Interviews

In part one, Brandon Duke laid out some of the important groundwork for thinking about how a good and powerful God might have a world capable of experiencing immense amounts of evil and suffering. In our conversation today, we’ll delve further into the idea of soul-making to explain why suffering like death, damage, decay, and Read more about 363 Why God Allows Suffering 2 (Brandon Duke) [&#...

If God is so good and powerful, why is there so much evil in our world? Although you might retort, “It’s because humanity fell into sin and we are all suffering the consequences.” Such an answer merely pushes the question back one step, since God is the one who determined just how fallen our world Read more about 362 Why God Allows Suffering 1 (Brandon Duke) […]

When Joshua Anderson left home and attended a secular college, the environment bombarded him with skepticism and criticism of Christianity.  He internalized the general attitude manifested on campus from professors, students, and text books to such a degree that he began doubting his faith.  He fell into a two year period of existential despair as Read more about 361 Paralyzed by Doubt (Joshua And...

I love hearing people’s stories–especially people of faith. In this episode you’ll get to know Bob Jones, a professor at the Atlanta Bible College. He’s equally adept teaching chemistry or physics as he is Old Testament or Systematic Theology. Now in his seventies, Jones looks back on his life to see how God led him Read more about 360 The Making of an Old Testament Profess...

Although powerful preaching, serving the poor, and missionary work often take the lime light in Christian ministry, the truth is that home groups, churches, and especially denominations will fall to pieces without competent and consistent administrators. The job isn’t glitzy or glamorous and it is often beset with equal parts of tedium, stress, and failure, Read more about 359 Faithfully Ser...

We’re delving into a topic rife with controversy, polarization, and intense emotion.  We’re asking the question, how should bible-based Christians respond to the Black Lives Matter movement.  No doubt, some of you will answer that we should all be out marching in full support while others think BLM is itself racist and should be resisted.  Read more about 358 A Christian...

Last December the Coronavirus pandemic began spreading from Wuhan, China across the world. As of today, globally we know of approximately 30 million cases across 188 countries and territories resulting in 941,000 deaths and 20.3 million who have recovered. The United States has the most cases with 6.7 million infected (roughly 2% of the population) Read more about 357 A Christian Perspective on CO...

Today, we’ve got three more texts to look at in our selection of unitarian Bible translations. Unlike last time where we focused on Christologically interesting passages, today, we’ll examine Luke 23.43, John 7.53-8.11, and 1 Thessalonians 1.3 to look at a punctuation issue, a textual issue, and a grammatical issue. By the end of this Read more about 356 Unitarian Bible Translations 3...

Last time we reviewed six unitarian Bible translations, covering some basic information about where each came from and their overall strategy for translation. Today, we’re going to analyze how they translate three key texts, including Philippians 2.6, John 1.1-3, and John 8.58. Our goal is to measure these translations against what the Greek says as Read more about 355 Unitarian Bible Transl...

In our last episode, I recommended some mainstream Christian Bible translations, but I would remiss if I didn’t also review some important unitarian Bible translations.  Although often overlooked, these versions are important because they have the opposite bias when it comes to passages commonly offered as proof texts for the Trinity.  Also, I asked Dr. Read more about 354 Unitarian Bible Tr...

This is part four of our series on original sin. Last time Kegan Chandler and Jerry Wierwille discussed their different views of original sin and the resultant human condition.  In this final part of our series, we circle back to Romans 5 one last time and both explain how they understand it.  What drives our Read more about 324 Original Sin Debate 2 (Kegan Chandler vs. Jerry Wierwille) […]

This is part three of our series on original sin. In part one, Kegan Chandler discussed the history of Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, arguing that the whole idea is post biblical. Last time Jerry Wierwille responded to Chandler, explaining that we do have solid biblical grounding to believe in some form of inherited original Read more about 323 Original Sin Debate 1 (Kegan Chandler vs...

In our last episode Kegan Chandler presented his case against the classic doctrine of original sin.  Today we are going to hear a critique from Jerry Wierwille of Chandler’s presentation.  Wierwille makes the case for a middle position between Augustine and Chandler on the basis of the flow of thought in Romans 5.12-21.  He agrees Read more about 322 Inherited Sin in Romans 5 (Jerry Wierwill...

Today we are beginning a new series on original sin based on Kegan Chandler’s presentation from last year, entitled, “Origins of Sin: The New Heretics and the Metaphysics of Disobedience.”  I’m excited about this four part series for a couple of reasons.  First off, I’m glad to host a place where we can discuss genuine Read more about 321 Origins of Sin (Kegan Chandle...

Have you ever heard of Bethany Christian Services?  They are a large Christian adoption agency in the USA and internationally, working hard to find good homes for babies.  In this interview I visit my local branch in Latham, NY and speak with adoption specialist Renee Rogowski about how adoptions work.  I’m so impressed by the Read more about 314 Adopting with Bethany Christian Services (Ren...

How much control should Christian groups exercise over their people?  Should people be free to research and diverge from past ways of thinking?  In this interview, I talk with William Barlow who grew up in the Way International, but ran into problems when he started suggesting changes to the administrators at the Way Corps leadership Read more about 313 Questioning Way International Doct...

Last week John Truitt began discussing the theological framework of dispensationalism, especially the “mid-Acts dispensationalism” taught by the Way International.  He pointed out some flaws that got his attention and made him explore the issue more deeply.  In the course of his research, Truitt discovered another way of approaching scripture known as covenantalism.  In...

Have you ever been on a long drive in the summer when you wore sunglasses for hours and hours?  It’s getting dark and then suddenly you realize you’re still wearing sunglasses.  You take them off and the whole world brightens and  you realize it’s not nearly as dark as you thought?  This is the nature Read more about 311 Evaluating Dispensationalism 1 (John Truitt) […]

Are spiritual gifts available today or did they cease after the original apostles died?  In this interview, I talk to Dr. Sam Storms about his own personal experience with speaking in tongues, his biblical case for why gifts are available today, and how he makes room for them in his church services.  Before delving in, Read more about 310 Are Gifts of the Spirit Available Today? (Sam Storms) [&#82...

Today, we are publicly announcing the launch of a new para-church organization called the UCA or the Unitarian Christian Alliance.  This is a new ministry that I’ve been working on with Dale Tuggy, Kegan Chandler, and Mark Cain for months and I believe it will help all of us, but especially those who don’t live Read more about 309 Introducing the Unitarian Christian Alliance (Dale Tugg...

This is part 6 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  Last time Dr. Sean Cole introduced the Calvinist understanding of God’s foreknowledge and the limitations on our freedom as a result of our fallen nature.  This time I ask Cole about unconditional election and how that compares to a lottery.  After all, if God Read more about 308 Foreknowledge and Free Will 6 (Sean Cole Defending Cal...

This is part 5 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  We’ve considered Open Theism and Arminianism and now we are going to begin thinking about Calvinism. This way of conceiving of God’s foreknowledge argues for both exhaustive foreknowledge and meticulous providence. Thus, no one comes to Christ apart from God’s predestination since our natures Read more about 307 Foreknowl...

This is part 4 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  Last time Dr. Leighton Flowers of the Soteriology101 podcast laid out his commitment to both God’s complete knowledge of all future events as well as humanity’s ability to freely choose.  Rather than explaining philosophically how that is possible, he suggested that we do not Read more about 306 Foreknowledge and Free Will 4 (L...

We are now in part 3 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  We’ve considered Open Theism–the idea that God’s foreknowledge is limited to what he plans to do as well as what he can ascertain from past and present conditions.  In a couple of weeks we’ll examine Calvinism, which holds that God not only Read more about 305 Foreknowledge and Free Will 3 (Leighton Flowers In...

Last week we began our Foreknowledge and Freewill series with Dr. Dale Tuggy who gave us an overview of the various positions.  He also commended Open Theism as a view that triumphs where others suffer from logical contradictions.  Now, today in part two, Tuggy will further explore and defend Open Theism against a number of Read more about 304 Foreknowledge and Free Will 2 (Dale Tuggy Defending Op...