Gospel Conversations podcast

Ron takes his discussion of the new physics beyond matter to mind and language. Is matter the ultimate reality? Last time we discovered there is more mystery to matter than most people realise. But this time we move into the even more important question of whether matter is the only building block of the universe - or whether the mind and language, are just as primary as matter. Of course, it suits materialists like Dawkins to say that matter is the only real stuff. But Ron challenges that view here. He introduces us to the 400-year-old debate over this topic and shows how inadequate a 'matter is all that matters' view really is.

Ron opens up for us the wonder of the ‘new physics’ that restored mystery to matter in the 20th century. If you think that we get more concrete, the closer we get to atoms and molecules, you will never think that way again after hearing Ron’s talk. In fact the closer we get to matter—the little ‘bits’ of it, the closer we get to mystery and strangeness. Please note that Ron used an extensive set of Powerpoint slides to support his talk. We have posted these slides on the Gospel Conversations website so you can follow the slides through as you listen to his talk.

Mark explains how the knowledge of good and evil (morality and binary thinking) has captured our minds and distorts Christianity into a religion rather than life. A mind-blowing and life-changing message.

Iain finishes by showing how we can read the NT in the light of the OT, and so get a richer reading of the NT. He uses the book of Jonah as a case study. First, he expounds Jonah as an OT text, and then he turns to the NT and some of the Jonah references implied in the life of Jesus. He looks at 'covert' connections between the OT and the NT.

Ian answers lots of questions arising from his talks, and from people's general worries or questions about the 'hard questions' around God and the OT.

Having given an overview of the Israel story Iain moves on to ask the question, "What good is the law?" to us today. He gives us a sensible and balanced view of this question, and really opens up the way for pragmatism as well as idealism.

Iain gives us a breathtakingly succinct overview of the Old Testament story in this talk. He does not just summarise it, he captures the major themes through the window of covenants. This talk is worth listening to over and over again as it gives us what we mostly lack - the OT as a coherent story with strong themes.

Having given us the OT view of God, Iain moves onto the Genesis view of creation. He builds a lot of his argument around Genesis 1 which sees creation as 'temple'. It means that matter is not a problem as it was for the ancient world, and escaping matter is not the goal. Our goal is to restore matter and the created order so that it can contain glory.

Iain now launches into the distinctive message of the OT beginning with Genesis—Who is God? Having covered the ANE context, he can give the OT answer to this question in a much richer light. We start to see just how new and fresh, the Genesis picture of God is, and how blessed we are to have this revelation. The view of God is so much grander and yet so much more intimate than anyone in human history had ever imagined. Enjoy and admire afresh how great God is!!

Iain argues that we cannot do justice to the OT without understanding the context in which it was written—in this case, that means the 'ancient near eastern world', primarily of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Most of us probably view that kind of historical context as interesting but not vital and certainly not inspiring. Iain's talk will blow that away. Once we grasp the sheer darkness and limitations of the ancient mind, we begin to realise that the OT was new and spectacularly human-centred in its day. It created the paradigms and thought structures that the whole modern world benefits from - but largely takes for granted. Listen and be stunned.