If God is completely sovereign over all of his creation, can human beings be free to make real choices? Or, if God does sovereignly determine our choices as well, how can we be held responsible for those choices? Scott and Shawn dive into these difficult questions in an attempt to hold together the tension of these two apparently irreconcilable truths: God’s sovereignty and man’s free choice.

📖 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• “Gen Z and the Draw to Serious Faith”, by Trevin Wax 
• What About Free Will? Reconciling Our Choices with God's Sovereignty, by Scott Christensen
• Hand in Hand: The Beauty of God's Sovereignty and Meaningful Human Choice, by Randy Alcorn

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Scott and Shawn tackle the question of why God allowed evil from three important angles. First, what’s a good ‘elevator’ response when someone confronts you with such a challenge but really aren’t giving you the time for a fully developed response? Second, what’s a quick response that’s often given that you should probably avoid? And third, what is the best biblical response to this question that, while maybe not resolving the tension, leaves the questioner to consider the truth about God’s ultimate purpose and destiny for his creation.

📖 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• “Why Did God Allow the Fall?”, James N Anderson
• “If God is Sovereign, Why is His World Full of Suffering?”, John Piper
• “Confronting the Problem of Evil”, Joe Rigney

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The first commandment God gave Israel was this: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). And the rest of God’s commands and revelations throughout the Bible are consistent with this. God, and only God, is to be worshipped. Only God can get the glory.

But the skeptic looks at this and asks: “If anyone else acted the way God acts, we’d call them a narcissist and accuse them of outright selfishness. Isn’t his demand for worship just a sign of selfish egotism?”

In this episode, Scott and Shawn sit down to talk through this objection, looking to God and his word to answer this challenge against God’s character. Tune in and discover that far from an act of selfishness, God’s command that we worship him only is born from his selfless love.

📖 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Kristi Burke’s video, “The Inherent Selfishness of the Biblical God”
• “What is the Relationship Between Apologetics and Theology?” by Scott Stein on YPT
• John Piper’s response in his book Life as a Vapor
• “Why Does God Command Us to Worship Him?” by John Piper
• Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis

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No one can escape the reality of pain and suffering, but, as Christians, Jesus actually promised we’d suffer (John 16:33) and face persecutions for his sake (Mark 10:30). Whether it’s experiencing pain because of the brokenness of sin upon the world or hardships due to our loyalty to Jesus, we will all face suffering in this world to one degree or another. So, how do we ensure our faith endures through them?

In this episode, Scott and Shawn tackle this difficult subject of pain and suffering, but from the standpoint of Jesus’ own experience. Specifically, they probe the Scriptures to see what guided Jesus’ own mind as he journeyed through suffering. What they discover is both inspiring and hopeful.

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Out of necessity during the global COVID pandemic, most churches in countries with mandated restrictions needed to learn how to “do church” online. But even after COVID, this widespread experience of online church has caused many to ask if doing church online presents Christians with a viable alternative to in-person gathering. Could it be that technology presents us with a new way of doing church in which we gather as the church online?

In our final episode of our Dechurching Series, Scott and Shawn see if Scripture can shed some light on an answer, and what that answer might be.

📖 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• “What Is a Local Church?”, by Jonathan Leeman on 9Marks
• “Is ‘Online Church’ Really Church? The Church as God’s Temple” by Ronald L. Giese on Themelios

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In this episode, Scott and Shawn dive into the question of whether or not Christians need to belong to a local church. 

People feel the need to leave church for many reasons. Most often it is because the church, as they’ve experienced it, has not measured up to what they expect it to be. Sometimes this is due to churches not being what the church should be, and sometimes this is due to churches not being what we feel they should be. In either case, this is due to the church not measuring up to an ideal. But maybe part of the problem isn’t the church failing to meet the ideal, but our own vision of what that ideal is. 

In an era where Christian teaching, worship music, and resources are available to us through so many channels, Scott and Shawn look to the Bible to see if living a Christian life without belonging to an actual church is biblical—or possible! 

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The data over the past several years confirms a steady decline in church attendance and participation, even among committed Christians.

 In this episode in our Dechurching series, Scott and Shawn raise awareness about some of the cultural assumptions that may be skewing our perspective about church. For those wondering if being part of a church is necessary, rather than giving reasons for or against, Scott and Shawn take a dive into Scripture to answer a necessary first question: “What is the church?” 

If you’re thinking of leaving church behind, tune into this episode to learn about the nature of the church and what it really means. This may help you think more clearly about the role church has, and your place in it. 

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Is the church in Canada disappearing? Data collected by StatsCan  over the past thirty years shows a steady decline in church attendance among Canadians. And the years over COVID accelerated that trend even further. But what is driving this trend? Who are the people foregoing church? And what does this indicate for the future of Christianity in Canada?

In this episode, Scott and Shawn begin looking at this de-churching phenomenon that is transforming the religious landscape of the west. They look at who are de-churching, and what reasons are being given by those who used to regularly attend and participate in church life, but no longer do.

This is the first episode in our series on “De-Churching”. Our goal is to help you understand what is happening in the church, how Christians should respond, and what we should expect to see happen for this trend to be reversed.

📖 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Religiosity of Canadians”, Stats Canada
• The Great DeChurching, by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, With Ryan P. Burge
• “Most Teenagers Drop Out of Church When They Become Young Adults”, LifeWay Research
• “10 Reasons Church Attendance Is Declining (Even for Committed Christians”, by Carey Nieuwhof
• “New American Bible Society Study: Gen Z Exhibits Significant Openness to Scripture”, American Bible Society
• “Study: Gen Z Wants to Know More About Jesus”, Christianity Today

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For decades now, church attendance has been in decline. And after COVID, many people are not returning to church.

But let’s face it. Most churches now do a great job of delivering Sunday service online. And through the internet we have easy access to a super-abundance of worship, teaching, and discipleship resources that we used to only get from church.

There is also the reality for many who, for one reason or another, have had negative or even hurtful church experiences. For these, church has become a very negative thing.

This raises the question: Do we really even need churches to be a Christian?

In this encore episode, Scott and Shawn tackle this very relevant question by discussing:

• The distinction between our experience of church and what the church is.
• Understanding the relationship between Christians “doing” church and “being” the church.
• The New Testament vision of the church as a “family”.
• How Jesus relates to his church, and the implications this has for us.

📖 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem

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In 2015, The Pew Research Center reported that for every individual who becomes a Christian four leave (source).

More recently a chain of very public and prominent Christians has emerged, declaring that they too have decided to leave Christianity. 

What are we to make of such phenomena, and how should we react to them?

In this encore episode pulled from our podcast archives, Scott and Shawn discuss the seemingly growing trend of “deconversion” stories, asking some pointed and important questions:

• What are the causes behind decisions to deconvert from Christianity?
• What sorts of things contribute toward the likelihood that someone might deconvert?
• Are deconversion stories necessarily all bad? Are there some positive lessons that we can take away?
• And, how should we react? Are deconversions final, or is there still hope?

📖 Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Matt from Truth Snack talks about his doubt journey

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