Should Christians question the Bible? Is that allowed? Are faith and reason at odds? Why should we trust the Bible when so many people today are skeptical of many of its claims? Is the Bible just a book of fairytales? These are just some of the questions that our executive director Phil Alsup asked Jonathan Morrow about his new book _ Questioning the Bible: 11 Major Challenges to the Bible’s Authority _ in this episode of the Intersection podcast.

JONATHAN MORROW (D.Min., M.Div., M.A.) is the author of _ Welcome to College _ and _ Think Christianly _ and coauthor of _ Is God Just a Human Invention? _ He also contributed to the Apologetics Study Bible for Students. Jonathan is director of creative strategies for Impact 360 Institute where he teaches in the college Gap Year program and high school summer Immersion experience. As the founder of Think Christianly Jonathan speaks nationally on worldview, apologetics, and culture and is passionate about seeing a new generation of Christ-followers understand what they believe, why they believe it, and why it matters in life. His books have been featured on shows like In the Market with Janet Parshall, Family Life Today, Stand to Reason, Breakpoint, WAY-FM, The Janet Mefferd Show, and Apologetics 315. He and his wife have been married for 13 years and have three children.

RSS | iTunes

Sign up for our email updates to stay connected to the work of Impact 360 Institute.

The post #006 – How to Question the Bible (Interview) appeared first on Impact 360 Institute.

_ How should Christians think about the ethics of war? Can a war be just? Should Christians be pacifists? If there are “just war” principles, then how should they be applied in an age of terrorism? How should we think about the conflict between Israel and Hamas? _ These are just some of the questions that Jonathan Morrow asked Dr. Scott Rae on this episode of the Intersection podcast.

Scott Rae is Dean of Faculty, Professor of Christian Ethics and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, He holds a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. He is the author of 11 books, including _ Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics (Zondervan, 3rd edition, 2009) _ and _ Doing the Right Thing (Zondervan, 2013) _, a companion book to the film series written and produced by the late Chuck Colson. He has articles in various journals and consults with several southern California hospitals in ethics. He is married to his wife, Sally, with three sons.

The “Just War” tradition has a long history and dates to the time of St. Augustine. Whenever the morality of war is discussed, these criteria are interacted with by media and public officials. For this and other reasons, it is important to be aware of them in order to think clearly about what is a very emotional topic.

Justice in Going to War (Jus Ad Bello Criteria)

The war in question must be prompted by a just cause

The war in question must have a just intention, that is, its intent must be to secure a fair peace for all parties involved.

The war in question must be engaged in as a last resort.

The war in question must be initiated with a formal declaration by properly constituted authorities.

Justice in the Conduct of War (Jus In Bello Criteria)

The war in question must be characterized by limited objectives.

The war in question must be conducted with proportionate means, that is, the amount of force used must be proportionate to the threat. Only sufficient force to repel and deter the aggressor can be justifiably used.

The war in question must respect noncombatant immunity. Only those individuals who are representing their respective governments in the military can be targeted in the course of the war.

-   _ Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics (Zondervan, 3rd edition, 2009) _

RSS | iTunes

Sign up for our email updates to stay connected to the work of Impact 360 Institute.

The post #005 – How Should Christians Think About War? Scott Rae Interview appeared first on Impact 360 Institute.

Who will the thought police come for next? Is there any room left in our culture for thoughtful and principled disagreement? Whatever happened to tolerance? Recently USA today columnist Kirsten Powers published an article entitled “Liberals’ Dark Ages.” In this episode of the intersection podcast, we will talk about why Christians should be aware of the increasing trend of people being silenced in the public square because they happen to hold an unpopular point of view and how loving our neighbor well requires us to stand up for people’s rights–especially those with whom we disagree.

“We have slipped into an age of un-enlightenment where you fall in line behind the mob or face the consequences. How ironic that the persecutors this time around are the so-called intellectuals. They claim to be liberal while behaving as anything but. The touchstone of liberalism is tolerance of differing ideas. Yet this mob exists to enforce conformity of thought and to delegitimize any dissent from its sanctioned worldview. Intolerance is its calling card….

Got that? A college educator with the right opinions can attack a high school student and keep her job. A corporate executive with the wrong opinions loses his for making a campaign donation. Something is very wrong here.As the mob gleefully destroys people’s lives, its members haven’t stopped to ask themselves a basic question: _ What happens when they come for me? If history is any guide, that’s how these things usually end.” _

Read the whole article by Kirsten Powers here.

Why Everyone Needs The Right To Be Wrong

The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It by Os Guinness

The Manhattan Declaration

RSS | iTunes

Click here to sign up for our email updates to stay connected to the work of Impact 360 Institute.

The post #004 – Who Will The Thought Police Come For Next? appeared first on Impact 360 Institute.

How can we have more effective spiritual conversations? Where do you start when people don’t share your assumptions about the Bible? How do you find common ground? As Christians we are called to be Christ’s ambassadors. That means we always need to be prepared to engage in conversations that lead people toward life with God. In this podcast we will share two things you can assume in every conversation.

- Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl

- Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did by Randy Newman

RSS | iTunes

Click here to sign up for our email updates to stay connected to the work of Impact 360 Institute.

The post #003: 2 Things You Can Assume In Every Spiritual Conversation appeared first on Impact 360 Institute.

According to a recent article in the MIT Technology Review, “Using the Internet can destroy your faith. That’s the conclusion of a study showing that the dramatic drop in religious affiliation in the U.S. since 1990 is closely mirrored by the increase in Internet use. Back in 1990, about 8 percent of the U.S. population had no religious preference. By 2010, this percentage had more than doubled to 18 percent. That’s a difference of about 25 million people, all of whom have somehow lost their religion…”  (read the rest of the MIT article)

Is the internet really bad for your faith? Are teenagers prepared for the spiritual and moral challenges that come from the internet? Is the problem technology or a lack of preparation? These are just a few of the interesting questions we will engage in this episode of the Intersection Podcast.

Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower’s Guide for the Journey by Jonathan Morrow

_ You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church…and Rethinking Faith by David Kinnaman _

RSS | iTunes

Click here to sign up for our email updates to stay connected to the work of Impact 360 Institute.

The post #002: Is the Internet Bad For Your Faith? appeared first on Impact 360 Institute.

On Sunday night March 9, Fox will begin its 13-episode series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. This is a new version of Carl Sagan’s very popular 1980′s TV show Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. How should Christians think about this show?Are science and faith at odds? Has Christianity been good for science? Has science made God irrelevant? These are just a few of the interesting questions we will engage in this episode of the Intersection Podcast. We will also hear from special guest Dr. Jay Richards of the Discovery Institute in this episode.

The new Cosmos TV series presents us with both opportunities and challenges. As Christians we have not always handled the faith and science questions well. As a result, many in our culture and the church are often confused about how science and Christianity should relate to each other. This is especially the case with the emerging generation who want to take both God and science seriously. To have a better conversation, we need to understand key concepts like worldview, naturalism, scientism, and design. If this truly is God’s world, then we should expect to see evidence of his power and creative activity (Romans 1:19-20; Psalm 19:1-4).

Watch trailer for the new Cosmos TV show.

- Is God Just a Human Invention? And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists by Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow

- God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? by John Lennox

- Science and Faith: Friends or Foes? by C. John Collins

RSS | iTunes

Click here to sign up for our email updates

The post #001: Cosmos – A Christian Viewer’s Guide appeared first on Impact 360 Institute.