Stand to Reason Weekly Podcast

A-Theory vs. B-Theory of Time

Greg answers questions about how to think through the issue of A-theory vs. B-theory of time, practical tips for sharing the gospel with family members who aren’t interested in hearing about it, whether metaphysics precede epistemology, and copying Greg’s presentation of Tactics.

 

Topics:

1. Can you help me think through the A-theory of time vs. the B-theory? (02:00)
2. Do you have any practical tips for sharing the gospel with family members who live in another country and don’t seem very interested in hearing about it? (28:00)
3. Do metaphysics precede epistemology, or is it the other way around? (39:00)
4. If I present Tactics to an audience the way you do, is that considered plagiarism? (50:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – March 24–25, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA; April 21–22, 2023 in Augusta, GA
• Time and Eternity: Exploring God’s Relationship to Time by William Lane Craig

Strengthen Your Argument with Modest Assertions

Greg talks about how making modest assertions can actually strengthen your argument (referencing an article by Dolores Morris), then he answers a question about why God would predestine people for salvation if he gave us free will.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Strengthen your argument with modest assertions. (00:00)
2. If God gave us free will, why would he predestine anyone for salvation at all? (35:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – March 24–25, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA; April 21–22, 2023 in Augusta, GA
• Upcoming events with Stand to Reason speakers
• STR Outposts
• STR’s Ambassador’s Creed
• Weaker Assertion → Stronger Argument by Dolores G. Morris
• Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges by Greg Koukl
• Question about predestination from the previous episode

Related Links:

• God Reforms Hearts: Rethinking Free Will and the Problem of Evil by Thaddeus Williams (on the question of whether libertarian free will is required for real love)
• “Forced Love” Is the Wrong Way to Look at It by Amy Hall

Did Adam Have a Belly Button?

Greg answers questions about whether Adam had a belly button, the difference between microevolution and macroevolution, and predestination.

 

Topics:

1. Did Adam have a belly button? (00:00)
2. What is the difference between microevolution and macroevolution? (07:00)
3. Could you explain your understanding of predestination? (25:00)

Why Would a Good God Create a World That Has So Much Evil in It?

Greg answers questions about why God would create a world that has so much evil in it, how a book written by men could be the divine word of God, whether it’s okay to date a Christian who doesn’t think homosexuality is a sin, and why people believe in creationism over evolution.

 

Topics:

1. Why would a good God create a world that has so much evil in it? (00:00)
2. How could a centuries-old book written by men be the divine word of God? (16:00)
3. Is it okay to date a Christian who thinks homosexuality is not a sin? (29:00)
4. Why believe in a creationist worldview now that we have the theory of evolution? (46:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• The Design of Life DVD Collection by Illustra Media

Related Links:

• What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? by Kevin DeYoung
• Not That Kind of Homosexuality? by Kevin DeYoung
• A Reformation the Church Doesn’t Need: Answering Revisionist Pro-Gay Theology Part I by Greg Koukl and Alan Shlemon
• A Reformation the Church Doesn’t Need: Answering Revisionist Pro-Gay Theology Part 2 by Greg Koukl and Alan Shlemon

Has the Text of the Bible Been Corrupted?

How can we know that the Bible we have today is the same as the original if no original manuscripts exist? Greg explains why the number and age of the manuscripts we do have make it possible for textual critics to sift through the variant readings and confidently reconstruct the original writings.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Has the text of the Bible been corrupted? (00:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• “Misquoting” Jesus? Answering Bart Ehrman by Greg Koukl

Related Links:

• The Bible Is Not a Game of Telephone by Amy Hall (quoting Dan Wallace)
• An Interview with Daniel B. Wallace on the New Testament Manuscripts by Justin Taylor
• Textual Variants: It’s the Nature, Not the Number, That Matters by Tim Barnett
• A Clarification on How Bible Variants Are Counted by Amy Hall

Is the Bible a Human Book or a Supernatural One?

Is the Bible a human book by men about God, or is it a supernatural book from God to men? Greg talks about how the supernatural fingerprints of God in the Bible give us good reason to trust that this book truly has the objective authority to answer the deepest questions of life.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Is the Bible a supernatural book? (00:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Confessions of a French Atheist: How God Hijacked My Quest to Disprove the Christian Faith by Guillaume Bignon

Related Links:

• What We Read Is What God Said by Brett Kunkle
• The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ by Gary Habermas
• The Bible: Different from All the Rest by Amy Hall (quoting Rosaria Butterfield)

Scattered as Aliens in a Foreign Land

Greg talks about 1 Peter’s words to those who live in a hostile culture, then he answers questions about how Satan tempts us, a high school assigning a sexually graphic novel, not making Christ seem like merely a utilitarian solution to cultural problems, and how to deal with loneliness.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Scattered as aliens in a foreign land (00:00)
2. How does Satan tempt us? (13:00)
3. How should I address the issue of a private high school assigning a novel that graphically depicts sexual sin, and how can we appropriately prepare our children for the real world without exposing them to books like this one? (23:00)
4. How do I avoid making Christ into merely a utilitarian solution to our current cultural problems when discussing the Christian worldview with unbelievers? (35:00)
5. How should I deal with loneliness? (47:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – March 24–25, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA; April 21–22, 2023 in Augusta, GA
• Upcoming events with Stand to Reason speakers

Interview: Jeff Myers – Truth Changes Everything

Greg talks to Jeff Myers of Summit Ministries, author of Truth Changes Everything: How People of Faith Can Transform the World in Times of Crisis, about the shifting definition of truth in the culture, how truth can be known, the difference truth has made in the world, and more.

 

Topics:

1. Interview: Jeff Myers, author of Truth Changes Everything: How People of Faith Can Transform the World in Times of Crisis (00:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Dr. Jeff Myers
• Truth Changes Everything: How People of Faith Can Transform the World in Times of Crisis by Dr. Jeff Myers
• Summit Ministries
• How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe by Thomas Cahill
• The Soul of Science by Nancy Pearcey and Charles Thaxton
• Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges by Greg Koukl

Related Links:

• The True Story of Christian Missionaries by Amy Hall (on how truth changed entire cultures)
• Values Fight Poverty by Amy Hall
• A Daily Prayer for This Cultural Moment by Amy Hall (about valuing truth)

How to Assess Christianity

Greg explains that we can’t assess the church’s legitimacy by the way the world reacts to it, then he answers questions about who, according to 1 John 2, is an antichrist, our relationship to time after death, why people use the term “Calvinism” but not “Arminianism” in a derogatory fashion, and more.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: How to assess Christianity (00:00)
2. Is John calling everyone who rejects Jesus a liar and an antichrist in 1 John 2:22–23 (even Dennis Prager), or is he referring to specific people? (08:00)
3. Is it a sin to work at a supermarket where cigarettes and alcohol are among the goods that are sold? (19:00)
4. Are people who have died waiting in time for the resurrection, or are they in the presence of God outside of time? (29:00)
5. Why is it that people use the term “Calvinism” in a derogatory fashion, but I’ve never heard anyone speak of Arminianism that way? (44:00)
6. What does the reference to Jeremiah in Hebrews 8:11 mean when it says there will be no need to teach a neighbor or brother to “know the Lord” in the New Covenant? (51:00)

Related Links:

• The Truth of Christianity Isn’t Measured by People’s Hatred of It by Amy Hall
• God Cares More about Behavior Than Most People Think by Amy Hall
• What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism – Desiring God explains the biblical reasoning behind Calvinism

Does “He Gets Us” Get Him?

Greg critiques the “He Gets Us” campaign, then he answers a question about whether it’s okay to join a church you have some theological disagreements with and interacts with a caller who says people have good reasons to have bad impressions of Christians.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Does “He Gets Us” get him? (00:00)
2. Is it okay to become a member of a church you have some theological disagreements with? (34:00)
3. People have good reasons to have bad impressions of Christians. (50:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• He Gets Us website
• The Legend of the Social Justice Jesus by Greg Koukl
• 7 Problems with the He Gets Us Campaign by Natasha Crain
• “Alone with Just a Story” by Negativland

Related Links:

• What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism – Desiring God explains the biblical reasoning behind Calvinism