Tennessee's failed execution of Krista Pike, and the press coverage casting her as a victim, sets up a broader question: is capital punishment just? Michael and Wade argue that the death penalty, lawfully administered, is biblically defensible and good. They work from Genesis 9, Romans 13, and Acts 25, from Augustine and Calvin, and from the difference between public justice and personal forgiveness. They close with where the American church has muddled its thinking, and the hope that God will finally deal with every sin.

AI Generated time stamps

[00:00] Intro

[01:00] The Krista Pike failed execution

[03:48] Hanging requests, lethal injection, and the firing squad

[08:28] What Krista Pike actually did

[11:26] C.S. Lewis on justice versus "curing" criminals

[14:09] The case for capital punishment in a sentence

[15:35] How rare the death penalty has become

[18:58] Why justice must be speedy

[20:03] Wade's family connection to a capital case

[22:00] Made in God's image, we crave justice

[25:32] Corporal punishment, restitution, and prison sentences

[29:56] The death penalty in American history

[32:01] Public justice and personal forgiveness are not identical

[34:17] The ship captain whose son commits a capital crime

[37:02] Acts 25 and Romans 13 — the sword is not borne in vain

[44:35] Genesis 9 and the image of God

[46:21] Pit bulls, the tiger enclosure, and Harambe

[50:02] The Apostolic Constitutions and Augustine

[53:57] "You shall not murder" versus "you shall not kill"

[55:16] Calvin on the woman caught in adultery

[57:35] Sophistry: "How will killing stop killing?"

[60:15] Logs and specks: where the church has failed

[67:34] Reason for hope: God will deal with every sin

For questions or comments, send us an email at currentrealitypodcast@gmail.com.

Our church is Christ the King Church in Ft. Thomas, KY

The Current Reality Podcast is a resource of King's Domain

Resources mentioned in this episode

The Apostolic Constitutions

The City of God, Book I — Augustine

Commentary on John, Volume 1 — John Calvin

Exodus, New American Commentary — Douglas K. Stuart

Lex Rex — Samuel Rutherford

Follow us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/dmichaelclary

https://twitter.com/wadethomasjr

Michael's Book "God's Good Design" is now available everywhere

• God's Good Design: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Guide to Human Sexuality

• Loser Theology

  
  

Follow Michael’s writings

• www.dmichaelclary.com

Christian nationalism gets thrown around as a slur and a slogan, but almost nobody defines it. Dr. Joe Rigney joins Wade and Michael to say plainly what he means by it, where he parts ways with Paul Miller, Al Mohler, and Doug Wilson in the new 5 Views book, and why Abraham Kuyper's famous "every square inch" was, in his read, loud shouting that covered a retreat. The conversation closes on the Lindsay Clancy trial and the untethered empathy that makes a society unable to name evil.

AI Generated time stamps

[00:00] Intro

[00:29] Why Christian nationalism, and who the secret guest is

[01:41] Joe Rigney defines Christian nationalism

[05:06] Paul Miller, natural law republicanism, and the two tables of the law

[07:52] Test cases — the Hindu statue in Texas and Obergefell

[12:21] Rigney and Doug Wilson on general equity theonomy

[14:29] Kuyperianism, and why "every square inch" covered a retreat

[18:28] How Doug Wilson and Tim Keller both claim Kuyper

[20:28] One Lord, two kingdoms, three institutions

[26:28] Prudence and statesmanship in applying the principles

[31:01] Abolitionism versus smash-mouth incrementalism

[32:54] What a Christian town would actually look like

[36:40] Al Mohler's Baptist case for Christian nationalism

[39:37] Is this moot, and what is wrong with a neutral public square

[45:51] Christendom's long run versus seventy years of secularism

[49:32] Western civilization as the prodigal son

[52:02] The Lindsay Clancy trial and female social contagion

[56:13] Untethered empathy and the victim you can see

[60:51] "The system failed you" — blame that lands on nobody

[63:27] Standing before God when the excuses run out

For questions or comments, send us an email at currentrealitypodcast@gmail.com.

Our church is Christ the King Church in Ft. Thomas, KY

The Current Reality Podcast is a resource of King's Domain

• 
  

• Resources mentioned in this episode

  5 Views on Christian Nationalism

  The Case for Christian Nationalism — Stephen Wolfe

  Leadership and Emotional Sabotage — Joe Rigney

  
  

  Follow us on Twitter

  https://twitter.com/dmichaelclary

  https://twitter.com/wadethomasjr

  Michael's Book "God's Good Design" is now available everywhere

  • God's Good Design: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Guide to Human Sexuality

  • Loser Theology

    
    

  Follow Michael’s writings

  • www.dmichaelclary.com

  
  

Michael and Wade set the usual topical format aside and walk through what is actually going on in their ministries and homes. Michael talks through the release of Loser Theology, what he learned about how Christian publishing really works, and the launch of Christ the King's School of Ministry with 23 men in its first class. The back half turns pastoral: why so many young moms are carrying anxiety and depression, whether a life of comfort has made all of us more fragile than we are, and how conservative Christians end up dividing over food, clothing, and other secondary matters.

TIMESTAMPS

[00:25] Life updates episode — the format and the plan

[06:59] Loser Theology — the new book and where it came from

[10:24] Willie Rice's endorsement and the risk it carried

[13:58] How Christian publishing actually works — proposals, edits, and rejection

[17:26] Why Canon Press, and what a publisher signals about a book

[21:28] The next book — nine questions on women in the church

[23:34] School of Ministry — what it is and why it is men only

[26:51] The 20-year vision: four church plants in the Cincinnati area

[29:21] Training pastors in a local church versus at a seminary

[31:36] 23 men enrolled, cohorts, and a three-year commitment

[33:02] Starting something similar at a smaller church

[35:14] Fall ministries — city groups, Sunday school, Raising Oaks

[39:22] Michael's family — kids growing up and the last first day of school

[41:36] A great-grandfather at 102: "I started all this"

[46:30] Wade's household — seven kids and teaching New Testament Greek

[48:37] Adoption update — walking after surgery and physical therapy

[51:45] Star Trek, Twilight Zone, and Narnia as discussion fodder for kids

[55:42] Pastoral care — anxiety and depression among young moms

[58:27] Comfort, idleness, and having more time to think about ourselves

[60:41] Why talk therapy can make the problem louder

[63:30] The 200-years-ago thought experiment

[66:04] Where the church under-challenges women

[70:28] Naming the things you feel entitled to but are not

[73:05] A time inventory, and a sign that reads "every second counts"

[75:11] Porn use among men, and what AI is about to make worse

[76:29] Crunchy convictions versus legislating what other people eat

[80:46] Yoga pants, virtue signaling, and provocation as the point

[83:01] Romans 16 and the man who causes dissension

[84:26] The annual conference returns after a year off

For questions or comments, send us an email at currentrealitypodcast@gmail.com.

Our church is Christ the King Church in Ft. Thomas, KY

The Current Reality Podcast is a resource of King's Domain

Follow us on Twitter

https://twitter.com/dmichaelclary

https://twitter.com/wadethomasjr

Michael's Book "God's Good Design" is now available everywhere

• • God's Good Design: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Guide to Human Sexuality
  • Loser Theology

• Follow Michael’s writings

  • www.dmichaelclary.com