In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss what may seem like a surprising topic - hell. An AP/NORC study last year found that belief in heaven and angels is more common than belief in the devil or hell. For many, this may be because culture often portrays hell in a comedic or cartoonish way through various media platforms. Even some Christians struggle with the idea of hell and want to know why a loving God would create it.

It is important for those who consider themselves Christ followers to be grounded in the fundamentals of the Christian faith - to have a solid understanding of biblical theology. Dr. White has a course available through Church & Culture called “Theology on Tap.” Heaven, hell and what will happen at the end of time are components of this study, which you can find HERE. You may also be interested in checking out a series given by Dr. White at Mecklenburg Community Church called “The Apocalypse: The Message of Revelation for Today” which you can find HERE.

Dr. White also explained the importance of reaching those who do not have a relationship with Jesus with urgency. He shared a story of Penn Jillette receiving the gift of a Bible following one of his shows, and the impact that this made on him even though he is an atheist. You can watch Penn's vlog post HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent study from the PRRI titled “Religious Change In America.” One of the biggest headlines from the study is that more and more, Americans are saying “no” to organized religion, and the number of those identifying as atheist and agnostic are on the rise. In fact, since Dr. White wrote his book The Rise of the Nones in 2014, the number of atheists has doubled. But what differentiates an “atheist” from an “agnostic” from a “none?”

Dr. White recently wrote a blog titled “Surprising Mourners for the Decline in Christianity.” It's interesting to find that many who choose to walk away from religion, or who never had a religion they affiliated themselves with, often find that something seems to be missing in their lives. In a recent article in The Atlantic titled “The True Cost of the Churchgoing Bust,” Derek Thompson (who is an agnostic) lamented over what has been lost by our culture abandoning the Christian faith. And self-proclaimed atheist Richard Dawkins recently explained how he considers himself a cultural Christian and is saddened by the thought that we may one day soon lose our cathedrals and parish churches.

Dr. White also wrote a book that's an extremely helpful resource for those who would put themselves into either the atheist or agnostic camps. It's called Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians and you can find it on Amazon HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the fact that as culture becomes less and less rooted in Christianity, and people (sadly) have more and more encounters with Christians who are not very Christlike, misconceptions and caricatures of the Christian faith seem to be growing. Today's discussion, which was a listener-submitted topic, will walk through four of the most common caricatures in today's culture.

Here are some series given by Dr. White at Mecklenburg Community Church related to the caricatures covered in today's discussion that you may be interested in taking a look at:

“The Science of God”

“Astrophysics… for People Who Are Open to God”

“Don't Check Your Brains at the Door”

“When God Makes Us Laugh”

“Why?”

And then here are a few past podcast episodes that you can go back and listen to in case you missed them that may add to today's discussion:

CCP103: On the Sudden Rise of LGBTQ

CCP92: On Challenges to Believing the Bible

CCP63: On Why Christians Are So Mean

CCP49: On Faith vs. Science

Finally, here are two books that were mentioned in the conversation for you:

A Mind for God by James Emery White

The Gift of Pain: Why We Hurt and What We Can Do About It by Philip Yancey and Paul Brand

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they reflect on the four years that have passed since the U.S. declared a national emergency in response to COVID. The pandemic upended our lives and our world, and four years later its effects are still being felt.

Julie Bosman wrote an article in the New York Times titled, “Four Years On, Covid Has Reshaped Life for Many Americans.” While some found joy in things like home schooling, working from home and the slower pace of life we were all forced into, others are still mourning the loss of loved ones or still harboring feelings of anger toward the divisiveness the pandemic left in its wake.

The pandemic had a profound effect on the church as well. Two years into the pandemic Dr. White wrote a blog titled “Add Pastors to the Great Resignation,” following the departure of many pastors who felt they could not win no matter what decision they made for their church: masks or no masks, pro-vaccines or anti-vaccines, open or closed to in-person services, etc. He wrote another blog titled, “Five Ways the Pandemic Is Saving the Church,” noting how beneficial it has been for the church to be forced to go outside of its four walls and move online - a place where younger generations are easier to reach.

In Dr. White's book Meet Generation Z, he wrote about how this generation is the first to grow up in a truly post-Christian world. A Gallup poll found that 56% of Americans “seldom” or “never” attend a religious service. And an article in the Wall Street Journal noted how Gen Z became increasingly disillusioned as a result of the pandemic. Therefore, the church must respond by reaching these digital natives where they are - online. This was the heart of Dr. White's book Hybrid Church, which you can find HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent Gallup poll that found that 7.6% of Americans now identify as LGBTQ+ - a figure that has more than doubled over the last 12 years. When you dive into the generational data from this poll, it revealed that for Generation Z, 22.3% now identify as LGBTQ+, which is a percentage far beyond Millennials or any other generation. The most pressing question is: What is accounting for this very sudden rise?

In Dr. White's book Meet Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian World, he noted five primary marks of this generation. One of those marks is that Gen Z are sexually fluid. This means that the rise in identifying as LGBTQ+ is not so much about a true shift in orientation, but rather an openness to all things sexual. And much of that openness is a direct result of cultural pressure that would say you must be open minded enough to explore other genders and sexual orientations. For more on understanding the cultural pressures, Dr. White suggested reading the book Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say by Preston Sprinkle.

Cultural acceptance, however, does seem to be shifting - at least among religious groups. The PRRI recently released their “Religious Change in America” study, which found that support does tend to be waning. This is likely a result of the cultural overreach that has taken place. And the church does need to speak out on this. Dr. White has delivered two series at Mecklenburg Community Church that we'd suggest you check out: Holy Matrimony and Gender. And this is not the first time we've touched on this topic on the C&C Podcast. Be sure to listen to these past episodes: CCP38: On Attending Diwali Celebrations and Gay Weddings and CCP21: On Gender.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent article in The Atlantic titled “The ‘Secret” Gospel and a Scandalous New Episode in the Life of Jesus.” The article talked about a 1958 historian who claimed he had found a lost gospel of Jesus' life that was later deemed a forgery. This was not the first nor the last time someone would make this claim. In fact, this was the basis for one of the biggest “lost gospel” fabrications, The DaVinci Code, written by Dan Brown and later turned into a film starring Tom Hanks. So what are Christians to think when discoveries like these are put forth, and could there truly be “lost gospels” out there that are yet to be discovered?

We recently touched very briefly on this topic in CCP92: On Challenges to Believing the Bible which you can go back and listen to. And if you're looking for a solid foundation for understanding the Bible and how it was compiled, we encourage you to check out a series that Dr. White gave at Mecklenburg Community Church called “How to Bible.” The installments of this series walk you through five key Bible “how tos”: get oriented, read and interpret it, apply it and believe it (two parts). You can find that series HERE.

We would also recommend that you check out Dr. White's book Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians. This is a great resource whether you're exploring the Christian faith or want to be able to provide an apologetic for why you believe what you believe. There's a chapter on the Bible that is particularly helpful.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how traditional roles in parenthood are being rethought and are shifting. This has left many men with confusion about what a modern father should look like. In a day when dads are often portrayed negatively in the media, presented as clueless, incompetent slobs, an animated series called “Bluey” has surprisingly jumped onto the scene to help inspire modern dads.

A Washington Post article written by Christine Emba and titled, “Men are lost. Here's a map out of the wilderness,” highlights how men have seemed to lose sight of what it means to be a man. A large contributing factor is that many men did not have good fathers to look up to. Dr. White has done several message series at Mecklenburg Community Church on the role of fathers, of men, and the dynamics of family. If you're interested, we suggest you look at “Father Figure,” “The Sins of the Fathers,” and “Man Up.”

There are several articles that Dr. White mentioned in today's episode. A 2023 Brookings Institution study that would be helpful to explore is titled, “Boys and men,” and you can find that study HERE. We'd also suggest you read an article from The Atlantic titled, “Dad Culture Has Nothing to Do With Parenting.” You can read the “For Mamma” article from Demaryius Thomas in The Players' Tribune HERE. And finally, you can find the HuffPost article “Michael Lohan: I'm Happy With Lindsay's Playboy Photos” HERE.

We've had other podcasts that we'd encourage you to go back and listen to related to the roles of men and women in our culture and within the life of the church. These include: CCP78: On Trad Wives, CCP72: On Toxic Masculinity, CCP60: On Gentle Parenting, and CCP7: On Women in Ministry.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how in the U.S., people are still somewhat “turned on” to God (and specifically to Jesus) but very turned off to religion, pastors and even just your average self-identified Christian. They're saying, “Maybe” to Christ, but, “Absolutely not” to Christianity and Christians. And when you see what's happening in culture, it's not difficult to understand why. Because the Christian faith is often perceived as anything but Christlike, we, as the Church, need to have an answer.

If you've been tracking with the Church & Culture Podcast, several of our earlier episodes shine a glaring light on the reasons many draw their conclusions about the Christian faith. CCP94: On the Growing Lack of Confidence in Clergy discussed how American culture at large is losing trust in Christian pastors. CCP96: On “He Gets Us” examined the popularity of an ad campaign focusing on the love and compassion of Jesus that is sparking anger in some Christians. CCP32: On a Non-Christian America tackled the continued rise of the “nones” – those who refuse to identify with any particular religion, but who aren't opposed to believing in God. And finally CCP4: On Pastors and Moral Failings took a hard look at the many high-profile religious leaders who have been in the news recently for immoral and sometimes illegal acts.

Grace was a theme woven throughout this discussion as it's what's so often missing from those unChristian Christians. Dr. White has given two series at Mecklenburg Community Church on grace: Christianity's Most Scandalous Idea and Getting Grace Right. And another series that we would recommend you listen to is The Deconstruction Zone which explored how many in our day are deconstructing their faith, raising questions, and exploring challenges to how they were raised or beliefs they have long held.

Finally, Dr. White mentioned a couple of books related to today's conversation that you may be interested in checking out: Grace Awakening written by Chuck Swindoll and unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why It Matters written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.