Reasons to Believe Podcast

Join Fazale Rana and Ryan Matthews as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence. Intersex Conditions and Transgenderism Are there only two sexes? Many people argue that intersex conditions are evidence that sex exists on a spectrum. Is this a valid argument? In this episode, medical doctor Ryan Matthews joins biochemist Fazale “Fuz” Rana to take on these questions and more. Along the way, Dr. Matthews makes the point that disorders of sexual development cannot be marshalled to normalize transgenderism. Disclaimer: Reasons to Believe is expressing our Christian beliefs on the issues of gender identity in the intersection of science and faith, as it’s an important discussion and many people have valid questions. This research showcases the expertise of select members of the Reasons to Believe Scholar Community on matters of gender identity. RTB is not offering medical or other professional advice. People need to consult with their own physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. We want to see everyone make informed, educated decisions.   Links and Resources:  Transgenderism and the Bible A Scientific and Medical Evaluation of Transgenderism

Does Light Tire and Does It Prove the Big Bang Wrong? Join Hugh Ross in this News of the Day episode of Stars, Cells, and God as he discusses a paper published by computer scientist Lior Shamir. Lior’s statistical analysis of redshifts of distant galaxies indicates that light may lose energy as it travels through space and that if light indeed gets tired, then a major revision of the standard big bang model is in order. Shamir’s claimed effect may be a statistical artifact akin to Bible code claims. Tired light is just one of several systematic effects that could explain the statistical bias discovered by Shamir. Direct distance measurements have affirmed that galaxy redshifts are entirely explained by cosmic expansion out to 470 million light-years. If light indeed tires, then images of distant quasars and blazars should be blurry but they’re not. If light indeed tires, then the cosmic microwave background radiation should cool at a different rate than what astronomers observe. The apparent maturity of some galaxies in the early universe does not challenge the standard big bang model if, as the Webb telescope has affirmed, many of the universe’s first stars are hundreds of times more massive than the Sun. LINKS AND RESOURCES:  An Empirical Consistent Redshift Bias: A Possible Direct Observation of Zwicky’s TL Theory Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos, 4th ed.

Join Jeff Zweerink and Kyle Keltz as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence. Modern scientists often dismiss Aquinas’s Five Ways as being outdated, irrelevant, or even invalid. However, when properly understood, the Five Ways show a remarkable similarity to how we think and approach science and they provide profound insight into explaining the universe. In this episode, astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink and philosopher Kyle Keltz discuss the philosophical background that led to Aquinas’s work—specifically in articulating the Second Way—and explore its relevance in light of scientists’ research to develop a quantum theory of gravity.   Links and Resources:  Dr. Kyle Keltz has written two papers on Thomas Aquinas’s Five Ways, focusing on the Second Way and Fifth Way. They will be available at reasons.org in early 2025.

The brain is the most complex structure in the universe, but we know more about distant objects in space than the human brain. In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana and Dr. Uditha Jayatunga discuss the amazing complexity of human and animal brains and the problem it poses for the evolutionary paradigm.  Links and Resources: What Is the Memory Capacity of a Human Brain? The Human Brain’s Memory Could Store the Entire Internet The Human Brain vs. Supercomputers . . . Which One Wins? Uditha Jayatunga, Intelligent Design as Proof of Creation: A Scientific Analysis

What causes gender dysphoria? Does gender dysphoria have genetic causes? Is it due to environmental factors? Does it occur during fetal development? What is rapid onset gender dysphoria? Biochemist Fazale “Fuz” Rana is joined by physician Steve Willing as they address these questions and discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   DISCLAIMER: Reasons to Believe is expressing our Christian beliefs on the issues of gender identity in the intersection of science and faith, as it’s an important discussion and many people have valid questions. This research showcases the expertise of select members of the Reasons to Believe Scholar Community on matters of gender identity. RTB is not offering medical or other professional advice. People need to consult with their own physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. We want to see everyone make informed, educated decisions. Links & Resources: Transgenderism and the Bible A Scientific and Medical Evaluation of Transgenderism

Join Hugh Ross and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence. Metal-Free Stars Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of 15 astronomers discovered a galaxy (RXJ2129-z8HeII) with a measured redshift that corresponds to a distance of 13.16 billion light-years. This measurement implies that astronomers are seeing it just 630 million years after the big bang creation event. The newly discovered galaxy’s features include two unique features: a bright ultraviolet continuum with an extremely steep spectral slope and a strong helium emission line. These newly found features, combined with a discovery made a few months earlier of an ionized gas cloud in the halo of another galaxy that contains only hydrogen and helium, affirms a fundamental prediction of the biblically predicted big bang creation model. That prediction claims that before any stars form the elemental composition of the universe will, by mass, be composed of 75.33% hydrogen, 24.67% helium, and a trace amount of lithium. These discoveries provide yet more evidence that the more we learn about the universe, the more evidence we accumulate that a God beyond space and time created the universe and exquisitely designed it so that humans could live and thrive.  Links and Resources:  A Strong He II ƛ640 Emitter with Extremely Blue UV Spectral Slope at z = 8.16: Presence of Pop III Stars? Possible Population III Signatures at z = 10.6 in the Halo of GN-z11

Join astrophysicist Hugh Ross and one of America’s most famous cosmologists, Brian Keating, as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence Hugh and Brian discuss research on the polarization signals in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR)—the radiation left over from the cosmic creation event—that Brian conducted on the BICEP, BICEP2, POLARBEAR2, and Simons Array telescopes. They also discuss the significance of the polarization signals in establishing what kind of inflation event occurred at the tiniest fraction of a second after the universe’s beginning and the ongoing quest to gather more data on the polarization of the CMBR as a tool to learn more about the beginning and design of the universe. Brian also briefly describes his spiritual journey: a member of a Catholic church during his youth, becoming an atheist, and now a devout Jew in practice but an agnostic in belief. Links and Resources Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science’s Highest Honor Into the Impossible: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner  

Join Hugh Ross in this breaking News of the Day episode of Stars, Cells, and God. Hugh describes the first accurate dating of the beginning and end of the Sturtian snowball event—which covered over 80% of Earth’s surface with thick ice—and how this precise timing made advanced life possible. Previous attempts to date the Sturtian snowball event were based on five or less detrital zircons. Geologists recovered more than 2,000 detrital zircons from the Port Askaig Formation in Scotland, where advancing and retreating glaciers had not eroded away the historical record of the Sturtian. In the words of lead author Elias J. Rugen, “by some miracle the transition can be seen.” Uranium-lead isotope measurements of the zircons yielded radiometric dates for when the sedimentary layers in the Port Askaig Formation transitioned from warm tropical to cold glacial conditions and back again. The uranium-lead derived ages showed that the Sturtian snowball event lasted from 720 to 663 million years ago. The Sturtian event dramatically reduced carbon dioxide and dramatically increased oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere. If the Sturtian event had occurred any earlier, then the Sun would have been too dim to prevent Earth from being permanently covered with ice. On the other hand, if the Sturtian event had occurred any later, then the brighter Sun would have shortened the duration and limited the ice coverage, resulting in too little oxygen and too much carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, ruling out the possibility of advanced life. Links and Resources: Glacially Influenced Provenance and Sturtian Affinity Revealed by Detrital Zircon U–Pb Ages from Sandstones in the Port Askaig Formation, Dalradian Supergroup Hugh Ross, Designed to the Core, 218–220.