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Responding to James Talarico’s theology · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good day.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today is Tuesday, March to the 10th, 2026.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Daily Article podcast from Dinnison Forum.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's Daily article is written by co-founder Dr. Jim Dinnison and narrated by Yurstruly, Chris Elkins.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Note, as the founder of a nonpartisan ministry, I do not endorse candidates or political parties.
• 0:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: My focus on the theological issues I will discuss today would be the same if the candidate in question was running as a Republican or an independent.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's news is understandably focused on Iran's new leader, the war there, and its implications for Iran, the Middle East, China, Russia, and the global future.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: With all of that, you probably wouldn't expect me to devote today's daily article to a response to liberal Christianity.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, as I wrote yesterday in explaining the worldview Texas-Sinitorial candidate James Tolerico is popularizing these days, the way Christians approach our faith and its relationship with the world is foundational to our understanding of the world and our role in it.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Haloriko, who is a Presbyterian seminary student and thus considered a viable scholar by some in the medium, is advancing his liberal version of Christianity with regard to abortion, transgenderism, gay marriage, and the claim that all religions, quote, point to the same truth.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: In response, I articulated the basic interpretive principle I utilized in my doctoral studies and taught in seminary classes and churches over the decades.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible can never mean what it never meant.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: This principle has been embraced by Christians across the vast majority of Christian history.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: How does it apply to the conversation before us today?
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's consider two principles, then we'll finish this discussion on Wednesday.
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: One, defend biblical truth with biblical compassion.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Before we look at specific issues, we should begin with this foundational fact, speaking the truth in love from Ephesians 4 vs 15 is our mandate as we engage others, whatever they're believed.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible commands us in Colossians 4 vs 6.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Likewise, Peter's admonition is the mandate that has framed every class in apologetics, methods of defending the faith.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have taught and every book I have written, quoting 1 Peter 3 verses 15 and 16, in your heart's honor Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yet, do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Every person you meet today is someone created by God in His image, according to Genesis 1, verse 27, and love sacrificially by Jesus established in Romans 5 verse 8.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: fellow Christians with whom we disagree on some issues, such as James Telerico, are nonetheless our sisters and brothers with whom we will share eternity referencing Revelation 7 verses 9 and 10.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Telerico himself states, I have met so many Hindus, Buddhists, Sikh, Jews, Muslims, atheist, agnostics who are more Christlike than some of the Christians I served with in the
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would not dispute his claim, but I'm saddened by it.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Magnum mistake.
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: From Romans 1, verse 16, we are mandated to declare the clear truth of Scripture, however unpopular it might be.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: But we should always declare the truth of Christ in the spirit of Christ.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: As the great evangelist Dwight Moody reminded us,
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Your life may be the only Bible some people ever read.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, the first principle is defend biblical truth with biblical compassion, to build on common ground.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus' familiar dialogue with a Samaritan woman in John 4 has always served for me.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: as a model for relational engagement, not least because John was not there to record it established by verse eight.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: He spirit obviously could have directly revealed the story to John years later, but it seems likely to me that Jesus told it to his best friend and beloved disciple affirmed in John 21 and tending it to be an example for generations to come.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here we discover three invaluable steps.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: First, take the initiative.
• 4:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: In our text, we find our Lord, a Jewish rabbi, meeting in public with a Samaritan woman.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: He knows that she has had five husbands and is now living with a man established in John 4 verse 18 and is thus so notorious.
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: that she is forced to draw water from Jacob's well at noon eight time during the heat of the day when few others would be there revealed in verse six from verse seven when she comes for water he asks her for a drink since he is a Jew speaking to a Samaritan a rabbi talking with a notorious sinner and a man conversing in public with a woman who is not his wife she is shocked
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: She would never have spoken to him, so he speaks to her.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: His initiative makes all that follows possible.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Second, begin with commonalities.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: The woman came for water, so Jesus began with water and led to living water reported in verses 13 through 15.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: He started with her physical need and
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: pivoted to her spiritual need.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: This was his pattern across his public ministry as he healed broken bodies, open blind eyes, cleansed leproslims, exercise demons, and raised the dead.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: All as a means to his larger mission declared in Luke 19, verse 10, the seek and save the lost.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: We can do the same with liberal Christians like James Teleriko.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: They focus strongly on poverty, injustice, and discrimination, so should we.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: They claim that the church should be active in seeking the common good and they're right.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, I disagree with some of the ways they seek to frame this engagement as I'll explain tomorrow.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But we can agree that Christians should be the change we wish to see then work to bring that change to culture.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, to effectively engage, first take the initiative, then establish common ground and third lead to the living Lord Jesus.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: In verses 25 and 26 of John 4, when the Samaritan woman stated that the Messiah will tell us all things, Jesus announced to her, I who speak to you, and he, she in turn invited her
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: village to meet Jesus, recorded in verses 28 through 30, and they came and believe that this is indeed the Savior of the world, blamed in verse 42.
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Christianity is about Christ.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: The purpose of all apologetics and cultural engagement is ultimately to lead people to the only one who can forgive their sins and change their hearts, recorded in 2 Corinthians 5,
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, we can win debate, but lose souls.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tomorrow, we'll focus on some specific issues James Taloreco raises, offering apologetic responses for biblical truth.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: For today, let's decide that we want to engage those who disagree with our faith.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's not be culture warriors for whom the other side is the enemy, but cultural missionaries for whom they are our mission field.
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then let's love them as we are loved and share God's word as an expression of God's grace, all the while praying for God's spirit to advance God's kingdom in their hearts and lives.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6 verse 10, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it isn't heaven.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a powerful way to help answer that prayer once so let a time