This episode is not about winning an argument. It is about people.

Jonathan and Eric wrestle with how Christians talk about authority, obedience, and scripture when real people are caught in the middle. The conversation is sparked by the killing of Renee Good during an ICE operation, and by how quickly many Christians reached for Romans 13 to shut down grief, questions, and moral discomfort.

At the center of this episode is a simple but difficult conviction: every person is made in the image of God.

We talk about how scripture gets used to protect power instead of holding it accountable, why “just comply” is not a Christian ethic, and the tension between law and justice, order and mercy, and consequences and dignity. We also name the exhaustion that comes from watching fellow believers defend systems while ignoring the human cost.

If you have ever felt like you are losing your mind watching these conversations unfold, you are not alone. If you have wondered whether there is a faithful way to care about law and borders without losing your humanity, this episode is for you.

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Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons.

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Most of us were taught to see Christmas through the lens of Easter: Jesus was born to die for our sins so we could all go to heaven. The whole story points to the cross.

While that is true, it is not the whole picture.

So we ask a different question in this episode:

What were people celebrating before anyone knew how the story would end?

We talk about the good news Jesus announced from the start:

Hope for the poor.

Freedom for the oppressed.

Comfort for the brokenhearted.

A new kind of kingdom for people who were tired of carrying heavy burdens.

This episode is the side of Christmas many of us never heard growing up, and our hope is it changes the way you see Christmas this year.

If you want to believe there is still something good in the middle of all of *this* - this episode is for you.

The arrival of Jesus was never only about what would happen later. It was also about what he brought with him the moment he showed up.

Restoration. Hope. A place to belong.

Christ is born for you.

Merry Christmas everybody.

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Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It has been eight months since our last episode, and a lot has happened.

Jonathan and Eric sit down to talk honestly about why the break happened, how the last year has shifted their relationship with the church, and why speaking about faith in public has felt heavier than ever.

This conversation sits in the tension between loving the church and calling it out. We talk about grief, frustration, Christian nationalism, worship songs that hit different now, the fear of saying the wrong thing in the wrong place, and what it means to represent Jesus when the loudest voices in the American church feel so far from him.

Most of all, we talk about the people who feel stuck in the middle. The ones who still believe in Jesus but do not recognize the version of Christianity around them. The ones trying to love their neighbors when their churches are cheering for ICE raids and political power. The ones who wonder if they are the only ones who feel this way.

If that is you, this episode is for you. You are not alone.

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Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Less than 5% of podcasts make it to 100 episodes.

So forgive us if we take a minute to celebrate getting to this milestone.

In our super self-indulgent 100th episode, we take a look back at the impact our show has made in the lives of listeners over the last four years.

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Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons.

AI notice: our outro was created with Suno using AI

The intro theme song is used with permission from the artist. It's High School by 90's Kids.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We truly believe Christians can follow Jesus together while disagreeing on how we apply our faith to politics. We even believe we can disagree with respect and dignity.

But what's happening in our current culture is making it hard to love some of our neighbors around us.

And while it's the politics that we see on the surface, it's the outright mean-spirited nature driving those politics and the rhetoric around them that makes it so hard to love those neighbors.

This week we have an honest conversation about where we stand, why it's so hard to love them, and what it looks like moving forward in this climate.

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__________________

Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons.

Our intro/outro music was created using AI.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cancers usually grow inside you without you noticing they’re there. You often don’t even know they exist until it’s a major issue. That’s American individualism within the evangelical church.

In today's Evangelical Culture, many would see the Gospel-inspired collectivism of Acts 2 as socialism. We are at the point where the literal Pope had to speak up because American Christians were trying to redefine what loving your neighbor meant into a more individualist view.

This week we talk about how that's impacted the church as a whole and how even the most aware people have to take part in the blame.

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__________________

Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons.

AI Notice: our intro/outro music was made with Suno using AI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If we're honest, Jesus didn't make this easy for us. There were things he did and didn't do that make following him harder. There are things he still does today that don't necessarily make sense or feel good.

We're still going to choose to follow him despite those things, but if we're going to have an authentic relationship with him, we have to at least admit those things exist.

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__________________

Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons.

AI Notice - our intro/outro music was made by Suno using AI

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We hear a lot about thoughts and prayers in our culture. But if we're honest, prayer alone isn't enough. The single biggest way God chooses to work on earth is through the action - alongside the prayers - of people.

This week we talk about that reality along with how our prayer life should change the way we view the world as well as the things we care about.

And we play this season's favorite game: What unChristian executive order or policy statement was said this week?!

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https://www.threads.net/ericw712

__________________

Tension was called Unlearning Youth Group for the first six seasons.

AI notice - our intro/outro was made with Suno using AI.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.