Stand to Reason Weekly Podcast

How Could a Good God Let My Husband Suffer?

Greg answers questions about how to respond to someone who’s struggling with how a good God could let her husband suffer, how to know if something is objectively a sin, particularly when it comes to polygamy, and how to pray when asked at a family dinner where nobody is a believer.

 

Topics:

1. How should I respond to someone who is struggling with the question of how a good God could let her husband suffer? (00:00)
2. How can we know if something is objectively a sin or not, particularly when it comes to polygamy? (25:00)
3. What should I say in my prayer when I'm asked to pray at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner where nobody is a believer? (49:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
• Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges by Greg Koukl
• Confessions of a French Atheist: How God Hijacked My Quest to Disprove the Christian Faith by Guillaume Bignon

Related Links:

• What You Need to Know about Evil and Suffering by Amy Hall
• If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil by Randy Alcorn
• What Would Polygamy Do to Society? by Amy Hall
• Does God Endorse Polygamy? by Alan Shlemon
• Polygamy in the Bible Is Not Prescriptive by Robby Lashua

Is the Second Law of Thermodynamics a Good Argument Against Evolution?

Greg answers questions about whether the second law of thermodynamics is a good argument against evolution, pebbles to put in the shoe of a progressive Christian, whether he’s getting the Bible and science wrong, and how to explain the credibility of the resurrection.

 

Topics:

1. Why is the second law of thermodynamics not a good argument against evolution? (05:00)
2. How can I gently put pebbles in the shoe of a progressive-Christian friend who’s open to having conversations but who mocks historic Christianity? (22:00)
3. You’re getting the Bible and science wrong when you say God created everything out of nothing. (41:00)
4. How would you explain the credibility of the resurrection to someone? (50:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• STR Outposts
• Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity by Alisa Childers
• The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It’s Destructive, and How to Respond by Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett
• The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between by Greg Koukl
• The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona

Related Links:

• The Legend of the Social Justice Jesus by Greg Koukl
• Can We Trust the Gospels? by Peter J. Williams

Interview: Jimmy and J. Warner Wallace – Case Files

Greg chats with J. Warner Wallace and his son Jimmy about their new graphic novel, Case Files: Murder and Meaning.

 

Topics:

1. Interview: Jimmy and J. Warner Wallace, co-authors of Case Files: Murder and Meaning. (00:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Case Files Vol. I: Murder and Meaning by Jimmy Wallace and J. Warner Wallace
• Cold-Case Christianity website

The Danger of Basing Your Identity on Anything That Can Change

Greg talks about the danger of basing your identity on anything that can change, then he answers questions about speaking against a transgender bill in Colorado, the idea that we shouldn’t judge, disagreeing well with people, and having better recall in conversations.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: The danger of basing your identity on anything that can change (07:00)
2. How do I craft a compelling testimony that speaks the truth in love in opposition to the transgender protections bill in Colorado? (21:00)
3. How should I respond to someone in my church who says we “shouldn’t judge” someone who was in a longtime same-sex relationship? (38:00)
4. How can we have better conversations with people we disagree with in the church? (45:00)
5. How can I have better recall and keep my mind from going blank from anxiety in conversations? (52:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• CrossExamined Instructor Academy – Deadline is May 1
• Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier
• Greg’s Message to His School Board Regarding Proposed Sex Ed Curriculum

 

Naturalism of the Gaps

Greg talks to callers about the rebellion of angels in Genesis 6, how to respond to a naturalism-of-the-gaps argument, how to use Shedd’s Dogmatics, whether an abandoned spouse can remarry, and whether human beings are responsible for the salvation of others.

 

Topics:

1. What is your view on the rebellion of the angels referred to in Genesis 6, Jude, and 2 Peter? (01:00)
2. What would you say to someone who responded to an argument for intelligent design by saying, “We just need to wait for science to give us the answer”? (11:00)
3. I purchased Shedd’s Dogmatics. Can you tell me how to use it? (29:00)
4. My husband left me. Does that mean I can never get remarried? (38:00)
5. Am I right in challenging the idea that God would give human beings the responsibility for other people’s salvation? (50:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Were the sons of God in Genesis 6 fallen angels? Who were the Nephilim? – Peter Gentry
• The Privileged Planet (20th Anniversary Edition): How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards
• STR U Online Training
• The Design of Life DVD Collection: Volumes 1–3
• Dogmatic Theology by William G.T. Shedd
• What the Bible Says about Divorce and Remarriage by Wayne Grudem

Related Links:

• God of the Gaps? by Greg Koukl

Be Mindful of Your Character When Making Your Case

Greg reminds Christians to be mindful of their character when making their case, then he answers questions about Jesus’ prayer to “forgive them, for they know not what they do” and how we know the Protestant canon is the correct canon.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Be mindful of your character when making your case. (00:00)
2. Should I apply Jesus’ prayer to “forgive them, for they know not what they do” to everyone? (16:00)
3. How can we know the Protestant canon is the correct canon? (30:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – April 25–26 in Dayton, OH
• STR U Online Training
• The New Testament Canon: Which Books and Why? by Greg Koukl

 

Thoughts on the House of David Series

Greg talks about the House of David series, then he answers questions about why someone should read the Bible rather than the Quran or the Book of Mormon, how God stirs our hearts to do things, and whether or not one category of the Old Testament Law still applies to us.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Thoughts on the House of David series (00:00)
2. Why should I read the Bible rather than the Quran or the Book of Mormon? (20:00)
3. How does God stir our hearts to do things? (36:00)
4. What do you think of the idea that we can divide the Old Testament Law into three categories—judicial levitical, and moral—and the moral regulations still apply? (47:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – April 25–26 in Dayton, OH
• House of David – Series on Prime
• The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between by Greg Koukl
• Does God Whisper? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 by Greg Koukl

Related Links:

• Where Did These Minimal Facts about the Resurrection Come From? by Amy Hall (quoting Gary Habermas)
• How Does the Old Testament Law Apply to Christians Today? by Greg Koukl
• Why We’re Not Under the Mosaic Law by Amy Hall
• Should Followers of Christ Observe the Torah? by Amy Hall
• The Law Is Good by Amy Hall

Interview: Rod Dreher – Live Not by Lies

Greg talks to author Rod Dreher about the soft totalitarianism he describes in Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, the Christians who resisted that totalitarianism, and the new documentary series based on the book.

 

Topics:

1. Interview: Rod Dreher – Live Not by Lies documentary series (00:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Live Not by Lies – Documentary series
• Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher
• Freedom Fading by Greg Koukl
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William Shirer
• The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
• The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud by Philip Rieff

Related Links:

• We Need Confidence to Endure by Amy Hall

How Do We Know People Didn’t Take Things Out of the Bible?

Greg talks to callers about how we know people didn’t take things out of the Bible, whether people who die young can earn eternal rewards, whether Jesus appeared to Mary after his resurrection, dealing with an abusive parent, and why more pastors don’t believe in an old earth.

 

Topics:

1. With all the translations of the Bible, how do we know people didn’t take things out of it that they didn’t want us to know about? (03:00)
2. Is it the case that people who die young can’t earn any eternal rewards? (08:00)
3. Is there any indication in the Bible that Jesus appeared to his mother after his resurrection? (15:00)
4. As a Christian, how should I deal with an abusive and controlling father in light of the command to honor our parents? (28:00)
5. Why don’t more pastors believe in an old earth? (49:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – April 25–26 in Dayton, OH

The Futility of Man-Based Idealism

Greg reflects on the futility of man-based idealism, then he answers questions about why he isn’t Eastern Orthodox and how to show that philosophical materialism isn’t supported by materialism itself.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: The futility of man-based idealism (00:00)
2. What are your arguments against Eastern Orthodox Christianity? (26:00)
3. How do I show that philosophical materialism isn’t supported by materialism itself? (50:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – April 25–26 in Dayton, OH
• A Complete Unknown – Film