Podcasts about Naturalism

If physical extraterrestrial beings from another region of our galaxy or universe is scientifically impossible, then what other alternatives are there which might reveal the true identity of aliens and extraterrestrial intelligences? Are they all just science fiction, or might there be a deeper, spiritual reality behind their true identity? On this episode of the Profile, Watchman Fellowship President James K. Walker sits down with Watchman founder David Henke to discuss some biblical possibilities regarding the nature and identity of alleged extraterrestrials. Why would any alien beings from another part of the universe be so focused on correcting our understanding of Jesus and the Gospel message?The Bible is clear about the identity of anyone who comes preaching a different Gospel or a different Jesus, even if they appear to us as angels of light.  Other Watchman Fellowship Resources on the Question of Aliens, UFOs, and UAPs: Free Four-Page Profile ArticlesUFOs and UAPsRaeliansHeaven's GateDisclosure DayThe Urantia BookPodcast Episodes on UFOs, Aliens, and Extraterrestrials Aliens, Evolution, and Intelligent DesignWhat is the Message of Spielberg's Disclosure Day?UFOS and AliensUfologist Gary Bates Part OneUfologist Gary Bates Part TwoAncient Aliens? No.Daniel's interview with Sasha Sagan, the daughter of the late planetary astronomer Carl SaganAdditional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/FreePROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (around 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/NotebookSUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/GiveApologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2026 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Joshua Farris joins Matt for yet another discussion -- this time about near-death experiences (NDEs). In the previous episode, Farris discussed things having to do with the human soul. In this episode, he brings into that conversation NDEs. Are NDEs evidence that humans are ensouled creatures? What should we think about these unusual experiences that people sometimes report? Dr. Farris is the editor and author of several books, including: The Creation of Self: A Case for the Soul and God, Souls and Consciousness: Deconditioning the Mind from Naturalism.Check out Joshua's books: ⁠Amazon⁠ Learn more about his ministry at⁠ Soul Science Ministries⁠+++Pre-order Matt's newest book: Sightings and Secrets: UFOs, Eyewitness Testimonies, and How Christians Can Make Sense of the Unknown:  ⁠https://a.co/d/0eD0cGtz ⁠Support The Bible (Unmuted) via Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBibleUnmuted⁠Matthew's blog: ⁠https://matthewhalsted.substack.com⁠Don't forget to subscribe to The Bible (Unmuted)! 

I participated in another Socratic Debate about the Future of "AI" and XR at Augmented World Expo 2026 with Leslie Shannon, Alvin Graylin, and Louis Rosenberg (you can listen to last year's debate in episode #1611). Shannon and Graylin argued for "AI," whilst Rosenberg and I argued against "AI." In my write-up, I wanted to leave some breadcrumbs to more in-depth, skeptical arguments against "AI" that we didn't have space or time to dig into during the debate, but "some breadcrumbs" ended up being over 30k words, and more like an outline for an entire book. Writing a book isn't on my to-do list at the moment, but disseminating the work researchers, journalists, linguists, and critics of "AI" have done is urgent and necessary, so I'm sharing the results of this deep dive here, in bullet list format. My fellow panelists, Alvin Graylin and Louis Rosenberg, indulged me in extending our debate offline after AWE, pushing me to test my ideas further and demonstrating how and why this is an extremely active field of study with polarizing points of view that often come down to philosophical differences. Clearly, it's just getting started. My objections to "AI" is loosely organized by various themes, but some framing may be helpful in approaching it. My objections to "AI" center around the limitations of LLMs, the consolidation of wealth and power from Hyperscaler companies, and threats from automated decision making systems and surveillance capitalism melded with democratically-backsliding authoritarian governments. I'm including a broad range of critiques spanning the domains of philosophy, technology, sociology, politics, economics, culture, and ethics. I'm coming from the orientation of Process Philosophy & Peircean Semiotics that emphasizes the relational and contextual dimensions that the "AI" field tends to de-emphasize or completely collapse. I see process-relational philosophy as a necessary paradigm shift away from the underpinning philosophies of the "AI" community, which tend to be Functionalism, Naturalism, Computational Theory of Mind, Physicalism, & the TESCREAL bundle. Below you'll find my own process philosophical emergency response to "AI embedded within my curation of excerpts and commentary of primary sources that I'm leaning upon. The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want (2025) by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna (also see episode #1563). Bender & Hanna say, "To put it bluntly, 'AI' is a marketing term. It doesn't refer to a coherent set of technologies. Instead, the phrase "artificial intelligence" is deployed when the people building or selling a particular set of technologies will profit from getting others to believe that their technology is similar to humans, able to do things that, in fact, intrinsically require human judgment, perception, or creativity." Emily M. Bender wrote the "Artificial Intelligence" [preprint] (2026, June 25) entry for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society. Bender's concluding paragraph gives a great overview of the seven different ways that the idea of "artificial intelligence" operates in the world. She says, "The notion of artificial intelligence is frequently sold as present or near-future and inevitable technology. In fact there is no coherent set of technologies that can serve as the denotation of the phrase, nor do any of the technologies so marketed rise to the fantastical but ill-defined claims of 'AI' is or soon will be. Nonetheless, the idea of artificial intelligence has been extremely impactful in the world. In order to better understand and deal with those impacts, it is helpful to look at artificial intelligence through the varied lenses of how the idea operates in the world: as the name of a research field, as one approach to cognitive science, as a parlor trick, as a an ideology, as a way to hide and devalue human labor, as a way to shift and/or obfuscate accountability, and as a means to centralize power." Inventing Intelligence: On the History of Complex Information Processing and Artificial Intelligence in the United States in the Mid-Twentieth Century [dissertation] (2020, December 14) by Jonnie Penn. Penn says, "The phrase ‘artificial intelligence' was coined by John McCarthy, an American mathematician, in 1955. It has travelled with a noticeably amorphous definition since." "AI" has always had a spotty history of technologists using a "brain is a computer" metaphor while also using "poor citation practices." From page 14, Penn says, "The vocabulary Simon, Rosenblatt, McCarthy and Minsky chose to describe new techniques in major newspapers and scholarly journals informed Americans' still plastic understandings of what was possible, and indeed desirable, in the emerging information age… During the mid to late 1950s, these men turned to clannishness, self-aggrandizement, speculative rhetoric, fluid definitions of key terms and poor citation practices to shore up legitimacy for their controversial new techniques — actions that drew attention toward questions of how to accomplish such aims and away from whether they were well founded." Part II: Remembering the Human Microcosm in the Age of Mechanized Intelligence: Philosophy as Emergency Response (2026, June 9) by Matt Segall. In a multi-part Substack series, process philosopher Matt Segall calls for a philosophical emergency response to "AI." He says, "In each case a new media technology intended to expand the power of thought ended up transforming the very nature of the thinker who invented it. Each new medium furnishes the very terms in which we come to understand ourselves. This is why the philosophical response is always an emergency response: by the time anyone has noticed what is happening, what may be lost and what gained, the mutation has already done half of its work." Segall warns about the computational metaphor of the mind by saying, "The large language model now tempts us to adopt an even stranger self-image: that human minds are no different than machines, our thoughts just the statistical echoes of our training data. The creators of this latest technological upgrade are encouraging us to downgrade our estimate of human consciousness, thus narrowing the distance between ourselves and the machines built to imitate us." "Resisting Dehumanization in the Age of 'AI': The View from the Humanities" [lecture] (2026, February 10) by Emily M. Bender. Here are the lecture slides with a bibliography at the end. Bender does an amazing overview of how the marketing of "AI" uses pernicious dehumanization tactics built on an underlying "brain is a computer metaphor." From page 15 of her talk: "Scientific metaphor used and debated in neuroscience: "THE BRAIN IS A COMPUTER. "PR metaphor used by technologists: "THE COMPUTER IS A BRAIN" Bender cites Baria & Cross' paper titled "The brain is a computer is a brain: neuroscience's internal debate and the social significance of the Computational Metaphor (2021), which says “the Computational Metaphor rests on other well-ingrained ideologies in which a hierarchy of human value is tied to a particular notion of intelligence such that the quality of being emotional is considered inferior to being rational." Bender also cites Dijkstra's 1985 lecture "On anthropomorphism in science": "A more serious byproduct of the tendency to talk about machines in anthropomorphic terms is the companion phenomenon of talking about people in mechanistic terminology." Here are a couple of examples of how "AI" Hyperscaler companies like OpenAI use dehumanizing tactics to sell us on "AI" Hype. Sam Altman will say things like, "A kid born today will never be smarter than AI. Ever." Or another example is when Altman says, "For me, AGI is basically the equivalent of a median human that you could hire as a co-worker... And then Superintelligence is when it's smarter than all of humanity put together." These statements collapse the human experience into one dimension of "intelligence," which amplifies the dual harm of treating machines more like humans and treating humans more like machines. It is also questionable the degree to which this statement is even true given the potential non-computational aspects of "relevance realization." More on this down below. Part IV: Remembering the Human Microcosm in the Age of Mechanized Intelligence: Hegel's Loom and the Difference Reason Makes (2026, June 10) by Matt Segall. Segall brilliantly breaks down the "Brain is a Computer Metaphor" by saying, "Metaphor is not just a shiny paint job on the vehicle of cognition. It is the engine of thought. Its coupling of concepts drives the limits of conceivability, shaping what is thought together and what is not thought at all. The metaphorical imagination is our main means of tuning in to the otherwise invisible effects of new media technologies. Part of the discipline philosophy brings is allowing us to notice an analogy as an analogy before advertising crystalizes it into the unnoticed transparency of common sense. A fact is a fact, but it might also be a fossilized metaphor. The governing analogy of our age is that cognition is computation: the brain an information-processing device, perception its input and behavior its output, memory a form of physical storage, learning the adjustment of weights, and intelligence an algorithm for minimizing error or surprisal. On this view, given enough training data and computational power, consciousness itself will eventually be engineered… The metaphor “the mind is a computer,” for example, tacitly proposes that mind is to brain as software is to hardware… Reiterated in textbooks and earnings calls, in grant applications and policy briefs, the partial comparison congeals into an ontology, until we find ourselves insisting not that the mind is like a computer in some respects but that it simply is one — and,...

What, exactly, is the soul? Is the soul different from the body? Why is having a good answer to these questions important? In this episode, Matt is joined by Dr. Joshua Farris to talk about the human soul, what it is, and why it matters. Dr. Farris is the editor and author of several books, including: The Creation of Self: A Case for the Soul and God, Souls and Consciousness: Deconditioning the Mind from Naturalism.Check out Joshua's books: Amazon Learn more about his ministry at Soul Science Ministries+++Pre-order Matt's newest book: Sightings and Secrets: UFOs, Eyewitness Testimonies, and How Christians Can Make Sense of the Unknown:  https://a.co/d/0eD0cGtz Support The Bible (Unmuted) via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheBibleUnmutedMatthew's blog: https://matthewhalsted.substack.comDon't forget to subscribe to The Bible (Unmuted)! 

Against persistent fear of death, mortality avoidance, and the vices that emerge from terror management, this episode offers a personal testimony of a Christian experience of dying. With scientific precision, disarming honesty, and immense gratitude for life, biologist Jeff Schloss offers an intimate, firsthand account of his recent diagnosis of an extremely rare terminal neurological disease: multiple system atrophy (MSA). His doctors put the prognosis plainly: "It is terminal, it is incurable, and it's rapidly progressive." A longtime and beloved Westmont College biology professor and senior scholar at BioLogos, Schloss offers speaks directly to the experience of dying—as he encounters each new week of this rapidly progressive disease. He reconsiders the meaning of a "good death": increased gratitude and awareness of gift, the reality of pain, the loss of surfing and guitar-playing, the sacredness of family, and the surprising nearness of Christ as everything else falls away. A profound witness to Christian attitudes about life and death, Schloss seeks not a hero's death, but a daily, humble life-giving commerce with Christ. Schloss revisits a life that began in a nonreligious Jewish refugee family and pivoted through a dramatic conversion as a college-dropout surf bum in Hawaii. He traces what has changed, and what hasn't, now that death is no longer an abstraction but a daily fact in his body. With pastoral care and hope, Mark Labberton explores with Schloss what it means to experience dying rather than simply anticipate it, the grief of losing fifty years of surfing and guitar-playing to pain and paralysis, the gift of Simone Weil's writing on suffering, the Heidelberg Catechism's opening words on "our only comfort in life and in death," and the difference between the thrill of surfing and the sacredness of family and commerce with Christ. Episode Highlights I knew from the second grade that I wanted to be a scientist. I was out collecting butterflies and dragonflies and looking through microscopes at all sorts of things that I couldn't believe were there. As we were talking, it just occurred to me ... he either had what I wanted, or he was clinically crazy. It is terminal, it is incurable, and it's rapidly progressive ... the process of dying I find it fascinating ... It's not fun, but it is fascinating. She wasn't sad just for herself, I'm gonna lose you. And she wasn't sad empathetically just for me, so sorry for you. It was a joint sadness that the life we had hoped to share together, we are not gonna have. The things that are most life giving are out of reach ... I've come to see it's actually not true. The things that have been delightful are out of reach ... the thing that is most life giving, and that is commerce with Christ. I think it was the single most thrilling day of my entire life ... I said, no, those weren't thrilling, those were sacred. I don't want to market this season. I'm not looking for a hero's death, or any kind of publicly attended death. I would have never guessed that in this home stretch, my son and wife could carry me up the slopes of Yosemite Valley. About Jeff Schloss Jeff Schloss has spent four decades at the intersection of evolutionary biology and Christian theology. Now retired as Distinguished Professor of Biology at Westmont College, he continues as senior scholar at BioLogos, working alongside Francis Collins for more than fifteen years. He co-edited "The Believing Primate: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections on the Origin of Religion" and "Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective," a Templeton Science-Religion Book of Distinction winner. He has lectured at Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard. Helpful Links and Resources Jeff Schloss's page at BioLogos, where he serves as senior scholar: https://biologos.org/people/jeffrey-schloss Finding Faith: An Evolutionary Biologist Shares His Story, Schloss's own video testimony for BioLogos: https://biologos.org/resources/finding-faith-an-evolutionary-biologist-shares-his-story Tackling the Divide Between Science and Faith, Westmont Magazine's profile of Schloss's career: https://www.westmont.edu/magazine/spring-2025/tackling-divide-between-science-and-faith The Believing Primate: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections on the Origin of Religion, Schloss's co-edited volume: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-believing-primate-9780199597086 Evolution and Ethics: Human Morality in Biological and Religious Perspective, Schloss's Templeton Award-winning co-edited volume: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802826954/evolution-and-ethics/ Alvin Plantinga, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism, source of the Augustinian science concept Schloss references: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/where-the-conflict-really-lies-9780199812097 Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 1, the confession Labberton reads to close the episode: https://www.heidelberg-catechism.com/en/lords-days/1.html Multiple System Atrophy overview, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/multiple-system-atrophy Show Notes Childhood in a nonreligious German Jewish refugee family Grandfather taken by the Gestapo, relatives lost in the Holocaust Early love of butterflies, dragonflies, and microscopes A sixth-grade encounter with Confucius sparks a love of philosophy College philosophy major searching for purpose and for God Dropping out, becoming a surf bum in Hawaii A stranger's dinner invitation becomes a turning point A late-night prayer of surrender met by an unmistakable presence Grad school pairing biology, philosophy, and the study of altruism Alvin Plantinga's Augustinian science and reading creation with a map Decades as senior scholar at BioLogos alongside Francis Collins Why church and science drifted apart over vaccines and politics Science as a reliable path to facts, not truth itself A new diagnosis: rare, terminal, rapidly progressive neurological disease—multiple systems atrophy (MSA) Doctors estimate an average of three years, with wide variation The difference between studying death as a biologist versus the real-time experience of dying A spouse's grief for a shared future that will not happen Losing surfing and guitar-playing as an unplanned kind of fasting Pain described as systemic, exhausting, disorienting Cognitive decline and dark humor about it Distinguishing what is thrilling from what is truly sacred The ache of no longer being able to research and create A flicker of despair met by a choice not to despair Wanting a real death, not a hero's death A wish to thank former students and colleagues before the end Not wanting to become a burden to family Giving God all of one's heart, without earning salvation by it Bonhoeffer's costly grace versus cheap grace Gratitude over entitlement as the ground of faith Simone Weil on suffering as a place grace can work A closing blessing and the Heidelberg Catechism's opening words Carried up the slopes of Yosemite by a son and a wife #ConversingPodcast #MarkLabberton #JeffSchloss #FaithAndScience #BioLogos #MultipleSystemAtrophy #Mortality #ChristianFaith #Westmont #Gratitude Production Credits Conversing is produced and distributed in partnership with Comment Magazine and Fuller Seminary.

Before we can ask whether the universe is designed, we should first ask if we can trust the minds we're using to investigate it. On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid welcomes to the show science teacher and writer Rebekah Valerius to discuss an essay she recently penned unpacking the argument from reason and its implications for Darwinism, materialism, and atheism. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Source

This Atheistic Worldview Has A Major Issue

1. The Vanity of Corrupt Human Justice and Power (3:16, 4:1-3) 2. The Moral Inconsistency of Naturalism (3:18-22) 3. The Certainty and Consistency of God's Justice and Power (3:17)

Calvin of Answers in Genesis Canada explains how fossils aren't good evidence for evolution by ignoring the fossils.Cards:Answers in Genesis is Lying for Jesus Again…: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz8g29tHLTIWe Can Trust The Bible...Because of All The Errors and Contradictions!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqLcUqfFNKwAnswers In Genesis Are Bad At Their Job!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9DDfvcb0VUOriginal Video: https://tinyurl.com/5fj66apxSources: Climate Change and the Bible: https://tinyurl.com/ypa32ay8The Great Chain of Being: https://tinyurl.com/2d794dl8Long-Term Experimental Evolution in Escherichia coli. XII. DNA Topology as a Key Target of Selection: https://tinyurl.com/23rexhszDe novo evolution of macroscopic multicellularity: https://tinyurl.com/236h48w5De novo origins of multicellularity in response to predation: https://tinyurl.com/y4zeotw8Quote Mine Project: Gould, Eldredge and Punctuated Equilibria Quotes: https://tinyurl.com/26xxjhhgEvolution Now: A Century After Darwin: https://tinyurl.com/2xol8z7tGenomic analysis of a key innovation in an experimental Escherichia coli population: https://tinyurl.com/257x8ryrDarwin's Enigma: Ebbing the Tide of Naturalism: https://tinyurl.com/29myqvqoEvolution, 2nd Edition: https://tinyurl.com/2pmb3e8vWas Darwin Wrong? No—Evidence for Evolution Is Overwhelming: https://tinyurl.com/2xrnpzszFossils, genes and the evolution of animal limbs: https://tinyurl.com/2yps74f4A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan: https://tinyurl.com/ybf529tpNon-marine palaeoenvironment associated to the earliest tetrapod tracks: https://tinyurl.com/28l3u2cvBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/viced-rhino-the-podcast--4623273/support.All my various links can be found here: http://links.vicedrhino.comThis content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org

In this episode, Eli walks through an article written by James N. Anderson where he offers an argument against atheistic naturalism. For Dr. Anderson's article can be read here: https://www.proginosko.com/2023/10/an-epistemological-argument-against-naturalism/

Matt and Michael dive deep into the meaning of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Starting from last week's cliffhanger about whether Jesus had to die, they explore the story of Cain and Abel, the problem of human sin, and why God chose to meet humanity in its darkest place rather than simply forgive from a distance. The conversation weaves through Job, the cross as the ultimate expression of love, and why this story demands a response that other worldviews don't. They discuss Carl Jung's Answer to Job, CS Lewis's analogy of God outside of time, and why Christianity's claim of divine self-sacrifice is unique among world religions. Michael shares his experiential journey through multiple religions and why Jesus was the one that actually changed him. Matt reflects on seeing a Rothko painting at the Met and how biblical stories are interactive in a way art cannot be. The episode grapples with troubling questions: What kind of God commands slaughter? What does it mean that God justifies himself to Job? Why did God choose to die rather than simply forgive? And what does it mean that we are all Cain? Cheers y'all

"Naturalism" is the dominant design style in ecological gardening, but what exactly is it?  Is Naturalism just mimicry of nature, or does it allow for the designer to include aesthetic principles to please the human eye?  Can it allow the gardener to enjoy favorite plants not indigenous to the area?  Duncan Brine, co-proprietor with his wife Julia of design/build firm Garden Large explains how he has defined Naturalism to create some of the most celebrated new gardens of New York's Hudson River Valley.

Dr Sandy Boucher's debut book, Empiricism, Naturalism, and the Metaphysics of Biology: Taking a Stance, is being released and to celebrate we caught up with him to talk all things philosophy and how his book addresses philosophical stances. Support the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/tunefmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all wear glasses in this room. I am not referring to your contacts or the physical glasses your eye doctor prescribed. I am referring to your worldviewthe lenses through which you interpret everything you see: God, yourself, others, suffering, evil, history, the purpose of life, and the future. In our world today, people use a wide range of worldviews to make sense of reality. Theism holds that a personal God created and rules the world. Naturalism holds that the physical universe is all that exists. Pantheism identifies God with the world or sees God as present in everything. Postmodernism treats truth as personal, socially constructed, or tied to power. Nihilism holds that life has no ultimate meaning, purpose, or moral order. Most people do not wear only one pair of glasses. They switch lenses depending on what suits thema little theism for comfort, a little secularism for control, a little skepticism against authority, and a little self-rule for freedom. It may feel meaningful in the moment, but it cannot finally correct the vision problem. It still leaves reality blurred. One of the clearest symbols of modern humanitys hope was the World Trade Center. It took twelve years, from the earliest design stages in 1961 to the ribbon-cutting in 1973, to complete the Twin Towers, at a cost of about $900 million. The chief architect, Minoru Yamasaki, said the World Trade Center should become a living representation of mans belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his belief in the cooperation of men, and through this cooperation his ability to find greatness. That is a remarkable statement. The towers were meant to say something about us: our greatness, dignity, cooperation, and our ability to build a better world. Yet on September 11, 2001, it took less than two hours for those towers to fall, and nearly 3,000 lives were lost. Brothers and sisters, that is not merely a tragedy in American history. It is a parable of the world we inhabit. We live in a world of conflict, bloodshed, injustice, suffering, and death. We build towers and call them peace. We create systems and call them progress. We trust power, wealth, cooperation, technology, politics, and human greatness to bring stability. Yet again and again, the world proves unable to save itself. What we need is a biblical worldviewa way of seeing the world through the lens of Gods Word. Revelation pulls back the curtain on human historypast, present, and futureso we can see things as they really are. In Revelation 6:18, that curtain is drawn back on the world we know all too well: a world marked by conquest, war, famine, injustice, suffering, and death. Yet Revelation does not show us these things to make us despair. It shows us these things so we will see that the horsemen are permitted to ride only because the Lamb has the authority to open the seals. Before we go any further in this sermon, do not miss who opens each seal. It is not the horsemen. It is not the devil. It is not the antichrist. It is not kings, nations, armies, or empires. The Lamb alone has the authority to open the seals and to allow the horsemen to ride. As the Lamb opens the first four seals, do not think of the horsemen as strange figures waiting to be released in the distant future. Instead, think of them as the symbolic unveiling of the very world Jesus told us to expecta world marked by conquest, violence, exploitation, and death. Yet Revelation 6 shows us something the evening news never can: the horsemen ride only because the Lamb opens the seals, and He alone is worthy to do so. The Horsemen and the World Jesus Told Us to Expect We are now entering a section of Revelation that may challenge how many of us have been taught to think about the end times. For many Christians, passages such as Revelation 6 and Matthew 24 have been interpreted almost entirely as future events, often within a framework known as the seven-year tribulation. Many have also been taught that the church will be removed from the earth before that tribulation begins. I realize that, for some of you, that may be the only framework for understanding the end times you have ever known. Faithful Christians have held different views on these matters, so my goal is not to mock what you have been taught or force you into a different system. My goal is simply to ask you to do what the Bereans didto search the Scriptures and see whether these things are so (see Acts 17:10-11). What I want to show you is that Revelation 6 and Matthew 24 are not describing realities completely disconnected from the churchs present life. Jesus Himself told His disciples what this present age would look like: And Jesus answered them, See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Matt. 24:4-8) Revelation 6 is not describing a strange world the church has never seen. It pulls back the curtain on the age Jesus describeda world marked by conquest, violence, exploitation, suffering, and death. The four horsemen symbolize realities that have marked human history since Christs ascension and will end when He returns. Yet Jesus words also keep us from hopeless despair. These things are not the end. They are birth pains. And as painful as birth pains are, they remind us that something is coming: the kingdom of Christ in all its fullness. Until that day, the horsemen ride. Like birth pains, the realities they represent continue throughout this age and increase in frequency and intensity as history moves toward the return of Christ and the birth of the new creation. But understand this: they do not roam at their own leisure. The Lamb reigns, and He alone has the authority to open the seals. So when the Lamb opens the seals and the four horsemen are revealed, we are shown the world Jesus told us to expect. But we are also shown what the world cannot see: conquest, violence, exploitation, and death are not rogue realities, nor do they unfold outside His sovereign will and authority. The White Horse: The Lust for Conquest (vv. 1-2) There is some debate about what the rider on the white horse represents, largely because certain features seem to mirror the way Jesus appears in Revelation 19:1116, particularly the white horse He rides and the crown He wears. Others believe the rider represents a false Christ or even the antichrist because he seems to mimic Jesus appearance. The problem with these views is twofold: first, Jesus is the One who opens each of the seals; and second, the remaining horsemen clearly represent forces of destruction rather than specific individuals. There are other suggestions, but the context of Revelation 6 suggests that the rider on the white horse belongs with the other three horsemen: war, famine, and death. Together, they represent the destructive realities that mark this present age. This connection may be reinforced by the first living creature who announces this horse and rider. Notice that the first living creature has the face of a lion, representing strength, majesty, and power among the wild creatures. It is this creature that introduces the rider on the white horse. If there is a symbolic connection between the creature who speaks and the horseman who appears, then the first horseman fittingly represents conquestthe lust of kings, nations, empires, and rulers to expand their power, secure their kingdoms, and impose their will on others. Unlike the kingdom Jesus will bring, this rider represents fallen humanity grasping for dominion apart from God. This horse and its rider promise peace but never deliver it. Their creed is simple: If we can gain enough territory, enough power, enough influence, enough control, then we can secure the future. But Revelation shows us the truth: conquest does not lead to peace. It prepares the way for the red horse. The Red Horse: The Vandalism of Peace (vv. 3-4) The Lamb then opens the second seal. In response, the heavenly creature with the face of an ox, representing domesticated strength, service, and laborthe kind of creature people use to bring forth life from the earthsays, Come! Then the red horse appears, and its rider is permitted to take peace from the earth so that people may slay one another. If the white horse represents the lust for conquest, the red horse reveals what that lust produces. The world promises peace through power, but Revelation shows that power seized apart from God does not preserve peace; it vandalizes it. When God gives sinners over to themselves, the restraints that hold back violence are removed, and the human heart is exposed as it is and what it is capable of. This is why the rider is given a great sword, symbolizing violence, bloodshed, and the destructive force of war. From the first murder in Genesis 4 to the wars and rumors of wars Jesus said would mark this age like birth pains in Matthew 24, human history has been stained with the blood of those created in Gods image. Nations rise against nations. Kingdoms seek to outdo kingdoms. Brother turns against brother. Neighbor turns against neighbor. When sin-cursed humanity seeks dominion apart from God, even in the name of peace, peace is among the first casualties. Make no mistake: the rider on the red horse is not rogue. He is only permitted to take peace from the earth because the Lamb has authority to break the second seal. He does not seize the sword; he is given a great sword. The breaking of the second seal shows that even the violence of this age is not outside the sovereign hand of the Lamb. While the serpent of old was a murderer from the beginning and is the father of lies (John 8:44), Humanitys propensity toward violence is the result of its fallen nature; it is mankind that robs the earth of the shalom it was created to experience. Yet even this violence remains under the authority of the Lamb. The Black Horse: Exploitation of Need (vv. 5-6) The Lamb opens the third seal, and the living creature with the face of a man says, Come! The irony is that while man symbolizes wisdom, reason, and the stewardship God entrusted to humanity, the black horse and its rider represent the exploitation of creations needs by mankind. The rider is seen holding a pair of scales, and a voice is heard saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine. The scales symbolize measurement, rationing, and scarcity. In Johns day, a denarius was a days wage, so the announced prices of wheat and barley reveal a world where food is available yet barely affordable. A person could work all day and still barely survive. Meanwhile, the command not to harm the oil and wine suggests that while daily bread becomes burdensome for the poor, others comforts and luxuries remain protected. Human need becomes an opportunity for human greed. The black horse reveals that much of the worlds suffering stems from the corruption of human stewardship. Humanity was created in Gods image to cultivate the earth, care for one another, and administer justice for the good of mankind and the rest of creation. But when people seek dominion apart from God, the needs of the earth and those who live on it are twisted into opportunities for profit. When mankind is given over to itself, human beings exploit one another and anything else in creation that offers an opportunity to get ahead of their neighbor. Yet even here, the rider is not sovereign and does not ride beyond the authority of the Lamb. The Pale Horse: The Dominion of Death (vv. 7-8) The Lamb opens the fourth seal, and the creature with the face of an eagle says, Come! Consider what an eagle represents: swiftness, height, watchfulness, and the realm just above the earth. When John hears this single word, he sees a pale horse, and its rider is named Death, with Hades following him. While the eagle soars over the earth, the pale horse gathers what mans lust for conquest, readiness to kill, and greed producenamely, death. The horses color is disturbing. The Greek word translated pale (chlōros) denotes a greenish hue, suggesting the sickly color of decay, disease, and death. There is little left to the imagination with the name given to this rider. He is Death, and Hades follows behind him like a grave, collecting what death has taken. This is the world east of Eden, where sin has brought decay to everything God created good. Death follows kings and nations. Death follows war. Death follows hunger, poverty, disease, and the neglect of creation. Death is the final enemy, and no human kingdom, political system, technological advancement, or amount of wealth or power can ultimately escape it. But while the pale horse and its rider may terrify us, they are not sovereign. The Lamb is the One who breaks the seal. Death rides, yet the Lamb reigns. And all who belong to the Lamb are assured that in a world where the four horsemen are permitted to ride for a time, the One who opens the seals also says to His people: Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades (Rev. 1:1718). Conclusion What the apostle John and the seven churches likely found most reassuring in the vision of the four horsemen is the reminder that it is the LambChrist Himselfwho breaks each seal and permits the horsemen to ride. The power wielded by rulers and nations is granted by the One who sits sovereignly on the throne. Revelation 6:18 is given so that we might see the world as it really is and see the Lamb as He truly is. The horsemen do not ride because chaos reigns. They ride because the Lamb opens the seals. And when the four living creatures cry, Come! their summons echoes the prayer Jesus taught us to pray: Your kingdom come, your will be done... (Matt. 6:10). The Lamb gives mankind over to its wickedness, not because evil is sovereign, but because He is accomplishing His sovereign purposes until His rule and reign are fully manifested on earth as it is in heaven. The four horsemen reveal to those who belong to the Lamb that Gods kingdom is indeed coming. Gods kingdom comes not only through salvation, but also through judgment upon everything that ruins His creation.

Santayana: Latin rock guitarist or materialist conservative thinker? Find out as we discuss Irving Babbitt, Paul Elmer More, and George Santayana, exploring what their critiques of early 20th-century American utilitarianism, materialism, and pragmatism mean for political conservatism today. Follow us on X!Give us your opinions here!

In this episode, Dr. Stephen Meyer is back to set the record straight and unpack the bigger argument his critics keep missing. This is the first part of a response to Sir Roger Penrose who recently pushed back on a previous conversation with me on the show. Stephen calls it a "pick your poison" argument and once you see it, you can't unsee it. It's a dilemma at the heart of modern cosmology that philosophical naturalism has not been able to escape. *Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf) *USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM) *See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK) FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/ Website: https://seanmcdowell.org Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

“My father taught me … keep your friends close but your enemies closer.” – Michael (Al Pacino) The Godfather Part II (1974) Could this explain our ‘dearest allies’, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and perhaps Great Britain? Today, we focus on the increasingly tenuous, unholy ‘alliance’ between America and Israel in particular. Is it me, or does Pike’s outline of WWIII (i.e., PZ vs. PI) in his Aug 15, 1871 letter to Italian Illuminatus, Giuseppi Mazzini seem like it’s coming more to fruition with each passing day…? Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. – Exodus 20:16 KJV Links Videos / Clips [x] = Played ‘War is Back on the Menu’ – RPI Lake Jackson Conference 2026. – YouTube playlist Daniel McAdams – “The War on War Reporting.” [x] Brian McGlinchey – “How the US-Israel Relationship Weakens America and Harms the World.” Robert Pape – “Iran and the Escalation Trap: Avoiding a Future of Forever Wars in the Middle East.” Marjorie Taylor Greene – “MAGA is Dead. Where Do We Go From Here?” Joe Kent – “A National Security Strategy For Our Republic, Not An Empire.” Ron Paul – Lake Jackson 2026 Headlines [x] = Mentioned / Discussed [x] The Labour Theory of Value [x] Israeli Paper Admits That The Mossad Astroturfed The January Riots In Iran. – IAK Daily Update [x] Israeli Paper Admits That The Mossad Contrived The Riots In Iran [x] Israeli Paper Admits That The Mossad Astroturfed The January Riots In Iran. [x] AI Is Already Going Rogue — Wreaking Havoc Because It Feels Like It [x] How'd Lutnick Do? Depends Who You Ask. “Very good talks” Links for 5-7-26 – by Jim Cardoza – LibertyPen Origins of Declaration of Independence | Video | C-SPAN.org Silicon Valley’s Cultural Cosplay at the Met Gala Is a Dangerous Smokescreen In OpenAI trial, former technology chief says Altman sowed ‘chaos,’ distrust among top executives The Rest [x] = Mentioned / Discussed Related to Brian McGlinchey’s RPI Talk [x] By Way of Deception – Wikipedia [x] Fox News Series on Israeli Spying on US Telecommunications [x] Israeli spying in the USA: Suppressed four-part Fox News series with Carl Cameron : Fox News : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive [x] How the US-Israel Relationship Weakens America and Harms the World – The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity [x] Join The US Military – Kill And Die For Israel [x] How the US-Israel Relationship Weakens America and Harms the World [x] Brian McGlinchey | Substack [x] Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Substack Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | The Libertarian Institute Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Facebook [x] Rachel Corrie death: struggle for justice culminates in Israeli court | Rachel Corrie | The Guardian [x] Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands: Sakwa, Richard: 9781784535278: Amazon.com: Books > NATO exists to manage the threats created by its existence… [x] FrontPage Magazine – Our Culture, What's Left Of It > Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to. [x] Websters 1828 – Webster’s Dictionary 1828 – Probity > Primarily, tried virtue or integrity, or approved actions; but in general, strict honesty; sincerity; veracity; integrity in principle, or strict conformity of actions to the laws of justice. probity of mind or principle is best evinced by probity of conduct in social dealings, particularly in adhering to strict integrity in the observance and performance of rights called imperfect, which public laws to not reach and cannot enforce. ‘On This Day’ Related [x] WW3 – Albert Pike and the Three World Wars > The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the ‘agentur’ of the ‘Illuminati’ between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion. We shall unleash the Nihilists and the atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will from that moment be without compass or direction, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view. This manifestation will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time. [x] Orange Crush (song) – Wikipedia [x] We Didn’t Start the Fire – Wikipedia [x] Forest Fire as a Military Weapon – AD0509724.pdf [x] Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark – Road Warrior Radio – Facebook > The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance. [x] Naturalism (philosophy) – Wikipedia On This Day Events May 2026 Calendar of Public Holidays | Office Holidays Holidays and Observances in the United States in 2026 What day is it today? Important events every day ad-free | United States OTD Worldwide Public Holidays Thursday May 7th 2026 | Office Holidays On This Day – What Happened on May 7 Today in History: May 7, RMS Lusitania torpedoed, sunk by German submarine | AP News What Happened on May 7 – On This Day What Happened on May 7 | HISTORY May 7 – Wikipedia What Happened On May 7 In History? 07 | May | 2020 | Executed Today Holidays National Day of Prayer Historical Events 2004 – Marine biologist Richard Thompson coins the term “microplastics” 2000 – Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia: The former KGB officer enjoys high approval ratings in his country as living standards in Russia have improved drastically under his rule. Internationally, he has been criticized for his authoritarian style of government. 1998 – Daimler-Benz (Mercedes-Benz) buys Chrysler for $40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history. 1984 – Monsanto and six other chemical companies agreed to pay a $180 million settlement to Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the chemical herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. 1975 – President Gerald R. Ford formally declared an end to the “Vietnam era.” In Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover. 1960 – Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the USSR 1954 – the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces; it would be the last major battle of the First Indochina War. 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer 1946 – Sony is founded: The company started as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering. It is now one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products. 1945 – Germany’s Nazi regime surrenders unconditionally: The capitulation ended World War II, one of the bloodiest conflicts of all time. According to estimates, between 40 and 71 million people died in the war and the Holocaust initiated by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. 1915 – A German U-Boat sinks the RMS Lusitania: 1198 lives were lost in the attack, making it the deadliest shipwreck during World War I. The fact that some of the dead were U.S. citizens influenced the country’s decision to enter the war in 1917. 1912 – Columbia University approves plans to award the Pulitzer Prize in several categories, after establishment by Joseph Pulitzer 1895 – Alexander Popov demonstrates the world’s first radio receiver: The Russian physicist had initially built the device as a lightning detector. He achieved the first radio transmission between two buildings the following year. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day. 1867 – Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patents dynamite in England, the first of three patents he receives for the explosive material 1843 – First Japanese immigrant arrives in the U.S. 1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic. 1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. 1429 – English siege of Orleans broken by Joan of Arc and the French army 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt. 351 – The Jewish revolt against Gallus breaks out. After his arrival at Antioch, the Jews begin a rebellion in Palestine. Births 1997 – Cameron Young, American golfer 1950 – Tim Russert, American television journalist and lawyer (died 2008) 1933 – Johnny Unitas, American football player and sportscaster (died 2002) 1919 – Eva Perón, Argentinian actress, 25th First Lady of Argentina (died 1952) 1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (died 1961) 1892 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (died 1982) 1885 – George “Gabby” Hayes, American actor (died 1969) 1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer and educator (died 1893) 1833 – Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (died 1897) 1812 – Robert Browning, English poet (died 1889) 1711 – David Hume, Scottish economist, historian, philosopher (died 1776) Deaths 2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (born 1957) 2000 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr., American captain, actor, and producer, only son of silent film star Douglas Fairbanks (born 1909) 1998 – Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (born 1941) 1968 – Craig Wood, distinguished American golfer (born 1901) 1940 – George Lansbury, English journalist and politician (born 1859) 973 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor, also known as Otto the Great (born 912)

UPCOMING DEBATE EVENTS: Grab tickets for UncensoredAmerica 's upcoming east coast debates ft. Andrew & Rachel Wilson this month (April), here:Andrew Vs Owen Shroyer at U. Of South Carolina: https://uncensoredamerica.us/wilson-vs-shroyer-usc/Rachel Vs Brian Shapiro at U. Of North Carolina Wilmington: https://uncensoredamerica.us/rachel-vs-brian-uncw/DEBATECON 8 TICKETS FOR THIS SUMMER IN DALLAS: https://events.eventnoire.com/e/debatecon-8-by-modern-day-debateAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Not only is it destructive to tell people they're nothing more than cosmic accidents—it's complete nonsense. Today, R.C. Sproul exposes the insanity behind the naturalistic idea that the universe was randomly produced by space, time, and chance. Read the transcript: https://ligonier.org/podcasts/ultimately-with-rc-sproul/naturalism-is-nonsense/ Study Reformed theology with a free resource bundle from Ligonier Ministries: https://grow.ligonier.org/ A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Donate: https://donate.ligonier.org/ Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Colossians 1:16-17"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Hebrews 11:3

In this episode Miles is joined by Jil Evans and Charles Taliaferro (St. Olaf College, Minnesota, USA) to discuss their new book, 'Iris Murdoch and the Transcendent'. We cover love, ethics, mora illumination, gender, vision and the will and much more! https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Iris-Murdoch-and-the-Transcendent-by-Charles-Taliaferro-Jil-Evans/9781009631594 Jil Evans is an abstract artist and author whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is held in private and museum collections throughout the United States, including Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Flaten Art Museum, and Halle Ford Museum of Art. She has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, which include a Jerome Foundation Grant, Arts Midwest/National Endowment for the Arts, Minnesota State Arts Board grant, and a Pew Grant to study and paint Italy, and residencies at the American Academy in Rome and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She has co-authored three books with Charles Taliaferro. Charles Taliaferro is Emeritus professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Faithful Research, and a member of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of twenty books, most recently The Image in Mind; Theism, Naturalism and the Imagination, co-authored with the American artist Jil Evans. He has been a visiting scholar or guest lecturer at a large number of universities, including Brown, Cambridge, Notre Dame, Oxford, Princeton, and the University of Chicago.[1][2][3] Since 2013 Taliaferro is editor-in-chief of the journal Open Theology. He is the author of over twenty books in theology and philosophy of religion.

Dr. Joshua Ryan Farris stops by with Dr. Tim Stratton, and they provide a one-two punch, destroying the assumptions of naturalism. For the first time ever hear Dr. Farris and Dr. Stratton share two forthcoming academic papers (one from a book) arguing for the destruction of naturalistic assumptions in favor of theistic convictions regarding reason and the soul. You won't want to miss it! Check out Soul Science Ministries: https://soulscienceministries.com/ Check out Josh's book: https://a.co/d/0hYPA6ds (God, Souls, and Consciousness: Deconditioning the Mind from Naturalism ) ➡️ CHAPTERS ⬅️ 00:00 Introducing The Topics 01:57 Deconditioning the Mind from Naturalism - Dr. Farris 29:53 Deconditioning Naturalism via Reason - Dr. Stratton 53:40 The Cultural Assumption of Naturalism 1:10:30 You Are NOT Your Brain 1:27:45 The Pseudo-Naturalism Movement and Its Problems 1:44:12 Can Artificial Intelligence Ever Gain Human-like Consciousness? 1:57:47 Concluding Remarks ➡️ SOCIALS ⬅️ Website: https://freethinkingministries.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreeThinkInc Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freethinkinc X: https://x.com/freethinkmin TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@freethinkinc #Apologetics #FreeThinking #Christianity #Naturalism #atheismdebate #theism #philosophy

Today, Gavi FINALLY gets to talk about his favorite topic, Jean Beaudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation," which explains Hyperreality. "The Matrix" film is allegorical to the postmodern condition of Hyperreality. We discuss examples of simulacra, Hyperreality, and the history of how we (in the western canon) came to view the world this way. We discuss simulated reality as it relates to christian fundamentalism and the US.If you have any thoughts, opinions, or questions about this topic (or corrections) please let us know either by comment or by emailing us at LeavingEdenPod@gmail.com! We would love to do a listener responses episdoe!02:00 - Intro02:20 - Black Mirror San Junipero03:15 - The Matrix03:30 - Elon Musk03:48 - Mark Zuckerberg and the Metaverse04:10 - Please subscribe to our Patreon!04:40 - Media Theory and Philosophy05:17 - I'm sorry for mixing up SimulaCRA and SimulaCRUM05:47 - Jean Baudrillard's "Hyperreality"06:04 - Simulacra and Simulation07:10 - First Order Simulacrum07:40 - Second Order Simulacrum07:55 - Third Order Simulacrum, Hyperreality08:29 - Fourth Order Simulacrum, or Pure Simulation08:50 - Alexander Hamilton to Scamilton is Hyperreality11:07 - Christian Nationalism and Hyperreality12:54 - Hyperreality and Pure Simulation are curated reality13:30 - Did Sadie grow up in a simulation?13:50 - Kim Kardashian's butt broke the internet14:54 - The 6 7 meme is proof that we are living in a simulation15:30 - Doot Doot 6 7 by Skrilla15:50 - Lamello Ball16:00 - The 6 7 kid is Hyperreality and the meme is pure simulation17:19 - Brainrot is hyperreality18:50 - Thank you to our patrons!20:17 - The Civil War and the birth of Modernism21:50 - Modernist themes, truth comes from struggle and effort22:17 - Upton Sinclair, The Jungle22:30 - John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath22:50 - Gone With the Wind24:00 - Little Women24:34 - The Civil War, Transcendentalism, Naturalism25:05 - The birth of postmodernism25:15 - Dada art movement (dadaism)25:26 - Anything can be a source of truth25:30 - The gifts of postmodernism, Civil rights, LGBT rights, Women's Lib movement25:55 - World War 2 and the nuclear age27:10 - Love is Blind, Kobe Bryant, Fresh off the Boat, Scottish Independence referendum28:45 - Absurdism, Memes, and Breadtube Spongebob29:04 - The drawbacks of postmodernism30:00 - Hyperreality, 9/1131:22 - Loss of sense of self32:04 - Michael Jackson, Prince, Robin Williams, George Carlin, Jesus, AI Deepfakes32:35 - Leonard Cohen32:50 - Bag Culture, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Jason Kelce, Commercials34:35 - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle36:28 - Please email us!37:01 - Our current state of Hyperreality37:31 - Doctors vs. Anti-Vaxxers and influencers37:41 - Teachers vs. Homeschoolers38:07 - Doomerism38:17 - It's going to be OK?38:38 - The early church38:50 - Jesus was a guy (probably?)39:11 - The Disciples (first order Simulacrum)39:22 - The Council of Nicaea (Second order Simulacrum)39:40 - Church Tradition (Third Order Simulacra, or Hyperreality)40:10 - Culture War/Kid Rock Turning Point USA halftime show40:45 - Growing up in a cult vs. growing up in a simulation41:04 - Destruction of the 2nd Temple happened, Revelation is a first order simulacrum41:35 - Millerism, Adventism, Premillennial Pretribulationism are second order simulacra41:45 - Protocols of the elders of Zion, A Thief in the Night, and Left Behind are all third order simulacra or Hyperreality42:12 - The Holocaust, McCarthyism and the Red Scare, Satanic Panic, Q Anon, January 6, 2025 Rapture Hoax, are mass delusion brought on by pure simulation44:20 - Hyperreality peaked in 202044:45 - The end of COVID-19 and the rise of AI45:04 - What is coming next?45:45 - AI CEOs are grifters46:32 - Minor League Baseball47:10 - 2020, Social Unrest, George Floyd protests, Anti-Mask/Vaxx48:14 - Transcendentalism, Naturalism, humanity's relationship with nature, Oliver Wendel Holmes, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman50:29 - The next movementSubscribe to Leaving Eden Podcast on YouTube!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ4q94gAnsoW2jME4SvVrrQJoin our Patreon for extended, uncensored, and ad-free versions of most of our episodes, as well as other patron perks and bonus content!https://www.patreon.com/LeavingEdenPodcastJoin our Facebook group to join in the discussion with other fans!https://www.facebook.com/groups/edenexodusJoin our subreddit! Reddit.com/r/EdenExodusBluesky:@leavingedenpodcast.bsky.social@hellyeahsadie.bsky.social@gavihacohen.bsky.socialInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/leavingedenpodcast/https://www.instagram.com/sadiecarpentermusic/https://www.instagram.com/gavrielhacohen/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 346: Adolpho Veloso, ABC, AIP The film Train Dreams tells a story that feels less like a narrative and more like a memory. It began as an independent project that premiered at Sundance to critical acclaim before getting acquired by Netflix. Director Clint Bentley and cinematographer Adolpho Veloso, ABC, AIP, chose to shoot in the rugged landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. Veloso's radical commitment to naturalism in the film meant relying almost entirely on firelight, candlelight and natural light. The gorgeous result has earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography. After their successful collaboration on the low-budget indie movie Jockey, Veloso and director Clint Bentley knew a tiny crew and small group of actors could lead to good, intimate storytelling. They developed a specific visual shorthand designed to make Train Dreams feel like a discovered artifact. They chose a 3:2 aspect ratio, a deliberate nod to still photography, intended to evoke the sensation of looking through a dusty box of old family photos. “We wanted the movie to feel like memories, like finding a box of pictures,” explains Veloso. “The whole visual motif came from still images and still photography in a way.” Using a single, handheld ARRI ALEXA 35 camera operated by Veloso allowed the actors freedom to improvise and move naturally, often capturing moments that a more rigid, multi-camera setup would have missed. To maintain a clear narrative thread through Robert's (Joel Edgerton) life, Veloso established visual rules using specific lighting shifts to distinguish between the warmth of Robert's good memories and the starker, haunting quality of his loss. Grounding the film in nature was extremely important. The team scoured Washington state, looking for woods that appeared untouched by time, yet remained accessible enough for a film crew. They shot around the Spokane area, where the drier weather and specific light quality offered the perfect backdrop for the film's mid-century setting. Working in national forests meant strict regulations with a small footprint, and timber cutting and axe work was carefully planned. Using almost entirely firelight, candlelight and natural light is very nontraditional filmmaking, and required a great deal of planning from all departments. For the two sets, the cabin and fire tower, Veloso spent weeks tracking solar orientation. The crew carefully built the cabin to exact specifications to allow plenty of light into the space. “You have the privilege to build it the way you want,” Veloso explains. “It's a lot of studies of what the sun is doing from week one to week seven. You have to decide where to place the windows so the light continuity holds as the seasons shift.” The most interesting technical choice was the total ban on LED lighting for period scenes. Veloso wanted the authentic flicker and color temperature of the era, but candles alone often create harsh, distracting shadows. To solve this, the team engineered a “1920s Sky Panel.” This custom rig used large reflective surfaces combined with candles and diffusion to create a soft, glowing light source that felt period-accurate yet flattering on the actors' faces. This required a constant dance between the camera and the art department. Candles, oil lamps, firelight, and campfires had to be good quality light to expose the image properly. For campfire scenes, the gaffer measured light levels in real-time, signaling the fire safety monitor to add wood precisely when the "exposure" needed a boost. A devastating forest fire at the film's climax required a shift from the naturalistic to the surreal. To capture the flames and feeling of a real forest fire, the production moved to an LED volume stage. Robert is dreaming about what happened in the fire, so the fire scene had to be strange and surreal. Veloso shot at a low frame rate with a wide shutter to create a blurred, fever dream aesthetic. The crew also shot in previously burned forests, capturing the aftermath of a real fire. Through Veloso's lens, Train Dreams is a tactile, flickering meditation on time itself. Find Adolpho Veloso: https://www.adolphoveloso.com/ Instagram: @adolphoveloso Watch Train Dreams on Netflix Support Ben's short film, The Ultimate Breakup! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theultimatebreakup/the-ultimate-breakup-short-film?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=the%20ultimate%20breakup&total_hits=2 The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast Facebook: @cinepod Instagram: @thecinepod Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

What happens when a scholar who studies death for a living discovers she must learn to truly live in her body? This haunting conversation explores literature, yoga, and the long road to embodiment. IN THIS EPISODE: Introduction to Finding Harmony Podcast Meet Jessica Murphy: Gothic Literature Scholar & Ashtanga Practitioner Teaching English Literature at the University of Iceland Jessica's Literary Works: Wishbone, Ossa Vivi, Moss & Rose Poetry, Novellas, and the Gothic Genre Victorian Literature vs. Romantic Period: Claiming Jane Austen and the Brontës Existentialism, Death, and Childhood Philosophy with Her Father Father's Influence: TM, Hippie Culture, and Zen Catholicism Coming to Ashtanga Yoga at Age 39 The Challenge of Backbends vs. Hip Openers & Arm Balances Using the Body to Be Embodied: Balancing Cerebral and Physical Work Kapotasana and the Death Drive: Flirting with Mortality Eating Disorder History and Ongoing Body Image Work Why Backbends Bring Up Old Wounds and Feelings of Not Enoughness The Beginner's Mind in Yoga Practice Creating False Equivalencies: Yoga Series as Academic Degrees LSD, Academic Structures, and Her Father's Generation Jack Kerouac's Journey and the Beats Memorization in Education: What We've Lost Reciting Shakespeare: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" William Blake's "The Tiger": Fearful Symmetry Reading from "The Face in the Window" (Gothic Short Story from Ossa Vivi) Visual Imagination and Playing with Language Meeting Her Husband: Two 19th Century Literature Scholars in Iceland Looking for Someone Like Herself vs. Someone Opposite Balancing Creative Writing with Academic Pressures The Difference Between Tenure Track and Department Member Positions Her Husband's Prolific Academic Output: Philosophy and Literature Writing as a Labor of Love vs. Academic Requirement Being "High on Life": Creativity and Sensitivity Why Creative People Struggle with Depression and Anxiety The World Feeling Like "Too Much": Colors, Sounds, People Artistic Pursuits as Protection from Overwhelming Sensations The Quiet Life with Cats and Writing and Yoga Russell's Invitation (That Got Declined) Victorian Tea Ceremonies and Paying for Art The Japanese Tea Ceremony as Art Form: Greg Kinsey's Story Bad Art, Bad Writing, and Bad Asanas Harmony's Inner Circle Mentorship Program Invitation This episode is a deep, insightful exploration of navigating life as a highly sensitive creative person, balancing intellectual pursuits with embodied practice, and finding home in your body after years of disconnection.   GUEST BIO: Having taught at Vanier College, Dawson College, and Université de Montréal in Montréal, Qc, Canada in the past, Jessica Murphy, Ph.D. currently lives in Reykjavík, Iceland and teaches English literature at the University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands). Her areas of interest and expertise are Victorian and Romantic literature as well as detective novels, gothic fiction, and children's literature. In addition to publishing a novella entitled Wishbone (available on Amazon) and having her poetry published in an anthology featuring the works of poets from around the world entitled Words Apart: A Globe of Poetry, she has co-authored an epistolary novella, Moss and Rose and a collection of gothic short stories, Ossa Vivi, with Mae Kellert. Her scholarly publications include "'[T]he world's a beast, and I hate it!': Naturalism in Amy Levy's The Romance of a Shop" and an article on Arnold Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale. At present, she is working on a chapter on the double in Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted that will be included in a book, published by Routledge, featuring various essays on the doppelgänger. A cat lover and an avid Ashtangi, she has been practicing Ashtanga yoga for the last seven years. CONNECT WITH JESSICA: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjcats/ Books available on Amazon and major retailers KEY TAKEAWAYS: Gothic literature and yoga philosophy both explore transformation, duality, and the shadow self Backbends can bring up body dysmorphia and old wounds—this is part of the healing work The poses that challenge us most teach us the most about ourselves Writing autobiographical fiction can be a powerful healing practice Highly sensitive creative people often need embodied practices to balance intellectual work Surrender doesn't mean giving up—it means releasing control of outcomes You can care for people without carrying their burdens Success in yoga isn't about mastery—it's about growth and self-discovery Memorization and recitation connect us to literary tradition and embodied knowledge FIND Harmony online: https://harmonyslater.com/ Harmony on IG: https://www.instagram.com/harmonyslaterofficial/ Finding Harmony Podcast on IG: https://www.instagram.com/findingharmonypodcast/ FREE Manifestation Activation: https://harmonyslater.kit.com/manifestation-activation

Scriptures:Psalm 1:1-6, Matthew 7:13-14, 1 John 2:15-16, 1 Timothy 6:10, 2 Corinthians 10:5, 1 Corinthians 15:33The Way of the Wicked:1. Naturalism - rejects faith2. Relativism -  there is no absolute truth3. Materialism - needing material items for joy4. Hedonism - the pursuit of pleasure is the highest aimHow to Guard Against the Way of the Wicked:1. Drink with a filter.2. Guard who influences you.3. Walk the right path.

Happy Wednesday! We hope you're enjoying the last day of 2025.    We have a great conversation for you this week. Our guest this week is no stranger to the podcast, Jon Noyes. We are also joined with our co-host, Sarah.    Jon shares his coming to faith story. One of the topics they discuss is Naturalism. He shares why he believes Naturalism doesn't make sense and is an easy cop out to complex questions - suffering, death, moral issues etc.   We hope you enjoy this week's episode!   -- -- -- -- -- LINKS   Jon Noyes - Stand To Reason   Eternity: Extreme and & Scary? with Jon Noyes   Suicide, God, and Knowing You're Not Alone with Jon Noyes   You Don't Have to Have All the Answers with Lindsey Medenwaldt   Can You Trust the Bible? with Greg Koukl   Why People Really Don't Believe in Jesus with Xandra Grieme   Is This Even Real? - Katelyn Deal's Story   Release What God Has Already Given Us with Jesse Childress   Making the Case for Christ with J. Warner Wallace  

Huge thank you to our sponsor Maine First Project, check them out here! https://mainefirstproject.org/ MDD INSIDER'S LIST: For advanced notice on when DEBATECON tickets will launch (and discount codes on tickets), join our insider's list here: https://forms.gle/rzSErHXrwdinZxPM8 HOST A DEBATECON AT YOUR UNIVERSITY: Want to host a DEBATECON (or a one-off debate) at your university or church? Email Dr. James at moderndaydebate@gmail.com to find out more! LINKS TO GUESTS: Jimbob:  @MadebyJimbob  Planet:  @planetpeterson2824 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this teaching, I discuss the reality of the power of darkness in a rational way and talk about how religion and secularism hijack our true identity and prevent us from experiencing our Divine Human Identity.

In this teaching, I discuss the reality of the power of darkness in a rational way and talk about how religion and secularism hijack our true identity and prevent us from experiencing our Divine Human Identity.

Subscribe & Share:• Apple Podcasts: Christ For You• Spotify: Listen on Spotify• Website: ZionWG.org/podcastStay Connected:• Email: PastorRojas@ZionWG.org• Website: ZionWG.orgIf this recording strengthened your faith, share it with others and leave a review. Your support helps more people hear the faithful preaching of Christ crucified and risen for you.

Steve returns to discuss why Christians should be concerned about climate change and what is ours to do. 

Justin leads a discussion on the evolution of and connection between three worldviews: Supernaturalism, Humanism, and Naturalism.  There's a fourth view, Nihilism, which no one seems to want to endorse.  How do we avoid it?Join in for a fruitful discussion!

Why God Of The Gaps Is A Bad Objection While finishing our discussion on why methodological naturalism should be rejected, we deal with another bad objection to Christians having a place in the science world. The charge of believing in a "God of the gaps" is levied at Christians to scoff at their history in science. We take a look at it and offer up "nuh huh" and "you do it too"! TIMELINE: 00:00 - Introduction 03:01 - The 2 Reasons To Reject Methodological Naturalism 03:49 - Science Already Allows For Intelligence As An Explanation 06:52 - Human Sciences Allow Intelligence As An Explanation 07:46 - Distortion Of Natural Science To Keep Out Intelligence 13:43 - Responding To The Bad God Of The Gaps Objection 15:54 - Objection 1 - God Is Not Limited To Gaps 17:41 - Objection 2 - Not Offering Evidence In Ignorance But Positive Explanation 21:43 - Objection 3 - There Are Gaps That Need Explanation 23:16 - Two Ways God Acts Intelligently That Gives Us Explanations 26:33 - Empirical Vs. Historical Science Doesn't Count Out Intelligent Explanations 29:26 - Intelligence Design Differs From Creation Science 31:26 - Conclusion BOOK LINKS: Scientism and Secularism - Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology by J.P. Moreland Kindle Paperback Audible (FREE With Membership) Logos J.P. Moreland Website       All episodes, short clips, & blog - https://www.cavetothecross.com

The Danger Of Methodological Naturalism Before we talk about how Christianity should integrate science, we need to talk about how NOT to do it. The dangers of methodological naturalism aren't realized for those in camps like theistic evolution. Here, we look at why methodological naturalism doesn't work out for those who want to have both God and evolution. TIMELINE: 00:00 - Introduction 01:16 - One Bad Way To Integrate Christianity & Naturalism 03:05 - Intelligent Design Intro 03:59 - The Blind Watchmaker Is A Bad Argument 06:18 - Intelligent Design IS A Science 07:19 - Methodological Naturalism Should Be Rejected 08:19 - What Is Theistic Evolutionists 10:46 - The Revival Of Methodological Naturalism 13:48 - What's Wrong With Theistic Evolution & Methodological Naturalism 17:03 - Failed Explanations For What Counts As Science 19:47 - Failed Explanation That Something Is Held Tentatively 21:16 - Failed Explanation That It Appeals To Natural Laws 22:35 - Conclusion BOOK LINKS: Scientism and Secularism - Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology by J.P. Moreland Kindle Paperback Audible (FREE With Membership) Logos J.P. Moreland Website       All episodes, short clips, & blog - https://www.cavetothecross.com

How can consciousness emerge from non-conscious material? If there is only one type of stuff, how is the potential for consciousness encoded in the building blocks of the universe?In this episode we have the ancient philosophical mind-body problem to get our heads around, and the ever more popular solution, panpsychism: That is, the belief that everything material, no matter how small, has always had a component of consciousness in it. We get into what consciousness is, why it's not an illusion; into subjective experience; we cover the rich history of the mind-body problem in philosophy, and we also confront the apparently magical emergence of consciousness from non-consciousness by exploring the arguments for panpsychism, and how new understandings from the last 100 years of science might change preconceptions about a panpsychist solution.Fortunately, to understand this we have the hugely experienced author and analytical philosopher of mind, for many years at the university of Oxford and now at the university of Texas, professor Galen Strawson! Alongside over 140 papers, he has also written 12 books including “Consciousness and its place in nature”, “Things that bother me: Death, Freedom, the self etc” and his new book “Stuff, Quality and Structure”.What we discuss:00:00 intro05:30 ‘Naturalism' as a position.07:00 Qualia explained.09:30 There's only one kind of stuff: identity metaphysics.12:00 A criticism of life as narrative story.14:30 what is the self?17:20 There is no mystery of consciousness.19:15 Locke's Primary and Secondary Qualities clarified.21:45 The history of the mind-body problem.27:30 The interaction problem VS the combination problem.30:30 Radical emergence of consciousness from non-consciousness is impossible.32:30 The arguments for panpsychism.34:00 Psychophysical laws - David Chalmers.35:00 The rise of panpsychism.36:30 Different types of panpsychism.41:30 Separating between conscious stuff, and subjects of consciousness.48:30 Cosmopansychism - patterns of excitation in the quantum field.50:00 Cellular cognition - Agential behaviour is not proof of experience.54:00 ‘Matter is energy' assists panpsychist intuitions.56:15 Who demands evidence is begging the question.01:02:30 “A Global Replace” of consciousness in matter.01:03:30 How would a world of panpsychist science look?01:06:30 Neuroscience: neural correlate reductionism.01:09:30 Feelings evolved before reasoning.01:11:30 Being is energy; being is becoming; being is qualititivity; being is mind.01:13:15 A cosmological mind.01:16:15 Teleology and Meaning.Quote:Lee Smolen, “Qualia must be understood as aspects of nature, that is our commitment to naturalism, the philosophy that asserts that all that exists is part of the natural world science studies.”References: Galen Strawson, “Mental Reality”, 1994Galen Strawson, “Against Narrativity” paper. 2004Galen Strawson, “Realistic monism - why physicalism entails panpsychism”, 2006Galen Strawson, “Mind and Being, The Primacy of panpsychism”, 2017

Have you ever wondered how one writer could change French literature and politics at the same time? That's the story we tell in Émile Zola: The Life, Legacy, and Scandal of France's Most Influential Writer. In this episode of the Join Us in France Travel Podcast, host Annie Sargent sits down with Elyse Rivin to explore the extraordinary life of Émile Zola. Zola was not just a novelist. He was a social critic, a scandal-maker, and a public voice for justice. His Rougon-Macquart series, including the famous novel Germinal, revealed the lives of miners, shopkeepers, and workers in 19th-century France. His friendship with Paul Cézanne shaped his early years. His relationship with Jeanne Rozerot brought private scandal. And his article J'Accuse made him a hero during the Dreyfus Affair, even though it forced him into exile in England. Annie and Elyse take you through the highlights of an Émile Zola biography in plain language. You'll learn about his role in shaping the Naturalist movement, his courage to stand up against injustice, and why he rests today in the Panthéon in Paris alongside France's greatest figures. This episode isn't just about books. It's about history, politics, scandal, and courage. It's about how one man's words still echo in France today. If you're curious about French literature, Paris history, or the Dreyfus Affair, this episode is for you. You'll walk away with stories you can share and a deeper understanding of France's cultural heritage.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emile Zola's greatest literary success, his thirteenth novel in a series exploring the extended Rougon-Macquart family. The relative here is Etienne Lantier, already known to Zola's readers as one of the blighted branch of the family tree and his story is set in Northern France. It opens with Etienne trudging towards a coalmine at night seeking work, and soon he is caught up in a bleak world in which starving families struggle and then strike, as they try to hold on to the last scraps of their humanity and the hope of change. With Susan Harrow Ashley Watkins Chair of French at the University of Bristol Kate Griffiths Professor in French and Translation at Cardiff University And Edmund Birch Lecturer in French Literature and Director of Studies at Churchill College & Selwyn College, University of Cambridge Producer: Simon Tillotson Reading list: David Baguley, Naturalist Fiction: The Entropic Vision (Cambridge University Press, 1990) William Burgwinkle, Nicholas Hammond and Emma Wilson (eds.), The Cambridge History of French Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2011), particularly ‘Naturalism' by Nicholas White Kate Griffiths, Emile Zola and the Artistry of Adaptation (Legenda, 2009) Kate Griffiths and Andrew Watts, Adapting Nineteenth-Century France: Literature in Film, Theatre, Television, Radio, and Print (University of Wales Press, 2013) Anna Gural-Migdal and Robert Singer (eds.), Zola and Film: Essays in the Art of Adaptation (McFarland & Co., 2005) Susan Harrow, Zola, The Body Modern: Pressures and Prospects of Representation (Legenda, 2010) F. W. J. Hemmings, The Life and Times of Emile Zola (first published 1977; Bloomsbury, 2013) William Dean Howells, Emile Zola (The Floating Press, 2018) Lida Maxwell, Public Trials: Burke, Zola, Arendt, and the Politics of Lost Causes (Oxford University Press, 2014) Brian Nelson, Emile Zola: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2020) Brian Nelson (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Emile Zola (Cambridge University Press, 2007) Sandy Petrey, Realism and Revolution: Balzac, Stendhal, Zola, and the Performances of History (Cornell University Press, 1988) Arthur Rose, ‘Coal politics: receiving Emile Zola's Germinal' (Modern & contemporary France, 2021, Vol.29, 2) Philip D. Walker, Emile Zola (Routledge, 1969) Emile Zola (trans. Peter Collier), Germinal (Oxford University Press, 1993) Emile Zola (trans. Roger Pearson), Germinal (Penguin Classics, 2004) Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Properly understood, the imagination is not something you escape to; it's something you draw upon every day to make decisions, understand events, and communicate. This week on HeightsCast, Dr. Matthew Mehan explores the purposes of the imagination and the habits of wit and wisdom that help us insightfully process our world. We may think of the imagination at odds with reality. But, he says, cultivating the imagination actually makes us more capable, “wittier” thinkers about reality. Chapters: 00:03:05 Defining the imagination 00:05:31 “Good mother wit” 00:08:25 How LLMs undermine the wit 00:11:05 Beyond the “moral imagination” 00:15:33 Imagination of the Founding Fathers 00:20:03 Aesop and governing your animal spirits 00:24:28 The mistakes of Naturalism 00:27:57 18th century ABCs 00:32:13 Role models for the civic imagination 00:40:38 Who chooses what goes in 00:43:26 Reality educates us 00:46:39 Recommendations for parents 00:52:24 Metaphor control: guarding your hope 01:02:33 Humor and joy Links: mythicalmammals.com, Matthew Mehan's website “Restoring America's Founding Imagination” by Matthew Mehan Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals by Matthew Mehan The Handsome Little Cygnet by Matthew Mehan The Plutarch Podcast by Tom Cox Illustrated Aesop's Fables by Aesop, with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton Fifty Years on the Old Frontier by James Cook Saints Series Podcast by The Merry Beggars The Boy Stories Series by Tom Longano Also on the Forum: Metaphor Control: A Modest Hope for Civilization by Matthew Mehan Shaping Your Son's Moral Imagination (article) by Alvaro de Vicente Shaping Your Son's Moral Imagination (lecture) featuring Alvaro de Vicente Seeing History: On Using Images in the History Classroom by Kyle Blackmer Featured opportunities: Convivium for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 13-15, 2025)

How does philosophy inform modern physics? And how do physicists incorporate philosophy into their research? On this episode, we dive into those questions with philosopher Dr. Timothy McGrew and astrophysicist Dr. Luke Barnes in order to help you fine tune your thinking about the fine tuning of the universe. Critics of the fine-tuning argument will often invoke probabilities in order to get around the argument's deeper implication of the existence of God. Tim and Luke will explore some of the issues in probability theory as it informs the physics of the fine-tuning argument. Dr. Timothy McGrewTimothy McGrew is Professor of Philosophy at Western Michigan University, where he has taught for the past 25 years. His research interests include formal epistemology, the history and philosophy of science, and the history and philosophy of religion. When he is not doing philosophy, he enjoys playing chess online, coaching at his local chess club, running trails, and making high quality paper airplanes. He lives in SW Michigan with his wife, Lydia McGrew, and their daughters.Dr. Luke BarnesDr Luke A. Barnes is a Senior Lecturer in Physics at Western Sydney University. With a PhD in astronomy from the University of Cambridge, he has published papers in the field of galaxy formation and on the fine-tuning of the Universe for life. He is the coauthor with Prof. Geraint Lewis of A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely-Tuned Cosmos and The Cosmic Revolutionary's Handbook: (Or: How to Beat the Big Bang), published by Cambridge University Press. Free Articles from Watchman Fellowship Profile on Naturalism: https://www.watchman.org/Naturalism/ProfileNaturalism.pdf Profile on Scientism: https://www.watchman.org/scientism/ProfileScientism.pdf Profile on Atheism: https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/atheismprofile.pdf Additional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/FreePROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (around 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/NotebookSUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/GiveApologetics Profile is a podcast ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Thursday, July 31, 2025 In the second hour, Liberty welcomes Christopher Reese back to the show. They'll talk about Christopher's recent article, “An Overlooked Argument for God and Against Naturalism.” In the final thirty minutes, Liberty brings us wisdom concerning divorce, virtue, AI technology, and more. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/pointofviewradio and on […]

The Bible tells us that we can see and understand "God's invisible attributes" through what He has created. And this is precisely what former atheist Michael Ray Lewis discovered as he spent three years examining the evidence for Christianity. One of the most impressive arguments he encountered during his time of searching was that of the fine tuning of the universe. Jesus eventually got hold of Michael and not long thereafter his wife encouraged him to make a documentary about the evidence he had uncovered for Christianity. Here on part two of our conversation with filmmaker Michael Ray Lewis, we'll hear the story of how the idea of the film, Universe Designed, became a reality.For more information about the film Universe Designed, visit the official website at https://www.UniverseDesigned.comResources from Watchman Fellowship: Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Scientism by Dr. Luke Barnes and Daniel Ray: www.watchman.org/Scientism  Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Carl Sagan's Cosmos by Daniel Ray: www.watchman.org/CosmosTV  Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Naturalism by Daniel Ray: www.watchman.org/Naturalism  Book: The Story of the Cosmos by Daniel Ray:www.watchman.org/CosmosBook FREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (over 600 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

God's creation shows us His invisible attributes. He uses His creation to lead us to Christ, through whom and for whom the entirety of the heavens and earth were made (Colossians 1). Daniel Ray recently met a former atheist who became a Christian and who has recently completed the final edits on a remarkable docudrama film about the cosmos and how it all points us to Jesus. The film is called Universe Designed and it is the passion project of our guest on Apologetics for the next two weeks, filmmaker Michael Ray Lewis. Universe Designed rivals anything produced by National Geographic or the Discovery Channel, without the naturalism of course, and is entirely Christ-centered. It is due to be released sometime toward the end of this year. Here on part one, Michael shares with us his story about how God began a good work in his life.For more information about the film Universe Designed, visit the official website at https://www.UniverseDesigned.comResources from Watchman Fellowship: Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Scientism by Dr. Luke Barnes and Daniel Ray: www.watchman.org/Scientism  Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Carl Sagan's Cosmos by Daniel Ray: www.watchman.org/CosmosTV  Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Naturalism by Daniel Ray: www.watchman.org/Naturalism  Book: The Story of the Cosmos by Daniel Ray:www.watchman.org/CosmosBook FREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (over 600 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Today, hosts Robert J. Marks and Angus Menuge welcome Dr. Robert Larmer to discuss methodological naturalism, the topic of his chapter in Minding the Brain, a recent anthology exploring the mind-body debate. Methodological naturalism is the view that science should only appeal to natural causes and never to supernatural or non-physical causes, even if they exist. Dr. Larmer argues that methodological Read More › Source

There exists a popular myth among skeptics and non-believers that Jesus did not really rise from the dead. What may have happened, they suggest, is that Peter and/or Paul experienced some kind of hallucination or vision of Jesus after His death. Our guest again this week on the Profile, resurrection scholar Dr. Gary Habermas, argues however, that in order for this hypothesis even to get off the ground, the skeptic must first establish the truth of a purely naturalistic worldview, which, Gary believes, cannot be done. Naturalistic refutations of Jesus' resurrection fail to provide any significant challenge to the narratives found in the four Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Dr. Gary Habermas has dedicated his professional life to the examination of the relevant historical, philosophical, and theological issues surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus. His extensive list of publications and debates provides a thorough account of the current state of the issue. He has also contributed more than 60 chapters or articles to additional books, and over 100 articles and reviews in journals and other publications. In recent years, he has been a visiting or adjunct professor at about 15 different graduate schools and seminaries in the United States and abroad. Dr. Habermas is a Distinguished Research Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy. He is married to Eileen and they have seven children and 11 grandchildren. https://www.liberty.edu/divinity/seminary/faculty/gary-habermas/Gary's Books  (2024), On the Resurrection: Refutations, Vol 2 of 4, Broadman & Holman, Academic, ISBN: 978-1-0877-7862-4, https://www.amazon.com/on-the-resurrection-volume-2/dp/108777862X Free Profiles from Watchman Fellowship!  Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Bart Ehrman by Dr. Rhyne Putman: watchman.org/Ehrman Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Atheism by Dr. Robert M. Bowman: watchman.org/Atheism Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Agnosticism by W. Russell Crawford: watchman.org/Agnostic Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Mythicism by Dr. Robert Stewart and Marilyn Stewart: watchman.org/Mythicism Additional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (660 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, as skeptics claim, then our faith in Christ is worthless and we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). So do arguments rooted in naturalism, aimed at criticizing and casting doubt upon the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, pose any significant challenge to the Christian faith? According to our guest this week, the world's leading scholar on the resurrection of Jesus, Dr. Gary Habermas, the answer is "Absolutely not!" Dr. Gary Habermas has dedicated his professional life to the examination of the relevant historical, philosophical, and theological issues surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus. His extensive list of publications and debates provides a thorough account of the current state of the issue. He has also contributed more than 60 chapters or articles to additional books, and over 100 articles and reviews in journals and other publications. In recent years, he has been a visiting or adjunct professor at about 15 different graduate schools and seminaries in the United States and abroad. Dr. Habermas is a Distinguished Research Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy. He is married to Eileen and they have seven children and 11 grandchildren. https://www.liberty.edu/divinity/seminary/faculty/gary-habermas/Gary's Books  (2024), On the Resurrection: Refutations, Vol 2 of 4, Broadman & Holman, Academic, ISBN: 978-1-0877-7862-4, https://www.amazon.com/on-the-resurrection-volume-2/dp/108777862X Free Profiles from Watchman Fellowship!  Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Bart Ehrman by Dr. Rhyne Putman: watchman.org/Ehrman Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Atheism by Dr. Robert M. Bowman: watchman.org/Atheism Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Agnosticism by W. Russell Crawford: watchman.org/Agnostic Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Mythicism by Dr. Robert Stewart and Marilyn Stewart: watchman.org/Mythicism Additional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (660 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2025 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

In this episode, we talk with Pamela Hieronymi about P. F. Strawson's classic paper “Freedom and Resentment,” his ethical naturalism, and her recent Gifford Lectures.Pamela's website: https://hieronymi.humspace.ucla.edu/Pamela's book: Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of MoralsTwitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/

Greg talks to callers about the rebellion of angels in Genesis 6, how to respond to a naturalism-of-the-gaps argument, how to use Shedd's Dogmatics, whether an abandoned spouse can remarry, and whether human beings are responsible for the salvation of others.   Topics: What is your view on the rebellion of the angels referred to in Genesis 6, Jude, and 2 Peter? (01:00) What would you say to someone who responded to an argument for intelligent design by saying, “We just need to wait for science to give us the answer”? (11:00) I purchased Shedd's Dogmatics. Can you tell me how to use it? (29:00) My husband left me. Does that mean I can never get remarried? (38:00) Am I right in challenging the idea that God would give human beings the responsibility for other people's salvation? (50:00) Mentioned on the Show:  Were the sons of God in Genesis 6 fallen angels? Who were the Nephilim? – Peter Gentry The Privileged Planet (20th Anniversary Edition): How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards STR U Online Training The Design of Life DVD Collection: Volumes 1–3 Dogmatic Theology by William G.T. Shedd What the Bible Says about Divorce and Remarriage by Wayne Grudem Related Links: God of the Gaps? by Greg Koukl

Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 29): Methodological Naturalism