This episode on identity politics deals with LGBTQ and the challenges on reaching people from this background. The core assumptions behind LGBTQ and the Biblical worldview are polar opposites. While Christianity teaches that sexual orientation is a choice, LGBTQ defenders and participants mostly view sexual orientation as a given at birth, and just like race, class, and sex, LGBTQ identity is not a choice. This seemingly insurmountable disagreement over core assumptions can be bridged by the Christian's testimony, in which many testify how God called heterosexual believers to repent and abandon their old sinful identities. By asserting that Christianity is an equal opportunity offender to ALL sinners, hopefully we can better reach for Christ those embracing LGBTQ.
The evangelical response to oppression must be more than a gospel presentation
This episode challenges evangelical Christians to embrace legitimate social justice concerns so that the dominant narrative will not be dictated by leftist practitioners of identity politics. Since the Scripture has much to say about God's heart for the oppressed, we should incorporate the living gospel, actively combatting oppression as we preach the gospel.
“Oppression” from a Biblical perspective, communicating God’s heart for the oppressed.
This episode marks a shift in the series with the aim of reaching people adopting identity politics. Up to now, the series contrasts the Biblical focus on providing a solution to the universal problem of sin with the much more narrow focus of identity politics on oppression. The Biblical solution to man's sin problem is the remaking of human identity into the image of Christ. Well this episode builds a bridge from the Biblical worldview to that of identity politics by focusing on "oppression" from a Biblical perspective, mostly from Psalm 82 and Isaiah 58. If believers can communicate the heart of God towards the oppressed and marginalized, and oppression is the principal theme of identity politics, then those adopting identity politics are more likely to be receptive to Biblical solutions.
Carnality in the Church can lead to Identity Politics
This episode continues the application of embracing our identity in Christ and addresses the failure to fully embrace that identity in the Christian church. Factions and divisions within the church are sometimes based on Christian carnality in which Christ as our true identity is not urgently pursued. Sectarianism and religious division mixed with politics can lead to identity politics within the Church.
Is the Truth on Your Side?
This episode continues addressing putting on the belt of truth in the context of spiritual warfare. While Christians are saved from the wrath of God and placed into the Body of Christ upon conversion, they are not fully on God's side until every part of them that is sympathetic to the lie or lusts of deceit is removed. Consequently, God in a general sense is on the Christian's "side," but often acts as if He's not. His higher purpose in the lives of believers is their sanctification, and with respect to truth, "He desires truth in the inward parts." (Ps 51:6) He consequently deals with Christians in ways that sometimes suggest He is not on "their side." The issue of "sides" is addressed from the critical theocentric perspective of Joshua 5:13-15. The episode closes with the Scriptural evidence that sons of God don't partake of nonsensical "sides" theology, they consistently treat "enemies" and friends alike, based on the indiscriminate love of God that's been poured out in their hearts.
I want the Truth..But not Yet
This episode calls believers to put on the belt of truth, fully cognizant that much of us still embraces the lie. Consequently, the life of sanctification is one in which our fleshly natures are subject to being offended and injured by the Spirit of Truth. The episode develops the dynamics of the flesh/spirit conflict in the context of receiving and being injured by the Truth. "The old self which is being corrupted by the lusts of deceit" (Eph. 4:22) is always threatened by God's "desire for truth in the inward parts." (Psalm 51:6) Realistically appreciating this dynamic in our own lives is essential to fully putting on the belt of truth. Christians are better off and safer by being injured by Truth than they are if they embrace the lusts of deceit, which eventually bring forth excruciating pain. The episode is a sober primer for anyone suffering from addictions, in which the lusts of deceit hide a harvest from hell.
Calvary: the ultimate Payback for Oppression
This episode continues the theme of bridge-building to those who embrace identity politics by focusing on the universal demand for justice and the intuitive grasp of justice in all men. Even atheists demand justice when their rights are abridged. The episode explores the ultimate redress of all injustice in the sacrificial death of Christ, where the oppression of all oppressors was placed on Christ. The satisfaction of the demands of justice is a theme that potentially resonates with practitioners of identity politics.
Fleshly Identities can’t compare to Knowing Christ
This episode unpacks Paul's rejection of fleshly identities in which he previously boasted. Identity politics by implication should also be rejected by Christians who count secondary descriptives like race, class, sex and nationality as excrement compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ as Lord.
Christ, our True Identity
This episode unpacks the process of sanctification, in which we progressively abandon fleshly identities and make Christ our true identity. It culminates with 1 Peter 2:9-11 which describes our true identity as a "chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." This identity puts fleshly identities in perspective, Peter describing Christians as "aliens" who reject worldly lusts. Put together with 1 John 2:16, Christians are those who reject fleshly identities borne out of the boastful pride of life. The implication is that identity politics should never be embraced by a Christian.
Identity Politics Rooted in Idolatry
This episode provides the grand Biblical narrative of mankind's problem: mankind was originally called to rule on God's behalf based on the image of God in man, but because of the fall, has exchanged the truth of God for a lie, being consumed by idolatrous worship of himself and his own desires. Identity politics' exaltation of secondary characteristics into primary ones (race, class, sex, etc.) is a natural bi-product of the Great Exchange, in which unregenerate man exchanges the truth of God for a lie, an image in the form of corruptible man. The Biblical solution to mankind's problem centers on the remaking of mankind into the image of Christ.