Rev. Phil Snider, LGBT Rights & Going Viral [CultureCast 11]

Great show again!Seeming you mentioned call me maybe for the 7th show in a row I thought this little parody video would be appropriate.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbKQvdLDAic&feature=g-logo-xit

Christian - love the show, thanks for having a hometown preacher on Homebrewed.  Kudos for being the first media to get to interview him.  I am a hyper critical individual who has a flaw for pointing things out to folks, so:  Christian, I say this because I know you, and I'm not saying Jordan doesn't do the same thing, but...it seems like every time you said "lesbian" in the conversation about Subarus you were a little self-conscious about how lesbians would take it.  It's like that kind of embarrassed, slightly mumbled, or a pause before, or a clearing your throat afterwards. Also, not a fan of the special kid/helmet "joke" about Jordan's friends misunderstanding of mortal combat. (see http://specialolympicsblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/an-open-letter-to-ann-coulter/) But don't forget, I love you, I love the pod cast, and I love your writing and I'm thrilled you now "have to" do what you love.

I'm one of those Dutch Reformed, specifically coming from the Christian Reformed Church and Calvin College. I grew up in this tradition and would say that, in my church in Canada, there has never been any talk about the elect except insofar as that we are all uncertain of what will happen to us after death. There are very few at Calvin College who believe in double predestination anymore, and people here tend to grapple onto other aspects of the Reformed tradition.

That means we love talking about total depravity, but that does not mean that humans are incapable of good but that all of our actions are affected by sin (or, as I like to put it, imperfection). The biggest emphasis here, though, is that all of life is under God's sovereignty. Humans are not the center of the universe, God is, and we are partners in God's work of redeeming the creation and awaiting the final reconciliation of all things. The way the Reformed tradition is used here tends to be more emphasizing the universal faults--and universal good--in all people and indeed in everything. We do have people here like James K.A. Smith who is still working in the Calvin/Abraham Kuyper tradition but we also have professors like Kevin Corcoran (a Christian materialist) and others, particularly in the history department that I call home.

I am not a Calvinist myself (I go to Quaker meeting every week if that says anything about me), but I think Calvin, despite the many, many mistakes he made, has produced one of the most active and valuable Christian traditions we have. Paul Capetz is a figure I find helpful understanding how we can take inspiration from Calvin in trying to constantly reform ourselves and our churches. There are huge problems, but the Reformed churches are not alone in having issues we need to work out.