The Blue Collar Scholar

Miracles are a controversial topic because most of us have never seen one, many who claim to have seen a miracle are not telling the truth, methodological naturalists deny that miracles can happen at all, and Christianity loses its entire footing without the Resurrection, a miracle. So in this episode I do my best to defend miracles and refute arguments that try to undercut miracles. (Note: This t...

The Resurrection of Christ is the whole ballgame. If Jesus be not raised, then Christianity is false, and we should devote none of our time to Christ's church. But, is there a reasonable defense of the Resurrection as an actual event that happened in history? This episode of the pod will attempt to make such an argument. (This lesson was recorded on 10-10-2020.)

This episode of the podcast concludes our analysis of the Problem of Evil, which is the most prevalent objection to Christian faith. (This lesson was recorded on 10-4-2020.)

This episode digs into the problem that any human being has regarding not having the proper perspective to analyze the Problem of Evil. Like a baby receiving a lifesaving injection, we just do not have the perspective to know why such suffering is being allowed. (This lesson was recorded on 9/27/2020.)

This episode launches a new Sunday School series based on the Lee Strobel book "The Case for Faith." In this episode, we introduce the Problem of Evil and begin to address this common objection to Christian faith. (The teaching was recorded 9/20/2020)

The 1960s were a tumultuous decade in many respects, including the history of religion. In this episode, we will talk about the Jesus People movement with in the Sixties Counterculture, the Vatican II council, the Nation of Islam, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the New Age, and several other relevant religious topics

There have been a few times in American history when we felt particularly polarized. Right now kinda feels like such a time, but we take the Bronze. The actual Civil War and the time leading up to it has to take the Gold, but the Silver Medal definitely goes to the 1960s. Between opposition to the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, American society never felt so polarized without literally...

You all know what the Vietnam War is. So I want to use this summary/preview to give some trigger warnings: (1) At one point in the podcast, I refer to American WWII death as "heroes" and American Vietnam War deaths as "victims." I debated removing it from the podcast, but left it in because I was trying to make a point about war policy, NOT what I think about the men who fought in those wars. (2)...

This episode and the next episode will cover the war in Vietnam, which is easily the most defining event of the 1960s. The trauma of the war in Vietnam will extend into and affect every other topic we will cover this semester. But in this first episode, we are covering the history of the war before the 1960s. First, we quickly survey Vietnamese history going back into ancient history. Then we foll...

As I have argued before, November 22nd, 1963, is the day that "the Sixties" as a culturally significant decade began. Before the assassination of President Kennedy, the world felt more innocent, proverbially black & white. Of course, that is an impression and not necessarily a reality. The 1950s was a decade that was both wonderful and terrible, just like every decade. There was American prosperit...

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the first major protagonist of the 1960s, and his tragic death set the tone for one of America's most tumultuous decades. This episode is a brief survey of his career, with a significant detour to discuss Fidel Castro, arguably his nemesis. NOTE: The JFK assassination is the focus of next week's episode.

The Spring 2025 class is about the tumultuous decade of the 1960s. In order to understand most of the major events and themes of the 1960s, it is necessary to recognize the Cold War, and how it touched nearly all aspects of life and society in the United States and around the world. In fact, the Cold War shrank the world dramatically, as the USSR & the USA stuck their foot in nearly every corner o...

In the final episode of our not-consistently-recorded Sunday School series on the philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, we engage Jesus' teaching, actions, and attitudes regarding race & racism, and His multi-cultural interactions with those who weren't part of Jesus' Jewish race and culture. The Sunday School audio was recorded on 6-26-2022.

There are many issues of human sexuality, and Jesus does not address all of them. But he does directly address some issues, such as marriage, divorce, sexual immorality, and healing & restoration for those who have sinned. In this episode, we join in our not-consistently-recorded Sunday School series on the Philosophy of Jesus. This lesson was recorded on 6/19/2022.

Suffering is terrible, and no one should seek it out. But it happens. It happens to all of us. And Jesus promises us that it will happen to us. This Sunday School lesson dives into Jesus' teachings on suffering. This is audio from a Sunday School lesson on 5-29-2022.

This Sunday School lesson examines the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels to determine His philosophy of human free will. This Sunday School lesson was recorded on 5-22-2022.

Christians ought to treat Jesus Christ not only as God the Son, but also as our greatest teacher and philosopher. This Sunday School series delves into Jesus' teaching from the Gospels to discern what is His philosophy of various topics. This episode digs into Jesus' philosophy of the nature of reality. Recorded Audio from a Sunday School lesson - 4/17/2022

Evangelicals are wonderful when it comes to believing in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The death, burial, and resurrection of God the Son? Yeah, we got that down! ... But what about Jesus as our Lord, our teacher, or our philosopher? Do we do what He says? This episode of the podcast is not only a sermon delivered sans notes (the pastor got sick at the last...

This simple, quick lecture brings our Fall 2024 class on the Book of Revelation to a close.

In this episode, when I am not chasing bunny trails (which is often), we go deep into the Biblical concept of Heaven. We look at both Old Testament and New Testament passages relevant to the concept of Heaven, and we spend quite a bit of time in the final chapters of Revelation, looking at the Millennial Kingdom and New Heavens & New Earth.

The Book of Revelation makes a poor chronology. It does some jumping about. And several chapters are enigmatic, far more enigmatic than the book as a whole, which is one of the most enigmatic books in the Bible. There are messages that are concealed, symbols that have no consensus regarding their meaning, and even a main character - the Great Prostitute - who remains a great mystery. In this episo...

This episode picks up our survey of the Judgments of God in the Book of Revelation. There are 21 judgments, which come in three sets of seven: 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, and 7 Bowls/Vials. This episode picks up with the 5th Trumpet Judgment and continues to the end. We also examine the Battle of Armageddon, the final defeat of Satan, and the Great White Throne Judgment.

As the Fall 2024 Revelation class continues, we are proceeding using the interpretation of Revelation as primarily a futurist document. There definitely are other interpretations, and I would encourage you to seek out scholars who provide those other perspectives. Nevertheless, if we proceed as if Revelation is primarily a futurist document, then the heart of the End Times timeline is 3 sets of 7...

This episode digs into the Scriptural data for Satan a.k.a. the devil a.k.a. Beelzebub a.k.a. the ancient serpent a.k.a. the Dragon of the Book of Revelation. We also do a bit of corrective analysis to make sure that we aren't letting the popular conception of Satan drive our understanding of the figure that is taught in Scripture. Furthermore, the character known as Satan makes very few appearanc...

Besides the Devil himself, there is no scarier character in the Bible than the person that the Book of Revelation calls the Beast, and 2nd Thessalonians calls the Man of Lawlessness (or Man of Sin; Man of Perdition), and the Book of Daniel calls the Little Horn. The term that we commonly use for this character is the Antichrist. Ironically, Scripture does use the term Antichrist five times, but ne...