Stand to Reason Weekly Podcast

How to Be a Good Ambassador for Christ to Muslims

Guest Host: Alan Shlemon

 

Alan Shlemon talks about how to be a good ambassador for Christ to Muslims, the largest unreached people group on the planet, explaining their foundational objection to Christianity and how to address it, three things you need to engage them, and more.

 

Topics:

1. Our identity and job as ambassadors for Christ (00:00)
2. Step one: Learn about Islam (12:00)
3. The three primary authoritative sources in Islam (14:00)
4. Muslim views on Jesus and jihad (22:00)
5. Step two: Engage Muslims—three things you need (38:00)
6. How to respond to the foundational objection that the Bible is corrupted (39:00)
7. Who the real enemy is and what our job is (48:00)
8. Q&A (50:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• A Closer Look at Islam by Alan Shlemon
• The Life of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq
• The Ambassador’s Guide to Islam by Alan Shlemon

Related Links:

• Jihad and War in Islam and Christianity by Alan Shlemon
• How to Reach Your Muslim Neighbor by Alan Shlemon
• The Cross Is Good News for Muslims by Alan Shlemon

How Do We Connect with God in a Way That’s Biblically Sound?

Greg responds to a request for advice on how to move from a “listening for the voice of God” view to connecting with God in a way that’s biblically sound, discussing stages of Christian maturity and explaining how God matures Christians through suffering.

 

Topics:

1. What advice would you give to someone who’s transitioning from a “listening for the voice of God” view to connecting with God in a way that is biblically sound? (01:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• The Ambassador’s Guide to the Voice of God (booklet) by Greg Koukl
• Does God Whisper? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (online articles) by Greg Koukl
• Newton on the Christian Life by Tony Reinke
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
• Newton on How You Can Be Deceived While Reading the Bible by Amy Hall
• Meaningful Suffering by Amy Hall (includes the hymn by John Newton on God’s use of suffering to mature Christians)

Related Links:

• Why You Shouldn’t Lose Heart When Prayer Is Difficult by Amy Hall (quoting John Newton)
• God’s Amazing Grace Could Only Have Been Revealed in a Fallen World by Amy Hall (on John Newton’s life)

Don’t Give Your Kid a Smartphone

Guest Host: Jonathan Noyes

 

Jon talks about the negative effects of social media on mental health and gives tips for raising kids in this culture, then he answers questions about why God redeemed humans and whether or not we still have a responsibility to preach the gospel to all nations.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Don’t give your kid a smartphone. (00:00)
2. Why do you think God chose to redeem human beings when he didn’t need to? (27:00)
3. Do we still have a responsibility to preach the gospel to all nations, and was it wrong for the missionary who was recently killed along with his wife in Haiti to have brought her with him to a dangerous place? (26:00)
4. Commentary: More on how smartphones affect mental health and other societal problems (48:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
• Reality Student Apologetics Conference – September 13–14 in Los Angeles, CA; October 18–19 in Seattle, WA; November 8–9 in Minneapolis, MN; February 21–22, 2025 in Dallas, TX; March 21–22, 2025 in Philadelphia, PA
• STR U Online Training
• Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up by Abigail Shrier
• #STRask podcast with Greg and Amy
• STR Outposts

Action Beats Intention

Greg talks about the satisfaction of having done something useful, then he answers questions about advancing the truth with an unbelieving wife and whether withholding sex from a spouse is grounds for divorce.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Action beats intention. (00:00)
2. If you were in my situation, how would you advance the truth of Christianity with your unbelieving wife? (12:00)
3. Does Paul indicate that withholding sex from your spouse is a sexual sin that could be grounds for divorce? (31:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Submit a question on the Open Mic Line
• Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy? by Gary Thomas

Related Links:

• The Beauty of Submission by Amy Hall
• The Beauty of Leadership by Amy Hall

Are Science and Faith Compatible?

Guest Host: Tim Barnett

 

Tim Barnett discusses the compatibility of faith and science by first defining “faith” and “science” and then exploring the three problems a naturalist has to overcome in order to explain how even a single, small protein could come about on its own by chance.

 

Topics:

1. What is faith? (05:00)
2. What is science? (13:00)
3. How do we explain the existence of functional proteins? (32:00)
4. The chirality problem for naturalists (37:00)
5. The bonding problem for naturalists (40:00)
6. The sequence problem for naturalists (45:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Are Science and Faith Compatible? by Tim Barnett – DVD
• “Kinesin protein walking on microtubule” – Animation

Related Links:

• Can Science Explain Everything? by John Lennox
• Why Intelligent Design Isn’t a God-of-the-Gaps Argument by Tim Barnett
• Why Intelligent Design Is an Argument from Knowledge, Not Ignorance by Amy Hall (quoting Stephen Meyer)
• Building a Protein by Chance by Tim Barnett

Don’t Participate in Pagan Ceremonies

Greg answers questions from callers about participating in “smudging ceremonies” at a pastor’s training session and whether an apparent contradiction could reach a level where it became evidence against that Gospel being an eyewitness account.

 

Topics:

1. Should Christians be participating in “smudging ceremonies” to release our bad energies (as we were asked to do in a pastor’s training session), and how should we be reaching out to indigenous people in places like Canada? (03:00)
2. If apparent contradictions offer evidence of authentic eyewitness accounts, is there a level of contradiction that would hurt the case, like Matthew 8 contradicting Mark 5 in the number of demoniacs helped by Jesus? (37:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Submit a question on the Open Mic Line
• Smudging Protocols and Guidelines for Schools – Information on smudging
• Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Warner Wallace

People No Longer Know What the ”Final Solution” Was

Greg talks about people no longer knowing about the Nazi phrase “Final Solution,” then he talks to callers about questions to ask an atheist family member who’s extremely moral and how to respond to someone who says they have a message from God for you.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: People no longer know what the “Final Solution” was. (00:00)
2. Do you have any advice for questions I can ask my atheist brother who’s extremely moral? (17:00)
3. How should I respond to someone who says they have a message for me from God? (41:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Conspiracy – Film about the meeting where the Nazis planned their “Final Solution”
• Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed by Douglas Axe
• Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity’s Toughest Challenges by Greg Koukl

Related Links:

• Does God Whisper? Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 by Greg Koukl

What to Say to a Consistent Moral Relativist

Greg chats with Frank Turek about CIA, then he answers questions about what to say to a consistent moral relativist, whether a lack of persecution indicates anything about a person’s Christianity, and where the Bible says you can’t lose your salvation.

 

Topics:

1. Commentary: Greg talks to Frank Turek about the upcoming CrossExamined Instructor Academy. (00:00)
2. How should I talk to someone who is consistent about denying objective morality? (18:00)
3. Does the fact that I haven’t suffered any persecution say anything about my Christianity? (27:00)
4. Where in the Bible does it say you can’t lose your salvation? (47:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• CrossExamined Instructor Academy – August 1–3, Charlotte, NC
• #STRask podcast with Greg and Amy
• How to Be Sure You’re Saved by Greg Koukl

Related Links:

• Losing Your Salvation in Ephesians 1:14–3 by Amy Hall

How Many Ancient Copies of the Quran Exist?

Guest Host: Alan Shlemon

 

Alan answers questions about ancient copies of the Quran, an intersex person unintentionally entering into a homosexual relationship, whether Deuteronomy’s apostasy law is the same as Islam’s, and how to respond to companies during Pride Month.

 

Topics:

1. Do you know how many ancient copies of the Quran exist? (01:00)
2. How would you advise an intersex person who fears their parents may have chosen the wrong sex for them and is worried about unintentionally entering into a homosexual relationship? (25:00)
3. Is the law in Deuteronomy 13:6–10 about putting apostates to death the same as the law of apostasy in Islam? (36:00)
4. How should we respond to sports teams, coffee shops, etc. during Pride Month? (51:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth

How Can Anyone Have Assurance of Salvation?

Greg answers questions about how we can have assurance of salvation in light of Jeremiah 17:9 and Matthew 7:21–23, whether someone with a phobia of water needs to get baptized by full immersion, and whether the devil could go back to Heaven if he repented.

 

Topics:

1. In light of Jeremiah 17:9 and Matthew 7:21–23, how can anyone have assurance of salvation? (04:00)
2. Would God require someone with a phobia of water to get baptized by full immersion, or is sprinkling on the head enough? (44:00)
3. If the devil told God he was sorry and did kind things, would he go back to Heaven or stay in Hell? (50:00)

Mentioned on the Show: 

• Stand to Reason’s Ambassador’s Creed
• God’s Super-Apostles: Encountering the Worldwide Prophets and Apostles Movement by Douglas Geivett and Holly Pivec
• Submit a question on the Open Mic Line

Related Links:

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