The Old Roads Podcast

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley addresses church discipline. Is it a biblical practice? Does Scripture command churches to practice it? If so, how should it be carried out, and for what purposes?

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley explains why church membership is an essential part of the Christian life. Even though Christians today have many resources from which they can draw to aid them in discipleship, God has not designed us to find our way on our own. We need a faithful body of believers to whom we are accountable and who will help nurture us in the faith...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley answers questions from listeners on whether or not Scripture permits women to hold the office of deacon, apparent contradictions in the Bible, and explaining the glory of God to kids. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroadspodcast

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley surveys three main approaches among Christians to the question of the age of the earth: Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, and Evolutionary Creationism. What are the similarities and differences between these views? How does each view affect important biblical teachings? What are different options for interpreting the cr...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley shows how the Darwinian account of biological evolution affects our understanding of God and humanity. Can Christian teaching be synthesized with Darwinian evolution, or is the attempt to do so misguided and unbiblical? If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroad...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley addresses questions pertaining to Adam and Eve. Were they real historical figures, or merely literary symbols? If they did really exist, were they created by the special action of God, or did they evolve from lower forms of life? Can all human beings trace their ancestry back to this single pair of human beings, or should we allow fo...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley examines the worldview assumptions that make the task of science possible and plausible. Far from showing a contradiction between Christianity and science, the deeper worldview assumptions of a true scientific method reveal a dependence on Christian presuppositions. Although many naturalistic scientists posit a conflict between scien...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley answers questions from listeners on whether or not God created the best of all possible worlds, the nature of Scripture as God's word, and how and why different denominations/churches are governed in different ways. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroad...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley welcomes guest (and producer) Jeremy Rasnic for a conversation on how a believer can learn how he has been gifted by the Lord to serve and then deploy his gift(s) faithfully for the building up of the church. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroadspodcast

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley addresses the issue of the gift of prophecy, a major source of contention between cessationists (those who believer some spiritual gifts have ceased) and continuationists (those who affirm the continuation of all spiritual gifts to the present day). When the issue is rightly understood, it turns out that thoughtful cessationists and...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley addresses the question of spiritual gifts. What are they? What is their purpose? How are they to be discovered and used in the church? Looking at key New Testament passages on the subject provides clear direction on these and related questions. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://w...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley answers questions from listeners on whether or not it is ever permissible to lie, whether or not divorced men can be pastors, and how we should think about the practice of seeking to communicate with the dead. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroadspodcast

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley addresses the upcoming meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in June, at which a motion clarifying the convention's stance on female pastors will be up for consideration. Should the Southern Baptist Convention tighten its policy on this question, and what are the possible long-term ramifications of doing so or not doing so,...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley addresses the question of whether women can hold the office of pastor in a church or exercise the functions of a pastor. What are the key biblical texts that address this question, and why would God restrict the office of pastor to qualified men only? These questions have far-reaching implications for the teaching and practice of a l...

In this episode of the Old Roads podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley addresses the question of the meaning of manhood and womanhood. What does the Bible teach about the differences between the sexes? How can we read nature with the grain of Scripture? And what does the pattern of masculinity and femininity in the world teach us about how God relates to us? Pondering these questions leads us quickly in...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O’Kelley answers a question on the good and the bad of Christian nationalism as well as a practical question about how to cultivate a heart that depends on the Lord during times of blessing and ease in life. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroadspodcast

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O’Kelley addresses the question of whether or not the church’s historic teaching on the Trinity really matters. Does the teaching that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit truly impact anything else in our theology and practice, or is it simply an intellectual puzzle that has no far-reaching significance? As the church has always maintained, the v...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O’Kelley addresses the question of whether or not God ever changes his mind. In conversation with a teaching called “open theism,” he defends the historic Christian teaching that God is all-knowing and unchanging in his knowledge and will. What, then, are we to make of passages of Scripture that depict God changing his mind? And what are the impl...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O’Kelley addresses the question of whether or not God suffers. Theologians in the history of the church have argued that God is “impassible,” meaning he is not subject to suffering. But doesn’t the Bible speak of God being grieved? And what about Christ’s sufferings on the cross? What are the implications of saying either that God does or does no...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O’Kelley addresses the age-old question of how we define “good” in relation to God. Is goodness a standard above God to which he must measure up? Or does God arbitrarily declare things “good” by his will alone? Digging into this fascinating question takes us into the historic doctrine called “divine simplicity,” a teaching about God that should p...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley answers questions about the observance of Lent, cremation, and the problem of evil. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroadspodcast

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley shows from three key passages in Paul's letters that the New Testament stands in complete unity with the Old Testament and Jesus on the question of homosexuality. The historic teaching of the church on this subject stands squarely on the authority of Scripture. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Pa...

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley evaluates the claim that Jesus never addressed homosexuality and, therefore, implicitly affirmed it. Contrary to that claim, Jesus clearly affirmed the same sexual ethic as the Old Testament. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroadspodcast

In this episode of the Old Roads podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley explores the Old Testament teaching on homosexuality in order to demonstrate that the church's historic teaching on this subject stands on the authority of Scripture. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/theoldroadspodcast

In this episode of the Old Roads Podcast, Dr. Aaron O'Kelley answers questions about God's omnipresence and the separation of unbelievers from his presence in Hell, God's sovereignty over our sins, and the differences between Presbyterian and Baptist approaches to the biblical covenants. If you would like to support this podcast, please subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreo...