Interview with The Reformed Dissenters at Fight Laugh Feast conf 2022

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Introduction to the Reformed Dissenters

All right, and welcome to the Here I Stand Theology podcast. So for our first interview at the Fight, Laugh, Feast Conference, we have the reformed dissenters. Don't be deceived by their youth. They are wise beyond their years.

So, guys, we are glad to have you all with us today again as our first guest at the conference. All right. So we've got William Chrisman with us down on the end. Say hello, William.

Hello, William.

So, guys, introduce yourselves to us. Tell us who you are and we'll go oldest to youngest.

All right. Sounds good. My name is Bruce Johnson with the reformed dissenters. And I'm from Pennsylvania. Originally live in Rapid City, South Dakota right now.

So we. Yes.

Hi, I'm Jacob Johnson again with the reformed dissenters. I again, we we all grew up in Pennsylvania. So and I'm still currently in Pennsylvania. Haven't moved out yet. Yeah, of course. Unfortunately, we like to stipulate that on the show, that it's an unfortunate predicament that we're still in Pennsylvania.

But I'm hoping to move at some point. But yeah. Awesome.

Well, guys, so I mentioned it to you. You didn't know what the question is, but I'm going to go ahead and ask it. It's a question we ask all of our first time guests. It's hard for me to talk to you back this way.

So just just pretend like I'm talking to you right here on the screen. Right. So we've got a question we ask our first time guests. It really sets the tone and the mood for the podcast. And with you all being brothers, I think it's especially an especially poignant question.

So if the two of you had to arm wrestle, who would win?

OK, see, that's a good question.

So I'm a software engineer for a living.

He's a chef. I'm a chef.

So I think the answer is pretty obvious. I'm older, but he's definitely stronger. I think he probably will win.

Wow. So the older brother relents to the younger brother.

I know when I'm when I'm beat. Yeah. Even before it started, I know what I'm beating.

Yeah. Well, guys, again, thank you for being on with us. So let's let's get right to the heart of the matter. Let's let's have you introduce yourselves to our listeners. Who are the reformed dissenters?

Biblical Worldview and Reformed Identity

What is what does it mean to be a reformed dissenter?

Well, that's a great question. You know, we always start out the show by saying we're reformed Christians who dissent against popular ideas of culture by asserting a biblical worldview. Yeah. So you can dissent against things and you can disagree.

But you have to make sure that what you reassert in its place is a biblical worldview. So that's our entire show is we dissent against popular ideas of culture and reassert a biblical view.

And and we have the understanding that everything has to be in the beginning. God, everything has to start with God. Everything has to end with God. And he is the beginning and the end. And everything must be understood through that lens.

And and we really want to stipulate that our show is not it's not something that you come to to find truth. No, we're not the ones who define truth. We're the ones who try and direct you to where you can actually go and find truth.

That is fantastic. William, do you have a question you'd like to ask the guys?

So how long have you guys been reformed?

Oh, I think our whole life. I cannot remember a moment where kind of kind of our whole life.

Yeah, I would I would say I have memories of when we were like five years old and in our in our car rides and stuff, memorizing the five points of Calvinism that our dad would always go over. Like, so exactly.

Exactly. So, yeah, again, I all our lives is probably the right answer to that.

Question. It sounds like you have good parents. We do. And they are they are sitting right beside us. They're right on the other side of the car.

Yeah. Yeah. All the way.

We really appreciate them. Praise the Lord. That is awesome. That is wonderful. So on your podcast, how many how long have you been podcasting?

Podcast Origins and Episode Highlights

Feels like forever, but it's only been a little over a year. We started July twenty twenty one. And I think our first episode, we've started really putting it together. June twenty twenty one, a little before that was really right after we went to the Philadelphia conference last year, last April twenty twenty one, when we kind of got the idea for a Christian Worldviews podcast and show and then put it together.

And our first episode went live in August.

So and how many. It was unbelievable when we overheard you talking about. How many episodes have you done already?

I think we're. What are we at?

One hundred and six. Yeah.

We just we just recently did our one hundred and six or one hundred and eight. I think we almost got up to a hundred and eight, but I know we're at least over a hundred now. But but that's because we're doing an episode three times every single week.

So really, once we started doing that, the just the numbers started to skyrocket as to how many episodes we actually had.

They build up quick, don't they?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

So out of all those episodes, what would you say is your all's favorite episode that.

You've done thus far?

Oh, man. I mean, that just was pure joy doing it.

We've had so many great guests on the show. We've had my pastor on the show. We've had Gary DeMar on the show. We have my dad and my mom on the show. And my mom talked about Christian education and homeschooling.

And my dad talked about presuppositional apologetics and Greg Bonson's books.

So it's so hard to pick a favorite.

Probably one of the top ones would be the Gary DeMar episode, just because of the amount of content that he produced.

It's incredible. And the interesting thing is, is that that very episode, I was not a part of because I think we were traveling back from South Dakota. So I wasn't on that on that episode.

You were just visiting your brother and he got one up on you.

Exactly. Exactly.

So I would say and this is very interesting. So our favorite episodes are two completely different ones. But my probably favorite episode is which in one that we had our mom on our podcast and she was talking about biblical homeschooling and how important homeschooling is.

So I think that one was not only was it fun for us to do because it was our mom. We always play off of our mom very, very well.

Wonder why?

No. Yeah. It's like we've known her our whole lives. It's like we were raised by her.

It's as if.

Yeah, right.

But but she also brought up some very, very good points and stuff. And it was something that a really great episode. I feel that's awesome.

Controversial Episodes, Censorship, and Calvinism

All right. So out of all those episodes, what would you say? And this is the Here I Stand Theology podcast, right? This is our podcast. We can say what we want. If you two don't like it, so be it. Somebody else don't like it.

So be it. So we're not trying to sanitize this. Right. So I'm going to ask you this question. Just answer point blank. Your three top three top most controversial episodes.

Oh, that's a good question. My goodness. There have been so many. We had YouTube delete three of our videos. So I would say maybe those are at the top. YouTube kind of picked some of those out for us.

So what were those on?

Well, the first one they removed was on. And, you know, I always say big President Biden still can't call him President Biden because that would be a lie.

That really happens.

So there's that one. And then one episode.

When was it?

There was this horrific headline. Kids were actually being paid to be for specific vaccines in America. This was happening in America. Wow. And we brought it to light through one of the episodes on our show.

And they recently removed that episode. Oh, that was just insane. So that gave us an opportunity. Our aunt is a nurse. So we had her on the show one episode and she did a lot of research on, you know, the vaccine and ivermectin and all of that.

So obviously those episodes get taken down pretty much immediately.

But because we're we're we're supposed to trust the experts. When it comes to the experts that don't agree with them, then you're not supposed to listen to them.

So there's two. What's the third?

Oh, that's OK.

So we have one episode and we we preface this because we have a very wide audience. So we have a lot of people. We're called the reformed dissenters, but we actually get a lot of Armenians. We get a lot of people from a lot of theological on the theological spectrum.

So one of our episodes, we were going through Mother Kirk by Doug Wilson this past month. Yeah. We always go through a different book every month or every two months. And so going through a mother Kirk, we got to the show.

And so we were like, all right, brace yourselves.

Here we go.

Hold on. We're just like, all right. It was in the book. So so we covered Calvinism. We also covered pedo baptism. And I'd say those are probably two of our most theologically controversial episodes.

So from your from it was that from a YouTube perspective or just your listeners?

That's from a listener's perspective. OK, so I feel like there's multiple tiers. You know, you've got YouTube, you've got big tech, and then you've got you have to deal with the Christian community, too.

That's right.

The unfortunate fact is that we we encounter the same sort of censorship in the Christian community that we do. Elsewhere, all these people who don't agree with, you know, what Doug Wilson's doing and they're just, you know, seething with betrayal.

And it's like, OK, well, why not?

Give me some specifics.

And they can't.

They have no specifics.

They just know they don't like the guy. Yeah. It's like, well, why?

Exactly.

You encounter that on so many levels. It's the strangest thing.

So on the on the episode with Calvinism, what was it your listeners had the biggest problem with?

Well, you know, it's funny you should mention that, because we we actually were bracing ourselves for that. And we didn't get as much backlash as we thought we would.

Well, that's good.

Yeah, it was it was received rather well.

You should have because it's biblical.

Yeah, exactly. So we thought, yeah, yeah. So we really haven't had that much backlash. Cool. It was really good. But I know that's when we were definitely prepared for.

All right. Here we go.

You know, jumping into the into the void here.

Yeah, well, William, we had any more questions for the guys.

Podcast Mission, Christian Worldview, and the Great Commission

So what would you say your goal is of your podcast?

That's a great question. Yeah. I mean, we kind of reassert the broad overarching goal at the beginning of the episode where reform Christians we dissent against popular ideas of culture by asserting a biblical worldview.

So, you know, the Christ Church motto is all of Christ for all of life. That's basically, you know, our we have a shirt. Oh, yeah, it's right here. It's apply all of scripture to all of life. This is one of our special edition T-shirts and it's go.

Therefore, you know, Matthew 28, make disciples of all nations. And how do you make disciples of all nations? What does it look like for a nation to be discipled? Yeah. So few Christians know what a real Christian worldview looks like.

How are we supposed to make disciples of nations if we're not disciples of Christ first? So giving people resources to study new books, to study passages in the word of God, to study, to develop a comprehensive Christian world that they can take and transform societies with.

Yeah, I would I would say along the lines of what you were saying about comprehensive Christianity and that my our goal is to sort of help people understand what actually comprehensive Christianity is supposed to look like and what applying all of scripture to all of life is supposed to look like.

And really, I would I was going to say that I think the goal of the show is Matthew 28 and the Great Commission is to go. Go therefore. And and really we're trying to bring that up. And what what that looks like, what our goal is in trying to what it looks like to have comprehensive Christianity in all areas and not just not just in your own personal sanctification, but in family sanctification, cultural sanctification.

Yeah. Family sanctification, church sanctification and governmental sanctification. So really making sure that here in view is here. So, yeah, that's what I would say.

Well, that is wonderful, guys. So that shirt there, where can our listeners go to to find that shirt, to get that shirt and to have it shipped to them?

Well, great question. Thanks so much. The website is TRDShow .net stands for the reformed centers, TRDShow .net. And we've got all sorts of stuff on that website. We've got a referral program. So if you want to get this shirt that I'm wearing, which is our standard edition T-shirt, if you want to get this for free, you can by joining our referral program.

You refer I think it's 25 people and you get a free T-shirt.

We also have free mugs, free stickers. Very cool.

TRDShow .net slash refer. Yeah, all that stuff is on our website, our newsletters there. All sorts of stuff.

Well, guys, thank you so much. Thank you for taking the time to come over and to talk with us. This is this has thoroughly been enjoyable. And I mean it. I told you personally one on one a few minutes ago.

But it is very so refreshing to see young people that not only know what they believe, but why they believe what they believe. So, guys, Godspeed to you.

Likewise. And we hope to have you on the show sometime to look forward to it.

Thanks.