Restitutio

Have you ever heard the expression “a smoking gun”? It comes from an earlier era of guns when black powder produced a good cloud of smoke each time someone fired the weapon. Originally a smoking gun referred to a situation when someone was caught with the weapon in hand, still emitting smoke. The implication of this is not just that the smoking gun is evidence of the person’s guilt, but that such is conclusive and undeniable evidence.

Today were going to consider the topic of bias in our English Bible translations. I’m going to present to you four independent grammatical smoking guns of Trinitarian mischief in evangelical translations. In each case, rather than rendering the source language into the target language, we’ll see how translators tweak the translation to support the personality of the holy spirit.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

This talk was originally presented at a Unitarian Christian Alliance (UCA) event held at the Cantebury Christadelphian Ecclesia in Melbourne, Australia on March 21, 2026. Thanks to the Christadelphians for providing a venue and giving me access to the recording.

—— Links ——

Download the slides from this presentation

Read the article that inspired this presentation

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Today is our last episode in our Restoration Theology class. Believe it or not, not everyone thinks restorationism is great. In fact, most Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, are against restorationism, preferring the confessional approach.

Have you started to face objections and dismissive language when you talk to others about restoration theology yet? If not, you will. Today, I want to familiarize you with the kinds of criticisms they make against us and give you some thoughts on how to answer them.

Then we’ll transition our focus to consider three advantages of restorationism, including that it provides a stable identity, a way forward for unity, and evangelistic opportunities. In the end, I believe restoration theology is not just an excellent way to evaluate your beliefs; I believe it’s also the key to changing the world!

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Register to attend the Will Barlow vs. Samuel Nessan debate on whether Jesus is Yahweh

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Today is the capstone episode of this entire class on Restoration Theology. We’re going to put together what we’ve learned so far into a twenty-question diagnostic. The purpose of this method is to evaluate any Christian belief or practice. You can use it on your own doctrines to refine what you believe, or you can apply it to others.

In what follows I’m going to run through the method a total of three times. First, I’ll simply list off the twenty questions. Then I’ll take two theological books and run through the method twice more. My hope is that once I’m done with this, you will understand how to use the diagnostic.

Ultimately, my prayer is that this method will provide Christians from all kinds of backgrounds a more systematic and comprehensive approach to figure out what to believe. This method is how we do restoration theology–how we restore authentic Christianity. I hope you will find it helpful.

Here’s a link to the twenty-question diagnostic.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

About a year ago I was listening to a podcast that said black plastic cookware comes from recycled electronics. Such plastics are loaded with chemicals like fire retardants and should not be used in cooking. I was thinking about the black plastic spatula our family used regularly. I imagined how each time it was heating up, bad chemicals were leeching into our food.

This information caused me to doubt something I had never thought of before. I did some looking around online and found that there were other options. There are metal spatulas, silicone spatulas, and even wooden spatulas. I weighed the merits of each and purchased one. When it arrived by mail, I threw out the old black plastic one.

You probably employ this kind of reasoning all the time. However, when it comes to deeply cherished beliefs, we tend to be quite resistant to hearing criticisms or having doubts. We are often unaware of what the other theological options are. Most of us are underexposed to other Christian ways of thinking outside of our group.

Today my goal is to convince you that looking at other options and evaluating your own beliefs over against them is worthwhile for you to do. Furthermore, I want to–as always–share a method that you can use to do this process on your own. I believe that when you have the courage to allow yourself to doubt your beliefs, you will benefit by either discarding falsehood or strengthening those that are true.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

As we continue through our survey of the major branches of theology, we come to the subject of doctrinal precedents. Who has believed a particular idea before? Were there any Christians who held position x in the past? Who were they? If the majority of the church no longer holds to a certain belief, what happened?

When I was in high school, I thought history was terribly boring. Learning the names of dead American presidents or about European wars never appealed to me. You may feel this way too. However, right from my first time encountering Christian history, I felt different. Perhaps that was a gift of God. Or maybe it’s because Christian history is family history. I was learning about my ancestors in the faith–the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Today you’re going to learn a method to do historical theology. This will empower you to test your beliefs in the laboratory of history and see who held them previously. Such an exercise is important in our quest for doctrinal truth. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

  Listen on Spotify

  Listen on Apple Podcasts

—— Links ——

Check out the other episodes of the Restoration Theology class

Support Restitutio by donating here

Join our Facebook group, follow on X @RestitutioSF or Instagram @Sean.P.Finnegan or Threads @sean.p.finnegan

Leave a 90 second voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play it out on the air

Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Get Finnegan’s book, Kingdom Journey to learn about God’s kingdom coming on earth as well as the story of how Christianity lost this pearl of great price.

Get the transcript of this episode

Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.