The Case for Hope in a Year of Despair

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2022

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There’s not a lot making Americans hopeful these days. More than half of the country told pollsters last year that they were “extremely worried” about the direction of the country. One in 4 said that “nothing made them hopeful.” Their anxieties: politics, the pandemic, and inflation. This year, existing worries have likely been compounded by fears and anger over mass shootings, the war in Ukraine, sex abuse scandal cover-ups by church leaders, a massive drought on the Southwest side of the country, climate change inaction, spiking fentanyl deaths, and an explosion in homelessness.In the midst of this, why should Christians hope? Carmen Joy Imes is associate professor of Old Testament at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology. She previously joined the show to nerd out about the Bible in light of Donald Trump getting COVID-19 and controversy over the San Francisco school board seeking to drop the names of well-known Americans from their schools. Imes joined global media manager Morgan Lee to discuss what it looks like to practice hope in the midst of despair and how we move past Christian platitudes and flimsy one-liners to a robust faith in something greater than our present circumstances. What is Quick to Listen? Read more. Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow the host on Twitter: Morgan Lee Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced Morgan Lee and Matt Linder The transcript is edited by Faith Ndlovu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.1	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion. Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.
0:23.3	There's not a lot making Americans hopeful these days.
0:26.7	More than half of the country told pollsters last year that they were, quote, extremely
0:30.9	worried about the direction of the country.
0:33.6	One in four said that, quote, nothing made them hopeful.
0:37.6	Their anxieties, politics, the pandemic, and inflation.
0:42.4	This year, existing worries have likely been compounded by fears and anger over mass shootings,
0:48.6	the war in Ukraine, more fallen Christian leaders and sex abuse scandal coverups by church leaders,
0:55.3	a massive drought on the southwest side of the country, climate change in action, spiking fentanyl deaths,
1:01.4	a surge in crime, an explosion in homelessness. This is Christianity today's final,
1:07.5	quick to listen episode. We've launched a new news podcast called The Bulletin and we'll chat
1:13.0	with its host Mike Cosper in a little bit on the show. But before we head out, I wanted to ask a
1:18.5	question that I feel increasingly inclined to ask and that I'm struggling with, which is why should we
1:26.6	hope? We will be taking the time over the next
1:31.8	hour to ask what it looks like to practice hope in the midst of despair. How do we move past
1:37.3	Christian platitudes and flimsy one-liners to a robust faith? There's more to our present
1:43.0	circumstances than what we might be seen.
1:46.5	Today is December 1st, 2022.
1:50.0	You're listening to Quick to Listen, where we go beyond hashtags and hot takes to discuss a major cultural event.
1:57.5	I'm Morgan Lee, Global Media Manager at Christianity Today.
2:11.1	And hello, everyone.
	...

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