The Reformed doctrine of Total Depravity rather necessitates their doctrine of Common Grace, or better, common graces. When I was in seminary I realized that most other Christians talked about life in terms of grace, whereas my tradition spoke about life in terms of God's Spirit. What are the benefits of each? What are important biblical frames for each? Against what was the Reformed doctrine of Grace reacting in the 16th century? Me? Because I reject the premises of Reformed theology I have other theological avenues by which to process life. Life is so magical! So personal! Why? Because of the omnipresence of God's Holy Spirit. But in the episode's opening I variously discuss: praying for the wounded, the care of my teeth (and a couple recent dental visits), rubbing respectable Christians the wrong way, Christianity and politics, and the amazing experience of watching philosphy books take incarnate form and springing to life. Come laugh and think with me!
The Uncensored Unprofessor
372 Ref. vs. Arm. (10) Grace: Common & Mundane
(upbeat music) Welcome to a little show about big ideas. (laughs) About life-changing realities. Realities like God's healing grace, soul-mending grace. Today I wanna think with you about grace, common and mundane and otherwise. But people, you're trapped in decades-long bitterness. There's grace. Families that are rent by prolonged resentment. God's grace can restore your soul. You see, we call ourselves Christians. And Bible-believing Christians espouse realities. Realities like the conquering of death. Listen to me, Jesus conquered death. This age, it's not all there is. The way things are now, they will not always rule. Why? Jesus is Lord, even over death. So yeah, it's a little show about big life-changing ideas. Ideas that stem from ultimate God-shaped realities. Hey, me, I'd love to mail you a UU coffee coaster and mouse pad, and in fact, I will mail those for every frankincense, $20 or more pledge at Patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N. You could have some mind-of-Christ thinkers gear next to you while you work, and they really are indeed sweet designs. So go to Patreon, sign up, make a pledge. I'll put that swag in the mail to you ASAP. Without any setup, will you join me in prayer? Praise you, beautiful God. Praise you, God of love. We worship you, eternal God of relationship, source of life, source of sharing. So today, Abba, we share abiding concerns. Please, Lord, do not forget the October 7 hostages. They've been in captivity, torture, starvation, sexual abuse for some 10 months now. Don't forget them. Please, Jesus, don't forget all the Ukrainian and Russian families who've lost brothers, sons, sisters, daughters, fathers. Oh, the horror of that needless war is great, Lord. Intervene, bless Simeon, saves Fettlana, morn, Lord, with Victoria. Bring your peace, peace in Israel, for Israel, peace in Gaza, for Muslims. And finally, Holy Spirit, breathe strength into those who suffer for your namesake. Visit them, shine through them. Be their souls secured, their sucker, shore them up. Don't abandon them. We ask all this to the majesty, glory, holiness, and love of your name, Jesus of Nazareth. Amen, amen. Across the last 10 years or so, I've been more intentionally taking care of my teeth. I keep those little flossing sticks in my car. I floss when I'm riding to the grocery store. So at my last semi-annual cleaning four weeks ago, he said my teeth and gums look great. He also gave me some tips about using my water pick, about how I should allow the toothpaste to remain on my teeth for two minutes to get a good fluoride treatment when I brush. Anyway, I left that appointment pretty happy. Then the Ozad day, I was sitting on the couch watching Copa America soccer football flossing. And, and, and snap. An upper molar snapped into my lap. - That's gross. - I know, right? I was not happy. Thank the Lord. I don't know, was it common grace? I was able to get in the next day to the dentist and have a crown put on. And while I was there, the dentist even chatted me up about the town of Strasbourg in France. The only area in, area in France that I've, that I've been to and I've been there twice, but man, thank you Lord for dentists and hygienists. Thank you for professionals who make our lives more bearable. My grandfather, he died of a stroke, partly induced by his really bad teeth. You, you kids out there, listen to me, you take care of your teeth now, you hear me? Last week, I left you some provocative questions. Was Jesus tame? Hmm? And then I asked, is it worse to judge evil or commit evil? Is it worse to assume evil intent on the part of evil doers or to ignore the evil done by evil doers? So today, here's a question for you. Have you ever rubbed respectable Christians wrong for following God? Have you ever rubbed wrong those with established Christian principles for saying yes to what God has for you? I'm getting this train of thought, this idea from Eric Metactus in his latest book, but the truth is the Christian tendency, no, the human tendency is to play it safe. Safety is often found inside of established principles, traditional ways of doing things, even inside established ethical principles. But have you ever rubbed respectable Christians wrong for following God? Has God ever asked you to do something you knew was his mission for you? But it was a mission wherein your obedience rubbed respectable Christians the wrong way and oh for goodness sakes, no, I'm not talking about purposefully sinning and then calling that God's will. Sheesh, there's way too much of that around. But Dr. Unun, it seems clear that God's will for me is to be stuck in these patterns of sin and I just don't wanna go against what God has for me now. No, no, I'm not talking about justifying your sin. I mean, have you ever rubbed respectable Christians the wrong way for following God's mission or call on your life? Me? Yes, I have. And it was no picnic. But I knew I couldn't any longer be true to Christ if I stayed where I was and respectable believers thought I was nuts. Aw, Ed. The safe thing to do is to stay put in your tenured slot. Come on, Dr. Ribby, stay here and try to make a difference for the institution. Work, work, work from the inside. No, there was no difference to be made. That's more clear to me seven years out than it was back when I was agonizing about what to do. My decision rubbed folks wrong. That Ed is so rash. Frankly, he's a pariah. If he had any wisdom, he would have just stayed in his own cozy lane. I'm asking you, have you? Have you ever made a decision to follow the Lord that resulted in people being rubbed the wrong way? What's my point? There are more important things than following the safe, stay in your lane Christianity. And a giant one of those ways is remaining faithful to the living God even when it doesn't make any sense. And please hear me. I'm not at all against traditional Christianity. I'm not against the church. I'm not against being called a Christian. No, but I am. I am against playing it safe. I am against the ostrich syndrome. I am against pretending to take a third way, a purportedly neutral way when really you just don't like conflict. I am against those who feign the high moral ground when they're really just afraid of what might happen if they took a courageous stand. For his part, Jesus wasn't tame and he doesn't call his followers to be tame. And that today brings us to culture and politics. Parents, are you teaching your kids about intersectionality? Are you teaching your kids about why politicians and educators and doctors want small children to have their sexual organs obliterated? Are you talking to kids and disciples about why there's such open hatred for wisdom and history? Yeah, we need to find a way to envision what might be unburdened from what has been. Are you talking to them about why there's such open hatred for the heteronuclear family in the middle class? Because it's amazing. It's amazing to watch ideas from philosophy books take incarnate form and spring to life. It's amazing to watch insights from the Bible spring to life. This is a spiritual war. Who is God, the God of the Bible? Who's God, the state? Holy God. And one last theological reflection on politics, may I? Thanks. I watched the Donald Trump Joe Biden debate back on Thursday, June 27th, 2024. And I saw Joe Biden bumble and mumble and speak gibberish for an hour and a half. It was really something to witness. But look, I knew he was struggling mentally even before he was declared the winner of the election four years ago, right? Right after he was declared to be 81 million Joe, I said he won't last two years in the White House. And some of you, you remember me predicting that. So we already knew he was intellectually challenged four years ago and watching the debate only made real again what we already knew to be true. And then last week, Thursday, July 11th, I watched intently 81 million, I watched 81 millions press conference, only took him about three minutes in to blurt out that his vice president was Trump. Now, honestly, 81 million Joe couldn't run a small town Spudlandia grocery store. So what on earth is he doing pretending to run the United States? But actually that's not my first concern. My first concern is that Joe's policies are wicked. His DOJ is arresting and imprisoning pro-life supporters. His DOJ is spying on Latin right Catholics. His policies are, his economic policies are crushing some 340 million of us. Cloud Piven, his open border policies are ruining our nation, collapsing our social welfare net, Cloud Piven. And please do not forget, read in the face, he mandated people violate their own bodies by having to get vaxxed with a seditious genetic concoction. Joe has the planet speeding toward World War III. Slow walking every war to maximize the profits of the military industrial complex. It's a, man, it's a long list. I won't bore you further there on. But my theological takeaway with all this, it goes like this, Psalm 35.8, let the wicked fall into their own traps, let them stumble into their own nets, and Psalm 141.10 repeats that, let the wicked fall into their own nets. And of course, all of that is, all of that's building on the Bible sweeping teaching, which has repeated, I'd be fun to see how many times I should look, pride cometh before a fall, stated directly in Proverbs 16.8, pride cometh before a fall. You see my listener. No, you hear my listener. The Democrats put Biden up for candidacy in back in 2019 because they wanted to avoid Bernie Sanders, the wildly popular progressive populist candidate back then. And they ran Joe Biden, even though James Clyburn then knew Joe was mentally challenged, they ran Joe Biden because they thought it gave them the best chance to be Trump. And still more? Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris so his ticket could better curry the favor of the black vote. Both Joe's candidacy and his diversity higher choice of Vice President Harris were calculated singularly in terms of power. But now, four years later, now when Kamala Harris' popularity polling is ranked lower than that of stammer and Joe, they are stuck with both of them. The Democrats, with only power in mind, with only their wicked and evil policies in mind, they made their bed. Or biblically speaking, they set their own trap. And now we're watching them stumble into their own trap. And I'm telling you, the next few months, weeks, the next few months, it's gonna be fascinating to see how they try to wriggle out of this one. Oh, come quickly, Lord Jesus. And if not, let the wicked stumble into their own nets. (upbeat music) Many un-un listeners live in SoCal, where I used to know them through my theology slot. And if you live in the Los Angeles, Orange County area, maybe you need a new roof on your home. You have a commercial business and that needs a roof. If so, I recommend Gallerini roofing to you. Licensed and insured, they've been in business for 35, more than 35 years. They do high quality professional courteous roofing work. They do repairs too. Get that repair fixed before it rains. Give them a call at 714-244-6567. That's 714-244-6567. You won't be disappointed. Gallerini roofing, today's sponsor of the uncensored unprofessor studio, today's theological theme. Are there different kinds of grace? (laughs) You mean, you mean like a amazing grace? Or grace at dinner? Or sweets at Prano's sister, Grace in the choir? Gosh, who knew so many graces? No, no, my orange polyester, shirted friend. You see, the Reformed think so. Arminians think so. Different graces for different people, different graces for varied contexts. And me, at the 30,000 foot level, I don't disagree, per se. But as a lifelong Pentecostal, I think of graces as giftings. Apostle Paul said there were many gifts, prophecy, healings, administrations, helps, faith, encouragement, leadership, peace, speaking in tongues, prayer intercessors, servants, courage, hospitality, teaching, many for this moment kinds of gifts from the Spirit, all flowing through the many members of the one body. So, God can pour out grace on communities and individuals and through circumstances because God is sovereign. But this divergence in vocabulary first struck me when I entered seminary clear back in the summer of '86. I remember sitting there in my shorts and hiking boots that I was trying to break in. This divergence of vocabulary first struck me that not everyone runs divine blessings or divine provision through the pneumatological lenses of my Pentecostal background. At a then sort of reform seminary, I heard other pastors, leaders in training talk about the work of God in terms of grace. Whereas my own Christian tradition referenced the activity of God in terms of the Holy Spirit, most all of those non charismatic folk spoke about grace. But because the Reformed and Arminian debate greatly involves grace or what kinds and when, I thought an episode on grace would be good. And maybe we should begin today by defining grace, right? Most people hear the word grace and immediately think salvation. And it's true, at an important level, grace is unmerited favor, especially the favored granted to us by God regarding salvation. It's a personal grace from God toward repentant sinners. And with that unmerited favor, God's grace comes to liberate our wills from sin and sinful interpretive grids, right? God's grace doesn't come to partner with sin. God's grace doesn't come to partner with sinful worldview grids, it comes to liberate us. But grace across the Bible is also divine aid, provision, the activity of God, the presence of God by His energy, His presence, His activity to bless and effect change, to heal, drive the mission. And again, in light of this series, the Reformed and Arminians theologize about grace. So today, let's think together about common grace. The esteemed Abraham Kuiper in the Netherlands was the first to coin the phrase common grace back in the 19th century. And just so you know, Arminius Hermanson did not embrace the notion of common grace, that concern, that question hadn't come up yet. No, in dwelling the Reformed tradition, Kuiper knew that there was an important semblance of peace visibly at work and life. People get along. Towns could accomplish things together, build things, work justice. Divergent people from divergent backgrounds seemed, despite their differences, to make things work, even to bring about a modicum of civilizational flourish. But how Kuiper wondered, how did this happen? After all, Reformed theology, the reprobate, the totally depraved, do not enjoy the grace of God, only in Reformed theology, only the elect enjoy God's saving grace. So how could good rational justice, how could rational things in justice happen among people who were totally depraved, darkened? And Kuiper's clever, and really, it's a biblically-sympatical answer, common grace. God out of his love for creation distributes grace, as he will, when he will. Totally depraved people stripped away from the presence of God by their sin. Again, Reformed theology. Totally depraved people are not able to do anything good. Their altruism is always masked. The good that they do is always for selfish and sinful motives, even if on the surface level, even if it appears that they're doing things for the genuine good of others, they are really operating out of some selfish motive. Maybe they want to seem good to others. Maybe they want to curry the favor of others from whom they seek esteem. Maybe they're covertly working angles, angles of power, angles of personal gain, broken soul soothing, depraved soul soothing, but, and the Reformed are staunch on this, the depraved, the reprobates, the non-elect, the depraved do not enjoy the presence or hunger or yearn or alignment of God. Certainly they do not enjoy God saving grace, but, because they are darkened souls, depraved souls, they can only do evil. Even if what they do seems like goodness, it isn't. Frankly, you guys, the Reformed perspective on this is very binary. It's a very binary theological perspective, a very binary scholastic way of looking at life. Kuiper was aware of all this, committed to all this. And so, God, to ensure that his creation survives and thrives, sends common grace. Again, following the lead of theologian Kuiper. You mean the Netherlandish leader Kuiper, right? No, but they're from the Netherlands, so they're called Netherlanders, right? No, they're called the Dutch. But I'm from Oregon and no one arbitrarily calls us the idiots. Well, that's not what I've heard, but we digress. May I continue? I suppose. I never thought to call we Oregonians the idiots. Well, my nasally friend, you know me. I aim to help. Following the lead of the Dutch theologian Kuiper, American professor, Louis Burkhoff, taught that there are still more nuanced layers of grace. He taught that there was something called universal common grace, a grace that extends to all creatures, right? I mean, that the sun shines on animals and thereby sustains bio's life, that's universal common grace. That water is plentyous to sustain life, that's universal common grace. The perfect measure of gravity makes it so we can walk on the earth without either being crushed or floating off into space. That's universal common grace. Or Burkhoff taught, secondly, there's general common grace, a grace that applies to mankind in general and to every member of the human race. So physical health, general common grace, the human capacity to figure things out, solve problems, general common grace. General common grace given to depraved people so they can live decent earthly biological lives. And then Burkhoff said, third, there's covenant common grace, a grace that is common to all those who live in the sphere of the covenant, whether they belong to the elect or not. And like, I guess this is the grace that spills out of Christ from the coming of Christ. The general blessings of Christ that flow both directly out of his own teachings, right? Practice the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And indirectly from the implications of his teachings, things that spill out of his teachings like human rights and the need for law and order and mercy ministries. But Burkhoff said, this grace, covenant common grace is not saving. It doesn't draw anyone to salvation nor can it save. So there are some reform presentations of grace. There you have it. And me, the historical theologian, I want to ask, why grace? Why frame the matter in terms of grace? Why not frame it in terms of persons or agency? Why not frame it in terms of the Holy Spirit through the book of Job? Why not following Genesis and oh, say Jesus make this about personal responsibility? About agency, about human attributes or about the wiring of creation? And the answer is because, because of the coming out of medieval Europe context for the reform. And that context had an enormous prior emphasis upon grace. The Roman Catholics, back in the 16th century, following Thomas Aquinas, who was himself building out from an Aristotelian framework, Aquinas believed grace to be a kind of divine substance. And God applied or instilled this substance in the sacraments, especially through the Eucharist. But when the Protestant reformers came along, they mostly rejected the notion of grace as an invisible substance. They mostly rejected Thomistic theology. Instead, following biblical portrayals, the Protestants presented grace as the favor of God and favor, especially in terms of legal, juridical forensic frameworks. The Protestants moved grace out of the realm of ontology, again as some sort of invisible but real substance and into the realm of the courtroom. Are we forgiven or not? Do we enjoy God's pardon or not? And sorry to continue here as the historical theologian, because I think it's important to see theology in its historical context, in his own massively influential theology, John Calvin emphasized God's majesty and sovereignty over God's love, right? We've seen repeatedly in this series that the Reformed, following the 16th century, Swiss pastor Calvin, we've seen a massive emphasis upon God's power and sovereignty. But the Reformed do that to the detriment both of both the portrayals of creation and Genesis and a biblical understanding of human agency. But I find it problematic for more reasons still. You see, Reformed, as I'm showing in this series, in Arminian theology too, Reformed theology emphasizes God's power to the detriment of God's love. And so, well, with power, the Reformers tended to conceive God as a master planner, a master predestinner, a master will-er, who in his pre-eternal decrees laid out all of reality and now just watches his plan unfold in space and time. The Reformed, and to some extent the Arminians, have a theology that rather naturally led a couple centuries later into deism. And no, no, no. Hear me clearly, I'm not asserting that Reformed theology is deistic, but that it's starting place, it's premises rather logically led in history to deistic projections. So, so then, what is deism? The notion that God, like a grand watchmaker, put all the pieces of the watch together, wound it up in his pre-creational decrees and now just sits back on his throne to observe how his master plan the watch, one pre-cast by his power, unwind itself and plays out in space and time. And in deism, God absolutely rules by power. And the Reformed, they emphasize the power, majesty, and sovereignty of God. And what, for them, what comes in to help us in this arena of power? God's grace, God's favorable power for us, but it's still about power, it's still about power, legal power, the power of forgiveness. And look, I wanna pause to say, this is indeed a coherent theological frame, the Reformed model. It's an important reason, a critical reason why it's being embraced today in different movements. There's coherency to it. But me, the you, you, because I'm not Reformed, I don't affirm common grace. It's not how the Bible ultimately configures daily lived reality. And again, you guys, to think like a thinker with you, once you reject the premise, other possibilities open up. And me, I reject the premises. I reject that this is ultimately about God's pre-creational decree. I reject that this is ultimately about God's power. And still more, I don't affirm total depravity. Now let's be careful, as I've said in past shows, I agree with total depravity that we cannot save ourselves. I agree that we're hopeless apart from the atonement of Jesus Christ. And yes, I agree that the penchant of the unredeemed soul is selfishness and even darkness. But no, I do not believe the unredeemed can only work sin. No, I don't believe that non-believers are always an entirely evil. Why? Well, because imageo day. We were created in God's image. The fall darkened our imaging ability, but it didn't destroy it, didn't obliterate it. We still reflect God, still mirror God. We still love our families. We can still make beauty. We still make beautiful music, still develop medical solutions, still seek to alleviate human suffering. Why? Imageo day. Doing all those things spills out of whom God created us to be in his image. And so even sinners are capable of relationship, capable of building, capable of blessing others, capable of love, always? No. No, of course not. Life is messy. Why? Well, the constant answer is human nature. And human nature is messy. And human, in persons in relation to Ozao persons, that's frequently messy. But here's the dillio. I don't need to affirm common grace. Why? People have agency. Created imageo day, they do things, shape things. They choose, they love, they reject, they affirm, and all of the billions of imageo days acting in relationship to one another, it can, it doesn't always, sometimes doesn't at all, it can weave together to produce goodness, beauty, and truth. I mean, at a mundane level, people filling potholes on the highway, that doesn't have to be the indirect grace of God, that doesn't have to be common grace. No, those pothole fillers are working out of whom God created them to be. Imageo days, agents, beings who bless God's creation. But what about the rain falling on the just and the unjust? Isn't that common grace? Well, not really. More accurately, that's a creation from God's love. God loves this whole creation. God hates nothing that he created. God established the boundaries for the oceans, out of love for both land and oceans. God established the fixed speed of light? Yeah, out of love. God set the speed of the earth's rotation. Love, yep, it affects the structure of time. God fixed the cycles and rotation of the seasons. Love, rest, growth, explosion, harvest, rest. God created human beings for the sake of love. Born of love, God created weak creatures capable of love. It was all born of love. But think with me, you guys, because the truth is the doctrine of total depravity rather necessitates the doctrine of common grace. What do you say? The doctrine of total depravity rather necessitates the doctrine of common grace. Because the Reformed believe the fall, utterly obliterated human goodness, they need a mechanism by which to understand the ongoing goodness and blessing of creation. Totes depravity needs common grace. Remember, monogism, monogism, God is in high in staunch Calvinism, the soul actor. So everything needs to be understood as directly, even as secretly, God's hidden will, remember, Luther, God's hidden will, everything needs to be understood as directly or indirectly stemming from the will and hand of God. But me, no, no. God, out of love, created space. Space for things and creatures to do what they were designed to do. God's not puppeteering every monarch butterflies flight. God is not, out of his hidden will, puppeteering every cruel and sadistic act ordered by North Korea's Kim Jong-un. God is not puppeteering every decision issued in Georgia by a righteous superior court judge, no. Out of love, God created, created creatures with their own true respective agency. Animals, they live and move and affect reality. Human beings too, we live and move and affect reality. We don't need common grace to understand things because we have the doctrine of creation. God created it to work. But God's not the hidden puppet master. He's not puppeteering everything. He's not secretly controlling everything or to quote the red hot chili peppers. This laugh is more than just a read-through. The last line in their song can't stop. We're not mere robots. We're not soulless robots who need daily doses of common grace to exist or get things done. Yes, thank you Lord that your mercies are new every morning. Thank you that you in your heart with you grace is greater than your judgment. But, hear me you guys. That's not the only reason I don't affirm common grace. And I'm going to try to make this next one quick. God is omnipresent. The Bible says that. Here's Paul thinking with philosophers and Athens from Acts chapter 17 starting at verse 24. God who made the world and everything in it. He who is Lord of heaven and earth gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. He's not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. How is God present by his power? Well, that's acceptable, yeah. Is God present by his pre-creational will? No, that's not at all how the Bible lays it out. Better still though, God is present by his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the Old Testament teaches and the New Testament reasserts through Christ. The Holy Spirit is the source of life. God's Holy Spirit is the fawn's vitae, Latin for the fountain of life. Class, please say fawn's vitae, fawn's vitae teacher, the fountain of life. Everything that lives lives by the agency and presence of God's Spirit. Wolfhart Panenberg from my series on the Holy Spirit, he taught that God's Spirit is the force field of life. Drawing from the Bible, he said that everything that lives does so through the gift and presence of God's Spirit. My listener, how often have you considered that? We are living in the being and presence of the Spirit every day, all the time. And no, no, no, that does not make everything to be God's Spirit. No, no, the Spirit is not to be confused with God's creatures. The Spirit's not to be confused with creation. To do that would be blasphemous. To do so would be to merge the creature, to do so would be to merge the creator, creature, distinction that the whole Bible refuses to blur. But we do live in him and move and have our being. The Spirit of God is the life-giver. The Spirit of God is the omnipresence of God for creation, for people. And you guys, if you've listened to me for any time at all, you know that I believe that life is magical. And it's magical because it's so mysterious. And it's magical because it's so unique and fragile and precious and complex and intertwined. And it's unique and precious because it's beautiful. And it's beautiful because it's the ever-breathed gift of God's Ruoc, God's Holy Spirit, God's own breath. All of reality has a personal quality to it that can only be expressed, expressed but not reduced, expressed but not exhausted. All of life, reality has a personal quality to it that can only be expressed by reference to God himself. That's what the Bible's saying to us from beginning to end. And God, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the field of life. So why does my rejection, theologically speaking, I don't mean, I don't really care in popular parlance, but my rejection of common grace matter, why does that matter? Why do I choose instead, creaturely, human agency, imago day coupled together with life in God's omnipresent spirit because it's more biblical. And frankly, it helps to account, like I say, for the mystery, the complexity, the wonder, the miraculous nature of life on earth, it's all a gift. So me, I respect the reform but I don't need common grace. Why? I'm a person born of Christ. Born? How? By his eternally-breathed spirit. The spirit is the life-giver. God's spirit is the source of goodness between people. The Holy Spirit is the driver of true justice inside of human communities. Now, let me leave you with this. Do you have to comprehend life through those lenses, my lenses, agency, creation, imago day, Holy Spirit? No, you can do life through an impersonal common grace. But I think agency and spirit is a more beautiful, more biblical perspective. And so, my today's thought piece, it's an offering to you. (laughs) Do what you want with it. Oh, may the love of Christ reign in your beautiful hearts. Until next week, everyone, please go and turn on your beautiful God-given brains. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]