Claim Ownership#STRask
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Stand to Reason’s Greg Koukl and Amy Hall answer questions on ethics, theology, apologetics, and culture from a Christian perspective. Submit your questions on Twitter using the hashtag #STRask.
472 Episodes
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Questions about whether the fact that you can freeze an embryo but not a baby proves an embryo isn’t a baby and whether it would be wrong to use IVF with genetic testing to avoid carrying a baby with an inherited genetic disorder that always results in stillbirth.
Putting a baby in a freezer would kill it, but freezing an embryo would keep it alive. Does that prove an embryo isn’t a baby?
Would it be wrong to use IVF with genetic testing to prevent carrying a baby with an inherited genetic disorder that always results in stillbirth?
Questions about what the Bible means when it says Jesus will sit at the right hand of God if Jesus is God and why the writers of the Synoptic Gospels didn’t write about Jesus claiming to be God.
If Jesus is God, what does the Bible mean when it says Jesus will sit at the right hand of God?
Why didn’t the writers of the Synoptic Gospels pick up on Jesus speaking of himself as a divine deity, as God himself?
Questions about how to respond to someone who is Word-Faith and believes in a second baptism of the Holy Spirit and what the Bible is saying about how we experience the Spirit when it says we know we’re in Christ because he has given us of his Spirit.
How should I respond to my sister who is Word-Faith and believes in a second baptism of the Holy Spirit? What’s the best Scripture to use?
The Bible says we know we’re in Christ because he has given us of his Spirit (1 John 4:13), who is a pledge of our inheritance (Eph. 1:13–14), but what does that mean? How do we experience the Spirit?
Questions about how a dad should talk to his children about attending their mom’s same-sex wedding, how a veterinarian should respond if someone who suffers from species confusion asks for medical care, and how to manage anger when arguing for the lives of the unborn.
How should a dad talk to his children (ages eleven, nine, and seven) about attending their mom’s same-sex wedding?
How should a veterinarian respond if someone who suffers from species confusion asks him to provide medical care?
Greg says if you get angry in an argument, you’ve already lost, but I get so angry when I think about the evil of abortion. How do I balance this anger with the desire to argue for the lives of the unborn?
Questions about what to do when you don’t know how to respond to someone’s answer to your question and you feel unsafe in the conversation and how to go about witnessing to and discipling a transexual who is open to following Christ but has practical concerns.
How do I gracefully move from a position in a conversation in which I’ve asked a question but then get stuck after hearing the answer and don’t feel safe?
How would you go about witnessing to and discipling a transsexual who is open to repenting and following Christ but who has concerns like how to practically live out his new faith and whether it’s too late to inherit the kingdom due to past decisions?
Questions about the need to prove evil exists before arguing for the existence of God from the existence of evil and what to say to an eleven-year-old boy who lost his dad and brother to a lightning strike that he survived.
Before you argue for God from the existence of evil, you have to prove the entity or force “Evil” exists.
What do you say to an eleven-year-old boy who lost his dad and brother to a lightning strike that he survived?
Questions about whether it’s okay to be part of a music ministry that’s led by a professing Mormon, whether a woman should date a man who isn’t as spiritual mature as she is or doesn’t take his faith as seriously, and the misuse of Matthew 5:38–42 to manipulate others.
Is it biblical for me to be part of a music ministry with a group of Christian women that is headed up by a professing Mormon?
Should a woman date a man who isn’t as spiritually mature as she is or doesn’t take his faith as seriously as she does?
How would you interpret Matthew 5:38–42 in the context of a friend who could be manipulating and taking advantage of you for resources?
Questions about believing God is always good to his children while rejecting prosperity teaching, how God can be jealous if he is love and love is not jealous, and whether God changing his mind in Exodus 32 indicates he gained knowledge and is not all-knowing.
How can I maintain balance in my belief that God is always good to his children and not believe too much in prosperity teaching?
If God is love, then how could he be jealous if the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:4 that love is not jealous?
How would you respond to someone who said that God changing his mind in Exodus 32 indicates he was gaining knowledge and means he is not all-knowing?
Questions about whether apologetics has had a positive effect on people and our culture, whether the longtime privatization of our Christian faith has led to churches becoming apathetic to the culture, and C.S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer book recommendations.
Do you believe apologetics has had a positive effect on people and our culture?
Has the longtime privatization of our Christian faith led to local churches becoming apathetic to the surrounding culture, and if so, what is the solution?
What top two books by C.S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer would you recommend for getting started with each one?
Questions about how to articulate the beauty of the Christian worldview in a nutshell and whether “separation of church and state” requires public school teachers to not reference the Bible and government employees to remove anything Bible related from their offices.
People are upset because a politician said he has a biblical worldview. How can we articulate the beauty of our worldview to others in a nutshell?
What should I say to people who think public school teachers shouldn’t reference God or Scripture because of “separation of church and state”?
What should we do when upper management in local government tells employees they need to remove anything Bible related from their offices?
Questions about how to know if we’re a “gardener” or a “harvester,” how to engage an apathetic person who says “I don’t know” to everything, and whether Christians are making an unfalsifiable claim and fruitlessly discussing something that can’t be proven or disproven.
How do I know if I’m a “gardener” or a “harvester”?
How do you engage an apathetic person who says “I don’t know” to everything?
Are Christians committing a fallacy by making an unfalsifiable claim? What value is there in discussing something that can be neither proven nor disproven?
Questions about how to start conversations with postmodernists about the need for repentance and what question one can use to put a stone in the shoe of a Buddhist friend.
In a postmodern world, what tools can believers use to start a conversation about the need for repentance?
What question can I use to put a stone in the shoe of my Buddhist friend?
Questions about what constitutes a marriage, at what point God considers a committed relationship to be a marriage, whether the freedom to pursue marriage is a natural right (and what restrictions would be inappropriate), and how to decline an invitation to an unbiblical wedding.
What constitutes a marriage?
At what point does God consider a committed relationship to be “marriage”?
Is the freedom to pursue marriage a natural human right, and are there any any inappropriate restrictions that should not be placed on marriage?
Should I explain my reason for declining an invitation to a marriage ceremony that doesn’t reflect the biblical order or just address it when asked?
1Questions about how to reconcile Romans 6:12–14 (where Paul talks about victory over sins) with Romans 7:21–25 (where Paul bemoans sins he still commits) and why Paul uses the Mosaic Law as a starting point for moral instruction if believers aren’t under any part of the Law.
Please help me reconcile Romans 6:12–14 (where Paul seems to be saying we can have victory over our sins) with Romans 7:21–25 (which sounds like Paul is bemoaning sins he still commits).
How do you reconcile Paul’s use of the Mosaic Law as a starting point for moral instruction with the idea that believers aren’t under any part of the Mosaic Law?
Questions about whether there is something a person can do to develop love for Christ if they are emotionally detached and whether one should stay in a church that is slowly drifting away from historic Christianity.
How is a person supposed to love Christ if they are emotionally detached? Is there a way to do something about it?
Should I stay in a church that is slowly drifting away from historic Christianity and seems to question basic beliefs such as the authority of the Old Testament, Heaven, Hell, evangelism, etc.?
Questions about why atheists get angry when someone brings up belief in God, how to reconcile God’s sovereignty and Satan being the prince of the world, and why the Lord’s Prayer says, “Lead us not into temptation,” when God would never lead us into temptation.
What is the source of the anger I encounter from atheists when I bring up belief in God?
How does one reconcile God’s sovereignty and Satan being the prince of this world?
Why does the Lord’s Prayer say, “Lead us not into temptation,” when leading us into temptation isn’t part of his nature?
Questions about whether we’re only interpreting the Bible according to authorial intent because of our post-Enlightenment way of thinking and whether Zephaniah 3:17 is being taken out of context when someone takes comfort in it.
How should I respond to someone who says, “The only reason you interpret the Bible by going back to authorial intent is that you live in a post-Enlightenment way of thinking, and others might interpret it differently”?
Am I taking Zephaniah 3:17 out of context when I take comfort in it?
Questions about how to defend the claim that marriage was created by God and what to say to someone who doesn’t want her daughter to grow up Christian because she thinks Christianity is harmful to women.
How can we defend the claim that marriage was created by God if marriage has been in non-Judeo-Christian civilizations throughout time?
What should I say to someone who doesn’t want her daughter to grow up Christian because she thinks Christianity is harmful to women?
Questions about whether the existence of evil points to the existence of multiple gods and why God needs to slowly improve our character here on earth if he’s going to make every Christian sinless at the resurrection regardless of how long each one was a Christian.
Would the existence of multiple gods, some good and some evil, explain the existence of evil better than the existence of one God who allows evil?
If, after death, God will give the thief on the cross the same sinless character as the Christian who lives to be 100, why does he need to slowly change us over time here on earth? Why doesn’t he just make us sinless immediately instead of at the resurrection?
Questions about how to make sure we will honestly consider people’s arguments and why God doesn’t give more evidence to the “non-resistant non-believers” who are seeking truth.
It’s frustrating when someone doesn’t seem to be honestly considering a persuasive argument. How can I make sure I don’t make that same mistake?
Why doesn’t God give more evidence to the “non-resistant non-believers” who are seeking truth?
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I recommend this podcast. It is full of great information to use on atheists 🙏
🙏Thank you Mr Koukl. Your answers are always enlightening. You are a great teacher. I really appreciate you.