Stand to Reason Weekly Podcast

Greg answers questions about living consistently with who we should be as new creations in Christ,  Johns Hopkins reversing their position on transgender surgeries, advice for a returning missionary on whether or not to start a home church, and using a person’s own values to persuade them to adopt your position.

 

Topics:

1. How do we close the integrity gap between who we are and who we should be as new creations in Christ? (06:00)
2. Johns Hopkins reversed their position on transgender surgeries. (24:00)
3. Do you have any advice on whether or not to start a home church as a returning missionary who is seeking deeper fellowship? (41:00)
4. How can you use someone’s own values to persuade them to adopt your moral position? (50:00)

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Mentioned on the Show: 

• Upcoming events with Stand to Reason speakers
• #STRask: What Questions Should I Ask Pastors When Looking for a New Church?

Related Links:

• What Motivates Sin (and How to Fight It) by Amy Hall
• When Spiritual Heroes Fall by Greg Koukl
• Long shadow cast by psychiatrist on transgender issues finally recedes at Johns Hopkins by Amy Ellis Nutt

Greg talks about the policies concerning transgender students in his local school district, how the worldview being promoted conflicts with Jesus’ view of reality, and our need to uphold the truth, then he answers a question about how Orthodox Jews atone for sin.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Besieged by a worldview foreign to Jesus’ view of reality (00:00)
2. A caller talks to Greg about his commentary. (41:00)
3. How does an Orthodox Jew atone for sin? (48:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• CVUSD Allows Boys in Girls’ Bathrooms, Punishes Students for Using ‘Wrong Pronouns’ by Joel Kilpatrick
• #STRask podcast with Greg and Amy (archives here)

Greg discusses harmonizing our observations of nature with Scripture, talks about a billboard that uses a Bible verse to advertise getting an abortion in California, then answers questions about David saying he sinned only against God and whether desires can be sinful, not just actions.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: All truth is God’s truth. (00:00)
2. Commentary: Does loving our neighbor entail facilitating abortions? (09:00)
3. Why does David say, “Against you only have I sinned,” in Psalm 51? (31:00)
4. What do you think of the phrase “Attractions are not actions”? (42:00)
5. Is it really the case that if you don’t act on homosexual feelings, then they’re not sinful, or are thoughts sins? (42:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Billboard in Mississippi advertising getting an abortion in California

Related Links:

• Have Grace for Fellow Christians on the Age of the Earth by Amy Hall
• Are We Accountable for Unchosen Sinful Desires? by Alan Shlemon

As a follow-up to a previous question, Greg talks about how some Christian thinkers in the past have resolved the question of when it’s appropriate for Christians to resist those in authority, then he answers a question about whether we should use the Big Bang theory if parts of it contradict Scripture.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: When is it appropriate for Christians to resist those in authority? (00:00)
2. Should we use the Big Bang theory for arguments like the kalam cosmological argument if parts of it contradict Scripture? (36:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – September 23–24 in Orange County, CA; October 14–15 in Seattle, WA; November 11–12 in Minneapolis, MN; February 24–25, 2023 in Dallas, TX; March 24–25, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA; April 21–22, 2023 in Augusta, GA
• Upcoming events with Stand to Reason speakers
• #STRask podcast with Greg and Amy (archives here)
• The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by Matthew J. Trewhella
• Crimson Tide film
• Listen to the original question: Should a Christian Take up Arms to Defend Himself against Physical Persecution?

Related Links:

• Have Grace for Fellow Christians on the Age of the Earth by Amy Hall

Greg responds to the claim that science is incompatible with faith in God, answers a question about ideas for an apologetics topic for a school research project, then talks to a caller about why God allows evil to exist.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Is science incompatible with faith in God? (00:00)
2. Do you have any suggestions for an apologetics topic that would work for a research project at school? (26:00)
3. Why does God allow evil to exist? (39:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between by Greg Koukl

Greg responds to the idea that we shouldn’t trust the testimony about Jesus rising from the dead since the testimony came from his followers, shares a listener’s thoughts on Christians defending themselves, then answers questions about James vs. Paul and praying to the Son and Holy Spirit.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Is it suspicious that Jesus only appeared to his followers? (06:00)
2. Commentary: A response to Greg’s thoughts on Christians defending themselves (16:00)
3. How would you respond to someone who said James’s understanding of justification was different from Paul’s because his was the earliest epistle and he didn’t yet understand? (29:00)
4. Is it appropriate to pray to the other persons of the Trinity? (50:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – September 23–24 in Orange County, CA; October 14–15 in Seattle, WA; November 11–12 in Minneapolis, MN; February 24–25, 2023 in Dallas, TX; March 24–25, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA; April 21–22, 2023 in Augusta, GA

Related Links:

• Faith and Works: Paul vs. James by Greg Koukl

Greg answers questions about whether it would be okay for a Christian to defend himself against physical persecution, how to determine if a child is ready to be baptized, responding to the claim that people are born gay, whether Adam and Eve would have faced more tests if they had passed the first one, and more.

 

Topics:

1. If I were a Jew living during the Holocaust, would I have been justified in getting an AK-47 to defend myself, and during the tribulation, would we lose our martyr’s crown if we were to die fighting back rather than just allowing them to kill us? (05:00)
2. What’s the best way to determine if my 12-year-old grandson is truly a Christian and should get baptized? (19:00)
3. How should I respond to the claim that people are born gay? (36:00)
4. Would Adam and Eve (and/or their children) have had other tests if they had passed the first test in the garden? (43:00)
5. How should I respond to a Catholic friend who says only Catholic priests have the ability to read the Bible? (48:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• The Magic Prayer by Greg Koukl

Greg talks about the ideas he shared with some law students last week, then he answers questions about whether there will be different levels of punishment in Hell and whether the old prophet in 1 Kings 13:11–32 was always a false prophet.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: What Greg said to law students (00:00)
2. Are there different punishments in Hell, or will everybody receive the same punishment? (36:00)
3. Was the old prophet in 1 Kings 13:11–32, who led the other prophet astray, faithful at one time, or was he simply a false prophet? (49:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – September 23–24 in Orange County, CA; October 14–15 in Seattle, WA; November 11–12 in Minneapolis, MN; February 24–25, 2023 in Dallas, TX; March 24–25, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA; April 21–22, 2023 in Augusta, GA
• Upcoming events with Stand to Reason speakers
• The Primal Heresy by Greg Koukl
• The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between by Greg Koukl

Greg answers questions about how to respond to a brother who says he’s trans, whether Paul ever got a chance to stand before Caesar, whether we can trust the Bible, and how we can say we have knowledge if we don’t have 100% certainty.

 

Topics:

1. How should I treat my brother who says he’s trans, and how should I talk to the rest of my family members about this? (04:00)
2. Did Paul ever get a chance to stand before Caesar as the angel said he would in Acts 27:23–24? (27:00)
3. There are a lot of things the Bible says that cause me to doubt, so can I trust it? (41:00)
4. If I can’t close the gap to 100% certainty, can I say I have knowledge if knowledge is justified true belief? (51:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Upcoming events with Stand to Reason speakers
• Live Not by Lies by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher
• Iron Curtain Diary by Greg Koukl

Related Links:

• True Compassion Is Determined by the Mind, Not by Feelings by Amy Hall
• Why Agree to Use Preferred Names but Not Preferred Pronouns? by Amy Hall

Greg talks about how we’re made to work, so we ought to “do our work heartily, as for the Lord,” then he answers questions about how to interpret John 20:23 about forgiving people’s sins and why we should think the Bible is inerrant.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Do your work heartily, as for the Lord. (08:00)
2. How should I interpret John 20:23, which says, “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them”? (27:00)
3. What is the biblical support for inerrancy, and if God meant for the text to be inerrant, why would he allow so many things to trip us up in the Scriptures—ambiguous passages, apparent contradictions, unclear doctrines, etc.? (47:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – September 23–24 in Orange County, CA; October 14–15 in Seattle, WA; November 11–12 in Minneapolis, MN; February 24–25, 2023 in Dallas, TX; March 24–25, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA; April 21–22, 2023 in Augusta, GA
• STR Outposts