Frederick Faith Debate

Is the Earth Flat? 

A recent poll suggests that one out of every seventeen American’s believe the Earth to be flat.  What was once a fading worldview has been reinvigorated by the arrival of the internet.  What are some of the big-picture claims made by Flat-Earthers?  What, if anything, does the Bible say in answer to questions such as this?

Troy and Jon recently accepted an invitation to appear as guests on someone else’s podcast to interact with the host about his opinion that the Earth is, indeed, flat.  Somehow this audio was lost, and so that podcast will never be made available.  This episode of the Faith Debate is a re-cap of that discussion.

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, former candidate for School Board in Frederick County, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and most recently Founder of Bridges in Frederick County.

How is the human soul affected by sin?  Are some parts of the human soul affected more seriously by sin than others?  Does the human heart have the freedom to emote without the hindrance of sin?  Can the human will act in a way that is not corrupted by sin?  Is it even appropriate to frame the question this way?

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, former candidate for School Board in Frederick County, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and Co-Founder of The Faith Debate.

Andrew Messinger.  A movie-making, basketball-playing high school student who attends Faith Church in Frederick.  His congregation is part of the PCA (Presbyterian Church of America), which is squarely within what’s called the Reformed tradition.

What’s it mean to believe?  How does one come to believe?  Is it mostly the intellect of the brain?  The feelings of the emotional center?  The inner voice of the will?  What role do these things play in determining one’s actions/choices? After conversion what’s the remaining impact of sin on the Christian?

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, former candidate for School Board in Frederick County, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and Co-Founder of The Faith Debate.

Andrew Messinger.  A movie-making, basketball-playing high school student who attends Faith Church in Frederick.  His congregation is part of the PCA (Presbyterian Church of America), which is squarely within what’s called the Reformed tradition.

What’s the relationship between what’s physical and what’s spiritual when it comes to our mind, our actions, our “fill-in-the-blank”?  Does sin negatively impact one’s reason/intellect/heart/emotion/mind/body/spirit/etc?  Can one’s emotions be trusted?  One’s intellect?  One’s will?  Does the Lord redeem one of these more quickly than the others?

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, former candidate for School Board in Frederick County, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and Co-Founder of The Faith Debate.

Andrew Messinger.  A movie-making, basketball-playing high school student who attends Faith Church in Frederick.  His congregation is part of the PCA (Presbyterian Church of America), which is squarely within what’s called the Reformed tradition.

This show lays the groundwork for a four-part series by defining our terms.  What do we mean by Soul, Heart, Mind, Will?  Is it some combination of Heart, Mind, Will that form the human Soul?  Pretty deep philosophical question, isn’t it?  Helping to hash out questions of sin’s effect on humans are two guests who would each fit within the category of “evangelical Christian”.

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, former candidate for School Board in Frederick County, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and Co-Founder of The Faith Debate.

Andrew Messinger.  A movie-making, basketball-playing high school student who attends Faith Church in Frederick.  His congregation is part of the PCA (Presbyterian Church of America), which is squarely within what’s called the Reformed tradition.

Dr. Jerome M. Segal, is running for US Senate in the June 26th Democratic Primary against a slate of candidates, including sitting US Senator Ben Cardin.  Dr. Segal is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, Research Scholar at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland, and is President and founder of The Jewish Peace Lobby.  Despite his political and academic credentials, this show has an emphasis on the nature of God and related questions of faith/religion.

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and most recently Founder of BRIDGES: Connecting needs and resources in Frederick County.

Dr. Jerome “Jerry” Segal.  Candidate for United States Senate, Author of “Joseph’s Bones: Understanding the Struggle Between God and Mankind in the Bible”, and Leader of a Sunday school Bible class as part of a Jewish Reconstructionist Chaverah for ten years.

Dr. Jerry Segal, from the University of Maryland, has spent much of his life involved at the highest levels in the Middle East peace process, including being the head of the Washington DC based Jewish Peace Lobby.  And now his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in Maryland has recently been given the front page treatment by the oldest Palestinian newspaper in circulation, the influential Al Quds.  He is here to help us make sense of the toxic political pea soup in a region that contains Russians, Iranians, Syrians, Israelis, Turks, and Kurds.  Not to mention Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and most recently Founder of BRIDGES: Connecting needs and resources in Frederick County.

Dr. Jerome “Jerry” Segal.  Candidate for United States Senate, Author of “Joseph’s Bones: Understanding the Struggle Between God and Mankind in the Bible”, and Leader of a Sunday school Bible class as part of a Jewish Reconstructionist Chaverah for ten years.

The U.S., the U.K. and the French military responded with force after haunting images of poisoned and dying children surfaced in the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack in Syria.  President Donald Trump promised a swift response and followed through with bombings of strategic targets in Syria.  What does this mean?  What should we understand about the politics surrounding the building of Israeli settlements?  Is a two-state solution the answer to the Palestinian homeland question?  How should people view the strong hand of Benjamin Netanyahu in leading Israel’s government?  Should Jerusalem be recognized by the United States as the capital of Israel?  Is the PLO a terrorist organization?  We might not get to all of these questions, but we’ll do our best.

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and most recently Founder of BRIDGES: Connecting needs and resources in Frederick County.

Dr. Jerome “Jerry” Segal.  Candidate for United States Senate, Author of “Joseph’s Bones: Understanding the Struggle Between God and Mankind in the Bible”, and Leader of a Sunday school Bible class as part of a Jewish Reconstructionist Chaverah for ten years.

The Middle East is on fire.  At least it seems that way.  It has always seemed that way.  Why?  What’s at the root of the conflicts?  What’s been tried to bring peace?  And what should be tried next?  On the panel are two men who share their understanding of the history behind where we now stand.  What has brought us here?

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and most recently Founder of BRIDGES: Connecting needs and resources in Frederick County.

Dr. Jerome “Jerry” Segal.  Candidate for United States Senate, Author of “Joseph’s Bones: Understanding the Struggle Between God and Mankind in the Bible”, and Leader of a Sunday school Bible class as part of a Jewish Reconstructionist Chaverah for ten years.

Dr. Tony Campbell is a candidate for U.S. Senate in the June 26th Republican Primary.  Dr. Campbell is a Charter School Board Member, Member of the Baltimore County School Board Nomination Commission, and father of two.  This week the Faith Debate discusses enabling the American Dream for all Marylanders, keeping America secure (particularly our schools), and ideas for education reform.  Jon Switzer joins in for this fourth and final show with Dr. Campbell.

The panel:

Troy Skinner.  930 WFMD Host/Moderator of The Faith Debate.

Jonathan Switzer.  Past-President of Frederick’s Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, Founder of “Frederick 48”, former candidate for School Board in Frederick County, Founder of Crossroads Valley Church, and Co-Founder of The Faith Debate.

Dr. Tony Campbell.  Candidate for United States Senate, Author of “America Today” and “A More Perfect Union”, and part of the Political Science Faculty (teaching religion and politics) at Towson University.