Red Couch Theology

Why did Jesus have to die? Couldn’t God just forgive us?

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. Hey, this week we're doing some serious theology. We're talking about atonement, or maybe put more for some of you out there, if you're not sure what atonement is, it's how in the world does the cross and resurrection save us? Like, really, what happens there? How does this event that took place thousands of years ago affect us today? What took place in the universe when that took place? Well, we wrestle with these kinds of questions today, and we hope we land on some of them. At least some nuggets and crumbs for you to ponder as you wrestle with them yourselves. Let's dive into the deep end with atonement.

Wrestling With Resurrection, Scripture, and Free Will

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. This week, we have several questions submitted through our Alpha course, and one that actually touches on last week's Sunday sermon a little bit. We're gonna talk about Lazarus and what was going on with his soul or his spirit while he was dead, and was his resurrection the same kind of resurrection as Jesus? We also discussed textual criticism and how we can trust the scriptural account of Jesus. And then, finally, we closed with a detailed conversation about free will, predestination, Calvinism, Armenianism, and all that sort of stuff. So if any of that sparks your curiosity, let's dive in.

The Courage the Gospel Creates - bonus episode!

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. Hey, this week, we actually have 2 episodes. This is our bonus episode because I get to sit down with Sean Switzer and Diego, who brought our sermon last Sunday. And talk a little bit about his journey of faith, about the sermon he gave to us on Sunday, and so on and so forth, but one of the highlights in this episode is when Diego shares a little bit of the backstory about his father and his relationship with his father, if you remember from his sermon illustration on Sunda,y and it's a powerful story about how the gospel both gives us the bravery to do things we would not expect and has the power to transform relationships and lives. Let's dive right in.

Is there more to life than this? And other Alpha questions

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. Hey, this week, we ask several questions. If you remember, we're tracking with the alpha class during this season of our show. And this week, we asked some questions about faith in life. The first one came from one of Alex's sermons: What is the good life as defined by Christianity? Is there any benefit to Christianity other than this promise of some future eternity? Or is there something more? Is there some benefits inside of this current life? And then we ask questions about, is there evidence for the historical Jesus? Is there evidence for the resurrection and things like that. Let's dive right in.

Wrestling With the Text: A Guide Through John 9

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. Hey, this week we're doing something a little bit different. This week, we're gonna go through John chapter 9, the passage Alex preached last Sunday. And I'm gonna talk to him about how in the world he studied this text. How does he approach a new passage? How did he work through the difficult parts of this passage and come to the conclusions that he came to? And maybe you can learn a little bit about how to study the scriptures for yourself and engage with difficult things in the passage. So, we end on this beautiful note that you'll have to find out about in this episode. Let's dive right in.

Why is it so Hard for Christians to Believe in Grace?

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. Hey, this week, Alex and I talk about diving back into the book of John. We talk about what true freedom looks lik,e and we make an announcement about the kind of content and nature of this podcast going forward because there's going to be some tweaks at least for a short period of time. So tune in to find out a little bit more about what's changing on the show. Let's dive right in.

Why God Invites Us Into His Work

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. Hey, this week we have Dan Elliott on the show because he preached the message. We're gonna get answers to things like, what in the world is Battle Rattle? What is a crocus after all, and why in the world do we have so much? Joy in this season that seems so heavy, that is called Advent, and wait a minute, one final question we're gonna address is what's our role in bringing the kingdom of God anyway, if it's all God's work, why does he want us involved? Let's dive right into this week's episode.

Deep Hope for a Weary Season (and book recommendations!)

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. Hey, this week, I'm having a conversation with Jessica Rust, who brought our message on Sunday, and we're talking about this deep abiding hope that expands far beyond the little hopes that we might have for this season and actually is a hope we can bank on. We also spent a little bit of time talking about some of the other advent resources that she encountered this season so that you can hear someone other than just Fleming Rutledge from Alex and I. So let's dive right in.

What Gives Scripture Authority? & Advent Musings

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. Hey, this week we covered a lot of ground because we had 2 weeks to cover it in our preaching cycle. First, we talked about scripture. What is scripture? Where does scripture's authority come from? And what about that sermon where you preached from a passage that might not have been in the Bible? What do we do with that, and how do we have confidence that it's helpful to us? And then we pivoted to Advent. And if you want to hear two guys nerd out about Advent and how much they love it and all of that sort of thing, well, if you don't want to hear that, don't listen to this episode because that's what you'll get. Let's dive right in.

Can Deconstruction Grow Your Faith?

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Red Couch Theology podcast. This week we have a guest because Sean Switzer brought the sermon, and we talked about some really fun topics like how do you know when deconstruction is actually dangerous for you, what bricks in our, our, the walls of our lives should be removed and replaced, and which ones should stay the same, and all of these sorts of things. We wrestled with a lot of those types of things and then. How do we know how to deal with others who are wrestling with different sets of questions and are they right or are we right and how do we be in relationship with them. In such a situation as that. Let's dive right into the episode for I think a great conversation.