Prepared to Answer Podcast

No matter life’s circumstances, fixing your eyes on the hope of Jesus’ resurrection will bring joy to your heart, peace to your mind, and praise to your lips.  The apostle Paul explained the three ways that Jesus’ resurrection at Easter delivers all the hope that we need, no matter what the future may hold ( 1 Corinthians 15:17-22 ). Whatever life's trials, Jesus' resurrection... sustain...

Many times we share the gospel with others, and wonder why – even after we’ve prepared diligently and presented our answers thoughtfully – we still don’t see the hoped-for response. Those we love simply can’t seem to be able to see the spiritual reality of the truth of the gospel. In this video, Scott Stein discusses one key factor we need to keep in mind in the faith-sharing process and the essen...

Is “luck” a subject the Bible addresses? Is it even something we need to think about? After all, isn’t the word “luck” just something we hear thrown around all the time— though maybe more so certain times of the year, such as on St. Patrick’s Day (alongside “leprechauns”)? How should parents understand “luck” and talk about this concept with their kids? On one hand, saying “ that was lucky ” or “...

Many in our culture believe that there’s more than one pathway to God. Isn’t the sheer number and variety of world religions proof of this after all? In this event audio, Scott Stein discusses how people more often adopt this belief because they’ve heard it so often, as opposed to having really thought it through. A way to effectively respond in our witness, therefore, is by using good questions t...

“There can’t be just one way to God!”  In our religiously pluralistic culture, claims about knowing the true path to God are at best considered naïve and at worst arrogantly intolerant.  After all, in a world of so many religious and spiritual beliefs, how can anyone lay exclusive claim to the truth about God? How should we react to this question? Leaning on Paul’s wisdom, in this short discussion...

Why should Christians care about gender? Shouldn’t we be more concerned about helping people get to know Jesus? Getting people saved is indeed the most important thing. But key to rightly understanding the gospel and living out salvation in Christ is the biblical view of gender. Being made male and female is essential to our nature as God’s image bearers. Since God is a holy God (i.e. set apart),...

Can the Trinity actually help us to understand God's love?  Before God is even Creator, our Saviour, or our Sustainer, he’s the triune God. The Trinity is the very essence of God’s identity that he’s revealed to us. And that’s why the doctrine of the Trinity is central to our Christian faith. Especially when it comes to understanding God’s love. And of all things, he wants us to know his love...

What role does love play in our taking the message of Jesus to the world? How does love relate to our calling as apologists – as those who are to give an answer in defence of the gospel? In considering our apologetic task, we must acknowledge the inescapable unity between the message and the messenger. If my speech doesn’t flow out of a heart transformed by the love of Christ (i.e. “Christ now liv...

The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Does this mean in order to be wise we need to be afraid of God? Is God supposed to terrify us? Why would a loving God want his children to fear him? Telling people we should fear God is biblical, but if we're not careful to explain what we mean, we run the risk of misrepresenting God to people, or distorting what a relations...

Why isn't living the Christian life easier? In pondering this, you might have asked yourself these next two questions: Why do I still sin? Why can't I stop? Why can't I just live like a Christian? Why don't people accept my beliefs? Why do they hate that I'm a Christian?  First, it's important to know if you're a Christian, because if you're not one to begin...

Conspiracy theories are nothing new. It's an important topic, because conspiracies do happen. And, where people in positions of power conspire to abuse that power for immoral ends, good people ought to oppose it. Discussing conspiracy theories, however, is difficult: First, as Joseph Uscinski points out, the term “conspiracy theory” can be weaponized and used to deride ideas and people. Secon...

Even if we can make a sound argument for a divine creator from scientific evidence, is there any way of showing that this divine Creator is the Christian God who revealed himself as Jesus Christ? In this video of a live online event hosted by Prepared to Answer, Dr. Kirk Durston lays out a clear argument for rationally justifying why we can believe that the divine creator who science points to is...

What’s the real meaning behind why Jesus’ was born?  More specifically, what’s so significant about the incarnation? Jesus’ virgin birth as “the Son of God” defines history. After all, if God the Creator was really born in human flesh, then there’s only one question that really matters, namely, “Why did he do that?” The miracle of the incarnation supplies the only foundation for the gospel of God’...

Christians are often concerned at Christmastime with “keeping Christ in Christmas.” But maybe we should spend a bit more time thinking about which “Christ” it is we’re “keeping.” Unfortunately, even sincere attempts to “keep Christ in Christmas” can lead us astray.  Heart-tugging reflections on how Mary or Joseph must have felt, or the humble circumstances of Jesus birth, surely have their place....

Is the Christmas story historically reliable? It’s often presented with an almost “mythic” quality. It’s no wonder then that skeptics are quick to write it off as nothing more than an invention of early Christian imagination.  But if you take time to really look at the Christmas story in Luke’s gospel, you’ll find the markings of a carefully composed record of history. Aside from being a medical d...

Since we don’t have the original copies of the New Testament writings, have God’s actual words to us somehow been lost over time? This has become an extremely important issue for Christians today, as more and more skeptical voices in our culture cast doubts on the trustworthiness of the Bible. In this podcast episode, we welcome Wesley Huff , a Christian apologist who specializes in the study of h...

“Why does God let bad things happen to me?” We all face difficult, challenging, and even hurtful events in life. Being a follower of Jesus does not exempt us from this. These experiences can often leave Christians wondering why, if God loves us, he still allows such things to happen. Really, this a ground level question. Before we dive in, we need to make sure that we have a proper perspective of...

Should Christians be concerned about social justice?  The question almost answers itself. Of course, we should. After all, since God is unquestionably concerned with justice, can his children be any less? Indeed, it was for justice that Jesus came. One of the increasing difficulties Christians face is that while we use the same words as the world around us, we often don’t attach the same meaning t...

The term “Critical Theory” has become very prominent in social debate right now. It seems as if everything has become about race, gender, and sex. These have become our culture's core markers of human identity. This shift that we’re experiencing right now has been influenced by a set of ideas taking shape around the 1920s. These ideas have impacted Western institutions through a “critique” of...

Should Christians be celebrating or taking any part in Halloween? How do we think biblically about this holiday? It’s hard to find agreement on Halloween among Christians.  Halloween does have a darker side. Many occultists, Satanists, witches, etc., treat Halloween as a time to practice and observe their rituals.  For the majority of people though, Halloween is seen as simply a fun night where th...

Should Christian parents allow their children to go trick-or-treating? How should a Christian family decide about Halloween? Ultimately parents need to discern and decide what is best for their children and their family. Biblically I don’t feel that I can argue dogmatically one way or the other. The biblical principles laid out by Paul help us ask some important questions when deciding what to do....

Do we really pick and choose to obey some Bible passages and not others? How do we choose which teachings we’ll follow and which ones we won’t? And how do we answer critics on this issue? Especially when they use difficult or seemingly obscure passages? Christians are often criticized (and sometimes rightfully so), for cherry picking from the Bible and ignoring the difficult passages that embarras...

Is the Bible true?  And not, “Does it contain truth?” I mean, “Does every word in the Bible reveal and teach true facts about reality?”  What we’re really driving at is the question of biblical inerrancy. Is the Bible entirely free of error , or does it contain mistakes?  For the first 1700 years of its existence, the church almost universally believed in the inerrancy of the Bible. Some Christian...

Christian children and youth are under tremendous pressures today, because of the unrelenting cultural agenda to embrace all forms of human diversity (i.e. behaviours) and eliminate any room for making moral judgments about any particular lifestyle.  “Shouldn’t people have the right to be who they are?” As our culture drinks deeper and deeper from the waters of individual rights, identity politics...

Do you struggle to live by faith?  Are you frustrated with your “on again/off again” tendencies toward faithfulness?  Do you long to see “mountains” moved, but obviously are short on mustard seeds of faith? Take deliberate steps to move your faith away from a mere mental notion into action. Begin applying your mind to becoming a careful thinker about faith, so that your faith is grounded first in...