Pod of the Gaps

It is popular today to suggest that men and women are fundamentally the same. Yet while this view may be popular among sociologists it is being challenged by some biologists who suggest there are real differences that cannot be explained simply by societal factors. We consider the arguments for this, ask what those differences might be and ask why it matters. Join Aaron, Andy and Michael as they k...

How does the dominance of secularism affect how human beings understand death? With little hope beyond the grave, many Westerners often spend much of their lives merely trying to stay alive for as long as possible. Are there better ways to live life in light of death? In what ways might Christians speak into the social awkwardness around death with something beyond cliches and escapism? Join Aaron...

Has our culture become too risk-averse? So much of our decision-making today (whether about public health, education, parenting, and virtually everything else) now seems to be filtered through the lens of "safety". What's behind this trend in culture to try to eliminate any chance of risk, no matter how small? And in what ways has risk-averseness infiltrated the Church too? Isn't the Christian fai...

The latest James Bond movie, "No Time To Die" has deeply divided audiences given its controversial interpretation of the globe-trotting super spy. Fresh from the cinema, still smelling of popcorn, Andy, Aaron and Michael use the 25th episode of Pod of the Gaps to explore the deeper cultural issues raised by the 25th Bond movie: from toxic masculinity to gender confusion, from nihilism and the abse...

We live in an age of unprecedented access to interesting things to read. Millions of books, blogs, and streaming articles lie a click away. Most people are barely able to sift through the very latest stuff, let alone to read anything from previous generations. The temptation can therefore be to only try to keep up with the latest ideas, cutting us off from the time-tested wisdom from the past. Wha...

Homeschooling is often seen as being more than a little bit weird. Many instinctively object to it as a slightly cultish pastime that results in naive and geeky young people who are sheltered from the real world. For Christians in particular, doesn’t school present a better way for our kids to be missional? And how can families afford to homeschool when both parents have to work? But could there b...

In recent years many have started to see the cracks of decline in Western civilisation. The "Woke Revolution" continues to sweep through education, government, and the arts, undermining confidence in the foundations of key Western ideals, and producing dramatic cultural changes in beliefs, values, and tastes. Simultaneously, geopolitical events and technological advances beyond the West threaten a...

The catastrophic scenes that followed the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan created many big questions. But could one of the more basic problems be that many in the West fundamentally misunderstand Islam? Do our failed attempts to impose Western style democracy on predominantly Islamic nations show that we understand neither Islam nor where our democracy has come from in the first place? How sho...

It's been a common theme in recent decades for some evangelical leaders in the UK and the US to make a doctrinal "progressive slide". Often this involves the embrace of a more culture-friendly or seeker-sensitive message, or the gravitation to social issues over and above the Gospel or the authority of Scripture. Sometimes these shifts happen subtly, almost without the person or their followers re...

Increasing numbers of people in our society are starting to become aware of the real dangers of pornography – not just for the users of it, but also for the women who are often enslaved within the industry. Yet why are so few speaking up about it? In culture that is often passionate about justice issues why does this not get the attention it should? In this episode of Pod of the Gaps, Aaron, Andy...

Issues of race seem to be everywhere. On campuses, on social media, in supermarket queues, major issues in society and politics are now viewed through the lens of race. Accusations of systemic racism are levelled at groups in various ways, leaving many increasingly worried about what they're allowed to say, do, or even think. The result of all this is that it makes it even more difficult for diffe...

In recent times there have been staggering societal shifts in the practice and definition of marriage, with some noting that marriage has changed more in the last few decades than in the last few thousand years. These radical shifts have not been limited to society but also within the Church too, with a number of major historic denominations now debating or even accepting the validity of same-sex...

Over the last few years, a growing number of mainstream Christian denominations have begun to depart from the historic Christian understanding of sex and marriage. While this may have been done in an effort to make gospel more appealing to the wider culture, could it actually have the opposite effect? If denominations are destroying themselves then who is to blame? Is it the liberal progressives p...

The transgender issue is everywhere. Hardly a day goes by without some new transgender related story in the news, whether it's former men competing in women's sports, somebody being fired for daring to suggest that biology really matters, or hospitals replacing words like "mother" and "breast-feeding" with gender neutral alternatives. For all the talk of LGBT, it seems that "T" is rapidly eating u...

Human society has always been gripped by a love of sport. This is never more obvious than at major international tournaments, where the carnival atmosphere of supporting your country seems to grow to epic levels. But what, really, is the point of all that investment of time, money, and emotion into something that ultimately comes to nothing in the end? This seems to become a bigger deal within sec...

The topic of gay conversion therapy divides opinion today. But what actually is it? Are there different kinds? Should they all be illegal? Are they all as offensive as LGBT+ lobby-groups would have us believe? The term itself covers an extraordinary range of practices, from the outright abusive and homophobic to the genuinely pastoral, such as offering consensual prayer. Should the Church be conde...

Christians are in a tricky situation on social media today. On the one hand, they risk getting into trouble for sharing views which are now deemed out of step with contemporary society. As anyone who's been "beaten up" by a Twitter mob knows, controversial debates not only waste lots of time, but might also put your reputation, or even your livelihood, on the line as a result. Yet on the other han...

Nationalism seems to be on the rise, whether it's in America, Europe, or in Scotland. How should Christians respond to this worrying political trend? Can a Christian ever be a "nationalist", or is nationalism inherently dangerous, divisive, and idolatrous? Is there a difference between 'nationalism' and 'patriotism'? And if the gospel is intended to break down barriers between peoples, how should...

Are we heading for totalitarianism in the West? Many today already fear the creeping pressures of "soft totalitarian" upon everyday life. Whether it's the requirement to fly a flag, bend a knee, speak up for certain groups, or stay silent on unpopular thoughts, people are starting to realise how ordinary freedoms have begun to ebb away, at a time in which technology is able to "observe" our behavi...

A growing number of influential public figures have raised concerns about threats to our freedom of speech. In an age of ‘no platforming’ and ‘cancel culture’, is freedom of speech a thing of the past? Where does the idea of freedom of speech come from? Why are more and more people opposed to it? Why is it so important? Aaron, Andy and Michael discuss these timely and important questions with the...

We live in a world in which the reading of books is simultaneously more possible and more threatened than ever before. Books are readily accessible in a variety of formats to billions of people, and yet trends like "Cancel Culture" are subtly reintroducing new forms of "book burning". In this episode, Aaron, Michael, and Andy consider this tension, asking: Why does reading matter? How can we be ch...

In a world of 24/7 news, endless information, multiple channels, fake news, sponsored news, competing voices, and little space for reflection, how should we think about the news media? How can we be informed but not overwhelmed? How do we discern what is true, what is right, and what is helpful? To what extent does the news shape us — and how we can make sure we're shaped by the right thing? Join...

In this episode Aaron, Andy and Michael discuss the challenges of using social media. Over the last decade a growing number of people have started to raise awareness of the dangers of social media usage, including some who were the pioneers of these platforms. These concerns have been given more prominence through the recent Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’. As well as discussing these con...

We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture, the age of the influencer, where "being famous" has become the aspiration of over 50% of teens. How can Christians respond to the shallowness that often goes along with celebrity culture? Are Christians equally guilty of uncritically putting people on pedestals? How should Christians think and act wisely in terms of the need to build 'platform'? And can we...

Our fourth episode tackles the thorny issue of what we do when Christian leaders fail. We consider, in particular, the fallout of the Ravi Zacharias scandal, what our responses have been, and what we can learn from it more broadly. In light of the many cases of prominent Christian leaders going awry in recent years, how do we continue to encourage strong, accountable, Christian leadership today? W...