Bitterness, Brain Damage, and the Beauty of the Cross with Dan Wallace.
True Comfort
From intellectual faith to bitterness
Dan admits his faith became a 'neck-up' Christianity and he grew angry at God amid his son's illness.
What happens when a world-renowned New Testament scholar loses his memory and has to relearn Greek from the very textbook he wrote?
In this powerful episode, I sit down with Dr. Dan Wallace, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM). Dan opens up about the "neck-up Christianity" that crumbled when tragedy struck his family. We discuss the "Summer from Hell" when his son was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer, and his own terrifying battle with Encephalitis that left him with severe amnesia, hallucinations, and sluggish brain waves.
If you are walking through a crisis, struggling with anger toward God, or wondering if your faith can survive the loss of your health or stability, this conversation is for you. Dan shares how he moved from bitterness to a deep trust in the Cross, realizing that God’s love is demonstrated not in our circumstances, but in what was finished on Calvary.
In this episode, we cover:
The "fork in the road" where suffering leads to either faith or abandonment.
Dan’s early academic failures and how he almost flunked Greek.
The rare cancer diagnosis that threatened his son’s life.
How a student’s rebuke saved Dan from bitterness.
The terrifying experience of losing his memory and fighting hallucinations.
Why the Cross is the only proof of God's love we need.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro: Who is Dan Wallace?
02:08 - The Evidence of Ancient Manuscripts
06:50 - A Crisis of Faith: Is Jesus really God?
15:00 - Failing Greek & The Academic Turnaround
24:25 - The "Summer from Hell": A Son’s Cancer Battle
34:00 - "Neck-Up" Christianity & Anger at God
36:30 - The Rebuke that Changed Everything
43:00 - The Accident: Losing Memory & Function
50:30 - Hallucinations & The Ambulance Ride
53:21 - Relearning Greek from My Own Textbook
1:03:00 - Why the Cross is Enough
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
CSNTM: View the digitized manuscripts Dan talks about at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts - https://www.csntm.org/
About True Comfort: It is our desire to live out 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, assuring us that we have a God who comforts us in all our afflictions so that we may share that comfort with others. We explore the reasons for the Biblical worldview while holding space for heartbreak and healing.
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