This Bad Cultural Advice Will Hurt Christians — A Biblical Response
Release Date: 02/24/2026
The Freethinking Podcasts
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info_outlineRecently, Theologian Dr. Darrell Bock gave a seminar to church leaders and pastors on engaging the culture and cultural intelligence. Slides from his presentation were posted on social media and, at face value, the verbiage is... problematic. Dr. Tim Stratton and Josh Klein are joined by Reverend Dr. Tom Barnes to discuss why this is concerning and to break down what we can and should do about it.
Full Disclosure: None of the three were at the event, so this commentary is meant to be directed towards the public-facing verbiage that could either a) be easily misconstrued, b) be misremembered in our current culture moment by people in attendance and applied using definitions based on critical theory rather than a biblical worldview, and/or c) were taught poorly in the first place and no explanation or nuance would make it better.
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The Theology of Voting Article referenced: https://www.freethinkingministries.com/post/theology-and-voting-loving-our-neighbors-at-the-ballot-box
➡️ CHAPTERS ⬅️
00:00 Introduction
05:11 Breaking Down the Slides
07:06 Embrace Empathy and Compassion?
20:31 Embrace Listening and Another's Story?
28:50 Avoid Zero-Sum Tribal Thinking?
36:23 The Gospel Offers Hope, Of course... AND
39:53 Are People REALLY the goal?
44:45 Satan's Goal is to Divide Us However He Can?
47:46 People as Image Bearers VERSUS What They Do?
54:30 The Race Conversation Been Hijacked by Sexuality?
1:01:10 Focus on Commonalities VERSUS Differences?
1:07:37 Tone MATTERS?!?
1:17:30 Satan's Goal Isn't Division, It's Destruction
1:21:11 Talk Less, Show More?
1:27:00 Why Biblical Definitions Matter When Talking About Flourishing
1:32:00 Truth and Love are Linked and Concluding Thoughts
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