Apologetics.com Radio Show

People make decisions daily. Should I go left or right? Should I get the pasta or the burger? Do I shoot the 3 ton green skinned brute into space or not? Ok, maybe you don't have to make that last one often, however you make choices like it. Those choices are ones that are informed by ethics. This episode looks at various ethical schools and challenges listeners to ask what makes something good, or perhaps the right thing to do? However, unlike your college ethics class, this intro to ethics uses situations and themes found in various superhero movies and comic books. So, what makes something right? Host Sam Welbaum along with Derek Brover, Justin Davis, Bruce Paolozzi, Batman, Spiderman, the Avengers, the X-Men, Superman, the Kree Super Intelligence, Wolverine, Bane and Slapstick hope to get your mind thinking through that:]

People often ask "What's the difference between Christian counseling and goi g to a psychiatrist?" It's a valid question and the answer is, "just about everything." The three primary departures are that we think people are different things, that people should be different things and that we have different understandings of how to get from here to there. Besides that, our knowledge comes from different sources, our traditions have different histories and means of self correction and even a different understanding of "healthy", "good" and "evil". Christianity has a 3000 year tradition of dealing with the conflicts of the human soul and guiding toward inner and outer peace; personal and relational. Psychiatry is a collection of different schools of though and methods at odds with each other as to theory and method that goes back about 120 years and has a tendency to explain every complexity of human suffering and emotional conflict by reducing them to either animal instinct hidden beneath unhelpful religion or civilization, genetic expression or unexpressed selfishness. People are complicated and perhaps the Christian faith as applied through the historical church has an uneven history of counsel? Still, the value of the methods and the understanding of good ends and means seems irreduciblyvaluable. Christopher Neiswonger with Lindsay Brooks

Our age is one of profound discovery. Astronomical observations strike us like meteors with a sense of awe and wonder. Knowledge we have gained in the last century raise questions of what we are (animated cosmic space dust or something else) and what explains our existence (God or chance). It is our existence that ought to surprise us…but for the Naturalist it doesn’t. Why should one be surprised that there is life of any kind? It seems that the science itself triggers this line of contemplation. “Fine-Tuning” is a scientific conclusion and an existential launching pad. Join Jeremy, Steve, Harry, and Dan as they discuss Fine-Tuning, the different versions of the Anthropic Principle, and whether or not chance and the multiverse are adequate explanations. The goal of this show was to make the following 3 points: 1. The Universe and Earth were finely tuned for advance life to obtain. 2. Intelligent Design is inferred as the best explanation when observing the finely tuned Universe and Earth. 3. Alternative explanations of these conditions of the universe and its features are inadequate and unsupported.

The Bible talks about death as the wages of sin, and as an enemy to be defeated. This is in great contradiction to those who have seen death as "natural", or even a good thing that liberates humanity from the evil of the material world. Even within the Church opinions have varied. Ambrose talked about death, the end of this present life, as a good, "death is a harbor of peace for the just," while Augustine spoke of it in book XIII of the City of God this way: "But a question not to be shirked arises: Whether in very truth death, which separates soul and body, is good to the good? For if it be, how has it come to pass that such a thing should be the punishment of sin? For the first men would not have suffered death had they not sinned. How, then, can that be good to the good, which could not have happened except to the evil? Then, again, if it could only happen to the evil, to the good it ought not to be good, but non-existent. For why should there be any punishment where there is nothing to punish?" Christopher Neiswonger and Lindsay Brooks talk about death--the death of the body, death to sin, the second death, the death of Lazarus, and the death of Christ.

One of the controversial subject matters in Chris tian theology is when and how god gives out blessings and curses. Obviously no moral being with the power to police the universe would refrain from doing so but how, when and why can be a bit confusing. Does god only bless Christians all the time? Does he sometimes chasten those whom he loves? Are heaven and hell in the balance for final administrations of divine justice, or grace? Christopher Neiswonger hosts with special guest panel

Warning: This show contains spoilers for Dr Who, LOST and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. What is time? That is a much harder question to answer than it seems on first blush. We all have a conception of it, but describing it, explaining how it works...not easy. In this show, host Sam Welbaum, along with staff apologists Bruce Paolozzi and Steve Tsai, wrestle through this mind bending paradox. During the discussion we talking about the history of the philosophy of time, the current debate, the pros and cons of not seeing a T=0, how God's knowledge and existence might work with different understanding of time, and many other topics. And a lot of pop culture references make appearances as well to try and lighten up a rather heavy topic.

Many Christians hold to a literal interpretation of the 24 hour day in Genesis 1 and that the Earth and Universe were created between 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. This is the default teaching of every child’s Sunday school. However, this “Young Earth Creationist” (YEC) view is usually repulsive to non-Christians and banished by the scientific community. Inevitably, our innocent “YEC-ers” face disillusionment and perhaps a crises of faith when hearing everywhere else that science reveals an ancient Earth and Universe. On the other hand, the “Old Earth Creationist” (OEC) view is much more palatable to non-Christians and the scientific community as there are only some differences regarding on macro-evolution to hash out. OEC proponents adopt the timeline that shows the Universe and Earth are 14 billion years old and 4 billion years old, respectively. A quick evaluation will reflect the tension between Christian doctrines (such as the Inerrancy and Infallibility of Scripture) and the results of modern science. We contend that Christians have a valid Biblically based worldview that is harmonious with scientific observations. The Biblical account is not contradictory with science but collaborates well with science. As such, the Christian can be intellectually justified in holding to truth of the Creation account in Genesis. So we ask, “Which Biblically based worldview is correct?” The more refined question is: “Which view aligns accurately with Scripture and is true to scientific observations?” We will discuss Big Bang cosmology and other important items surrounding this topic. Please note that this show is somewhat introductory in nature and the positions of members of the team vary. Join Jeremy, Steve, Harry, and Sam as we discuss this important topic.

Many years ago, Francis Schaeffer had the role of both prophet and poet to the evangelical world. Easily the most influential evangelical of the last century, he combined and uncommon understanding of the times with a spiritual insight into the condition of the human soul. In speaking to the culture the idea that the Christian was living outside of the realm of civic responsibility was something he sued as dangerous and frightening in it's probable consequence. A world without the ethical leadership of the Christian church was a world without the influence of Jesus in cultural norms. And thus he provided a way to both bless the world and the church through the same instrumental graces by saying that the God of the Bible is both there, and not silent in any sphere, discipline or subject. The God Who Is There is vibrantly interested in every molecule in the universe, and says to all of them that they are his. Christopher Neiswonger and guest, Larry Jones

In the face of environmental news that is sounding alarms about a terrifying future, and politically motivated studies that blame Christian believers for the impending doom of the earth that includes an arctic ice "death spiral" and warns of billions of displaced human beings, all because we believe Christ is coming again, it's easy for Christians to feel embattled. Even the word, "environmentalism" speaks of arcane science we scarce understand as we read reports of steady global temperatures for the last decade, but warnings that our little garden planet will be a wasteland, nevertheless. But Christians understand ourselves as the stewards of what God has created who will give an account, and the Bible shows God delighting in His creation, and sovereign over it. Yet, how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere isn't the sole concern, but a more holistic picture of what is good for human thriving that includes both care for the poorest and most vulnerable among us, as well, must be considered. Dr. E Calvin Beisner joins Lindsay Brooks to discuss matters of the environment and how Christians /really/ view this lightning rod topic. Dr. Beisner is the founder and national spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, a coalition of clergy, theologians, religious leaders, scientists, academics, policy experts, and others, committed to bringing a proper and balanced biblical view of stewardship to the critical issues of environment and development. www.cornwallalliance.org http://wattsupwiththat.com/reference-pages/sea-ice-page/ Articles discussed on the show, and other articles of interest: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/01/belief-in-end-times-stifling-climate-change-action-in-u-s-study/ http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/01/190117/earths-greenhouse-gas-approaches.html#.UYKrQeAZFpY http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/02/white-house-arctic-ice-death-spiral http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/27/climate-change-model-global-warming http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/07/why-global-temperatures-held-s.html http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v6/n4/full/ngeo1788.html

How does anyone know what God wants them to do? Who should I marry? Where should I go to school? What car to buy? Should I go to China? If God has a perfect plan for my life, can I make any choices without running the risk of missing out on what He wants me to do? This unnecessary and stressful burden falls on the shoulders of many in the church leaving them paralyzed or looking for cosmic signs to point them a certain way. In this episode Derek Broker, Joe Slunaker and Kurt Blake join host Sam Welbaum to address the issue of knowing God's will. The panel discusses the various uses of the term "God's will" and discusses our need to change the questions that we're asking from "What does God want me to do?"to "Who does God want me to be?"