Centre For Christian Living Podcast

Race continues to be a hot-button issue at the moment. In the face of this ongoing concern, a “woke” attitude is widely encouraged—that is, a life that takes notice of and participates in seeking to squash racial injustice. Many Christians feel compelled to join this cultural agenda often in the interest of political correctness and public righteousness. But is this the best way for Christians to tackle the issue of race? Today, Chase Kuhn is joined by Professor Carl Trueman to discuss whether or not, under God, we should pursue woke Christian living. For a transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-047/

Following our recent livestreamed event on the topic of “Can we live without sex?”, many questions around the subject were raised. In this special episode, we welcome back our guest speakers, Dani Treweek and Chris Thomson, to answer some practical questions related to living without sex—including, “Is it wrong to desire sex and marriage if you’re single?”, “Why would God give us such strong desires for sex without also giving us a spouse?” and “If sex isn’t ultimate, is it okay to have a sexless marriage?” For transcript and show notes, visithttps://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-046/

On Wednesday 19 August 2020, we held a special event on the topic of “Can we live without sex?” with Dani Treweek and Chris Thomson. During the evening, Dani spoke on whether life without sex is actually good. Chris spoke about whether life without sex is actually realistic for Christians. In the final part of the evening, Dani and Chris, along with Chase Kuhn, answered some questions posed by the audience. For transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-045/

Statistics show that one in three people in our churches are single. And yet many of our church communities tend to make singles feel “singled out”—that is, we’ve so normalised marriage and children that we’ve made many single men and women feel out of place. In this episode, Dani Treweek helps us see a richer theological vision for singleness—one that shows us what life will be like for all Christians in the future. She argues that by thinking theologically, we will better appreciate the single men and women in our communities, and better appreciate our place and God’s vision for us if we are single. For shownotes and a full episode transcript, visithttps://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-044/ Find out more about our August event with Dani and Chris Thomson: https://ccl.moore.edu.au/events/2020-08-19/

One of the key parts of our life together as Christians in the church is taking the Lord’s Supper. But it is also a practice that is often misunderstood, controversial and irregular, with many men and women struggling to understand its value. Why should we take it? Must we take it? What, if any, benefit do we receive from it? Is it something that is private and personal? Isn’t it just some old ritual? In addition to these questions, people often feel a sense of guilt: they wonder if they’ve thought about it enough. Or they worry that the practice has become too routine—so routine, they haven’t appreciated it fully. Of course, at the other end of the specturm, there are others who wonder why we make so much of it. Why do we make bread and wine special? Why should we be so ceremonial? Can’t we take the supper any time and with anything? Why can’t we just eat Oreos and drink milk? These are some of the questions we consider in our interview with Mark Earngey as we seek clarity about the importance of the Lord’

On Wednesday 27 May 2020, we held a special event on the topic of religious freedom with Michael Kellahan, Executive Director of Freedom for Faith, and CCL Director Chase Kuhn. During the evening, Michael presented us with a picture of why religious freedom is important in politics and society today, and Chase laid out some basic theological principles for why religious freedom should be upheld by Christians. Then Michael and Chase had a discussion about some of the practicalities of religious freedom for society and for Christians. In the final part, they answered questions posed by the audience. For transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-042/

When someone becomes a Christian, a transformation takes place: they move from death to life—from darkness to light. This entails a shift in how they live their life, no longer walking as they previously did before knowing Jesus. But what does this transformation entail? How does it happen? When should it happen? Is it instantaneous or is it a process? Is it something one does themselves, or is it done for them? In this episode, Chase Kuhn interviews Caroline Clark about the transformation that came to her life as a result of following Jesus and the place of transformation in all of our lives as Christians. For a transcript and show notes, visithttps://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-041/

Freedom is something easily taken for granted—until it is taken away. COVID-19 has forced government-mandated restrictions on societies all over the globe, and these restrictions lead many of us to question what responsibility government has over us. Is it to protect people or their freedoms? As Christians, religious freedom is paramount. But does government have any right to regulate religion? Furthermore, is government the enemy of religion, or is it its enabler? In this episode, Chase Kuhn speaks with Akos Balogh, CEO of The Gospel Coalition Australia, about what Bible teaches us about the role of government in relation to religious freedom. For show notes and transcript, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-040/ Links referred to: Our May event with Michael Kellahan and Chase Kuhn: “Is freedom of religion a human right?”: https://ccl.moore.edu.au/events/2020-05-27/ The 2019 CCL annual: https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/2019-annual/ The Preliminary Theological Certificate (PTC):

For most churches, the sermon has a prominent place in the service. This is met with mixed reception from church goers—reception that is typically based on how engaging the preacher is and how long he preaches! But why do we keep the sermon? In different progressive church models, there have been experiments to do away with preaching in the “stand and deliver” model. As this sort of monologue becomes increasingly foreign in our contemporary culture, should we still keep the sermon in our churches? Putting it into our current climate, should we listen to sermons online? If so, can I listen to the best preachers around the world? Do I need to keep listening to my pastor? Furthermore, is church more than a sermon? We discuss these questions in this episode of our podcast. Our guest is Nigel Styles, the director of the Cornhill Training Course in London. For transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-039/

Do all Christians have a responsibility for mission? If so, what does mission involve? Must we all tell the gospel, or are acts of mercy appropriately missional? Furthermore, how should we think about mission in a time of global pandemic? Is the mission of Jesus on hiatus? In this episode, Chase Kuhn talks with Simon Gillham, head of the Department of Mission at Moore College and former missionary in Namibia, about how we should think about mission in the Christian life in times such as these. For transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-038/

The onslaught of progressive ideology in Western culture has left many of us Christians cowering in the corner. Despite holding to God’s views on morality, we feel increasingly timid about speaking about biblical morality in the public sphere. We often find ourselves in the minority in political debates and academic dialogue. We may even question whether speaking about morality is actually important. Surely each person is entitled to their own view of morality; who are we to tell someone who doesn’t believe in God that they are wrong because he says so? Can we as Christians be certain about what is right and wrong? And is what we believe anyone else’s business? In this episode, our new Director and host, Chase Kuhn, sits down with our former Director and host, Tony Payne, to chat about the difference between moral realism and moral relativism, the problem with moral relativism, and the issues moral relativism raises for Christians in our day and age. For a full transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.m

An important piece of Christian jargon to master (if you want to appear like you know something) is the word “eschatology”. It simply “the last things”, and usually refers to discussions about the final resurrection and judgement, the return of Christ, the nature of the new creation, and so on. But “the last things” are not only about the future; they have a massive bearing on our everyday lives, because the Christian gospel is all about how the “last things” have invaded the present—how Christ has died and risen to make us members of his kingdom, which is to come. On this episode, we talk with David Höhne about his new book The Last Things and how understanding God’s plans for the future means everything for our lives now. For transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-036/

Over the past two years, Dominic Steele has interviewed around 100 pastors for his regular weekly podcast, The Pastor’s Heart (http://thepastorsheart.net). In this episode, we talk to Dominic not only about what he has learned and been challenged by in these conversations, but what we all can learn about the Christian life—whether we’re pastors or not—from the joys, challenges and heartaches of pastoral ministry. Transcript and show notes available at https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-035/

In this episode, Moore College lecturer David Höhne joins Tony to answer your questions, including such easy-peasy ones as: * How can we hold the creation account of Genesis together with modern science? * Is constantly advancing technology part of God’s plan for humanity, or more of a curse? * What’s the best way to prepare a small group Bible study? and * If we’re looking forward to a new creation, is there a really much point preserving the environment? Enjoy! Find out more about CCL at https://ccl.moore.edu.au/

It’s debatable whether May 2014 was in fact “The transgender tipping point”, as the Time magazine cover story in that month suggested. But there’s no doubt that activism over transgender rights has exploded into the mainstream discussion of our culture over the past five years in ways that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago. What are we to make of this as Christians? If we are to do better than a knee-jerk response, we need to understand both the facts on the ground—what transgenderism is, and what the implications are of its recent prominence—and how the teaching of Scripture should direct our thinking. Based on a long-running research project, Moore College alumni Rob Smith is in an excellent position to help us with both of these vital tasks. He is our guest on this episode of the CCL podcast. For transcript and show notes, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/resources/podcast-episode-033/

In this encore episode from our CCL event on July 29 2019, Tony Payne and Lionel Windsor address environmentalism. It’s a longer than usual episode (around 80 minutes) in three parts: 1. Setting the scene: Tony looks at what environmentalism is, and the assumptions we bring to it; 2. A biblical theology of the environment: Lionel looks at what the Bible as a whole teaches about the world as God’s creation; at humanity’s place within it; and at how all this fits with God’s purposes in Christ; 3. The practical implications: An extended question time looking at how the Bible’s theology shapes our response to environmental challenges. For show notes, visit our website: https://ccl.moore.edu.au/2019/08/15/podcast-episode-032/

Idolatry can be confusing—not because there’s any doubt as to whether it’s a good thing or not (it’s definitely not), but because the concept is often applied these days to all kinds of actions that don’t obviously have anything to do with making statues and bowing down to them. My family can be an idol. So apparently can my work, my ministry and my devotion to the mighty Sydney Swans. But when everything can be a potential idol, does the “idolatry” as a concept lose some of its power? In this episode, we go back to the Bible with Phillip Jensen to discover what idolatry really is, and why it is still a danger to the Christian life today. For show notes and episode transcript, go to https://ccl.moore.edu.au/2019/07/31/podcast-episode-031/

The Israel Folau affair, which has clogged facebook feeds around the nation for what seems like months, is not the subject of this episode. But the question of religious freedom and religious discrimination is. Anglican bishop Michael Stead joins us to discuss why the cause of religious freedom is worth fighting for in our democracy, what the Australian government’s proposed “religious discrimination” legislation is likely to deliver (and not deliver), and what the implications of all this are for Christian individuals and organisations. One of Michael’s points is that Christians need to inform themselves about these issues—a service that he very clearly and helpfully provides in this episode. For show notes and episode transcript, visit https://ccl.moore.edu.au/2019/07/15/podcast-episode-030/

In one sense, serious anxiety—the kind that could be called “clinical anxiety” or an “anxiety disorder”—is like other common medical problems: it afflicts quite a lot of us, it has various identifiable forms and physical symptoms, and it can be treated. But of course, suffering from an anxiety disorder is also different from having diabetes or heart disease, because it is a dysfunction not just of a bodily process, but of how we think and feel. This makes the experience of clinical anxiety doubly hard to cope with. Its physical symptoms and everyday consequences are hard enough, but there is also the confusing and disorienting experience of “me” being anxious or terrified, when another part of “me” is trying to explain to myself that there’s really no reason to be so anxious. Moore College lecturer Paul Grimmond knows about this firsthand, and in this episode, he not only explains what “clinical anxiety” is and what it feels like, but shares his insights into how we should think about and respond to anxiety

This is the first of our Q&A episodes, in which Tony answers a bunch of the questions that you’ve sent in by email or asked at one of our recent events. Questions include: * Does the fact that Christ alone is the basis of our fellowship mean that gender-based ministries or affinity-based congregations are problematic? * What’s the relationship between joy and thanksgiving? * Is personal Bible reading insufficient to resist temptation as Christian? * What’s the relationship between the mutual free word of encouragement Christians speak to each other, and prophecy? * If we’re supposed to admonish one another as Christians, how practically speaking do we do that? (If you have any questions from our podcast, or about the Christian life in general, send them to ccl@moore.edu.au. We’ll be running another Q&A episode soon.) Find an episode transcript and show notes at https://ccl.moore.edu.au/2019/05/21/podcast-episode-028/