The Word Without Walls Podcast Professor Michael A. Eschelbach, Ph.D.

In this episode, a student asks questions related to prayer.  He struggles with prayer, and feels like he's just going through the motions.  He grapples with others talking about a "personal relationship" with Jesus, and wonders what that means.  We work through various aspects of his question.  Included in this episode are references to:
The Exegete's Prayer (Psalm 119:33-40) The Lord's Prayer as a template (see John 17) Red Pyramid and Green Arc perspectives.  You can listen more here, and read here.

In this episode, I continue from our previous episode responding to a question about language in the Book of Concord.  What new challenges do we face in our society that weren't there when the Book of Concord was written?  When we think about salvation, is one "out until one's in"?  Is that what the Book of Concord is saying?  How should any ideas about salvation begin?

As the study of baptism continues, this student's question is related to language found in the Book of Concord.  What is the Book of Concord?  Does a regenerate soul=faith/belief/trust?  Can you lose your regenerate soul?  

In this episode, we consider Romans 6 and Titus 3 as they both relate to baptism.  What does our anthropological view need to be as we read these passages?  Why is a three-dimensional worldview essential?  We take an in-depth look at these texts, clearly defining the terms we encounter.

As we continue to work through questions on baptism, today's are:
Can you lose the regenerate soul as you "mature", or if your heart becomes hard? What is instruction given before adult baptism?  As we discuss these, I talk about the Red Pyramid worldview and a Green Arc worldview.  Below are visuals that I reference in the episode.  

As we continue to work through questions related to baptism, one student asks how baptism relates to faith/belief/trust?  As we work through this, we define the terms faith/belief/trust.  We'll talk about different worldviews, including a Red Pyramid World, which you can view a visual of below.  What is the problem with thinking in this worldview?
 
Alternatively, we consider what happens when we look at a green arc worldview, with the Son of God at the center.  A visual of that is below.  What is faith/belief/trust in this universe?