We have another guest, and his name is Devin! You will fall in LOVE with his silky smooth voice, which honestly makes every other voice on the podcast sound like hot garbage by comparison. Seriously, like, why isn’t Devin the only host of this podcast? Guys, we are sorry that you have to listen to our horrific, nasally voices. Anyways today we’re talking about racism. Devin regales us with a story of woe and tumult! What a brave, kind cohost! Here are the scriptures we look at: 1 Corinthians 12: 13 1 John 2: 11 Samuel 16: 7 Acts 17: 26 Exodus 22: 21 Questions? Comments? If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both! twitter.com/WhiteJesusPod facebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesus Thanks to John Cotton For the use of our theme song "Close" off his recent EP. You can find and buy John's music here: www.nothankyoujohn.com And Thanks to Devin Balram  Buy all his music here: https://noisetrade.com/devinbalram/brilliant And hire him to take your sweet picture here: http://devinbalramphoto.com/  

Can you believe that some people associate mental health issues with demon possession? I mean, we can, because at some point in our lives we all individually believed that. It’s garbage, right? That’s why we’re talking all about mental health in today’s episode, and specifically how we believe Christians should interact with it. Also, Dave made another extremely horrible game for James and Kevin to “play.” We really should stop Dave from making any more games, right? All that to say, here’s a few of the scriptures we discuss in today’s episode: Philippians 4:6-7 2 Timothy 1:7 Galatians 6:2 If you’re struggling, take the time you need today for self-care and reach out to someone you trust. Help is available, and you are not alone. Please call 800-273-TALK or text “Talk” to 741741. They’re here for you. Questions? Comments? If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both! twitter.com/WhiteJesusPod facebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesus Thanks to John Cotton For the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

Have you ever been home, let’s say at Thanksgiving, and your weird, single Uncle starts groaning about how “kneeling during the anthem” is ruining football and Papa John’s Pizza and...I don’t know, the economy? Well, this week, Dave, James, and Kevin tackle (do you see what I did there) the difficult subject of Jesus and kneeling during the anthem. Spoiler alert: it’s not that difficult. Jesus is cool with it, you duys. So, sorry if that ruins the ep for you but hey, there it is. Anyways, here’s some scriptures we used to discuss the topic: Proverbs 31:9 Proverbs 21:13 Matthew 21:12-13: But then... In the sermon on the mount, which you can read in full in Matthew chapters 5 through 7, but anyways, during that sermon Jesus criticises Romans for their oppression, and then explains that the “kingdom” that he’s talking about is the kingdom of God, which, as writer Pete Enns put it, “not an attempt to make Israel great again.” Enns continues to explain that Jesus’ kingdom is not “of this world,” just like he told Pilate in John 18:36. “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” So, Jesus doesn’t want to be aligned with any political party, which can be a hard pill for both Democrats and Republicans to swallow. But Jesus is above and beyond politics. As he so famously prayed, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Christian’s number one priority is to be an instrument of welcoming God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven,” and that ain’t easy. And it certainly transcends party lines. Nowhere do Christians have a more obvious responsibility to manifest the Kingdom of God than when other humans are disenfranchised, treated unjustly, or unfairly. So, would Jesus — you know, if he played football — kneel during the national anthem? Absolutely. Questions? Comments? If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both! twitter.com/WhiteJesusPod facebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesus Thanks to John Cotton For the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

Today’s episode takes a HARD TURN as we discuss errors in the Bible! Well, actually, we more so discuss how we each approach scripture, but in doing so we largely focus on how we reconcile those items in the Bible that just don’t add up (or sound outright evil, etc). Anyways, what we’re saying is that today’s episode is absolutely on the verge of heretical for many of our listeners, but we simply ask that you stick with us and hear what we have to say. Does the Bible have errors in it? Absolutely. But does that mean the entire Bible should be thrown out? Not at all! To start, let’s look at the books mentioned in the Bible as part of the Bible that AREN’T actually in the Bible:

• The Book of Jasher is mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18 and also referenced in 2 Timothy 3:8.
• The Book of the Wars of the Lord.Referenced at Numbers 21:14 with possible association with War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness.
• The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Chronicles of the Kings of Judah are mentioned in the Books of Kings (1 Kings 14:19,29).

Buck wild, right? I mean, just straight BUCK WILD. But, hopefully, you come away from this episode with the idea that it’s often not as simple as saying the Bible says X about Y without understanding context. We’d also like to point out that James’ perspective about interpreting the bible through the passage in Romans about loving your neighbor is as good as interpretative lens as any. Romans 13 8 - 10 8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” [a]“You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. We can’t imagine that Jesus would be upset at someone for leaning on love for their neighbor and God. We like for things to be black and white, but the truth is often in the grey areas. It’s easier for the Bible to be black and white, because we don’t have to think about it as much. The challenge for modern Christians is to figure out how to engage with scripture in a way that not only acknowledges the grey areas, but thrives in them. Questions? Comments?If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both!twitter.com/WhiteJesusPodfacebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesusThanks to John CottonFor the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

The Bible has defied all odds to bring us an amazing collection of different people on their journeys with God. Dozens of authors across multiple cultures and centuries are represented within the Old and New Testaments. It’s easy to think about the Bible as a single book with a single origin, but it’s helpful to keep in mind that it has its own journey, just like the famous figures it tells us about. People dedicated lifetimes to copying and re-copying manuscripts in order to preserve them. Religious communities and powerful individuals argued and debated about what was and wasn’t inspired. As with most of the important things in life, the Bible didn’t come together easily. What was left when all the dust settled is something uniquely human and godly. It’s filled with many different types of literature. Myths and prophecies. Some of the most beautiful poetry the world has ever seen. Love songs. Stories about betrayal and hope. The name “Bible” is derived from the same Greek word as Bibliography. In Romance languages, it’s the root word for library. There is so much for us to learn from these texts if we dare to engage them honestly. We’ve covered a lot of Bible history today. When it was written, copied, and collected into the form that we have today. We’ve not even touched the topics of translations, sola scriptura, inerrancy, infallibility, and inspiration. We will in part 2 next week, but somehow, even without all those things, the Bible is pretty miraculous. Also, against all odds, David DID remember to include links to further readings! James - if you’re reading this - YOU WERE WRONG!

• https://robbell.com/portfolio/whatisthebible/
• So, turns out Kevin was supposed to send Dave a list of further readings but never did. HOW'S THAT TASTE, KEVIN?

Questions? Comments?If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both!twitter.com/WhiteJesusPodfacebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesusThanks to John CottonFor the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

This week Dave throws everything into the crapper by asking how much his good good friends, Kevin and James, pay for rent. It’s a rude question, sure, but Kevin and James don’t even PAY rent because the are homeowners. Dave doesn’t admit this during the recording but it certainly makes him feel like an outsider. Dave then talks about welfare in San Francisco and Kevin tells the horrifying story of his youth. At this point we decide to read some scriptures: Matthew 25 James 5:2 Leviticus 23:2 Deuteronomy 23:24-25 Mark 2:23 1 John 3:16-18 And then we play a game. OH BOY do we play a game. It goes off the rails a bit and slowly devolves into Dave just like, rambling. It’s super weird and we all hope you do NOT hate it. After the joy of the game we are brought back to reality by Tomi Laurhen (SP? IDGAF). Kevin then tells what is perhaps the darkest story ever told on this podcast. So, I guess, buckle up for that noise. And that’s basically the episode. It’s the longest one we’ve put out to date, but at the same time there just seemed to be too much fun stuff that was too, well, silly to cut. Did you make it through the whole thing? Let us know, maybe Dave will draw you! Questions? Comments? If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both! twitter.com/WhiteJesusPod facebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesus Thanks to John Cotton For the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

This week the boys are BACK in town to talk about Jesus and Rock & Roll. Is it really the devil’s music? Do musicians really leave satanic messages in hidden in their music? Will listening to ACDC condemn your soul to HELL? We discuss. First David asks Kevin and James about their favorite bands. Kevin gives a moderately good answer by listing Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Bill Withers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Sister Hazel, Jason Isbell, etc. But then James simply replies “Queen” and the boys are lead into a heady, heady discussion. And then Dave subjects the gang to the world’s most displeasing sound: his voice in reverse. We apologize to all listeners. OK, so what DOES the Bible say about listening to rock n’ roll? It should come as no surprise that, well, it doesn’t really say anything about it. So the best we can do is infer, which is always kind of a messy proposition. Here’s the scriptures we looked at: Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Matthew 15: 15 - 20 15 Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? 17 Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? 18 But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” Phillipians 4: 8 - 9 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. We also played clips: https://youtu.be/RLCQZPBgN_M Clip: 08:42 - 09:46 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lCN3fgwibM&feature=youtu.be 2:02 - 02:49 Questions? Comments? If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both! twitter.com/WhiteJesusPod facebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesus Thanks to John Cotton For the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

Whelp this is a scary episode to put out! We actually recorded a version of this episode several months ago. The problem was that we made a few missteps, and that’s one of the reasons why we decided not to release any of those episodes. First off, the episode only had us three hosts, which if it wasn’t painfully obvious, meant that it was three cishet dudes talking about homosexuality. So, that’s a problem right off the bat. But the fact is, what the Bible does have to say — or in more interestingly, doesn’t say — about homosexuality is important, and something we still feel should be covered. For today, for this topic specifically, we’re mixing things up a bit by inviting a guest host, for the first time, a Mr. Harvey West. To kick things off, we read six Bible verses that are most often used to defend an anti-homosexual theology. Out of all 23,145 verses in the Bible, none of them explicitly mention homosexuality, especially when read in context. The word “homosexuality” didn’t even show up in English translations of the Bible until 1946, so let that sink in for a minute. Anyways, here’s the verses we read through and discuss: Genesis 19:5 and they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.’ Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them. Romans 1:26–27 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error. 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers — none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Timothy 1:9–10 This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave-traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching… Now — yes — these all feel pretty damning. But as you’ll see, we read these scriptures with a contextual eye to walk through many of the misconceptions (and mistranslations!) that give these verses a new perspective. We also play a silly game in which Dave sings. Also, it’s worth mentioning, we do plan to cover topics from the LGBTQ+ community in a larger context, though when we do so we want to make sure that voices from the groups we’re talking about are represented when we record. So expect more guests hosts! Also, if you have suggestions for guest hosts, please let us know! Questions? Comments?If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both!twitter.com/WhiteJesusPodfacebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesusThanks to John CottonFor the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

This week the boys talk about what is — ironically — the least pure gospel in modern Christianity. That’s right folks, we take dead aim at the Purity Movement. If you’re not familiar, It’s all a part of the purity movement, which was, according to the book Sexual Ethics: An Evangelical Perspective, the evangelical response to the sexual revolution and the AIDs epidemic. The Southern Baptist Convention, in 1992, even went so far as to create “True Love Waits,” which was an abstinence program that basically told kids to keep it in their pants until marriage. That’s right. If you ever suffered through “abstinence-only education,” then you can likely thank the Purity Movement. But “purity” doesn’t sound that bad, right? So where did the movement go wrong?

• The church did not equip parents to talk to about sex.
• It was inherently sexist.
• Life, ah, finds a way.
• It basically left young Christians with no knowledge about sex or their bodies.

In other words, the movement filled teenagers with shame towards sex. Which is dangerous for many reasons, mostly that it creates an environment where failure is the only option. But even more than that, it instilled in teenagers an idea of masculinity that is just simply antiquated and super lame. It’s super DUPER gross. We take a break (thank GOD) to play a dumb game from Kevin. After that, we look at the Bible. Here’s what we read:

• Corinthians 7:2
• Acts 15:20
• Ephesians 5: 3
• Hebrews 13: 4

Questions? Comments? If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both! twitter.com/WhiteJesusPod facebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesus Thanks to John Cotton For the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

This week we take a much needed break from politics and jump into the world of...let me see here...sorry, just need to check my notes...oh no...no no no...it’s televangelists. OK COOL. So, jumping right into things, the boys swim through the niceties and into a story from Dave about he, as a child, reaching his hands towards a TV screen to receive “healing” while a Televangelist was preaching. The preacher was Benny Hinn and the network was TBN (which stands for “Trinity Broadcasting Network”). From there we discuss the adventures of the world’s most famous (or infamous?) televangelist, Jim Bakker. David walks through some of Bakker’s current exploits as James walks through his past. Both are horrifying in their own right, but — spoiler alert — neither are good. Sadly, after Bakker was released from prison, he seemed to not turn a new leaf, but instead to remain on his old, bad leaf. It’s super lame. It’s at that point that Kevin tells a story about his Grandmother sending Kenneth Copeland money even though she had little to spare. It’s like, the most depressing thing you’re going to hear all day, so buckle up for that one. To cheer things up a bit, Dave takes the initiative to interrupt the show with a fun game of SECULAR OR SANCTIFIED! James lost the game, so of course, when we get back into the episode, he decides to depress us all with a kick run through of televangelist history, which covers:

• Peter Popoff
• Oral Roberts
• Jimmy Swaggart
• Robert Tilton
• Ted Haggard
• Eddie Long

And then Kevin TOPS THAT SAD STUFF with another super insane story about his experience at a televised youth camp. Seriously you guys I don’t know how we’re giving this away for free, because it is straight up buck wild. We then, finally, get into the Bible:

Ezekiel 13: 9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Amos 5:7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground

Questions? Comments? If you have questions about anything we talked about in today’s episode, or if you’d like to comment on anything we said, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, then please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or both! twitter.com/WhiteJesusPod facebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesus Thanks to John Cotton For the use of our theme song "Close" off a forthcoming EP. You can find and buy John's music here: https://nothankyoujohn.bandcamp.com/

Today’s episode is a little long in the tooth, but for good reason. We’re tackling the major topic of Jesus and politics, which means we’ve got a lot to talk about. Following a fun story about a man yelling at Dave on the streets of San Francisco, we jump into the question of whether or not Jesus would vote Republican or Democrat. Buckle up! Here’s the scripture we reference:

• John 12:12-16
• Luke 22:47-51
• Luke 20:21-25
• Mark 12:28-31
• John 6: 1 - 15
• Luke 17

We won’t spoil our conclusion, but as always, with Jesus, there’s usually a third option for a question that seemingly only has two possible answers. A slight detour in the conversation leads the boys into discussing whether or not Jesus was a problem child, why he hated fig trees, and how great it would be to curse things in modern day. Of course, in doing so, Dave gets a little Churchy, and Kevin takes him to task for it. This week we premiere a new game: Talk Churchy to Me. Here’s the deal: Kevin presents James and Dave with several hypothetical Christian-based scenarios, prompting Dave and James to ad-lib their own responses. It’s a fun game, regardless of how much church you attended as a kid, and we all hope you love Dave’s beautiful Southern accent. But that leads us into a larger question. Should Christians be political? Here’s some scripture to start us off: John 18:36 Kevin also walks through the history of the church and government, from the days of the early church all the way up to early America (it’s super informative). He then reads a nice snippet of a letter by Thomas Jefferson: The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. ... But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding.... Woof. Nuts, right? We follow up this bag of laughs with an audio clip from President Trump. Sorry everybody, for that. Then James walks us through the history of the Moral Majority and it too, is a major bummer. To wrap up this super fun conversation, we sit down to look at some of the glorious feedback we received from our first episode! Before we dive into the mail bag we want to let our listeners know that for the time being, if they rate and review us on itunes and then send a screenshot to us either by way of Facebook or Twitter, then Dave will personally do a one-minute portrait of them. If you want to see the portraits I’ve already done just check out our Facebook page at Facebook.com/SaveMeWhiteJesus From Yovanny: “Immaculate Satisfaction.” Just in time to help us make sense of it all. More episodes please! From The Ghost in The Machine ONE STAR “Not very well informed” The conclusions of this show are rooted in bad exegesis and bad philosophy. I completely understand the frustration with the political hand of the evangelical right which is in grave theological error. However The podcast misses the core theological issues and focuses more on what liberal leaning Christians or agnostics want to hear. From StereoChild “Dave Pemberton Talk Good” David Pemberton and co do talking very good. Make funny words but also good thinking words! THis is a great listen regardless of where on the religious spectrum you find yourself. Definitely worth checking out. From: CaptainSemantic “Atheists can like it too.” I don’t even believe in god and I like this podcast. Smart, witty, and well-thought, anyone who considers themselves academically inclined will appreciate this one. As always, thanks for listening (or reading?), and make sure to tune in next week for Episode 3: Jesus & Televangilist!