Sexual Content in Christian Fiction | Ep 8

Sexual Content in Christian Fiction | Ep 8

In this episode, we discuss Christian fiction and how sexual content can be incorporated into your faith-based stories. Although many Christian publishers and writers will tell you that there shouldn’t be ANY sexual content in your Christian fiction, there are ways to handle sexual content responsibility that will allow you to elevate your writing, build upon your character development, and create situations that can showcase not only temptation, but the ability to overcome it (or the devastating consequences of giving in to it). Links from the episode: Our website: https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com [https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com] David N. Alderman's website: https://www.davidnalderman.com [https://www.davidnalderman.com] Review for Black Earth: End of the Innocence: https://freebookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/02/black-earth-end-of-innocence.html [https://freebookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/02/black-earth-end-of-innocence.html]

Political Leaders Are Not Pastors, And Voting As A Christian | Ep 7

In this episode, we talk about the importance of voting, and how Christians need to remember that we are not picking a pastor, but a leader. We need to understand that political leaders are not spiritual leaders. Sure, political leaders can be of the Christian faith, but that doesn’t mean they are spiritual leaders. Politics is for the sake of the nation and for the sake of the citizenry, not for the sake of the nation’s spirituality. There are moments when these two things—spirituality and nationality—come together, but not always. The issue isn't that we need to vote for the ‘lesser evil’. We’re all evil. We’re all fallen creation, and we need Christ to redeem us. Not just once in our lifetime, but every single day. So who are we to point a finger at a man or woman and say that they are any worse than me? What we really need to do is look at our candidates motivations, and use discernment to determine whether or not said candidate has our best interests—and the interests of this country and this country’s future—in mind. Links from the episode: Our website: https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com [https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com] David N. Alderman's website: https://www.davidnalderman.com [https://www.davidnalderman.com]

Tolerance Is Not A Christian Virtue | Ep 6

In this episode, we talk about tolerance and how Christians have embraced tolerance in place of standing up for Godly virtues. Over the last decade, tolerance has become a trendy word. Secular groups throw it at religious groups, calling for them to be tolerant of their sins. Christians throw it around to other Christians—for the same reasons. People want others to be tolerant of their attitudes, their preferences, their entitlements, their behavior. Everything, really. Tolerance isn’t a new thing. Over the centuries, cultural activists usually make a wide call for tolerance right before they saturate the society with some previously fringe behavior or concept that they want others to accept. Links from the episode: Our website: https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com [https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com] David N. Alderman's website: https://www.davidnalderman.com [https://www.davidnalderman.com]

Divorce And Today's Culture | Ep 5

In this episode, we talk about culture's casual attitude toward divorce, what the church's attitude should be concerning it, and how one can heal from it. There’s speculation in today’s society of what the divorce rates in America are. Some say 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce. Some statistics try to show that marriage numbers are actually up and divorce numbers are down, watering down the negative statistics so that it’s actually not ‘as bad’ as everyone has been led to believe. Regardless of the statistics though, one only has to peer through the foggy windows into their friends’ lives to see that divorce is a very real—and very common—issue not only in society in general, but also within the Christian church. Links from the episode: Our website: https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com [https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com] David N. Alderman's website: https://www.davidnalderman.com [https://www.davidnalderman.com]

The Need For Modern-Day Discernment | Ep 4

In this episode, we talk about the importance of discernment, both in our personal lives and in our writing. Many think discernment is simply the ability to differentiate between good and evil forces at work in one’s life. Discernment can certainly be used to tell if something is good or evil, but more than that, discernment—in a spiritual sense—is differentiating between the nuanced right and wrong, using both Biblical knowledge and Godly wisdom. C. H. Spurgeon once said that, “Discernment is not the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong; rather, it is telling the difference between right and almost right.” In reality, humanity knows the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. You know it’s evil to kill your neighbor. You know it’s right to save someone who is stuck on the train tracks, about to be run down by a train. You know these things. Discernment though helps us in a more nuanced way. In many ways, discernment is a more complex way of looking at things, but it’s also a more natural way to look at things, because discernment forces us to look at things through God’s eyes. Links from the episode: Our website: https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com [https://www.thecrossoveralliance.com] David N. Alderman's website: https://www.davidnalderman.com [https://www.davidnalderman.com]