The Sean McDowell Show

Can we actually get back to what the apostles wrote? That question sits underneath every other question about the New Testament. Before you ask whether the story is true, you have to ask whether you have the story at all. Dr. Michael Kruger came to Biola to walk me through it. His own interest started in a crisis, sitting at nineteen in an intro to New Testament class at UNC Chapel Hill taught by a young Bart Ehrman.

CHECK OUT: The Sean McDowell Collection (manuscriptshop.com/seanmcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

X: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org 

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Belle Liu is 21, she stepped into full-time ministry this year, and she has two mission statements: raise a biblically literate generation, and make Muslims Christian. I first heard about her this summer then Scottie asked if I knew her. What struck both of us watching her street conversations wasn’t the arguments, it was that you can tell she actually loves the person in front of her. Her testimony is remarkable and she tells it herself here.

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

I was recently given the opportunity to check out a Prison in Texas with the help of Prison Fellowship. We had them ask me some great questions some of which really surprised me. On Tuesday, we'll be releasing the full tour and you don't want to miss it. Be a part Prison Fellowship’s mission to encounter Jesus with those impacted by incarceration.

Donate now and transform lives: https://prisonfellowship.org/SCRestore Learn more about Prison Fellowship: http://bit.ly/2S2OyG4

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Can we actually get back to what the apostles wrote? That question sits underneath every other question about the New Testament. Before you ask whether the story is true, you have to ask whether you have the story at all. Dr. Michael Kruger came to Biola to walk me through it. His own interest started in a crisis, sitting at nineteen in an intro to New Testament class at UNC Chapel Hill taught by a young Bart Ehrman.

CHECK OUT: The Sean McDowell Collection (manuscriptshop.com/seanmcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

X: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org 

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Will our pets be in heaven? Do animals have souls? Will there be hunting, fishing, and meat eating on the new earth? Might some animals talk? Randy Alcorn wrote the book that shaped how a lot of us picture the afterlife, and he says the question people ask him most isn't about streets of gold or what our resurrection bodies will be like. It's about animals. His new book is All God's Creatures: What the Bible Says About Animals, Heaven, and the New Earth, and he came down to Talbot to talk it through with me.

READ: All God’s Creatures: What the Bible Says About Animals, Heaven, and the New Earth by Randy Alcorn (https://a.co/d/0cA2sDJ2)

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org

0:00 Intro 1:08 Why he wrote a book about animals 2:25 What do you mean by "heaven"? 5:55 Isaiah 11 and animals at peace 7:42 Christoplatonism and a misconception of the afterlife 12:30 Does God care about animals? 16:44 Animals in the life of Jesus 18:31 The longest monologue in the Bible 23:11 Do animals have souls? 28:10 Romans 8 and a groaning creation 29:43 Restoration of all things 31:17 Will our pets be on the new earth? 37:40 Might animals talk? 41:43 Oceans and sea creatures 48:52 Why does God allow animals to suffer? 50:51 Hunting, fishing, and meat eating 54:30 What surprised him most

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this conversation with Sean and Scottie McDowell, Frank walks through his own path to faith, including the Sunday morning in 1985 when a pastor answered his exact objection minutes after he slipped into the back of a church. He explains why he finds the evidence for God more compelling than the evidence for the resurrection, why embarrassing testimony persuades him more than manuscript counts, and how he'd answer someone who calls Christians hypocrites.

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Dr. Dan Wallace has spent decades photographing and cataloging Greek New Testament manuscripts. After all of it, he says he has more confidence in the reliable transmission of the text than ever. We walk through five of the most important early manuscripts and what each one tells us.

CHECK OUT: The Sean McDowell Collection (manuscriptshop.com/seanmcdowell) 

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org

Timestamps 0:00 — How AI is changing textual criticism 1:16 — Why he got into this work 3:55 — AI, indexing, and paleographic dating 8:31 — P52: the credit-card fragment 9:32 — F.C. Baur and ninety years of German scholarship 11:04 — Why Christians popularized the codex 13:02 — How Roberts dated it 16:19 — P66 19:22 — P75 and Codex Vaticanus 22:19 — Why the earliest titles say "According to John" 23:55 — On the claim that Constantine invented the deity of Christ 27:08 — P46 and Paul's letters 29:47 — The creed in 1 Corinthians 15 31:20 — The 500 witnesses 32:33 — P45 and the Western Order 35:15 — P72 and 1 Peter 3:15 37:07 — Six more early manuscripts 38:55 — The "first-century Mark" fragment, and what he got wrong 40:34 — A syncretistic text with Matthew and Thomas 42:50 — The hardest variant for a doctrine of preservation 45:00 — His most significant discoveries 48:51 — "The hand that wrote this is rotting in the grave"

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Danny Burmawi grew up in Jordan, where 98% of the population shares one sect of Islam and you rarely meet anyone outside it. In this conversation he explains what he thinks Westerners consistently get wrong about Islam: that it's a set of beliefs you adopt rather than an identity you're born into, which is why leaving it registers as betrayal rather than disagreement.

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org

0:00 — Why Islam isn't what Westerners assume 1:23 — Growing up in Jordan 2:56 — His grandmother, and the uncle who was baptized 5:16 — What the Danish cartoons changed for him 7:46 — Why Islam functions as an identity, not a choice 10:54 — A fear-based religion 16:38 — Why most Muslims are "non-Muslim Muslims" 18:26 — The rules that never end 21:06 — "Ask any Muslim where they're going after they die" 22:33 — Becoming devout at eighteen 24:10 — The night nothing had changed 26:59 — The friend who planted doubts 30:41 — The doctrine he still struggles with 35:57 — Telling his family 37:37 — Why he had to leave Jordan 40:34 — His arguments against Islam 47:14 — Responding to Muslim apologists on Jesus 50:37 — The weaponization of Christ 54:38 — How Christians should engage Muslims 58:40 — His book and his organization

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this episode, Dr. Sean McDowell interviews Kristy Graham from Samaritan's Purse to explore how practical charity, disaster relief, and caring for the suffering serve as powerful apologetics for the Christian faith. From earthquake relief in Venezuela to Ebola clinics in the DRC, discover how meeting tangible physical needs opens doors for the gospel message. Learn why sacrificial love for the poor remains one of the most compelling defenses of Christianity today.

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA: 

Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The Book of Enoch has exploded online, and the claims run in both directions: some say it unlocks the Bible's biggest mysteries, others say it can't be trusted at all. Dr. Joel Muddamalle this time talks about First Enoch specifically. Why has it captured so much attention, what kind of literature is it, and how much interpretive weight should it carry?

READ: The Unseen Battle, by Joel Muddamalle: (https://amzn.to/4xyQnM9)

CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell)

CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give)

*Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf)

*USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM)

*See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK)

FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/

Website: https://seanmcdowell.org

Timestamps 0:00 — Why has the Book of Enoch exploded online? 5:02 — What is First Enoch, and what kind of literature is it? 9:14 — When was it written, and by whom? 11:34 — What "pseudepigraphical" actually means 14:03 — Who was the biblical Enoch? 16:24 — How the Qumran community treated it 22:14 — A viewer challenges the method 24:48 — What Joel thinks First Enoch is actually doing 28:28 — The main readings of Genesis 6 31:07 — Why he holds the supernatural view 33:12 — Spiritual beings who eat, walk, and are seen 38:04 — What Jude and 2 Peter are doing 40:11 — The early church fathers on Enoch 42:19 — Not canonical — but not worthless 54:34 — Why quoting something isn't endorsing it 1:02:02 — Should Christians read it?

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.