Unbelievable?

In 19th Century America Joseph Smith claimed to have been given a new revelation of God and Jesus Christ. Almost 200 years later, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints numbers more than 13 million members.

Justin explores the key differences in belief between Mormons and Christians as he meets two men breaking the mould of interfaith dialogue.

Robert Millet is a Mormon and professor at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, Utah. Greg Johnson is a Baptist pastor in the city who founded "Standing together" - an organisation aimed at building bridges of dialogue between Mormons and evangelical Christians.

Listen to more Christian/Non-Christian debates at www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or subscribe via the podcast

If you enjoyed this programme you may also want to listen to:

Unbelievable? 8 September 2007 - Mormonism & Christianity

You can visit Greg's ministry "Standing Together" at www.standingtogether.org

Join the discussion in the "Unbelievable?" Group at the Premier Community http://www.premiercommunity.org.uk/group/unbelievable

As the world marks Darwin's bicentenary, Nick Spencer of Christian thinktank Theos and author of the book "Darwin & God" explains where Darwin actually stood in relation to belief in God. Although Darwin lost his Christian faith he was never an atheist. Atheist biologist Robert Stovold argues that Darwin's "Big Idea" paves the way to atheism. Denis Alexander of the Faraday Institute also contributes arguing that belief in God and Evolution are complementary.

Order " Darwin and God" (SPCK) by Nick Spencer

For more christian/non-Christian debate visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the podcast

If you enjoyed this programme you may also want to listen to:

29 Nov 2008 - Creation or Evolution - Do we have to choose?

21 Jun 2008 - Keith Ward on "The Big Questions in Science and Religion": Why Christians CAN believe in evolution.

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

"The Atheist's Bible" (Duckworth & Co) has been a bestseller in the USA. It brings together a mass of quotes from atheists, agnostics and more. Its compiler Joan Konner speaks to Justin Brierley about why she put it together and her own thoughts on atheism. She interacts with Christian apologist Peter Williams whose own book "The Sceptic's Guide to Atheism" (Paternoster) has just been published.

Joan and Peter debate whether atheism has some fundamental faith assumptions of its own, as Peter argues that atheistic naturalism is a self-defeating notion. Joan argues that Christianity is arrogant in its exclusive claims.

For Joan Konner see: http://joanwkonner.com/

For Peter Williams see: http://www.arn.org/authors/williams.html

Check out the "Unbelievable?" web page to listen to more programmes and get the podcast www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable

For more Christian/atheist interactions check out - 25 Aug 2007 "Deluded by Dawkins?"; 3 Nov 2007 "The New Atheism"; 26 Jan 2008 "Do we need God to be good?"

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

On this week's show (17 Jan 09) two New Testament scholars go head to head. Michael Bird is a believer, James Crossley is not. They have different conclusions about how the Christian faith began and have written a dialogue in their new book "How Did Christianity Begin - a believer and non-Believer examine the evidence".

In today's programme they debate whether Jesus himself beliived he was God, as revealed in the Gospels. They go onto discuss whether the bodily resurrection of Jesus is a plausible explanation for the birth of the early church.

"How did Christianity begin? A believer and non-believer examine the Evidence" is published by SPCK"

Order it online at www.premier.org.uk/shopping

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

Justin is joined for the seond time by New Testament scholars Michael F Bird And James G Crossley.  Their book "How Did Christianity begin? A believer and non-believer examine the evidence" gives rival accounts of the cause of Christianity and its beliefs.  This week they debate whether Paul believed Jesus was God and whether we can trust the Gospel portrayals of him.

Order the book at www.premier.org.uk/shopping

For Bird see http://euangelizomai.blogspot.com/

For Crossley see http://earliestchristianhistory.blogspot.com/

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

On the surface Christadelphians look very similar to Christians - they read the same Bible, go to church, believe Jesus died for our sins and rose again. So what's the difference between a Christian and a Christadelphian?

Justin finds out from Christadelphian Andrew Bramhill and Baptist pastor Ken Brownell. Find out why Christadelphians don't believe in the Trinity or Jesus as the Son of God in the same way that Christians do, and why they believe that baptism is a necessary part of being saved.

Interested in discussion between Christians and those of other sects? Check out 8 Sep 2007 - Mormonism & Christianity; 9 Feb 2008 - Bahai faith & Christianity.

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

Bart Ehrman lost his faith altogether when he confronted the problem of how a loving, powerful God can allow suffering.  In his new book "God's Problem" he states that the Bible contains different and unconvincing explanations to the issue.

Richard Swinburne is a reknowned Christian philosopher.  He answers Bart's objections with arguments from his own book "Providence and the Problem of Evil".

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

Bart Ehrman is the US author of the bestselling book "Misquoting Jesus" (In the UK "Whose word is it?").  He calls into question the authority of the New Testament as scribal changes over time have changed the documents. 

So can we trust the scripture? Bible scholar Peter Williams believes in the reliability of the New Testament and that Bart's prognosis is far too pessimistic.

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

Canon Michael Sayward believes that the Virgin Conception is an attested historical fact, and an essential doctrine for Christian belief. Unitarian minister Sarah Tinker believes it to be a "beautiful myth" that should not be taken literally. They debate and we hear listener phone calls, response to the last few weeks of programming as well as tackling the "Jesus is a plagiarism of Pagan Gods" argument.

Get involved in the discussion at:

www.premiercommunity.org.uk/group/unbelievable/forum/topics/virgin-birth-fact-or-fiction

For more defense of the Christmas story see the show of 22 Dec 07

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.

A treat for the end of the year as Justin plays some exclusive content accumulated in the past year.  NT Wright is among contributors to a feature answering common ojections to the resurrection of Jesus; New York Pastor Tim Keller on his book "The Reason for God"; and David Robertson author of "The Dawkins Letters".  Happy new year!

To hear more discussions between Christians and non-Christians go to www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable.