Truth Be Told

In this episode Dr. Peter Gurry and I explore the topic of textual criticism, or textual reliability, which is a practice used across many literary works, including the text of Scripture. While gaining a better understanding on the topic, it should be come clear that textual criticism, while fascinating and valuable as a study for Christians, should never be a study that ones faith hangs on. The B...

So many people struggle with feeling valuable. Fortunately, our value isn't up to us, or even those around us. We were bought with a price and that price is the, immensely valuable, sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  In this episode we study the concept of value and take a look at the analogy used by Peter between "corruptible things like silver and gold" and the blood of Christ to see what deeper meanin...

Dr. Louis Markos and I discuss virtue, myth, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and pagan writers. How do we think about pagan writers? How do we think about truth? Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com Video: Jamie Schreiber Logo: Matt Hernandez Music: Pop-Rock Beautiful, By Twisterium

All across the world, and increasingly in western nations, Christianity is facing heavy persecution. Voice of the Martyrs is an organization dedicated to assisting the persecuted in furthering the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God in hostile nations. In this interview I speak with Todd Nettleton, Chief of Media relations for VOM, about some of these persecuted people he's come in conta...

Dr. Christopher Yuan joins Truth Be Told in an interview regarding Holy Sexuality. Identity and sexuality often get mixed up in today's society, but that absolutely shouldn't be the case. Whether you are someone struggling with same-sex attraction, someone frustrated by singleness, or someone wrestling with sexuality and faith - this episode is for you. Join us as we unpack some of the hard questi...

What is the state of faith in America? Why are young people leaving the church? Can we, as individuals, make any kind of difference in our churches? How do we help the church in its mission to expand through the preaching of the Gospel, and maintain through the care of the people when we don't influence the organizational level? These are all questions I discuss with Director of Research Analytics...

Does God's placement of animals below humans in His creation, and His command for animal sacrifice in the Old Testament mean that God doesn't care about animals? In today's episode I respond to an animal rights activist's frustration at these thoughts on Christianity shared by many who believe Christian values don't include animal life.    Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com Music: Pop-Rock B...

The Feast of Tabernacles is a celebration commanded by God in Leviticus 23. Some may have never heard of it, some may know a lot about the historicity of the days but not see them as personally relevant, and some may actively keep the Feast of Tabernacles (along with God's other commanded observances). In this episode I will make the case, from scripture, that the Feast of Tabernacles is not somet...

Paul follows "love does not boast" with the phrase, "love is not proud." Just like Jesus Christ in His ministry, the Apostle Paul shows us an elevation idea. Not only do we have to be careful in our outward actions, but also in our inward thoughts and feelings as, boasting is the external expression of pride. Pride leaves no room for love of others, love of God, or appropriate love of self, so Pau...

The Christian life is full of duality as we struggle to live like we are more and more a part of the life we are looking forward to in God's Kingdom, while still currently living as human beings in this world with all of its pressures and stresses and commitments. How do we reconcile this split reality?  In this episode we look at how Christ dealt with the things listed in Revelation 21:4 that wil...

Every single person called by God needs to wake up to the fact that we are called into the middle of spiritual warfare. Those who have gone before us realized this truth, understood that they were what was being fought over, and comprehended that they were called to take an active part in fighting against the spiritual forces against them.  Satan the devil and all those who fight with him are a ma...

In this episode we look into the life of the Apostle Thomas and attempt to go through a process of: 1. Not accepting something just because someone says it or says it often 2. Reading the text for ourselves 3. Applying context (cultural, historical, literary) to the scripture we look at   that can be used to dispel all kinds of presuppositions we have about the Bible so that we can study more effe...

Often, speakers at churches, conferences, or just in conversation will give expositions about certain words found within the Bible. A common tactic, is to do a brief word study and, to add credence to the fact that their topic is important, announce the number of times the word they've chosen as their topic appears in the Bible. The inference, if speakers and listeners are not careful, that can be...

When Daniel says the words, "O King, live forever," to king Darius of the Persian empire, it should cause us to ask ourselves some questions. Why would Daniel say this to a national enemy? Was it just a phrase or a nicety meant to pacify a ruler, or did Daniel mean what he said? With the geopolitical landscape being a hotbed of disagreement and fuming frustration, and the world itself becoming inc...

This episode is a verse by verse study of Psalm 46 culminating in an evaluation of Psalm 46:10, which is a so commonly used out of context. Odds are you have heard or seen someone use this verse out of context or you have even used it out of context yourself! Join us as we take a brief look at what this Psalmist is saying throughout this Psalm, what context we SHOULD read verse 10 in, why it's imp...

When we think of the word challenge, a number of real life examples probably come to mind, but they are probably all things we want to get through, overcome, or leave behind us. None of us consider challenge to be a place we want to remain in. However, following Christ, who lived a life of challenge and died a challenging death, is guaranteed to come with some amount of suffering, struggle, and/or...

Spiritual gifts are such a hot topic amongst Christian communities. We treat them like superpowers we should be on the lookout for after we receive God's Holy Spirit and we wonder what our unique talents and abilities are or will be. In this message, given in Columbus, Ohio, I discuss the absolute best way to determine what our gifts from God are. Hyper charismatic churches attempt to boast that G...

How can Paul say with confidence, love does not boast, when he admits to boasting in 2nd Corinthians? How can we be called to not ever boast, when we have examples like David boasting in God? Is it ever okay to boast, or were these great men admitting to just being unloving in their boasts of various things?    Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com   Music: Pop-Rock Beautiful By Twisterium Thum...

Mark 9 is such an amazing chapter of the Gospels full of rich narrative, awesome typology, lessons about the crucifixion, resurrection, glory, and deity of Christ, and a cool example of Christ using real-life, real-time events as teachable moments for His disciples. Many know the narrative account but sometimes, when presented with narrative, we read only to know what happened, and stop reading to...

When Paul says the simple phrase, love does not envy, we can miss such an important message if we don't stop to look at what exactly this implies. Whenever we study we should be asking ourselves, and God, questions. "If love does not envy, why DOES it do? Why doesn't love envy? Can you ever envy and love at the same time? What exactly does it mean to envy? Join me as I continue through the study o...

In Acts 2, we read of the account of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Early Church during the Day of Pentecost. This account can be inspiring and encouraging as we study our roots and see the power of God, but it can also be a bit disheartening as we live our day to day lives without always seeing grand visible miracles as proof of the Holy Spirit within us.  We might ask ourselves or God,...

Christianity, oftentimes amongst skeptics, is made out to be nothing more than a fairytale but, in reality, Christianity is the most well-evidenced belief in existence. No other faith has as much proof of its accuracy than Christianity and the cumulative case becomes impossible to stand up against when faced honestly. Join us on Truth Be Told as we discuss the rationality and evidence of Christian...

Just a few thoughts on the incredible God we serve. God's entire plan is selfless. It is to offer us something we could never deserve, not in demanding things of us, but in showing us the right way to live through the example of Jesus Christ as He humbles Himself, kneels to the Earth to wash away the sins of mankind, and then asks that we kneel, in turn, to worship Him. Christ went first and, alth...

The word "kind" gets confused with so many other things. If we don't understand kindness, we might be misunderstanding love as well. Kindness is not niceness. It is not compassion. It is not mercy. It is also not unable to be shown during times of anger. God is love and is, therefore, kind, and when He is angry with us, when He is wrathful, or punishes, His kindness does not cease to exist in the...

Identity is something that is vastly important to all of us. Most of us, at one time or another, have been frustrated with who we are as we continuously compare ourselves to others or are unsatisfied with various aspects our lives (2 Corinthians 10:12). Add to this a huge increase in mental health difficulties, a rise in traumatic experiences for young people, and a culture that only ever affirms...