In the final podcast in the capital punishment series Steve discusses punishment, retribution and hell in light of "God is love". Can Christians legitimately believe in retributive punishment and a loving God? And finally, what is the responsibility of Christians to those on death row?

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Is the death penalty really a deterrent? Is there a need to kill evildoers if we can keep society safe through the prison systems? Is punishment a primitive concept not fit for modern enlightened society?

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This week Steve discusses the woman taken in adultery, would Jesus "flip the switch" on the electric chair, and should evildoers be given life in prison in hopes that they will eventually repent?

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Why does God allow imperfect and fallen human beings make life and death decisions? Have Christians permitted the atheists to define our doctrines? Who has a greater problem justifying being against the death penalty, the Christian or the atheist? What does iconography have to do with the death penalty? All this and more...

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What are the pitfalls of a "Christian State"? Can or should the State govern according to the Gospel? Can "forgiveness of enemies" be a valid principle of civil order? What do the Fathers of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches say about the relationship of Church and State in regard to civil order and capital punishment?

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In Part 3 of the series, Steve begins a discussion of the Church and State. How do we view Judaism as a theocracy? Is Jesus anti-death penalty? What is the purpose of civil authority? Is the State constrained to function on the level of the Gospel and should it?

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In the second part of the series Steve discusses the Flood as the dividing line in human history in regard to the meaning of death, fear and capital punishment. Did the Mosaic Law abrogate the covenant with Noah? What do the atheist and the Christian have in common in regard to capital punishment?

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Steve begins a four part series on "Capital Punishment". In Part One he chronicles his work with emotionally disturbed children and the beginning of his shift from radical pacifism to a reconsideration of the death penalty.

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What REALLY happens when the wife is gone for ten days and the husband realizes he has 24 hours to prepare for her homecoming? Listen to Steve give away the "man secrets" and why cleaning house is a part of our salvation.

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I had to put one of my dogs to sleep. He was young, healthy but had been abused. He started biting visitors to our home. I was confronted with the question, "What does love demand?" When our pets die, or we have to kill them, what do we tell our kids? What do we do for closure? Do our pets go to heaven?

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In the seventh podcast from the road trip to St. John's monastery, after a long day Steve reflects on the meaning of work, family and death and their relationship to our salvation.

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When a married man spends three weeks at a monastery, sometimes delusions can begin to set in. Who is more holy, the monk or the married man (or woman)? Listen in on Part Six of the "On the Road" series as Steve reflects on the monastic life and married life during his recent stay at St. John's Monastery.

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In part five of the "On the Road" series, I stopped in front of whore house in the middle of the Nevada desert. Sex and death are inextricably intertwined in the human being. That is why the Playmate Ranch is the perfect icon of our fallen humanity.

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This is the fourth podcast of the "On the Road" series. As I was driving through Las Vegas I saw two billboards, one for a Church and one for a casino, but they were really saying the same thing.

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This is the third podcast in the "on the road" series while I'm travelling through the desert on my way to St. John's Monastery. In this episode I make a stop in Death Valley. What I find in the desolate desert of Death Valley is a metaphor for the fallen human being in the image of God.

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This is the second podcast of a series recorded while travelling through the deserts of Arizona and Nevada to St. John's Monastery. Something caught my eye and I stopped. This is what I found about 80 miles from civilization.

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Steve the Builder is on the road. Join me on my trip to St. John's Monastery in Manton, California where I will be working on their new Church for the next few weeks. I just traveled through about 1,000 miles of desert and stopped at a lot of interesting and sobering places along the way. Companion pictures for this podcast and more from the trip are on my blog at http://pithlessthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/05/in-desert-of-sorrow-and-sin.html.

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In the movies when we hear silence in a darkened house, something dies. Spiritual silence is entering a dark place...but what happens if we are brave enough to shut off the noise?

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The Resurrection and the events that led up to it confronts the world with a reality that both the atheist and the Christian agree upon. Christians would do well to listen to the atheists who preach half the gospel more faithfully than some Christians do. But whose faith, in the end, brings hope?

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In Holy Thursday's afternoon liturgy, we promise in the prayers before Communion, "Neither will I give Thee a kiss as did Judas". And that evening we hear the Gospel. The sum of our life says we've lied.

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When you have no choice, what will you choose?

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Is the sign of being a good Christian a chipper personality, a happy "gladness in the Lord", and a positive outlook on life? The answer is in Matins and the Song of Solomon.

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How does a seminary graduate end up owning a construction company and what happens when you take the gospel into the "real world" of business?

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What do 1959 Cadillacs, dog houses, rabbits and Congress have to do with the philosophical spirit of the age? Find out as Steve discusses ten things you cannot say as a moral relativist... but wait! THIS podcast goes to ELEVEN!

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The gospel of relativism is preached everywhere, at all times, and by all. It shows up in the most inconspicuous and subversive places.

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How we close a door is a measure of our spiritual life.

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Science and Hans Christian Anderson have one thing in common: They both deal in fairy tales...except one of them tells us the truth.

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Who do you see on the street corners? Or do you even look at them? When we avoid eye contact with the homeless, we are avoiding looking into the face of Christ and at our own faces.

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When we look at human beings what do we see? More importantly, are we willing to see ourselves?

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With all the discussion of carbon footprints and the human impact on our planet, has environmentalism become the new paganism of the 21st Century?

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Toyota's latest ad campaign claims that their new dealership changes EVERYTHING. Perhaps it could have, but someone beat them to it a long time ago.

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In this podcast Steve gives a simple way to get to know someone quickly: take them out for dinner. He discusses how both CEO's of international corporations and the scriptures tell us that how people treat waiters and waitresses says volumes about their personality, ethics and spiritual life.

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In his first episode, Steve reflects on fish, turtles, Disney, life and death.

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