Podcasts about public christianity

Bill speaks with Simon Smart Simon is Executive Director of the Centre for Public Christianity about Religious intolerance seems to be on the rise in Australia. This episode explores the concerning trends of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and discrimination against Christians. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Preacher: John Weis, Text: Titus 3:1-2 

Matt, hey, my friends, welcome to the off the wire podcast. My name is Matt Wireman, and with over 25 years of coaching experience, I bring to you a an integrated approach to coaching where we look at mind, body and soul. So this being my little corner of the universe, welcome we cover everything from spiritual formation or the interior life all the way to goal setting and how to make your life better with life hacks, and I cover everything in between. So whatever it fits my fancy, I'm going to share with you, and I'm so thankful for your time, and I hope this episode helps you. All right. Well, hey, welcome, welcome to another episode of Off The Wire. This is Matt, still I haven't changed, but I do have with me, my friend. Really proud to call him a friend. And from seminary days, Dr Josh chatro, who is the Billy Graham chair for evangelism and cultural engagement at Beeson. That's a mouthful. Josh, well done. And then he is also, they just launched a concentration in apologetics at Beeson, which is really exciting. They got a conference coming up this summer. Is that also an apologetics Josh,its own preaching and apologetics? Okay? Awesome.And, and largely, you're also, you're also part of the Tim Keller Center for Cultural apologetics, and then also a, they call them fellows at the Center for Pastor theologians as well. That's right, yeah. And you in, you have been at Beeson for a couple years, because prior to that, you were at a you were heading up. And what was it largely an apologetics group, or was it, was it more broad than that in Raleigh?Yeah, it was. It was much more expansive than that. Evangelism and apologetics is part of what we were doing, but it was the Center for Public Christianity, okay? It was also very much in the work and faith movement. And I was also resident theologian at Holy Trinity Anglican in Raleigh. We were there for five years,excellent and and you don't know this because you don't keep tabs on who bought your book, but I've got every one of your books brother, so every every book you put out, and I'm like, I love this guy, and I'm gonna support him and buy his book. So it started all the way back, if you remember, with truth matters, yeah. And I use that book for one of the classes that I built here where I teach. And then then I want to go through the Litany here and embarrass you a little bit. And then it goes to apologetics, at the Cross Cultural Engagement, telling a better story, surprised by doubt. And then one that you just released called the Augustine way, retrieving a vision for the church's apologetic witness. So do you write much on apologetics? Is that kind of your thing?Yeah, I've written a few books on that.So why? Like, what is it about apologetics that has really captured your heart, in your mind and like, as opposed to just teaching theology, yeah, it's a certain it's a certain stream. If folks are first of all, folks are curious, like, What in the world is apologetics? Are you apologizing to folks? Like, are you saying I'm sorry?Well, I do have to do that. I'm sorry a lot. That's a good practice. That's not quite what apologetics is. Okay. Okay, so we, one of the things I would say is, and when I meet, when I meet up with old friends like you, sometimes they say, What have you been doing? Because we didn't see this coming. And when we were in seminary together, it wasn't as if I was, you know, reading a lot of apologetic works. And so one of the things is,and you weren't picking fights on campus too much. You were always a really kind person. And most, most time, people think of like apologists as, like, real feisty. And you're not a feisty friend. I'm not. I actually, unless you start talking about, like, soccer and stuff like that, right? Yeah,yeah, I'm not. Yeah, I don't. I don't love, I don't love, actually, arguments I'd much rather have, which is an odd thing, and so I need to tell how did I get into this thing? I'd much rather have conversations and dialog and kind of a back and forth that keeps open communication and and because, I actually think this ties into apologetics, most people don't make decisions or don't come to they don't come to any kind of belief simply because they were backed into an intellectual corner. And but now maybe I'll come back to that in a second. But I got into this because I was doing my PhD work while I was pastoring. And when you do yourpH was that in in Raleigh, because you did your PhD work at Southeastern, right?That's right, that's right. But I was actually, we were in southern, uh. In Virginia for the first half, we were in a small town called Surrey. It was, if you know anything about Tim Keller, it was he served in Hopewell, Virginia for seven or nine years before he went to Westminster and then to New York. And we were about 45 minutes from that small town. So if you've read Colin Hansen's book, he kind of gives you some background on what is this, these little communities, and it does, does kind of match up the little community I was serving for two years before moving to another little community in South Georgia to finish while I was writing. And so I pastored in both locations. So these aren't particularly urban areas, and yet, people in my church, especially the young people, were asking questions about textual criticism, reliability of the Bible.Those are any topics forfolks like, yeah, something happened called the Internet, yes. All of a sudden now, things that you would, you would get to, maybe in your, you know, thm, your your master's level courses, or even doctoral level courses. Now 1819, year old, 20 year olds or 50 year olds had questions about them because they were reading about some of this stuff on the internet. And because I was working on a PhD, I was actually working on a PhD in biblical theology and their New Testament scholar, people would come to me as if I'm supposed to know everything, or you know. And of course, of course, when you're studying a PhD, you're you're in a pretty narrow kind of world and very narrow kind of lane. And of course, I didn't know a lot of things, but I was, I kind of threw myself into, how do I help people with these common questions. So it wasn't as if, it wasn't as if I was saying, oh, I want to study apologetics. I kind of accidentally got there, just because of really practical things going on in my church context. And and then as I was reading and I started writing in response to Bart Ehrman, who is a is a agnostic Bible scholar. Wrote four or five New York Times bestsellers, uh, critical of the New Testament, critical of the Bible, critical of conservative Christianity. I started writing those first two books. I wrote with some senior scholars. I wrote in response. And then people said, so your apologist? And I said, Well, I guess I am. And so that, yeah, so I'm coming at this I'm coming at this area, not because I just love arguments, but really to help the church really with really practical questions. And then as I began to teach it, I realized, oh, I have some different assumptions coming at this as a pastor, also as a theologian, and trained in biblical theology. So I came with a, maybe a different set of lenses. It's not the only set of lens. It's not the it's not the only compare of lenses that that one might take in this discipline, but that's some of my vocational background and some of my kind of journey that brought me into apologetics, and in some ways, has given me a little bit different perspective than some of the dominant approaches or dominant kind of leaders in the area.That's great. Well, let's go. Let's get after it. Then I'm gonna just throw you some doozies and see how we can rapid fire just prove all of the things that that are in doubt. So here we go. Okay, you ready? How do we know that God exists?Yeah, so that word no can have different connotations. So maybe it would be better to ask the question, why do we believe God exists? Oh,don't you do that? You're you can't, you can't just change my question. I was kidding. Well, I think, I think you bring up a great point, is that one of the key tasks in apologetics is defining of terms and understanding like, Okay, you asked that question. But I think there's a question behind the question that actually is an assumption that we have to tease out and make explicit, right? Because, I mean, that's, that's part of you. So I think sometimes people get into this back and forth with folks, and you're like, Well, you have assumptions in your question. So go ahead, you, you, you go ahead and change my question. So how do we knowthe issue is, is there is that when we say something like, you know, we people begin to imagine that the way Christianity works is that we need to prove Christianity in the way we might prove as Augustine said this in confessions, four plus six equals 10. And Augustine, early church father, and he's writing, and he's writing about his own journey. He said I really had to get to the point where I realized this is not how this works. Yeah, we're not talking about, we do not one plus one, our way to God.Yeah. And when is Augustine writing about When? When? So people are, yeah, 397,at. This point. So he's writing right at the, you know, right right before the fifth century, okay? And, and, of course, Augustine famously said, we have to believe to understand, for most believers, God is intuitive, or what? Blaise Pascal, the 17th century Christian philosopher He called this the logic of the heart. Or I can just cite a more contemporary figure, Alvin planeta, calls this basic belief that. He says that belief in God is a basic belief, and and for So, for for many believers, they would say something like this. And I think there's validity in this so is that God just makes sense, even if, even if they haven't really worked out arguments that they they say, Well, yeah, this God makes sense to me. Now I can kind of begin to explore that. I will in just a second, but I just want to say there's, for most of your listeners, it's something like, I heard the gospel and this and the stories of Jesus, and I knew they were true, right? And as kind of insiders here, we would say that's the Spirit's work. The Holy Spirit is working, and God speaks through creation and his word, and people believe. And so that's that's why we believe now, of course, once we say that people have these kinds of intuitions, or as theologians would put it, this sense of God kind of built into them, I would want to say, as an apologist, or even as a pastor, just a minister, you don't have to be apologist to say this is that we can appeal to those intuitions and make arguments in many different types of ways. Well,hold on one second. Isn't that a little too simplistic, though? Because, I mean, you have the Greeks who believed in all the different gods, and the Romans who adopted those gods and changed their names and like, how do we assimilate that? You know, where, you know Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins famously say, Well, I don't, I don't believe in Zeus. So does that make me an atheist? It would have made me an atheist back in, you know, you know Roman and Latin and Greek times. So, so there's an intuition, but, but how do we delineate that? Well, that's not the right object of that intuition.Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we have this intuition, you know, we could say Romans, Romans, one is pointing us to, this is what I would argue, this sense of God, and yet we're, we're fallen, according to the Christian story. And so even though we have this sense of God, we suppress that, and we worship false gods, or we worship the created, rather than the Creator. So the Christian story as a as a Christian, helps make sense of both the kind of why? Well, although we have this sense this, there's this common sense of God, it goes in many different directions and and I would argue that even if you deny kind of transcendence altogether, you're still going to have you're going to still make something kind of a god. You're going to you're going to want to worship something. And I think that's that's part of the point of Romans, one, you end up going to worship the created rather than the Creator. So does that get out what you're asking Matt or Yeah,I think so. I think sometimes the arguments that are real popular, even now is like, well, I just don't, I just don't, I just don't believe that God exists, just like I don't believe that Zeus exists, like, what's, what's the big deal? Why? Why are you so adamant that I believe in that God exists? Like to because I don't, I don't know that God exists because I don't see him. So how would you respond to somebody who says, Well, this Intuit intuition that that you say we all have, and that Romans one says we have, I just don't buy it, you know, because, I mean, I'm, I wouldn't believe that Zeus exists, because there's no empirical evidence to show me otherwise. So how would you respond to somebody that's equivocating or saying that, you know, Yahweh of the Old Testament, the God of the, you know, the God of the Bible is, this is just a tribal deity, just like Zeus is. So, how should we? Iwould, I would say so. So I think we can make kind of arguments for some kind of for transcendence. So there's ways to make arguments against naturalism. That's that's what's being promoted. And there's various different kinds of, you know. So sometimes these kinds of arguments that are in the Christian tradition are used to say, hey, we're going to prove God's existence using these arguments. I think I'm not. Are typically comfortable with the language of prove and how it's used in our context today, again, we get into the math, kind of two plus two equals four. Kind of thinking, yep. But I think a lot of those arguments are appealing to both intuitions and they they work much more effectively as anti naturalistic arguments. Not so much saying, Okay, we know a particular God through, say, the moral argument, okay, that we're but, but it's arguing against simply a naturalistic, materialistic. You know, even Evans, who's a longtime professor at Baylor, makes this argument that those, those types of arguments are really good against pushing back against naturalism. So plan again, has a famous argument that says, if naturalism and evolutionary theory are both true because of how evolution theory works, it's not about right thinking, but right action that you perform certain things to survive. Then, if both of those are true, you have no reason to trust your kind of cognitive faculties.Can you tease that one out a little bit? I kind of lost on that one. He said,What planet is arguing? Is he saying? Look, if, if all of our kind of cognitive faculties are just a product of evolution, okay? And by the way, not only does it's not just a plan. Ago makes this argument, it's actually kind of interesting figures who were like Nietzsche and others made this argument that basically, if, if evolution and naturalism is true that all we are is energy and manner and this product of evolutionary process, then we would have no reason to actually trust kind of our rationality, and that's what rationality is actually mapping onto reality. All of our our brains and our minds are really just producing certain conclusions to help us survive. So it would undercut the very foundations of that position. Now again, yeah, being able to observe, yeah, yeah. So, so with that, again, I think that's an example of an argument that doesn't so much. You know, say this is the Christian God. This supports the belief in Christian God. But what it does is it from within their own thinking. It challenges that. It undercuts their own way of thinking, which is what you're assuming and what you're kind of pushing back on, is a kind of naturalistic world. And I think we can step within that try to understand it and then challenge it on its own terms. And I think that's the real strength of planning this argument. What he's doing now, go ahead.Well, that's it, yeah, in his, in his, like, the the Opus is, uh, warranted. Christian belief is that what you're referencing the the big burgundy book.I can't remember where he makes this argument? Yeah, I can'tremember exactly. But like, if all your cognitive faculties are working, somebody who believes that God exists does not mean that they does not negate all of the other cognitive faculties that they're like if they're in their rational mind, that they have warrants for their belief. But, but that's what I what I think, where I'm tracking with you, and I love this is that even like, it still holds true, right? Like there's not one silver bullet argument to say now we know, like, that's what you were challenging even in the question is, how do you know that you know that you know that God exists? Well, you have to layer these arguments. And so this is one layer of that argument that even the Greeks and the Romans had a sense of transcendence that they were after, and they identified them as gods. But there's this other worldliness that they're trying to attribute to the natural world that they observe, that they can't have answers for, and that we can't observe every occurrence of reality, that there has to be something outside of our box, so to speak, out of our naturalistic tendencies. And so even that can be helpful to say, well, that kind of proves my point that even the Greeks and the Romans and other tribal deities, they're after something outside of our own experience that we can experience in this box. Yeah, that'sright. And there's a, I mean again, this, this argument, isn't intellectually coercive, and I don't think any of these are intellectually coercive. What I mean by that is you can find ways out. And so the approach I would take is actually called an abductive approach, which says, Okay, let's put everything on the table, and what best makes sense, what best makes sense, or what you know, what story best explains all of this? And so that way, there's a lot of different angles you can take depending on who you're talking to, yep, and and so what one of the, one of the ways to look at this and contemporary anthropology? Psycho psychologists have done work on this, to say, the kind of standard, what we might call natural position in all of human history, is that there's there's transcendence. That's, it's just the assumption that there's transcendence. Even today, studies have been shown even people who grow kids, who grew up in a secular society will kind of have these intuitions, like, there is some kind of God, there is some kind of creator, designer. And the argument is that you actually have to have a certain kinds of culture, a particular culture that kind of habituate certain thinking, what, what CS Lewis would call, a certain kind of worldly spell to to so that those intuitions are saying, Oh no, there's not a god. You know, there's not transcendence. And so the kind of common position in all of human history across various different cultures is there is some kind of transcendence. It takes a very particular, what I would say, parochial, kind of culture to say, oh, there's probably no there. There's not. There's, of course, there's not. In fact, Charles Taylor, this is the story he wants to tell of how did we get here, at least in some secular quarters of the West, where it was just assumed, of course, there's, of course, there's a God to 500 years of to now, and at least some quarters of the West, certain, certain elite orsecular? Yeah? Yeah, people. And even then, that's a minority, right? This is not a wholesale thing, yeah.It seems to be. There's something, well, even Jonathan height, uh, he's an atheist, says, has acknowledged that there seems to be something in humans. That's something like what Pascal called a God shaped hole in our heart, and so there's this kind of, there's this deep intuition. And what I'm wanting to do is, I'm wanting in my arguments to kind of say, okay, given this as a Christian, that I believe we have this sense of God and this intuition of God, these intuitions, I want to appeal to those intuitions. And so there's a moral order to the universe that people just sense that there is a right and wrong. There's certain things that are right and certain things are wrong, even if a culture says it is, it is, it is fine to kill this group of people, that there's something above culture, that even there's something above someone's personal preference, that is their moral order to the universe. Now, given that deep seated intuition, what you might call a first principle, what makes best sense of that, or a deep desire, that that, that nothing in the universe seems to satisfy that we have. This is CS Lewis's famous argument. We have these desires, these natural desires for we get thirsty and there's there's water, we get hungry and there's food, and yet there's this basically universal or worldwide phenomenon where people desire something more, that they try to look for satisfaction in this world and they can't find it. Now, what best explains that? And notice what I'm doing there, I'm asking that the question, what best explains it? Doesn't mean there's, there's not multiple explanations for this, but we're saying, What's the best explanation, or profound sense that something doesn't come from nothing, that intelligence doesn't come from non intelligence, that being doesn't come from non being. Yeah, a deep sense that there's meaning and significance in life, that our experience with beauty is not just a leftover from an earlier primitive stage of of evolution. And so we have these deep experiences and intuitions and ideas about the world, and what I'm saying is particularly the Christian story. So I'm not, I'm not at the end, arguing for just transcendence or or kind of a generic theism, but I'm saying particularly the Christian story, best, best answers. Now, I'm not saying that other stories can't incorporate and say something and offer explanations, but it's a, it's a really a matter of, you know, you might say out narrating or or telling the Gospel story that maps on to the ways we're already intuiting about the world, or experiencing or observing the world.Yeah, so, so going along with that, so we don't have, like, a clear cut case, so to speak. We have layers of argument, and we appeal to what people kind of, in their heart of hearts, know, they don't have to like, they have to be taught otherwise. Almost like, if you talk to a child, they can't, they kind of intuit that, oh, there's something outside, like, Who created us? Like, who's our mom? You know, like, going back into the infinite regress. It's like, okay, some something came from nothing. How does that even how is that even possible? So there has to be something outside of our. Experience that caused that to happen. So, so say you, you go there, and then you help people. Say, help people understand. Like, I can't prove God's existence, but I can argue that there are ways of explaining the world that are better than other ways. So then, how do you avoid the charge that, well, you basically are a really proud person that you think your religion is better than other religions. How, how could you dare say that when you can't even prove that you're you know? So how? How would you respond to somebody who would say, like, how do you believe? Why do you believe that Christianity is a one true religion? Yeah, um,well, I would say a couple of things. One is that, in some sense, everyone is staking out some kind of claim. So even if you say you can't say that one religion is true or one one religion is the one true religion, that is a truth claim that you're staking out. And I think it's fine that this for someone to say that they just need to realize. I mean, I think they're wrong, but I think they're they're making a truth claim. I'm making a truth claim. Christians are making truth so we're, we all think we're right, and that's fine. That's fine, but, but then we but then once you realize that, then you're not saying, Well, you think you're right, but I just, I'm not sure, or it's arrogant to say you're right. I think, of course, with some some things, we have more levels of confidence than other things. And I think that's the other thing we can say with Christian with as Christians, it's saying, Hey, I believe, I believe in the resurrection. I believe in the core doctrines of Christianity. It doesn't mean that everything I might believe about everything is right. It doesn't even mean all my arguments are are even 100% always the best arguments, or I could be wrong about a particular argument and and I'm also not saying that you're wrong about everything you're saying. Okay, so, but what we are saying is that, hey, I I believe Jesus is who he said he was, and you're saying he's not okay. Let's have a conversation. But it's not, rather, it's not a matter of somebody being air. You know, you can hold those positions in an arrogant way. But simply saying, I believe this isn't in itself arrogance, at least, I think how arrogance is classically defined, yeah. And what is this saying? I believe this, and I believe, I believe what Jesus said about himself. And I can't go around and start kind of toying with with, if I believe he's Lord, then it's really not up to me to say, okay, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna, kind of take some of what he said, but not all of what he said. If you actually believe he rose from the dead and he is Lord and He is God, then then you take him at his word.What is it, as you think about cultural engagement, cultural apologetics that you've written on like, what is it in our cultural moment right now where people you say that thing, like Jesus said, You know, he, he, he said, I'm God, you know, not those explicit words, right? That's some of the argument. Like, no, but you look at the narrative he did, and that's why he was going to be stoned for blasphemy. That's why all these things. But that's, that's another conversation for another day. But, and then you talk to someone, you're like, Well, I don't believe he was God. I don't believe His claims were. Like, why then do you do we oftentimes find ourselves at a standstill, and people just throw up their hands like, well, that's your truth, and my truth is, I just don't, like, just don't push it on me. Like, why do we find ourselves in this? And it's not new. I mean, this is something that goes back to, you know, hundreds of years ago, where people are making arguments and they're like, Well, I just don't know. So I'm gonna be a transcendentalist, or I'm gonna be a deist, or I'm gonna whatever. So how do we kind of push back on that a little bit to say, No, it's not what we're talking about. Is not just a matter of preference, and it's not just a matter of, hey, my truth for me and your truth for you. But we're actually making it a claim that is true for all people. Like, how do we kind of encourage people to push into that tendency that people have to just throw up their hands and say, whatever? Pass the piece, you know? Well,okay, so I think let me answer that in two ways. One's philosophically, and then two are practically. One philosophically. I do think it's, you know, CS Lewis was on to this, as he often was way ahead of the curve on certain things, but on an abolition of man. When he talked, he's talking about the fact value distinction and how we've separated. You know, you have your facts, and then everything you know, where, classically, you would kind of recognize that courage, you know, is a virtue, and that's, it's a, it's a, it's also a fact that we should pursue courage and rather than just my preference of kind of and so there's actually. Be this, but now we have, well, that's a value, kind of courage, and say you should do something, but it's, it's, that's your value and and so we have this distinction between facts, which is, follow the science, and then values over here. And as that has opened up. You have both a kind of, on one hand, a very, very much, a people saying in a very kind of hard, rationalistic way, you know, science has said, which, that would be another podcast to kind of dive into that more science is good and, yeah, and, but science doesn't say anything. So I'm a fan of science, but it doesn't say anything. We interpret certain things, but, but so you can kind of have a hard rationalism, but you also combine with a kind of relativism, or at least a soft relativism that says, Well, this is my truth, because values become subjective. So that's the philosophical take. But the kind of practical thing, I would say, is they need people. One of the reasons people do that is because, it's because they've seen kind of these to reference what you're talking about earlier this hey, this person's coming in wanting to talk about my worldview, and it just becomes this fierce, awkward encounter, and I don't want anything to do with that type of thing, like I don't, I don't want to go down the dark corners of of the Internet to have these, to have these intellectual just like Charles Taylor says, a lot of the kind of arguments are, I have three reasons why your position is untenable. He says something like untenable, wrong and totally immoral. Now, let's have a conversation. It just and so it's kind of like, no thanks. I don't think I want to have that conversation. You do you. And so there's, there is a part that, culturally, something is going on which needs to be confronted. And Lewis was doing that work, and a lot of philosophers have followed him in that but there's also a side of of maybe where our own worst enemies here, and the way that we try to engage people, and where we start with people, and we think, Okay, let's start in this kind of, you know, apologetic wrestling match with people. And a lot of times, people are just looking to cope. People are just looking to survive. They have mental health issues going on, and they don't want another one to pop up because of the apologist. And so they're just looking to try to skirt that conversation and get to feeding their kids or dealing with their angry neighbor. And so we've got to kind of take stock on kind of where people are at, and then how to engage them with where they're at. Now I'm going to apologize. I think all of those arguments are helpful in a certain context, but a lot of times, we've been our own worst enemy, and how we try to try to engage so what I what I encourage students and ministers to do is is start talking about people's stories, and you know how life is going and where what's hard, and asking really good questions, and kind of having a holy curiosity and and often, I was in an encounter with a guy who came up to me after a kind of a university missions thing, and he was an atheist, and he wanted to talk about the moral argument. And I was happy to do that for a few minutes, but then I just asked him. I said, what you know, what do you love to do? Tell me about yourself, and where do you really find joy in life? And he looked at me, and he started to tear up, and he said, You know, I'm really lonely right now, you know, go figure this moment in our world, the kind of fragmented world we live in. And he said, what's really meaningful to me is my is my pet, because he provides solace. And there's this moment where, of course, I mean, here's an atheist wanting to show up at a Christian event, right? And because Christians were nice to him, and he's deeply lonely, and we got to have a pretty meaningful conversation about, you know, the benefits of following Christ in the community, communion with not only God, but with others, yeah, but if I would have just left it at, let's go to the more we would have never got there. But it took me kind of asking the question, which is, in essence, what I was trying to ask is what, I didn't put it like this, but what are you seeking? What are you really after here? And where are you really getting joy in life, and what's going on? And I if we can learn to go there, I think we'll have much more productive conversations. And then just kind of, I heard chatro talk about the, you know, ontological argument. Now let me throw that out there at somebody. I think that's why apologists and apologetics have sometimes been given a bad name. But if you. Actually look at the tradition, the the larger tradition. There's so many resources, and there's so many people, apologists, doing lots of different things, that I think gives us kind of way to actually engage people where they're at.Yeah, yeah. No, that's great. Well, I It reminds me, I believe it was Schaefer who talked about the the greatest apologetic, at least his time, and I think it stands true even now, is welcoming people and being hospitable towards people, welcoming the questions, not looking at folks as adversaries, but fellow pilgrims. And then you welcome them into that space, into that community. And then they're they see that, quite frankly, the faith works. The Christian ethic actually works, albeit imperfect, by imperfect people in imperfect ways. But you know, as we go through pain and suffering, as we go through, you know, elation and disappointment, like there's still a lot that that we can demonstrate to the world through our testimony that it works. You know, so to speak. So I'd love to hear you kind of help walk us through how the Christian story tells a better story about pain and suffering, because that's that's a fact of every person listening is that there's some modicum of pain and suffering in their life at any moment. And then you look at the grand scale of the world and all these things, but just even we can go down to the individual level of the why is there pain and suffering in my life and in the world and, you know, in general. But I like, like for you to just kind of riff on that for a little bit for us, to helpus, yeah. And in some ways, this question, and the apologetic question is a kind of real, a snapshot into the into what we're talking about with, how do we respond to that? Not just as Okay, an intellectual question, yeah, yeah, but it's also a profoundly experiential question. And there's youmean, you mean, and how, in the moment when you're saying, in the moment when somebody asks you the question, not getting defensive, but being being willing to listen to the question, Is that what you mean by that? And yeah,well, what I mean is, that's certainly true. Matt, what I was really thinking, though, is how this is not just something kind of an abstract, intellectual question. Oh, okay, but it's a profound experiential and there's different angles that we might take into it. But I mean, as a kind of snapshot or a test case in our apologetic is, I think there's ways to answer that question that are sterile, that are overly academic, and I and that also, I would say, rushes in to give an answer. And I would want to argue that Christianity doesn't give an answer to evil and suffering, but it gives a response. And let me make, let me explain that, yeah, is, is an answer. Tries in the way I'm using it, at least tries to say, I'm going to solve this kind of intellectual problem, and the problem of evil and suffering in the world, of why a good God who's all powerful would allow the kind of evil and suffering we see in the world is, is one that we might say, Okay, now there's the problem. Now let me give the solution. And this is often done, and we've you maybe have been in this if you're listening into a certain context where a kind of famous apologist says, Here is the answer, or famous Christian celebrity says, Here is the answer to evil, and this solves all the problems, until you start thinking about it a little bit more, or you go home, or three or four years, and you grow out of that answer and and so I think we need to be real careful here when we say we have the answer, because if you keep pushing that question back in time, or you start asking questions like, well, that that bullet that hit Hitler in World War One and didn't kill him? What if the God of the Bible, who seems to control the wind and everything, would have just blown it over and killed Hitler. It seems like maybe it could have been a better possible world if Hitler, you know, didn't lead the Holocaust. Okay, so, so again, I think, I think pretty quickly you begin to say, Okay, well, maybe some of these theodicies Don't actually solve everything, although I would say that some of the theodicies that are given things like free will, theodicy or or the kind of theodicies that say God uses suffering to to grow us and develop us. And I think there's truth in all of that, and there's but what it does. What none of them do is completely solve the problem. And so I think that there's value in those theodicies in some extent.Hey, did you know that you were created to enjoy abundance? I'm not talking about getting the latest pair of Air Jordans or a jet plane or whatever that this world says that you have to have in order to be happy. Instead, I'm talking about an abundant life where you are rich in relationships, you're rich in your finances, but you are rich in life in general, that you are operating in the calling that God has for you, that He created you for amazing things. Did you know that? And so many times we get caught up in paying our mortgage and running hither and yon, that we forget that in this world of distractions that God has created you for glorious and amazing things and abundant life. If you would like to get a free workbook, I put one together for you, and it's called the my new rich life workbook. If you go to my new rich life.com my new rich life.com. I would be glad to send you that workbook with no strings attached, just my gift to you to help you. But here'sthe thing, here's what I want to go back to with a question. Is that the Odyssey as we know it, or this? And what I'm using theodicy for is this, this responsibility that that we feel like we have to justify the ways of God, is a particularly modern phenomenon. I think this is where history comes and helps us. Charles Taylor talks about this in that the kind of way we see theodicy and understand theodicy was really developed in the middle of the 1700s with figures like Leibniz, and then you have particularly the Lisbon earthquakes in the middle of the 18th century. And that was this kind of 911 for that context. And in this 911 moment, you have philosophers being saying, Okay, how do we justify the ways of God? And are trying to do it in a very kind of this philosophical way to solve the problem. But from for most of human history and history of the West, of course, evil and suffering was a problem, but it wasn't a problem so much to be solved, but it was a problem to to cope with and and and live in light of, in other words, what you don't have in the Bible is Job saying, Okay, well, maybe God doesn't exist. Or the psalmist saying, maybe God doesn't exist because I'm experiencing this. No, they're ticked off about it. They're not happy about it. They're struggling to cope with it. It is, it is a problem, but it's not, then therefore a problem. That says, well, then God doesn't exist. Yeah. And it didn't become a widespread kind of objection against God's very existence, until certain things have happened in the kind of modern psyche, the kind of modern way of imagining the world. And here is what's happened. This is what Charles Taylor says. Is that Taylor says what happened is kind of slowly through through different stages in history, but but in some sorry to be gloved here, but it's, it's a very kind of, you know, long argument. But to get to the point is, he says our view of God became small, and our view of humans became really big. And so God just came became kind of a bigger view of version of ourselves. And then we said, oh, if there is a reason for suffering and evil, we should be able to know it, because God's just a bigger kind of version of us, and he has given us rational capacities. And therefore if we can't solve this, then there must not be a god. That's kind of where the logic goes. And of course, if you step into the biblical world, or what I would say a more profoundly Christian way of looking at it is God. God isn't silent, and God has spoken, has given us ways to cope and live with suffering and ways to understand it. But what he what he doesn't give us, is that we're going to he actually promises that, that we're not going to fully understand His ways that, that we're going to have to trust Him, even though we can't fully understand why he does what he does in history all the time. And so this leads into what, what's actually called. There's, this is a, this is a weird name if you're not in this field, but it's called skeptical theism. I'm a skeptical theist. And what skeptical theists Are you is that we're not skeptical about God, but we're skeptical about being able to neatly answer or solve the problem of evil. But we actually don't think that's as big of a deal, because, simply because. I don't understand why God, God's simply because I don't understand God's reasons. Doesn't mean he doesn't have reasons. Yeah, yeah. Andso just beyond your the your finite, uh, temporo spatial understanding of things, right? Like you don't understand how this horrible situation plays out in a grander narrative,right? So it's Stephen wickstra. He had this famous argument. I'll riff off of it a little bit. I mean, just metaphor. He says, if you have a if you have a tent, and we go camping together, Matt and and I open the tent and say, there's a giant dog in there. And you look in there, there's no dog, you would say, Yeah, you're either crazy or a liar. But if I open the tent and say there's tiny bugs in there, and they're called no see ums, you wouldn't, you wouldn't know. You wouldn't be in a position to know. You wouldn't be in an epistemological position to know whether there's a bug in there or not. So you would simply have to decide whether you're going to trust me or not. And then, you know, the claim of the non Christian might be, well, yeah, why would I trust the God given the kind of crap that I see in the world? And I would say, well, a couple reasons. One is most profoundly because God has entered into this world. He has not sat on the sidelines. So even though we don't fully understand it, he has in the person of Jesus Christ, he has suffered with us and for us. So this is a God who says, I haven't given you all the answers, but I have given you myself. And that's I think both has some rational merit to it, and profoundly some intellectual merit to that. I'd also say that the Christian story actually gets at some deep intuitions, kind of underneath this challenge or this problem. It was CS Lewis, who was an atheist in World War One, and and he was very angry at God because of the evil and violence and his his mom dying at an early age, and was an atheist. But then he realized that in his anger against God, that he was assuming a certain standard, a certain kind of moral standard, about how the world should be, that there is evil in the world and that it shouldn't be so, and this deep intuition that it shouldn't be so that certain things aren't right. Actually, you don't have if you do away with God's existence, you just you have your preferences. But in a world of just energy and matter, why would the world not be absurd? Why would you expect things not to be like this. Why would you demand them not to be like this?So a deeply embedded sense of morality that can't be explained by naturalism is what you're getting, yeah?That that we have a certain problem here, or certain challenge with not fully being able to answer the question, yeah, but they have, I would say, a deeper challenge, that they don't have even the kind of categories to make sense of the question. So that's those are some of the directions I would go, and it's first stepping inside and kind of challenging against some of the assumptions. But then I'm as you, as you can tell, then I'm going to say how the Christian story does make sense of these deep intuitions, our moral intuitions, that are underneath the problem, or the challenge of evil and suffering. And then also going to Jesus in the Gospel. And the Gospel story,one of the questions I had on our on the list of questions was, how do we know the Bible is true? But I want to delve into more of this understanding of doubt and how that plays, because you've written a lot on this. But I'd like, could you just direct us to some resources, or some folks, if folks are interested in, how do we know the Bible is true? I'm thinking real popular apologist right now is Wesley. Huff is a great place to go. But are there other like, hey, how do I know that the Bible is true? Because you keep appealing to Christianity, which is in for is the foundation of that is the Bible. So could you give us a few resources so people could chase those down.Peter Williams has written a couple little good books on the Gospels. AndPeter Williams Williams, he's in Cambridge, right, orTyndale house, over there and over the pond. And he's written a book on the Gospels. And I can't think of the name, but if you put it on the internet, it'll show up. And the genius of Jesus as well. Okay, little books, and I think both of those are helpful as far as the Gospels go. Richard, Richard balcom is really good on this, Jesus and the eyewitnesses. As well as a little book that most people haven't heard of. It's a, it's an introduction to the Gospels in that off in an Oxford series, which is, you know, kind of a brief introduction to the Gospels. And he, especially at the very beginning, he gives us John Dixon, who's at Wheaton now, has written a lot of good books on on on this. And it's got this series called skeptics guide to and it does both Old Testament and New Testament kind of stuff. So that little series is, is really helpful. So those are some places I would start. And in my books, I typically have, you know, chapters on this, but I haven't, haven't written, you know, just one book, just on this. The early books, truth matters and truth in a culture of doubt, were, were engaging Bart airman. But really, Bart airman not to pick on on Airmen, but just because he was such a representative of a lot of the the views that that we were hearing, he ended up being a good kind of interlocutor. In those I would just say, I know you didn't. You just asked for books. And let me just say one thing about this is I, I think if you are trying to engage, I think if you take the approach of, let me prove the Bible, let me take everything and just, yeah, I don't think that's the best way. I think you often have to give people some you know, whether it's, you know, the beginning of Luke's Gospel, where he's saying, This is how I went about this. And I actually did my homework to kind of say, this is at least the claim of the gospel writers say, and then, but the real way that you you come to see and know, is you have to step into it and read it. And I think one of the apologetic practices I would want to encourage, or just evangelistic practices, is is offering to read the gospels with people and and working through it. And then certain things come up as you read them, apologetically that you'll, you'll want to chase down and use some of those resources for but I think often it's, it's saying, hey, the claims are, at least that, you know, these guys have done their homework and and some of the work Richard welcome is doing is saying, you know, the Gospel traditions were, were were pinned within the lifetime of eyewitnesses and this. And so that's some of the work that that balcom has helpfully done that kind of help us get off the ground in some of these conversations.Would that be your go to gospel Luke or, like, if you're walking with players, or a go to like,some people say more because of the shortness or John, I I'm happy with them. Allfour should be in the canon. Yeah, no, that's great. And I think a couple other books I'm thinking of Paul Wagner's from text from text to translation, particularly deals with Old Testament translation issues, but then text critical pieces, but then also FF. Bruce's canon of Scripture is a real, solid place to go, if people are interested in those big pieces, but those, I mean, yeah, Richard Bauckham work was really helpful for me when I was like, How do I even know, you know the starting place is a good starting place. So, yeah, thank you for that. Sowhat the challenge is, people have got to make up their mind on Jesus. Yeah. I mean, I think that's where I want to kind of triage conversations and say, Hey, I know the Bible is a big book and there's a lot going on. First things you gotta make a call on. So that's where I'm going to focus on, the Gospels. That'sgreat. No, that's great. Well, you know, a lot of times you, and you've mentioned this earlier, that sometimes in our attempts to give reasons for our faith, we can come to simplistic answers like, Okay, this is, here you go. Here's the manuscript evidence, for example. Or, hey, here's the evidence for the resurrection. Oh, here. You know, this is pain and suffering, Romans, 828, you know, having these quick answers. And I think it stems from a desire to want to have a foundation for what we stand on. But a lot of times, and I think what we're seeing in our culture, and this is not anything new, this topic of deconstruction is not really a new topic is, you know, it's what's been called in the past, apostasy, or just not believing anymore. But now it's gotten a more, you know, kind of sharper edges to it. And and I would love for you to you know how you would respond to someone who is deconstructing from their faith because it didn't allow for doubt or because they were raised in perhaps a really strict Christian home. So how would you respond to somebody who says, I don't I don't like the. Had answers anymore, and I don't, you know, it's just too simplistic, and it doesn't, it's not satisfying. So how would you, because I encounter a lot of folks that are in that vein, the ones who are deconstructing, it's, it's not, you know, there's definitely intellectual arguments, but there's something else in back of that too, I think. So I'd love to hear you just kind of, how would you respond to someone who is deconstructing or has deconstructed in their faith?Yeah, yeah. And of course not. In that situation, my first response it's going to be, tell me more. Let's, let's talk more. I want to hear, I want to hear your story. I want to hear your deconversion story, or where you're at and and to have some real curiosity. Rather than here, let me tell you what your problem is. And let me tellyou, yeah, you just don't want to believe because you got some secret sin or something. Yeah? Oh, goodnessno. I mean, it's right faith, unbelief and doubt is complex, and there's lots of forms of doubt. And we use that word I mean, it has quite the semantic range, and we use in lots of different ways. And of course, the Bible, by no means, is celebrating doubt. The Bible, it's, you know, that we is saying we should have faith. It calls us to faith, not to doubt, but doubt seems to be a couple things to say. We talk about, we talk about ourselves as Christians, as new creations in Christ, but we also recognize that we still sin, we still we still have sinful habits. We're still sinful, and in the same way we we we believe, but we can struggle with doubt, and that's a reality. And it seems to me that that doesn't mean, though, that then we celebrate doubt, as if doubts this great thing, no, but at the same time, we need to be realistic and honest that we do. And there's certain things culturally that have happened, because we now live in a pluralistic world where people seem very sane and rational and and lovely, and they believe radically different things than we do. And just that proximity, Peter Berger, the late sociologist, did a lot of work on this area. This is just it. It creates these kinds of this kind of contestability, because, well, we could imagine even possibly not believing, or kids not believing, in a way that, again, 500 years ago, you know you Luther was wrestling with whether the Roman Catholic Church had everything right, but he wasn't wrestling and doubting the whole the whole thing, yeah, God. So that creates certain pressures that I think we need to be honest about, and but, but with, and part of that honesty, I think, in that kind of conversation to say, Hey, you're not alone and you're not just simply crazy because you're you're raising some of these things because, I mean, that's in many ways, understandable. Yeah, okay, yeah. I'm not saying it's good, I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it's understandable. And I hear what you're saying, and I'm, let's talk about it now. The the kind of metaphor that that I use is to think about Christianity as a house. Of course, that's not my metaphor. I'm I'm borrowing from CS Lewis, who talked about Christianity as a house and in Mere Christianity, Lewis said he wanted to get people through non Christians into the hallway, and so he wanted to get them into the door so that they would and then they could pick up a particular tradition, they could enter a room. But his approach in Mere Christianity was to represent kind of the whole house. And what I think is happening in many cases is that people, now, I'm riffing off of his metaphor, people in the church. People have raised in the church, so they've grew up their whole life in the house, but it's actually in the what I would call the attic. And the attic as as I talk about it is, is in the house. It's, it's a Christian community, but it was, it was many times they're built out of a kind of reactionary posture against culture, without a deep connection to the rest of the house. It's kind of like, Hey, we're scared, and understandably so, the kind of decadent morality, certain shifts happening in the west with Can you giveus a couple examples of what you're thinking like? What would a person living in the attic like? What would their tradition kind of. Look like,yeah. So a couple of things. One in response to, in some cases, in response to the kind of intellectual movements, the kind of sex, secular and, you know, thinking they would say, you know, intellectualism is bad, that would be one response from the attic, like, don't worry about, you know, thinking. Just believe your problem is you're just thinking too much. So that would be one response, a kind of anti intellectualism. The other response is what I would call a kind of, depending on what kind of mood I'm in, I would call it a kind of quasi intellectual that, and that sounds harsh that I say what kind of mood I'm in, but a kind of quasi intellectual response, which is like, Oh, you want arguments. You want evidence. We'll give you two plus two equals equals God, and we'll kind of match, you know, fire with fire, and we can prove God's existence. And oftentimes, those kinds of apologetic reactions, I would call them, sometimes they're kind of quasi intellectual, because I don't think that's how the kind of bit we come to the big decisions. I don't think it's rational enough about a rationality about kind of what type of humans we are, and how we come to the big decisions and the big truths and and so I think that's one response, and that's why you have a kind of industry of apologetics sometimes. And the way they do it, I'm not saying in some ways it can be helpful, but in other ways, it can cause problems down down the road, and we've seen that at least, like, for instance, with the evil and suffering kind of conversation we were having before. If people say, actually, those arguments actually don't make, don't fully do what they were. We you claim too much for your arguments. Let's just say, like that. Okay, so that's one kind of, so there's a there's a kinds of, well, Christianity, in that side can kind of become this kind of intellectual, sterile work where you're just kind of trying to prove God, rather than this, than this way of life, where does worship come in? Where does devotion come in? What is And so very quickly it becomes, you know, this intellectual game, rather than communion with the living God. And so the emphasis understandably goes a certain way, but I would say understandably wrong goes a certain way, and that argument should be part of this deeper life of faith that we live and so we again, I'm wanting to say the motives aren't necessarily, aren't wrong, but where we get off because we're too reactionary, can go off. Let me give you one other ones. And I would say, like the purity culture would be another kind of side of this where we see a morally decadent culture of sexuality, and we want to respond to that we we don't want our kids to grow up believing those lies. Yeah, as as a friend of mine says, you know that the sexual revolution was actually and is actually bad for women, and we need to say that. We need to say that to people in the church, absolutely. But in response to that, then we create what, what has been called a purity culture, which, which has, has kind of poured a lot of guilt and have made have over promised again, if you just do this, you'll have a wonderful life and a wonderful marriage if you just do this, and then if you mess up, oh, you've, you've committed this unpardonable sin, almost. And so there's a lot of pressure being put on, particularly young women and then, and then over promising and so all of this,can people see that the House of Cards is coming down because they're like, Yeah, my marriage is horrible.It creates this pressure, right where you have to. You have to think a certain way. You have to behave this very kind of way. It's reaction to want to protect them. So again, I'm saying, Yes, I understand the reactions, yeah, and, but, but, and this is, I think, a key part of this, because it's not connected well to the rest of the house. It often reacts, rather than reflected deeply on the tradition and helps fit your way, the centrality of the Gospel, the centrality of what's always been, Christian teaching and coming back to the main things, rather than kind of reacting to culture because we're nervous, and doing it in such a way that, you know, well, people will begin to say, That's what Christianity is about. Christianity is really about, you know, your politics, because that's all my pastor is talking about, interesting, you know, and this is all they're talking about. So that becomes the center,even though the ethic is is, is, becomes the. Center, as opposed to the the philosophy and theology guiding the ethic, is that, would that be another way to put it, like how you live, become, becomes preeminent to, you know, wrestling with doubt and and trying to bring God into the space of your doubt and that kind of stuff is, that, is that?Yeah, I mean, so that, I think one of the things that the the early creeds help us to do is it helps us to keep the main thing. The main thing, it helps us to keep, rather than saying, well, because culture is talking about this, we're going to, you know, kind of in our churches, this becomes the main thing, is reacting or responding, maybe, whether it's with the culture and certain movements or against the culture, yeah. But if you're anchored to the kind of the ancient wisdom of the past you're you do have, you are at times, of course, going to respond to what's going on culturally, yeah, but it's always grounded to the center, and what's always been the center, yeah? And I think so when you're in a community like this, like this, the pressure of, I've gotta think rightly. I've gotta check every box here, yes, and oh, and I've, I've been told that there is proofs, and I just need to think harder. I just, you know, even believe more, even Yeah, if I just, if I just think harder, then I'll eliminate my doubt, but my doubts not being eliminated. So either I'm stupid or maybe there's a problem with the evidence, because it's not eliminating all my doubt, but this creates this kind of melting pot of anxiety for a lot of people as their own Reddit threads and their Oh, and then this, trying to figure all this out, and they're Googling all these answers, and then the slow drip, oh, well, to be honest, sometimes the massive outpouring of church scandal is poured into this, yeah. And it just creates a lot of anxiety amongst young people, and eventually they say, I'm just going to jump out of the attic, you know, because it looks pretty freeing and it looks like a pretty good way of life out there. And what, what I say to people is two things. Number one, rather than simply jumping out, first look what you're about to jump into, because you have to live somewhere, and outside the attic, you're not just jumping into kind of neutrality, you're jumping into cultural spaces and assumptions and belief. And so let's, let's just be just as critical as, yeah, the attic or house as you are will be mean, be just as critical with those spaces as you have been with the attic. So you need to explore those. But also, I'm wanting to give them a framework to understand that actually a lot of the ways that you've kind of grown up is actually been in this attic. Why don't you come downstairs, and if you're going to leave the house, explore the main floor first.And what would be the main floor? What would you say? The main floor?Yeah. I would say themain orthodox historic Christianity, like, yeah. Orthodox historic Christianity, Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, just kind of go into the Yeah. And whatI would say is, for instance, the apostle creed gives us kind of what I would call load bearing walls in the house. So it gives us the places where you don't mess like load bearing walls. You don't you don't knock those down if you're going to do a remodel, and, and, and. So you would recognize the difference between load bearing walls, walls that are central versus actual different rooms in the house, and how? Well, these aren't load bearing walls, but they're, they're, they're, they're how certain people in Christian communities, churches at particular times, have articulated it and and some of these, you could deny certain things, but you could, but those are more denominational battle lines, rather than the kind of load bearing things that you if you pull out the resurrection of Jesus, if you pull out the the deity of Christ and the full humanity of Christ, If you pull out the Trinity. So let's go back to the core. And if you're going to reject, if you're going to leave, leave on the basis of those core things, not okay. I've had these bad experiences in the church now, yeah, what I think this to kind of wrap this up on this is what often happens, or what can happen if someone says, Well, yeah, I've done that, and I still don't, I don't believe Okay, yep, that's going to happen. Yep. But one of the things I suggest, in at least some cases, is that the addict has screwed people up more than they realize, and that the way that they approach. Approach the foundation and the the main floor, it's still in attic categories, as in, to go back to our first question, well, I can't prove this, yeah. And I was always told that I should be able to prove it. Well, that's not how this works, yeah. And so they they reject Christianity on certain enlightenment terms, but they don't reject Christianity as Christianity really is. So people are going to interact with Christianity, I would say sometimes your people are investigating, say the resurrection, and reflecting more on on these central claims, but they're still doing it as if, if it doesn't reach kind of 100% certainty that I can't believe. And that's just not how this works.Yeah, that's, that's food for thought, because there, there's so many people that I interact with that I try to encourage. Like, yeah, your experience was really bad, like I'm affirming that, and that was messed up. That's not That's not Christianity, that is a branch on this massive tree trunk that stinks and that needs to be lamented and grieved and also called out as wrong. So I'm using another metaphor of a tree instead. But I love the because the house metaphor is something that you use in the telling a better story. Isn't that surprised bydoubt? Surprised by doubt? Yes, that's that's what we use, and we march through things, and we use that as, really our guiding metaphor through all the chapters. And that's what I would encourage if you're if you have somebody who's struggling with this, or you're struggling with this yourself, that's That's why a friend of mine, Jack Carson, that's why we wrote the book together, because obviously this is a we had a lot of friends and acquaintances and people who were coming to us and we weren't fully satisfied with all of the kind of works, yeah, that were responding and so this, this was our attempt to try to helppeople. Well, the book right after that was, is telling a better story. And one of the things I've really appreciated in your emphasis over the last few years has been, I would call a more humane apology, apologetic in that, you know, not giving into, okay, we're gonna give you want evidence. We're gonna give you evidence, as opposed to like, okay, let's just talk about being a huma

GEN Z IS SEARCHING AND THEY ARE FINDING GOD I love this story so much. Today at 12:30 I will talk to Associate Editor John Hirschauer from City Journal about this story he did on Gen Z returning to church. I love this part especially:Yet these cultural losses may have laid the groundwork for a revival. Public Christianity in the United States receded in part because a rising counterculture successfully challenged its restrictions on individual conduct. Advocates of cultural liberalization gained support by portraying mid-century Christian institutions as rigid and outdated. But today, that once-rebellious counterculture dominates the spaces that Americans inhabit—schools, workplaces, and popular media. And young people, always drawn to rebellion, appear to be pushing back. Many are rejecting a culture that exalts personal autonomy and denigrates self-sacrifice. Perhaps as a result, a surprising number of young adults—who might otherwise have left religion at even higher rates than their parents did—are, for the first time in decades, choosing to stay.I love that turning to God can be an act of rebellion and an act of salvation.

In this bonus episode of Digging Deeper, Jeff and Laura are joined by Andy Bannister, Director of Solas Centre for Public Christianity, to explore how evangelism can thrive in today's complex cultural landscape. Together, they tackle common fears and misconceptions surrounding sharing the gospel. Andy offers practical strategies for overcoming barriers along with ways to spark meaningful spiritual conversations rooted in genuine curiosity. Whether you're new to evangelism or looking to grow in confidence, this episode offers actionable steps to help you share your faith with clarity and compassion. Additional Resources: - Learn more about the Solas Centre for Public Christianity. - Check out the C.S. Lewis Institute for a variety of training resources. - Read Andy's book, How to talk about Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot. - Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the notification bell to get notified of new episodes.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Pastor David Robertson, minister of St Peters Free Church in Dundee Scotland (http://www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk). Pastor Robertson is also the associate director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity (http://www.solas-cpc.org), married to Annabel and has three children. Pastor Robertson joined us to discuss Brexit, Scotland revivals, and why should pastors engage in politics. Pastor Robertson regularly blogs on his site: https://theweeflea.com/ , go check it out! In CrossPolitic news we discuss: Idaho is more progressive than New York City https://nypost.com/2018/10/02/de-blasio-to-sign-legislation-allowing-third-gender-on-birth-certificates/ Mein Kampf Revised for Academic Journals… Scholars Publish Absurd Gender Studies Papers https://www.dailywire.com/news/36645/scholars-publish-absurd-gender-studies-papers-ashe-schow City of Houston Fighting Sex Robots Brothels https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/city-of-houston-creates-ordinance-to-prevent-sex-robot-brothel-from-opening/285-599919539 You can stream live from our website here, or you can find our newest episode in the iTunes store and Google store. To find out more about our partnerships (limited number) and advertising packages, please email us at contact@crosspolitic.com. Finally, the best way you can help us out is to join our club membership!

We had the pleasure of interviewing Pastor David Robertson, minister of St Peters Free Church in Dundee Scotland (http://www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk). Pastor Robertson is also the associate director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity (http://www.solas-cpc.org), married to Annabel and has three children. Pastor Robertson joined us to discuss Brexit, Scotland revivals, and why should pastors engage in politics. Pastor Robertson regularly blogs on his site: https://theweeflea.com/ , go check it out! In CrossPolitic news we discuss: Idaho is more progressive than New York City https://nypost.com/2018/10/02/de-blasio-to-sign-legislation-allowing-third-gender-on-birth-certificates/ Mein Kampf Revised for Academic Journals… Scholars Publish Absurd Gender Studies Papers https://www.dailywire.com/news/36645/scholars-publish-absurd-gender-studies-papers-ashe-schow City of Houston Fighting Sex Robots Brothels https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/city-of-houston-creates-ordinance-to-prevent-sex-robot-brothel-from-opening/285-599919539 You can stream live from our website here, or you can find our newest episode in the iTunes store and Google store. To find out more about our partnerships (limited number) and advertising packages, please email us at contact@crosspolitic.com. Finally, the best way you can help us out is to join our club membership!

We had the pleasure of interviewing Pastor David Robertson, minister of St Peters Free Church in Dundee Scotland (http://www.stpeters-dundee.org.uk). Pastor Robertson is also the associate director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity (http://www.solas-cpc.org), married to Annabel and has three children. Pastor Robertson joined us to discuss Brexit, Scotland revivals, and why should pastors engage in politics. Pastor Robertson regularly blogs on his site: https://theweeflea.com/ , go check it out! In CrossPolitic news we discuss: Idaho is more progressive than New York City https://nypost.com/2018/10/02/de-blasio-to-sign-legislation-allowing-third-gender-on-birth-certificates/ Mein Kampf Revised for Academic Journals… Scholars Publish Absurd Gender Studies Papers https://www.dailywire.com/news/36645/scholars-publish-absurd-gender-studies-papers-ashe-schow City of Houston Fighting Sex Robots Brothels https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/city-of-houston-creates-ordinance-to-prevent-sex-robot-brothel-from-opening/285-599919539 You can stream live from our website here, or you can find our newest episode in the iTunes store and Google store. To find out more about our partnerships (limited number) and advertising packages, please email us at contact@crosspolitic.com. Finally, the best way you can help us out is to join our club membership!

Pope Francis is in critical condition. Which means that cardinals from around the world will, more likely than not, soon congregate in the Vatican, to choose his successor. This event, called a conclave, isn’t just the subject of a new political thriller starring Ralph Fiennes; it’s a private ceremony that has long fascinated the religious. Cardinals are sworn to a lifetime of secrecy, after they cast their vote. But what impact does the pope have on any of our lives, whether we’re Catholic or not? Today, Barney Zwartz, a senior fellow of the Centre for Public Christianity, and a former religion editor of The Age, on the history of popes who have wrangled with world leaders. And the mixed legacy of Pope Francis.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pope Francis is in critical condition. Which means that cardinals from around the world will, more likely than not, soon congregate in the Vatican, to choose his successor. This event, called a conclave, isn’t just the subject of a new political thriller starring Ralph Fiennes; it’s a private ceremony that has long fascinated the religious. Cardinals are sworn to a lifetime of secrecy, after they cast their vote. But what impact does the pope have on any of our lives, whether we’re Catholic or not? Today, Barney Zwartz, a senior fellow of the Centre for Public Christianity, and a former religion editor of The Age, on the history of popes who have wrangled with world leaders. And the mixed legacy of Pope Francis.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can we live the life of a faithful Christian in secret? Can we keep our love for God private, and still be the changed beings God calls us to be? Study with us as we consider the merits and methods of Public Christianity.

John Dickson is a Professor at Wheaton College, where he holds the Jean Kvamme Distinguished Chair. John has also served as a pastor in his home country of Australia. He is a speaker and author, and has served with the Centre for Public Christianity. This message was given at the 2024 CGN International Conference, where the theme was, "Hope, Suffering and Glory: Studies in the Book of 1 Peter." Subscribe to the podcast to be notified when new episodes are released. In coming weeks we will be posting more of the messages from this year's International Conference, as well as more interviews with ministry leaders. We would love to hear your feedback on these episodes; you can email us at CGN@calvarychapel.com

Tim Winton gave the Centre for Public Christianity's 2024 Richard Johnson lecture. Will and his brother Joel went along. In this conversation they discuss Tim's powerful words on toxic positivity, climate crisis, and the prophetic voices of young, environmental activists crying out for change. Read an excerpt from Tim's lecture here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/27/if-fossil-fuel-dependency-is-a-global-addiction-climate-activists-are-prophets-trying-to-save-us-from-our-stupor?CMP=share_btn_url Want to reach out and let us know your thoughts or suggestions for the show? Send us a message here; we'd love to hear from you.The Spiritual Misfits Survival Guide (FREE): https://www.spiritualmisfits.com.au/survivalguideSign up to our mailing list:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/Join our online Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualmisfitspodcastSupport the pod:https://spiritualmisfits.com.au/support-us/View all episodes at: https://spiritualmisfits.buzzsprout.com

Join Karl and Crew as we continue the week with a new theme called "Spread the Word." Today we discussed having natural conversations about the Gospel. Our Scripture reference was Acts 17. Here, Paul gives us a great example of how to evangelize to people in a persuasive, respectful way. Our special guest was Dr. Andy Bannister. He is the Director of Solas Centre for Public Christianity and is a highly in-demand speaker, writer, and broadcaster. His latest book is called, How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot. Listen to the highlights of today's program on the Karl and Crew Showcast.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week our hosts ponder the role of animals in creation. What is the standing of animals in comparison to humans in the created order? Is it ever ok to eat animals? Do they go to heaven? Ethicist and Professor of Animal Theology Clair Linzey then joins the show to ponder these questions further, before Michael and Megan turn their attention to the 2017 film The Zookeeper's Wife, which tells the true story of two brave zookeepers in Warsaw who resisted the invading Nazi forces. (01:44) - For Arguments Sake (22:59) - Be Our Guest (43:40) - Through The Wardrobe Interested in giving The Week At CPX a listen? You can subscribe to it here. And for more information, check out The Centre for Public Christianity website.If you'd like to help bring The First Hymn documentary into being, click here to find out all you need to know about contributing.

Rev Bill Crews talks to Simon Smart about his latest book 'The End Of Men?'. Simon Smart is the Director of the Centre for Public Christianity and asks the question how can we help boys become their best selves, and a gift to those around them.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humans are learning creatures. We spend our whole lives picking up new skills, improving them, and finding new areas of knowledge to explore. This week Michael and Megan think through the Biblical implications of this, and along the way are joined by Zeeshan LaalDin. Zeeshan is a Project Officer with Anglican Aid. He will be delivering a keynote address at the upcoming Common Knowledge Conference, which looks at the role of education in eradicating global poverty.Finally, our hosts watch the 2005 TV adaptation of Thomas Hughes' classic 1857 novel Tom Brown's School Days.(01:52) - For Arguments Sake (19:11) - Be Our Guest (42:22) - Through the Wardrobe   Interested in giving The Week At CPX a listen? You can subscribe to it here. And for more information, check out The Centre for Public Christianity website.If you'd like to help bring The First Hymn documentary into being, click here to find out all you need to know about contributing.

This week, our hosts hold up a mirror to themselves and discuss the role of the pastor. They ponder a range of questions, including the Biblical job description of a pastor and whether the modern church is equipping its pastors well enough for the job. Principal of Morling College Tim MacBride then joins the show to discuss the challenges facing the pastoral profession.Finally, Michael and Megan riff on the 2001 film Wit (starring Emma Thompson), a cinematic adaptation of the play of the same name, which chiefly focuses on ... death. Interested in giving The Week At CPX a listen? You can subscribe to it here. And for more information, check out The Centre for Public Christianity website.If you'd like to help bring The First Hymn documentary into being, click here to find out all you need to know about contributing.

Simon Smart, Director of the Centre for Public Christianity, joins Laura Bennett to discuss his book, The End of Men, exploring the complex topic of masculinity today. They delve into how societal shifts have blurred traditional masculine roles, the pitfalls of toxic masculinity, and the importance of tender masculinity. Simon highlights the struggles boys face in current educational and social spheres, drawing on the example of Jesus as a model for healthy masculinity. Listen to more from our Hope Podcasts collection at hopepodcasts.com.au. And send the team a message via Hope 103.2's app, Facebook or Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today I have the great pleasure of sharing a recent conversation with Simon Smart.  Simon is the Executive Director of the Centre for Public Christianity. A former English and History teacher, Simon has a Masters in Christian Studies from Regent College, Vancouver. He has just released a new book The End of Men? Simon draws on his own experiences of schooling and fatherhood, the best contemporary research, interviews with those on the front lines of a growing crisis, as well as ancient wisdom He asks, "How can we help boys become their best selves and a gift to those around them?” His writing has appeared in places like The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC, The Australian, and The Guardian. He also regularly appears on ABC's The Drum.  I hope that you enjoy this conversation that I had with Simon Smart.

Neurodiversity is a topic that has seen an upswing of awareness in recent years.With more visibility than ever before, our hosts discuss whether neurodivergence is a good, or "fallen" condition.Writer and scholar Kate Morris then joins the show to discuss her own experiences raising a neurodivergent child, as well as her substack aimed at helping Christians love their neurodivergent friends and family.Finally, Micahel and Megan cast an eye over the hit ABC show Austin, featuring Love on the Spectrum star Michael Teo.  Interested in giving The Week At CPX a listen? You can subscribe to it here. And for more information, check out The Centre for Public Christianity website.If you'd like to help bring The First Hymn documentary into being, click here to find out all you need to know about contributing.

Find Richard Clark at Area Code Audio, where you should visit before you start your own podcast. And you can check out his current podcast Area Code Batavia. Tweet at him! Summary In this conversation, Jon Pyle interviews Richard Clark, the proprietor of Area Code Audio, about the importance of active listening and understanding the lived experiences of others. Richard shares his journey of empathy and how podcasting has allowed him to facilitate connection and help people connect with others. He emphasizes that love is more important than theology and discusses the need for inclusivity and diverse perspectives in Christian spaces. Richard also talks about the challenges of certainty in Christian culture and the importance of listening and empathy in fostering understanding and love. The conversation explores different approaches to reporting and opinion pieces, highlighting the importance of giving people a sense of humanity and understanding. It discusses the need to move from critique to creation and the value of movies in understanding different perspectives. The conversation ends with a playful discussion about musical influences and what brings joy to both participants. Keywords active listening, understanding, empathy, connection, love, theology, inclusivity, diverse perspectives, certainty, Christian culture, reporting, opinion pieces, humanity, understanding, critique, creation, movies, perspectives, joy Takeaways Active listening is important in Christian spaces to foster understanding, empathy, and love. Love is more important than theology. Inclusivity and diverse perspectives are crucial in Christian spaces. Certainty in Christian culture can hinder listening and empathy. Podcasting can be a powerful medium for facilitating connection and understanding. Different approaches to reporting and opinion pieces can provide valuable insights and lived experiences. Opinion pieces that focus on maintaining the status quo can be damaging and paternalistic. Acknowledging and appreciating the humanity of individuals is important in fostering understanding. Moving from critique to creation allows for positive change and growth. Movies can serve as a medium for understanding different perspectives and experiences. Finding joy in cultural experiences, such as video games and movies, can bring fulfillment. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:54 Introducing Richard Clark 04:08 The Importance of Active Listening 05:01 Richard's Background at Christianity Today 06:38 Richard's Career Journey 07:56 The Importance of Active Listening in Christian Spaces 10:57 The Impact of Active Listening 14:27 Richard's Story of Active Listening 21:48 The Certainty in Christian Culture and the Lack of Listening 22:52 Richard's Experience at Christianity Today 24:21 Different Approaches to Reporting and Opinion Pieces 25:12 The Pitfalls of Opinion Columns 26:09 The Importance of Giving People a Fair Say 27:05 The Need for Genuine Empathy 27:47 The Complexity of Orthodoxy in Evangelicalism 29:01 Moving from Critique to Creation 30:04 The Value of Movies in Understanding Different Perspectives 31:00 The Trap of Looping Arguments 31:56 Modeling Vulnerability in Conversations 32:42 The Joy of Creating and Exploring Year-End Movies 35:59 Musical Influence: Drake 37:05 Non-Judgment Zone of Joy 38:25 Year-End Video Games and Movies 43:03 Movies as a Text for Understanding Perspectives 43:44 The Value of Empathy in Movies 44:52 Closing Remarks 45:07 BOTI Outro Video.mp4 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/betterontheinside/support

This week, Meghan and Michael look at the epidemic of gendered violence sweeping through both the church and society at large. Our hosts look at what the Bible has to say on the issue and are then joined by expert consultant Carolyn Cousins for a discussion about what the church can do to help stamp it out.They then turn their attention to the program Asking For It, a look at the impacts of gendered violence, hosted by journalist and author Jess Hill who wrote the seminal See What You Made Me Do. Interested in giving The Week At CPX a listen? You can subscribe to it here. And for more information, check out The Centre for Public Christianity website.If you'd like to pick up a copy of Michael's book Subjects and Citizens, find everything you want to know here.

The astonishing technological progress humans have made sometimes raises the warning that we shouldn't be “playing God”. Nick Spencer from Theos think tank disagrees. In their book Playing God: science, religion, and the future of humanity, Nick Spencer and Hannah Waite insist that contrary to the warnings to avoid “playing God”, human beings are in fact a God-playing species and have a responsibility to ‘play God' well. They examine remarkable advancements we have made in technological capability—AI, pharmacology and genetic engineering, knowledge of outer space, genetic editing, healing in the womb—and note that the world that science is creating raises exactly the kind of questions that science can't answer. Their book is a plea to maintain an open and multi-voiced language to address these questions drawing on ethical, humanistic and spiritual layers.On Life & Faith this week Nick Spencer joined Simon Smart to delve into some urgent contemporary questions that all coalesce around the notion of who we are as humans.Explore Nick Spencer and Hannah Waite, Playing God: Science, Religion and the Future of Humanity Theos Think TankCentre for Public Christianity

In the first lines of Paul's letter to the Philippian church he says he is praying in joy because of their “partnership in the gospel” (NIV). From the end of the same letter we learn what this means (material support of Paul's mission) and its implications. Rev. Dr. John Dickson is Jean Kvamme Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies and Public Christianity at Wheaton College. He previously taught at Macquarie University, University of Sydney, and Ridley Theological College, Melbourne. Since 2015 he has held the research position of Visiting Academic in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford. His many publications include Mission-Commitment in Ancient Judaism and in the Pauline Communities: the shape, extent and background of early Christian mission. Check out related programs at Wheaton College: B.A. in Classical Languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew): https://bit.ly/3JPabE2  M.A. in Biblical Exegesis: https://bit.ly/44B8iEp 

In this episode, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Ezra Fellow of Medicine and Public Christianity, Dr. Ted Fenske to discuss how to slay the dragon of pornography.

In this episode, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Ezra Fellow of Medicine and Public Christianity, Dr. Ted Fenske to discuss how to slay the dragon of pornography.

In this episode, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Ezra Fellow of Medicine and Public Christianity, Dr. Ted Fenske to discuss how to slay the dragon of pornography.

In this episode, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Ezra Fellow of Medicine and Public Christianity, Dr. Ted Fenske to discuss how to slay the dragon of pornography. For Ezra's many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.comStay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.comSubscribe to Ezra's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.

In this episode, Pastor Nate Wright is joined by Ezra Fellow of Medicine and Public Christianity, Dr. Ted Fenske to discuss how to slay the dragon of pornography. For Ezra's many print resources and to join our newsletter, visit: https://ezrapress.comStay up-to-date with all things Ezra Institute: https://www.ezrainstitute.comSubscribe to Ezra's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPVvQDHHrOOjziyqUaN9VoA?sub_confirmation=1;Fight Laugh Feast Network: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/audio/podcasts/8297;Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ezra-institute-podcast-for-cultural-reformation/id1336078503;Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0dW1gDarpzdrDMLPjKYZW2?si=bee3e91ed9a54885.Wherever you find our content, please like, subscribe, rate, or review it; it truly does help.

Jonathan Chan reads his poem "Ceremonial, Caleb Westbrook reads his poem "On a Shore Weighing What Matters," and Matt Stanley reads his poem "How Like a Child We Become When We Are Truly Surprised." Jonathan Chan is a writer and editor. Born in New York to a Malaysian father and South Korean mother, he was raised in Singapore and educated at Cambridge and Yale Universities. He is the author of the poetry collection going home (Landmark, 2022) and managing editor of poetry.sg. His poetry and essays have appeared in Ekstasis, Fathom, Inheritance, The Yale Logos, Poems for Ephesians, and the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity. More of his writing can be found at jonbcy.wordpress.com. Caleb Westbrook is a high school teacher with degrees in both English and religion. He lives with his wife and two children in Antigua, Guatemala. His poetry has been published in Havik, Nassau Review, Glass Mountain, Time of Singing, and Grim & Gilded; and his essays have been published online for Ekstasis and Dappled Things. Matt Stanley is a poet and artist from Baltimore. His works were recently published in Grand Little Things, Down in the Dirt, and the Seraphic Review, and will appear in the next issue of Lyric Magazine. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vita-poetica/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vita-poetica/support

In this episode, Darrell Bock, John Dickson, and Simon Smart take a look at Christianity in Australia, highlighting the work John and Simon do at the Centre for Public Christianity.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rebecca McLaughlin is joined by John Dickson to discuss if history discredits Christianity.Questions Covered in This Episode:Why are the core Christians's beliefs not surprising to a first century Jewish rabbi, known as Jesus?When were the Gospels written and how can we be sure?What about the claim that Jesus is God in the flesh, where is the evidence of that?Can you give us background on Constantine?What happened during the Crusades?Guest Bio:John Dickson started out as a professional singer-songwriter and now works as an author, speaker, historian, and media presenter. He was the Founding Director of the Centre for Public Christianity. He has published over 20 books, two of which became television documentaries, with a third, For the Love of God: How the Church is Better and Worse Than you Ever Imagined, released in Australian cinemas in June 2018.John has held a variety of teaching and research positions before moving to Wheaton College, including in the Ancient History Department at Macquarie University (2002-2015), the Hebrew, Jewish and Biblical Studies Department at Sydney University (2011-2021), Ridley College Melbourne (2019-2022), and the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford (2015-2023). A busy public speaker, he lives in Wheaton, Illinois, with his wife Elizabeth and the youngest of their three children.Resources Mentioned:1 Corinthians 15, Philippians 2Undeceptions Podcast“Bullies and Saints” by John Dickson Follow Us:Instagram | TwitterOur Sister Shows:Knowing Faith | The Family Discipleship Podcast | Starting Place | Tiny TheologiansConfronting Christianity is a podcast of Training the Church. For ad-free episodes and more content check out our Patreon.

Show #2058 Show notes: Daily Bible Reading: https://thelibertyactionnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Bible-Reading-Schedule-2024-OSA-1.pdf Training your temple: https://thelibertyactionnetwork.com/event/ready-to-take-better-care-of-your-temple/ Communion Verses: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A6-11&version=KJV and https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A26-29&version=KJV Jesus before the Sanhedrin: https://youtu.be/BwbtT42IYU8?si=Br8i-7yDwiVsWorC Mark Twain on Private and Public Christianity: https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/mark-twain-on-private-and-public-christianity/ Frist Amendment: https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment Sam Bankman-Fried No 2nd […]

A Christian street preacher who was arrested for alleged hate speech, which included criticising Muhammad, was found not guilty following a recent court hearing. Dr Andy Bannister, director of Solas and author of Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?, responds to some of the accusations made by the preacher (eg Muhammad married a 6-year-old and had sex with her when she was 9) and discusses how we can engage with some of these big questions. For Andy Bannister: https://www.andybannister.net/ For Solas Centre for Public Christianity: https://www.solas-cpc.org/ • Subscribe to the Unapologetic podcast: https://pod.link/1622170986 • More podcasts, free ebook & newsletter: https://premierunbelievable.com • Watch Unapologetic YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Ds_nyh5gM_0OQDM3me0ZjLcNg2345GX • For conference & live events: http://www.unbelievable.live • For our apologetics courses: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/training • Support us in the USA: http://www.premierinsight.org/unbelievableshow • Support us in the rest of the world: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/donate

180. How To Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like An Idiot With Andy Bannister Are you looking for a panic-free guide to how to have a conversation about Jesus? If yes then this interview is for you. We talk with Andy Bannister from Solas Centre for Public Christianity. https://www.solas-cpc.org/ You can pick up a copy of the book here.   Support the podcast with a coffee.... https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crisrogers  
 
   To get a copy of The Bible Book By Book head here... https://www.eden.co.uk/christian-books/bible-study/bible-study-reference-books/bible-background/the-bible-book-by-book/  
 
   To get a copy of What If We Knew What God Knows About Us head here...
 https://www.eden.co.uk/christian-books/personal-life/christian-life/what-if-we-knew-what-god-knows-about-us/  
 
   The Big Church Read... https://thebigchurchread.co.uk/restore-renew-rebuild/  
 
 To get a copy of Apprentice to Jesus head here... https://www.eden.co.uk/devotional/apprentice-to-jesus-cris-rogers
 
 
 
   Rev Cris Rogers is a church leader at allhallowsbow.org.uk and Director of Making Disciples. Chair of the Spring Harvest Planning Group. For more information check out wearemakingdisciples.com 
#Heart #Hands #Heart  

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Joshua Chatraw to talk about his new book The Augustine Way: Retrieving a Vision for the Church's Apologetic Witness from Baker Academic. Today, we discuss how to cultivate a more effective witness and robust apologetic in our post-Christian age.Meet Dr. ChatrawJosh currently serves as the Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism and Cultural Engagement at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham Alabama and previously served as the executive director of the Center for Public Christianity in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is an award-winning author of numerous books in the fields of evangelism and apologetics, including Telling a Better Story: How to Talk about God in a Skeptical Age, which won a 2021 Christianity Today Book Award.Resources:The Augustine Way: Retrieving a Vision for the Church's Apologetic Witness by Joshua Chatraw and Mark AllenTelling a Better Story: How to Talk About God in a Skeptical Age by Joshua ChatrawBiblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture by Christopher WatkinMere Apologetics: How To Help Seekers And Skeptics Find Faith by Alister McgrathNarrative Apologetics: Sharing the Relevance, Joy, and Wonder of the Christian Faith by Alister Mcgrath—The Digital Public Square is a production of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and is produced and hosted by Jason Thacker. Production assistance is provided by Kadin Christian. Technical production provided by Owens Productions. It is edited and mixed by Mark Owens.

*This episode was originally recorded on 2/4/19. This week on Preaching and Preachers, Dr. Dan DeWitt joins me in a discussion on preaching in a fallen world. Dr. DeWitt is Associate Professor of Applied Theology and Apologetics and Director of the Center for Biblical Apologetics and Public Christianity at Cedarville University.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Muslims are no longer half a world away, but now include our neighbors, friends, classmates, and coworkers. Do we as Christians worship the same God as Muslims do? What distinguishes Allah from Jesus, the Qur'an from the Bible? And how might we begin to have meaningful conversations with our Muslim neighbors? This is part two of our discussion with Qur'anic scholar, Dr. Andy Bannister, author of Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? (uhop.me/SameGod). Andy continues to offer his insights and wisdom from his years of experience in answering these and other questions and in engaging Muslims who are searching for much more than what they read in the Qur'an.Dr. Andy Bannister is the Director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity, speaking and teaching regularly throughout the UK, Europe, Canada, the USA, and the wider world. From universities to churches, business forums to TV and radio, he regularly addresses audiences of both Christians and those of all faiths and none on issues relating to faith, culture, politics and society. Andy holds a PhD in Islamic studies and has taught extensively at universities across Canada, the USA, the UK and further afield on both Islam and philosophy. He is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology and is also Adjunct Faculty at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. For more information, visit AndyBannister.net.Related Resources: Watchman book plus free access to some related Watchman Profiles: Book: What the Qur'an Really Teaches about Jesus by James K. Walker: watchman.org/Quran Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Islam by James K. Walker: watchman.org/IslamProfile Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Shi'a Islam by Dr. Mike Edens: watchman.org/Shia 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 (over 600 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 © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

On the next two episodes of the Profile we sit down with Qur'anic scholar and author Dr. Andy Bannister to discuss his very insightful and helpful 2021 book, Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? (uhop.Me/SameGod). Andy gives us some wisdom from his own experiences and research in engaging Muslims over the last few decades. If you know a Muslim but are not sure how to begin a conversation, you don't want to miss the next two weeks of the Profile.Dr. Andy Bannister is the Director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity, speaking and teaching regularly throughout the UK, Europe, Canada, the USA, and the wider world. From universities to churches, business forums to TV and radio, he regularly addresses audiences of both Christians and those of all faiths and none on issues relating to faith, culture, politics and society. Andy holds a PhD in Islamic studies and has taught extensively at universities across Canada, the USA, the UK and further afield on both Islam and philosophy. He is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology and is also Adjunct Faculty at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. For more information, visit AndyBannister.net.Related Resources: Watchman book plus free access to some related Watchman Profiles: Book: What the Qur'an Really Teaches about Jesus by James K. Walker: watchman.org/Quran Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Islam by James K. Walker: watchman.org/IslamProfile Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Shi'a Islam by Dr. Mike Edens: watchman.org/Shia 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 (over 600 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 © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Every Christian knows (or, at least, should know) that evangelism is part of a Christian way of life. Yet, the very idea of evangelism induces panic in many Christians. What's going on here? Is there a better way forward? Andy Bannister, the director of Solas Centre for Public Christianity, has written a book with a title that many Christians can resonate with "How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot." Tune in this week as Steve has a conversation with Andy on how Christians might share the gospel in a low-pressure way.

Tim Costello is one of Australia's most well-known and respected community leaders. In recent times he was voted one of Australia's 100 national living treasures. A recipient of Victorian of the Year and Victoria's Australian of the Year accolades, as well as an Officer of the Order of Australia, he is an influential leader on a range of social issues, including the huge harm caused by the scourge of gambling in Australia.Tim is a previous longtime CEO of World Vision Australia and has helped lead the response to some of the greatest humanitarian disasters of recent times, including the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. A former Lawyer, Tim is a man with many hats. He's the Director of Ethical Voice, Executive Director of Micah Australia, Chair of the Community Council of Australia, Senior Fellow for the Centre for Public Christianity, and Chief Advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform. He is also the Chief Advocate of the Thriving Communities Partnership and Patron of the National Youth Commission. He's also the author of several books, including his excellent memoir, A Lot with a Little, which I highly recommend. I particularly enjoyed the section of that book that describes Tim and his wife Merridie's journey in building a congregation at St Kilda Baptist Church and an accompanying drop-in centre and outreach program. It was from here that Tim's advocacy grew and he later went on to become the Mayor of St Kilda, where he developed a reputation as an outspoken social and political voice for change, a voice that is very much a voice of love and courage. 

Drew.Jackson is a poet and pastor. His latest collection is Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way. His work has appeared in Oneing, Made for Pax, The Journal from the Centre for Public Christianity, Fathom Magazine, and other publications. In this episode, Drew Jackson speaks with Jonathan Rogers about shared meals, hospitality, abundance, and the tension in his poetry between receptivity and gratitude on the one hand, and prophetic demand on the other hand.Support the show: https://therabbitroom.givingfuel.com/memberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's guest is Dr. John Dickson, an engaging author, international speaker and the founding Director of the Centre for Public Christianity (2007-17). John, who has a PhD in Ancient History, who has published over 20 books and produced several television documentaries, and who has taught at around the world, including at Oxford, recently joined the faculty at Wheaton College.  In this conversation we focus on his book, Bullies and Saints, which explores the best and worst in church history – including the Crusades, Inquisition and Child Sexual Abuse scandals.

How could someone who's illiterate construct an amazing and powerful work of literature such as the Quran? And what does the answer have to do with religious belief, Western literature, and human history in general? Tune in for a fascinating discussion exploring these questions and more. You'll discover: What formulaic language is, and the tremendous role it's played in literature, including the construction of the Quran One of the main arguments for validating the Quran The terms “Arab” and “Muslim” are often used interchangeably – should they be? The political events from which hatred between Sunnis and Shiites stems   Why studying Islam has made Bannister more confident as a Christian More about Makkah, the holiest city in Islam … is it really where Islam began? Andy Bannister is the Director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity, holds a PhD in Islamic studies, and teaches at universities in multiple countries. Having interacted and held lengthy dialogues with Muslims for 20+ years, Bannister shares loads of insight into Islam, philosophy, politics, and more. Press play to hear the full conversation and visit http://www.andybannister.net/ to learn more. Episode also available on Apple Podcast: http://apple.co/30PvU9C

Marcus Brigstocke is a well-known comedian on UK radio and TV. An atheist, he wrote the book "God Collar" about his problems with religion, but also why he wants to believe in God. He chatted with David Robertson, who at the time led Solas, the Centre for Public Christianity.  They talked about UK comedy's atheist leanings, Marcus' criticisms of both religion and new atheism, the problem of evil, the Old Testament and more besides.   • Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast: https://pod.link/267142101 • More shows, free eBook & newsletter: https://premierunbelievable.com • For live events: http://www.unbelievable.live • For online learning: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/training-and-events • Support us in the USA: http://www.premierinsight.org/unbelievableshow

We continue to celebrate the launch of Ruth's newest book, Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again. This week, Ruth sits down with pastor and poet Drew Jackson to discuss the idea of sabbath as resistance. Ruth and Drew discuss how the practice of sabbath itself can be a critique of a culture that does not value human beings, and the ways sabbath has helped them to in turn resist that culture. And, of course, because of their shared love of poetry, both Ruth and Drew share poems that bring language to the beautiful gift that is sabbath.    Drew E. Jackson is a poet and pastor. He is the author of God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God's Unexpected Coming and the forthcoming collection Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way. His work has appeared in Oneing, Made for Pax, The Journal from the Centre for Public Christianity, Fathom Magazine, and other publications.   Mentioned in this episode:  God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God's Unexpected Coming by Drew Jackson Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way by Drew Jackson A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry This Day: Collected and New Sabbath Poems by Wendell Berry A Small Porch: Sabbath Poems 2014 and 2015 by Wendell Berry   Purchase Ruth's new book! Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest comes out on October 11, 2022. You can preorder now, wherever you buy books (Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org). If you buy it directly from our publisher, Intervarsity Press, you can get it before October 11th! If you pre-order the book be sure to sign up to attend our Release Day Virtual Celebration!   This season of our podcast is sponsored by GoodKind. GoodKind is all about helping people cultivate the GoodKind of habits and holiday practices that allow them to engage with God and one another throughout the year. They have a great tool for Advent, a Sabbath Box to help you practice unplugging, and more. To learn more about them and the products they make, you can find them at goodkind.shop    Music Credit: Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist Grace and Peace from Transforming Center Resource Music in Solitude   Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive an overflow of bonus content from the episodes, including exclusive conversations between Ruth and guests, clips that we couldn't fit into the final cuts, and more! Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!     The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders.  Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self!