Religion on the Mind

*How exactly* does Christ's death and resurrection make people right with God? Author and journalist Bonnie Kristian walks Dan through 5 of the most popular and historic answers to that question. Many of us (especially Baptist/Calvinist/Reformed Christians) have been told there is only one such Atonement theory -- Penal Substitution -- but that isn't the case. Bonnie and Dan discuss Christus Victo...

John Chau was a 26 year old American missionary who managed to get himself smuggled to North Sentinel Island, an island in the Bay of Bengal, between India and Mayanmar, home of somewhere between 20 and 200 members of a completely unreached people group. He was killed back in November, by the islanders' spears thrown from a distance. His story is not unique in the history of Christian missions, bu...

Many Christians have been taught that in order to truly submit to God's sovereignty and God's word, it is necessary to believe that God predetermines who will go to Heaven, and who will to Hell, before they are born. Dr. Don Thorsen (Azusa Pacific University) argues that this is a false dichotomy, and that in fact, most Christians over time have not held the doctrine of predestination, commonly kn...

Astrophysicists discover new planets almost daily; might there be intelligent life on one of these planets? Even if not, the number of planets that must exist universe-wide is probably in the billions, or higher. Given God's creativity, it seems plausible, even likely, that there are other species somewhere in the universe who can communicate with their Creator. What consequences does this have fo...

Many Christians are erroneously taught that either 1) Darwinian Evolution is true or 2) the Bible / the Gospel is true, but not both. In fact, thousands of respected scientists are committed Christians, and thousands more are leaving their churches due to perceived conflicts between science and Christianity, especially in Evangelical Protestant circles. In this episode, we hear from Amy, an Evange...

Many great evangelists, theologians, and Christian thinkers over the millennia have believed that God will save many people who do not confess Christ while they are alive, including Billy Graham, C.S. Lewis, D. L. Moody, Athanasius, Thomas Aquinas, and many more. You don't HAVE to believe that God will save non-Christians in the end, but you certainly have permission to believe it; in fact, you'd...

Welcome to You Have Permission, a brand new podcast from Dan Koch (Reconstruct, Depolarize!). So many of us have been given bad answers to good and difficult questions -- questions about God, suffering, fate, prayer, evangelism, and more. You have permission to take both Christianity and the modern world very seriously. This introduction mini-episode features some of Dan's story, as well as clips...