Stand to Reason Weekly Podcast

No Need for Confusion—Faithfulness Is Not Theologically Complicated

Greg talks about five areas—salvation, abortion, gender, marriage, and sex—where Christians are drifting into falsehood because of pressure in the culture and not because of ambiguity in the text. Despite the confusion of many Christians on these topics, faithfulness is not theologically complicated.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: No need for confusion—faithfulness is not theologically complicated. (00:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Faithfulness Is Not Theologically Complicated by Greg Koukl
• The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between by Greg Koukl
• Another Gospel? A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity by Alisa Childers
• Jesus, the Only Way: 100 Verses

Related Links:

• The Legend of the Social Justice Jesus by Greg Koukl

Disagreement Is Not Oppression

Greg talks about the relatively new idea that we can be oppressed through others’ ideology, then he answers questions about whether Christian fellowship is simply brainwashing, the need for epistemological certainty, whether the Bible requires 100% certainty, and why God isn’t as self-evident as 2+2=4.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Disagreement is not oppression. (00:00)
2. Does the fact that we derive encouragement and psychological benefit from gathering with other believers show we are simply brainwashing ourselves? (23:00)
3. Should I feel so obligated to truth that if I can’t have epistemological certainty, I should abandon my faith? (29:00)
4. When studying apologetics and philosophy, it seems as though 100% certainty is unachievable, but does the Bible require 100% certainty that God exists? (42:00)
5. Why isn’t the truth of God’s existence as self-evident as the mathematical equation 2+2=4? (37:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Submit a question on the Open Mic Line
• Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges by Greg Koukl

Four Reasons We Can Be Confident the Gospel Accounts Are Eyewitness Accounts

Guest Host: J. Warner Wallace

 

J. Warner Wallace gives four reasons we can be confident the Gospel accounts are eyewitness accounts, answers a question about family planning, discusses how Christian principles cause people to thrive, then talks to callers about the Old Testament prophets and why God created Satan.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Four reasons we can be confident the Gospel accounts are eyewitness accounts (00:00)
2. Is family planning okay, or should we put our family size in the hands of God? (24:00)
3. Commentary: The data shows that the principles that cause people to thrive point to the truth of Christianity. (32:00)
4. How did the Old Testament prophets know that what they were hearing was really from God? (38:00)
5. If God wanted us to be with him, why did he create Satan? (51:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels (Updated and Expanded 10th Anniversary Edition) by J. Warner Wallace
• Women in Apologetics Conference – June 9–10, Anaheim, CA
• Person of Interest by J. Warner Wallace

A Training Model for Equipping Young People

Guest Host: J. Warner Wallace

 

J. Warner Wallace talks about a training model for equipping young people, then he talks to callers about a argument for the certainty of coming judgment that doesn’t refer to the Bible and how to share the gospel with family members who think they’re already Christians.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: A training model for equipping young people (00:00)
2. Do you have an “outside-the-room” argument for the certainty of coming judgment? (22:00)
3. How can I share the gospel with family members who think they’re already Christians? (42:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• J. Warner Wallace
• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – September 22–23 in Los Angeles, CA; October 13–14 in Seattle, WA; November 10–11 in Minneapolis, MN; February 23–24, 2023 in Dallas, TX; March 22–23, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA; April 19–20, 2023 in Augusta, GA
• STR U Online Training
• Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl

Objections to the Moral Argument for the Existence of God

Greg responds to objections to the moral argument in this interview from the Reasoned Hope podcast with Parks Edwards. They discuss cultural relativism and its inability to explain moral progress, the Euthyphro dilemma, moral Platonism, the evolutionary explanation for morality, and more.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Objections to the moral argument for the existence of God (00:00)

Download the mp3...

 

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reasoned Hope podcast with Parks Edwards
• Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges by Greg Koukl

Related Links:

• Euthyphro’s Dilemma by Greg Koukl

Why God Is the Best Explanation for the Existence of Objective Morality

Greg explains why we should think objective morality exists and why God is the best explanation for its existence in this interview from the the Reasoned Hope podcast with Parks Edwards.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Why God is the best explanation for the existence of objective morality (00:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reasoned Hope podcast with Parks Edwards

 

Related Links:

• Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air by Greg Koukl and Francis Beckwith
• Hitchens’s Challenge Solved by Amy Hall

Hollywood Is Changing Women into Men

Greg talks to a caller about how to deal with doubts, then he talks about Hollywood’s depiction of women and answers a question about churches that do more “seeker-friendly” sermons and focus on presenting the gospel rather than doing expository preaching.

 

Topics:

1. How can I deal with my doubts? (00:00)
2. Commentary: Hollywood is changing women into men. (27:00)
3. What are your thoughts on churches that do more “seeker-friendly” sermons and focus on presenting the gospel rather than doing expository preaching? (48:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes by Nancy Pearcey

Related Links:

• The Thomas Factor: Using Your Doubts to Draw Closer to God by Gary Habermas
• Why God? Part 1 and Part 2 by Greg Koukl (about God being the best explanation for the way things are)
• When (and Why) Feminism Is Anti-Feminine by Amy Hall (quoting Alastair Roberts)

Do the Right Thing before God

Greg talks about putting faithfulness to God above appeasing friends who disagree with you, then he answers questions about whether God is evil if he created a world where he knew so many people would suffer and what a teacher should do when he’s told to use preferred pronouns.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Do the right thing before God. (00:00)
2. Since God knew how many people would suffer when he created the world, does that make him an evil God who caused the suffering? (32:00)
3. What should a teacher do when he’s asked to use preferred pronouns? (48:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Amy Grant will host a same-sex wedding by Rick Pidcock
• Should You Accommodate an LGBT Person’s Requests? by Alan Shlemon
• Why I No Longer Use Transgender Pronouns—and Why You Shouldn’t, Either by Rosaria Butterfield
• A Response to an Employer’s Request for Pronouns by Amy Hall
• Upcoming events with Stand to Reason speakers
• STR Outposts

Related Links:

• How Can We Condemn Evil if God Is Sovereign? by Amy Hall
• Evil and the Cross by Amy Hall
• Why Did God Create People if He Knew So Many Would Go to Hell? by Amy Hall
• Why Pronouns Matter…a Lot by Greg Koukl
• #STRask: How Can I Lovingly Explain to Someone That I Will Not Be Using Their Pronouns?
• Why Agree to Use Preferred Names but Not Preferred Pronouns? by Amy Hall

Is Christianity a Mind-Control Cult?

Greg talks to callers about whether Christianity is a mind-control cult because it says you’re fallen and need someone to save you, the view that the Jews of today are not the real descendants of Abraham, reason vs. the Bible, Jesus’ view of social justice, and when to apply 1 Corinthians 5:11.

 

Topics:

1. How should I respond to someone who says Christianity is a mind-control cult because it says you’re fallen and need someone to save you? (00:00)
2. Is it possible to be a Christian and believe that the Jews of today are not the real descendants of Abraham, and is this a dangerous belief to have in your church? (17:00)
3. If the Bible were to contradict the laws of reason, which should take precedence for the Christian? (31:00)
4. How would you respond to someone who says that since the way we understand social justice now wasn’t around during the time of Jesus, we can’t know what Jesus would have thought of it? (38:00)
5. How should 1 Corinthians 5:11 be applied to someone’s daughter who claims to be Christian but isn’t living a godly life? (49:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• The Legend of the Social Justice Jesus by Greg Koukl
• Christopher Yuan’s books
• Rosaria Butterfield’s books

A 30-Year Ride

Greg talks about the first 30 years of Stand to Reason, then he answers questions about universalism, the Roman Catholic view of the authority of tradition, and the difference between tradition and the objective truth of Scripture.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: A 30-year ride (00:00)
2. Can you help me respond to people in my church who have been influenced by a theologian’s YouTube videos to accept the idea that all people will eventually accept Jesus, whether now on earth or later in Hell (universalism)? (37:00)
3. Why do Roman Catholics view tradition as authoritative, and how can I show them the difference between tradition and the objective truth of Scripture? (52:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Upcoming events with Stand to Reason speakers
• Hell Interrupted Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3