Welcome to this space where I seek to interpret Scripture and the Christian faith accurately through the lens of history, and just maybe uncover some real-world applications even in this modern era.
Below, you’ll find the video recording of this week’s message, filmed from my home due to flooding in the Milwaukee area. This sermon is based on Isaiah 1:18–20 and explores one of my favorite verses in the Bible: “Come, let us reason together” — an invitation from God to think, question, and engage our faith with the mind He gave us. Watch the video here, then read on for the full message in written form.
Come, Let Us Reason Together
Hello, Shanna Bude coming to you today from my home, as I ended up getting kind of stranded here due to some flooding that happened in the Milwaukee area.
If you’re looking for how it is here, just Google images of the State Fair from last night. We had a ton of rain, flooded streets, flooded neighborhoods — it’s kind of a mess up here right now. But technology is a miracle and allows us to still come to you this morning, and at least record this sermon, which I went to the trouble of writing anyway.
Today, we get to talk about my favorite Bible verse. It came up in the lectionary, so I get to talk about it.
Of course, a lot of you probably know by now that just about every passage in the Bible becomes my favorite passage, verse, or story by the time I’m done reading it. But this verse might actually be it. If I had to choose one verse — if, for some reason, life itself depended on me choosing one isolated phrase from the Bible to be my favorite — it might, at least this year or so, be this verse.
I’m talking about the verse from our reading this morning from Isaiah. It is the phrase I used in my sermon title: “Come, let us decide, judge, rebuke, argue together.” It’s often translated, “Come, let us reason together, says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18).
Understanding the Prophets
To get the full weight of this statement and understand why it’s so impressive to me, it helps to know that it’s found at the beginning of one of the prophetic books — that list of long, hard-to-pronounce names at the end of the Old Testament.
It also helps to understand the function of the prophets in Hebrew culture. If you’ve read the prophetic books, you know they’re basically long, repetitive diatribes chronicling everything the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were doing wrong immediately before the exile — particularly Judah’s exile into Babylon.
They were well-deserved diatribes, perhaps, but still diatribes: rants, lists of grievances. And that’s fine — we all need a good lecture to get us back on track with our lives once in a while.
The prophets occupied the uncomfortable position of always having to be the parent. Always pointing out, “Hey, I don’t care if you’re the king and could behead me for this tomorrow — this behavior is not constructive. It is not helpful. It is outright evil. You are misbehaving. You need a timeout. And yes, if you continue, God will give you that timeout. And because you’re not a toddler, your actions have consequences — and the whole nation could go down with you.”
That’s the prophets. That’s Isaiah. And here, at the end of Isaiah’s first chapter, in the opening of his very long diatribe, we find this phrase: “Come, let us reason together.”
The Reasonableness of Faith
The reasonableness of faith — our faith — is what we’re talking about today. That’s why this verse is so meaningful to me. The faith we hold here in this church, the faith we profess in this particular religion, is reasonable.
I’ve said before that at my core, I am a rational person — the child of rational people. That’s why I bring history, linguistics, mythology, and science into my messages. These are needed to make sense of faith and Scripture rationally. And we are called to make sense of faith rationally.
My rational nature is also the reason I’m still here — still in the church — even as a minority in my generation. Yes, I’m here for community, ritual, and familiarity. But ultimately, I’m here because this faith, this story of creation, redemption, and salvation, is the only thing that makes rational sense to me.
Why My Generation Left the Church
Here’s something I’ve realized about my generation’s exodus from the church that might surprise people: we didn’t leave for rational reasons. Most think they did. But when you have the honest conversations, the reasons come down to emotion, not reason.
The three recurring emotions are boredom, fear, and anger — and I believe the number one reason was anger over the fear and the boredom.
We were taught to think about life emotionally: Follow your dreams. Do what feels right. Find your truth. These are emotional messages, not rational ones.
I’ve yet to meet an atheist convinced by the overwhelming rationality of atheism. The rejection of God almost always comes down to emotion. Just look at the most common “rational” objection: How can God allow bad things to happen? That’s an emotionally driven question.
Rational vs. Emotional Arguments Against God
That question assumes all sorts of things: that a good God should prevent evil, that God is morally obligated to shield us from pain, that free will doesn’t exist.
Take my recent dental work as an example. If I followed that reasoning, I’d say: “I believe in God. I’m in pain from dental work. Therefore, God must not exist.”
Or — more rationally — I could say: “I had deep cavities. I avoided the dentist for years. My diet hasn’t been great for dental health. Maybe that’s why I’m in pain.” Which of those explanations is rational, and which is based on an emotional desire to avoid discomfort?
When people ask, “How can God allow bad things to happen?” what they really mean is: “We feel bad when bad things happen, and we don’t like feeling bad. Therefore, God must not exist.”
Faith as a Rational Endeavor
In contrast to emotionally charged attacks on religion, faith is meant to be rational — especially in Christianity.
“Come, let us reason together,” says the Lord (Isaiah 1:18). Reason, decide, judge, argue — all appropriate translations. Let us engage with each other rationally.
The Judeo-Christian tradition presents God as the source of reason and logic, consistently tied to wisdom (Proverbs 9:1–6). Christians see this wisdom personified in Christ, “the Word” (John 1:1–14), the Greek logos — the root of our word “logic.”
So much of Jesus’s ministry was exactly that: reasoning with humanity. Many of His teachings and parables are essentially invitations to think things through.
The Freedom to Question God
Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow… If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword (Isaiah 1:18–20).
This isn’t about God being vindictive — it’s common-sense cause and effect. Choices have consequences.
The Judeo-Christian tradition does not forbid questioning or arguing with God. Abraham, Moses, Jonah — all engaged in direct debate with Him (Genesis 18:22–33; Exodus 32:9–14; Jonah 4:9–11). Sometimes God even invites it.
What the Church Got Wrong
For my generation, God’s invitation to reason was too often replaced with: Do not think for yourself. Do not argue with God. Here’s the list. Here’s the mold. If you fall outside it, you’re not a Christian.
That leads naturally to boredom, fear, and anger — because we are rational creatures designed to engage with God rationally.
Emotion and Reason Together
To be clear: emotions matter. Feelings should be considered whenever possible or safe. But emotion is not necessarily honest. It can mislead us.
The answer to God’s question, “Have you any right to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4), is sometimes yes, sometimes no — but we can only discern that through reason.
Emotion uninformed by reason is dangerous. And emotion alone is not a firm foundation for faith.
Thank you for joining me in this week’s exploration of Isaiah’s opening call to “Come, let us reason together.” It is my hope that this message encourages you to embrace both heart and mind in your walk with God, asking questions and engaging in thoughtful dialogue with Him. Find more sermons here and continue the journey of faith, history, and Scripture together.
