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What a privilege to talk with Kaitlyn Schiess in the studio today! She was in town and made time for us. We are honored to talk with her about her new book, The Ballot and the Bible: How the Bible has been used and abused in American politics and where we go from here. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did. GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

We have had some conversations recently that have made us ask, "How can I know something is true?" This is especially true when someone claims to know the "real story" about a news event. What separates real news from false news? In this episode we discuss how you can know something is true. Some people call it epistemology. NOTES: We mentioned a website for kids that helps them discern what is true. Find it here. It asks three questions: Who said it? What is the evidence? Do you want to believe it? (If so, go back and ask the first two again). We also talked about Plato's Allegory of the Cave. RECAP/TAKEAWAYS Christians care about truth because Jesus is the truth: John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. We are encouraged to think about true things: Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Then, we talked about the CRAAP Test: Currency: The timeliness of the information. Relevance: The importance and applicability of the information to your needs. Authority: The source's credibility and the qualifications of the author. Accuracy: The reliability and truthfulness of the information. Purpose: The author's intentions and potential biases in presenting the information. GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

During last week's webinar, one-quarter of the questions could be summarized with this question, "When do I not need to obey? This is a question about Civil Disobedience. Civil Disobedience is a last resort. NOTES: We are indebted to David Innes and his book Christ and the Kingdoms of Men for help with this topic. You can listen to our interview with Dr. Innes here. We also found some helpful articles: https://knowingscripture.com/articles/romans-13-civil-disobedience-to-unconstitutional-unjust-laws#1 http://www.ethos.org.au/online-resources/blog/christians-and-principles-of-civil-disobedience https://www.gty.org/library/articles/A120/can-christians-participate-in-civil-disobedience (Note: John MacArthur seems to have changed his position on this. At least during the COVID -19 crisis he did not follow this article.) RECAP/TAKEAWAYS Can the democratic process resolve the issue? Christians should bend over backward to submit. And, submit until you can't. Is obeying this law breaking the law of God? Direct disobedience disobeys the law in question. Indirect disobedience disobeys a different law to draw attention to the injustice of the law in question. GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

Scott was privileged to lead the first webinar for CV Northwest on the topic of The Church and Politics. They gave us permission to publish the audio here, too. You can watch the video version of the webinar here. Scott asserts that the church needs to be political disciples of Jesus. GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

We realized we rushed last week and didn't apply the lessons from history. So in this episode we try to pull some lessons from the flyover of history we did in the last episode. RECAP/TAKEAWAYS Here are the lessons we pulled out of our conversation last week. Be humble. We’re all men of our times. Political machinery can’t solve soul problems. History is shaped by religion and belief. History/politics is more complex than we realize. We all have baggage that we don’t recognize. The lines have not been clear enough between God’s kingdom and the kingdoms of the earth. The church is not in service to the government. The point of religion is not to make men moral. Civil religion is not Christianity.  The church is not a voting bloc. And it cannot become that.  This is not the worst time in American History. Yes, the scripture is the answer, but it is not flexible in service of my viewpoint.  Our temptations are not different than they have been before. The short-term temptation of power is always present.  GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

This week we take a quick look at 2000 years of church/state relations. Our goal is not to give the definitive answer on any one period, but to highlight the fact that there has always been challenges between the church and the state. It should provide a big dose of humility. GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

In this episode, we go back to talking about words again. We talk about church and state, and then the separation of church and state. NOTES: Thomas Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

We recap 2023 in this episode and look forward to 2024. We trust the new year will be a one in which the church stands firm in the face of high political winds of the coming election. ***We will take a couple weeks off over the holidays and return on January 8.*** NOTES: Aeric enjoyed Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking People Made the Modern World by Daniel Hannan. Scott is doing a webinar for Venture Church Network and CV Northwest on January 3, 2024 at 12:00 Noon PST. Anyone can jump on, I believe. Here is the link. Here is a link to the Western Seminary class Scott is teaching (Scroll down to ML570) . GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

We are so excited to have Dr. David Koyzis, author of We Answer to Another: Authority, Office, and the Image of God as our first return guest! We loved his book, Political Visions and Illusions, and talked with him about that earlier (listen here). He delivers gold again in this conversation about authority! Dr. David Koyzis is an experienced theologian who taught for 30 years at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, and is currently a Global Scholar with Global Scholars Canada. David is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and the Canada 150 Flamborough-Glanbrook Nation Builder Award in 2017. He earned a Ph.D. in Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s in Political Theory at Toronto’s Institute for Christian Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Koyzis has authored We Answer to Another: Authority, Office, and the Image of God and Political Visions and Illusions: A Survey and Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies. He has another book coming out in November of 2024, so you can expect us to talk with him again. Dr. Koyzis blogs at http://byzantinecalvinist.blogspot.com. He records music (!) at https://genevanpsalter.blogspot.com Please leave a rating or review wherever you listen to this podcast. Spotify recently opened up ratings, so if you are a Spotify listener, please share some love! And please share the City on a Hill on social media or with a friend. Thank you! Send Comments or Questions to: [email protected] Music: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry

Today we recognized that our failure to communicate has little to do with our wives, but everything to do with whether or not we are clear about what we mean by what we say. In other words, do we use words in a way that is clear and not easily misunderstood? This led us to do an episode on definitions and the meaning of words. NOTES: Aeric referred to a book by Chris Stirewalt, Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back. RECAP/TAKEAWAYS We explored the definitions of... Politics Partisan Right and Left Progressive Liberal Conservative Nationalist GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

In this episode, we remember what got us started with City on a Hill. Scott is going to teach a class on the church and politics. We thought we would pass along some of the content from the class as we develop it. These stories remind us why this is such an important conversation to have. GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is at the top of our favorite holiday list! NOTES: Here is Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation. Here is the article about the Mother of Thanksgiving and Abraham Lincoln. RECAP & TAKEAWAYS: Giving thanks is a command from the Lord. And, we have so much to be thankful for! Don't let any opportunity go by without give thanks. Thanksgiving is one Christian idea that mixes with difficulty with the American narrative. Colonialism and imperialism were already present in the earliest thanksgiving. U.S. History with Native Americans does not necessarily reflect Christian values. Abraham Lincoln's proclamation called for contrition and repentance rather than feasting. He, of course, was in the midst of the Civil War. Humility will always become God's people. GET IN TOUCH: We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email or question at [email protected]. MUSIC: Little Lily Swing, Tri-Tachyon, Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International, https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing Sorry, Comfort Fit, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE), https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Comfort_Fit/Forget_And_Remember/03_Sorry