't do morality, he does Ethics." What does that mean? Many people think of morality and ethics as being the same thing. Others talk about not being under the Law while still upholding moral codes. What is the difference between doing morality and doing ethics?