Weighed in the Balance

Send us Fan Mail Over the past year, Weighed in the Balance has focused on examining claims to see whether they can actually hold up to scrutiny. In this episode, Jonathan Brooks takes a step back to explain both why the podcast has been quieter in recent weeks—and where the show is headed next. Jonathan reflects on the realities of pursuing a Master of Theology, the significant increase in academ...

Send us Fan Mail In 2021, logic took a day off and apologetics Twitter held a debate. This episode reviews the infamous Bible-defense showdown featuring arguments so poorly formed they didn’t need rebuttals—they needed a mirror. Rather than analyzing who was right , this episode asks a better question: How do you recognize a terrible argument in the wild, no matter what side it comes from? By walk...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Weighed in the Balance, Jonathan uses the 2021 Cravatt–Canupp debate as a case study in how to recognize weak reasoning—no matter what issue is being discussed. This is not an attack on the King James Version. Instead, Jonathan walks through the debate to highlight common pitfalls: irrelevant tangents, historical inaccuracies, shifting the topic, attacking peopl...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Rev. Jonathan Brooks closes the book on the proposed debate with Phillip Parker—a discussion that could have clarified major misconceptions about Calvinism, grace, and the gospel itself. Instead, Parker declined, calling debate “a waste of time.” Jonathan takes listeners behind the scenes of what really happened, addressing why debates m...

Send us Fan Mail When an old acquaintance, Philip Parker , mocked Calvinism online, Jonathan Brooks didn’t fire back with insults—he offered a public debate. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan explains why the challenge matters and what’s really at stake in the ongoing Calvinism vs. Arminianism controversy. He walks through common misconceptions about the Reformed view of grace a...

Send us Fan Mail This Reformation Day, we let the conversation flow! From Luther and Erasmus debating Scripture, to the question of whether the Reformation led to the Enlightenment, we cover history, theology, and some hilarious side notes about church quirks. Jonathan, along with Alex and Matt talk private interpretation, visions, medieval philosophy, and what it really means for Scripture to be...

Send us Fan Mail Reformation Week continues! Many people — Protestants and Catholics alike — repeat historical claims about Martin Luther and the Reformation that simply aren’t true. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance, we bust five of the most common myths: - Did the Reformation actually begin on October 31, 1517? - Was Luther trying to start a brand-new church? - Did Henry VIII launch the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks makes the case that justification by faith alone (sola fide) and salvation through Christ alone (solus Christus) are not two doctrines—but one glorious truth seen from different angles. Drawing on Romans 3 and the Ten Commandments, Jonathan shows how the law exposes our sin and drives us to Christ’s finished work , not ou...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks returns to Joe Heschmeyer’s “Ranking the Best and Worst Arguments Against Catholicism” — and this time, the topics cut right to the heart of Rome’s teaching. From the Immaculate Conception and Marian dogmas to indulgences and the sacrifice of the Mass, Jonathan breaks down where these doctrines came from, how they develop...

Send us Fan Mail Catholic apologist Joe Heschmeyer just made a stunning admission — and he probably didn’t even realize it. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks reacts to Heschmeyer’s claim that the Bible’s canon was known long before it was ever “infallibly defined.” What does that mean for Rome’s argument that Protestants need an infallible Magisterium to know which books...

Send us Fan Mail We love our heroes of the Reformation—Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli—but if church history teaches us anything, it’s that even the greatest defenders of the gospel still needed the gospel themselves. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks reminds us that the same grace these men preached was the grace they depended on. Their flaws don’t discredit the Reformatio...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks digs deep into one of the most explosive truths of the Christian faith— justification by faith apart from works. While Rome insists grace must be earned through cooperation and merit, Scripture declares the opposite: that the sinner contributes nothing to salvation except the sin that made it necessary. Drawing from Paul’...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks reacts to Joe Heschmeyer’s video ranking “arguments against Catholicism”—and exposes the confusion at the heart of Rome’s dogma. What’s the difference between doctrine and dogma ? Why does Rome make salvation hinge on believing things Scripture never commands? And how do Protestants balance biblical truth with genuine ass...

Send us Fan Mail What is faith? Protestants confess that we are justified by faith alone—but unless we know what faith actually is, that claim means very little. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks unpacks Philip Melanchthon’s definition of justifying faith in the Apology to the Augsburg Confession . Is faith just historical knowledge? Or is it the living trust that clings...

Send us Fan Mail Roman Catholic apologist  @JosephHeschmeyer   has built a reputation for producing short, punchy videos that claim to deal “devastating” blows to Protestant theology. But are his arguments as airtight as they sound in sixty seconds? In this episode of Weighed in the Balance, Jonathan Brooks takes a careful look at some of Heschmeyer’s most popular shorts—on topics like purgatory,...

Send us Fan Mail Philip Melanchthon was Luther’s right-hand man, the author of much of the Lutheran Confessions, and a brilliant theologian—and yet history remembers him more for his compromises than for his faithfulness. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks shows why Melanchthon deserves far more credit than he gets. From his role in defining Reformation theology to his str...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks continues his walk through the Apology of the Augsburg Confession , where Philip Melanchthon dismantles Rome’s teaching on merit. While Rome no longer openly teaches that sinners can earn forgiveness by their own acts of love, the Catechism of the Catholic Church still insists that believers must “merit eternal life” thro...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks reacts to a series of Roman Catholic “shorts” that make bold claims about Scripture, the Eucharist, Peter, and authority. Are these arguments really as airtight as they sound in 60 seconds? Jonathan puts them to the test, showing where they misrepresent history, twist Scripture, or simply leave out crucial details. If you...

Send us Fan Mail Rome’s doctrine of merit sounds complicated—dividing works into “congruent” and “condign” categories—but the outcome is always the same: it either puffs up the self-righteous with false confidence or crushes tender consciences under unbearable despair. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks walks through Philip Melanchthon’s critique of Rome’s merit system in...

Send us Fan Mail Roman Catholic apologist Trent Horn often claims that Protestants can’t make sense of James 2, but the Protestant position he attacks isn’t the one we actually hold. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance, Jonathan Brooks unpacks Horn’s misrepresentation of sola fide and shows what Protestants really teach about faith, works, and justification. Drawing from Scripture and the hi...

Send us Fan Mail At the heart of the Reformation was a simple but world-shaking question: is salvation something we earn by doing more, or something Christ has already finished on our behalf? In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks takes us back to Augsburg and Philip Melanchthon’s defense of the gospel against Rome’s teaching of works plus grace. We’ll see how the Reformers dr...

Send us Fan Mail In 1530, the Lutheran princes presented the Augsburg Confession before the emperor, boldly declaring their faith. But Rome didn’t accept it quietly. In response, Philip Melanchthon penned the Apology of the Augsburg Confession —a careful, powerful defense of justification by faith alone. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks explores why this moment mattered,...

Send us Fan Mail Catholic apologist Trent Horn loves to bring out Martin Luther quotes that sound shocking or extreme, especially when trying to argue that Protestants can’t make sense of James 2. And to be fair—we’re happy to admit that Luther sometimes got James 2 wrong. But here’s the key point: Protestants don’t follow Martin Luther, we follow Scripture. In this episode of Weighed in the Balan...

Send us Fan Mail In 1530, a group of Protestant leaders stood before the most powerful man in Europe—the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V—and refused to back down. Their bold stand became known as the Augsburg Confession, a declaration of faith that would shape the Reformation for centuries to come. In this episode of Weighed in the Balance , Jonathan Brooks explores the courage it took to confess Chr...

Send us Fan Mail James 2 is often called the “Protestant problem passage,” and Catholic apologist Trent Horn argues that it proves faith alone can’t be true. But is that really what James meant? In this episode of Weighed in the Balance, Jonathan Brooks walks through Horn’s claims and shows why Protestants don’t have to fear James 2. By digging into the context of the letter, the meaning of “justi...