Think Well

Are you willing to follow the evidence wherever it leads? Revolutionary developments in biology, such as purpose, agency, and decision-making at the cellular level, are providing stronger evidence than ever before of a purposeful creator God. My guest, Dr. Sy Garte, will show how a reductionist view of life ignores new advances in science and why we need to look beyond the evolution debate. Come join the conversation and bring your questions! Sy Garte (PhD in Biochemistry) has been a tenured professor at New York University, Rutgers University, and the University of Pittsburgh; division director at the Center for Scientific Review of the National Institutes of Health; and interim vice president for research at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He has published more than two hundred peer-reviewed scientific papers and five books. Currently, Dr. Garte serves as editor-in-chief of the American Scientific Affiliation's (ASA) online quarterly magazine, God and Nature, and also as vice president for the Washington, DC, metro chapter of the ASA. He also served as a member of the board of advisors of the John Templeton Foundation. Dr. Garte converted to Christianity from an atheist family background, and he is now a certified lay servant in the United Methodist Church in Rockville, Maryland.

Why is there anything at all? How can we know for sure? How did we get here, and what are we here for, anyway? Why have things gone so badly wrong? Is there any hope of fixing them? What should I do with my life? And where will it all end? These are the foundation questions that all worldviews attempt to answer. "Many factors contribute to our worldview, not all of them the product of our own thoughtful reflection...Our family background, life experience, economic circumstances, educational pedigree, cultural context, national heritage, linguistic community, physiological characteristics, psychological makeup, and historical situation all have an influence on the way we see the world." And because our worldview informs how we live, act, and hope, it is important that we evaluate these contributing factors and ground ourselves in the worldview that accurately describes reality. Philip Graham Ryken (DPhil, University of Oxford) is the eighth president of Wheaton College. He has lectured and taught at universities and seminaries worldwide, and is the author of more than 30 books, including "Kingdom Come!", "Grace Transforming" and "Loving the Way Jesus Loves." Join the conversation as we see how the Christian intellectual tradition has shaped the Christian worldview. As always, bring your questions! I will be taking questions and calls after the teaching.

Expressive individualism has become the central ethic that guides our society's thinking. "The idea that a person should be limited by an authority outside of him- or herself—whether a tradition, religion, or parent—to do or experience whatever he or she wants amounts to one of the worst offenses an authority can commit." The problem is that expressive individualism cannot be consistently lived out. The focus on satisfying the self above all has led to an age of coddling, fragility, and moral confusion. Come join this important conversation and bring your questions! Today's show will take a look at identity as we walk through chapter 6 of Andrew and Christian Walker's new book, "What Do I Say When...?: A Parents' Guide to Navigating Cultural Chaos for Children & Teens."

"Conceptual analysis of what it is to be a cause of the universe enables us to recover a number of striking properties which this ultramundane cause must possess and which are of theological significance." - William Lane Craig In part 1 on the Kalam, I discussed the scientific evidence in support of premise 2 with James Sinclair. Today's show will begin with a quick look at the philosophical arguments for premise 2, and then will focus on how Christians arrive at God based on the Kalam Cosmological argument. Here's the argument: 1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause. 2. The universe began to exist. 3. Therefore, the universe has a cause. 4. If the universe has a cause, then an uncaused, personal Creator of the universe exists, who sans the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, and enormously powerful. From (3) and (4), it follows that: 5. Therefore, an uncaused, personal Creator of the universe exists, who sans the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, and enormously powerful. Come join the conversation and bring your questions! Content Discussed: 0:00 Intro 4:09 Upcoming shows 7:15 The argument from the impossibility of an actual infinite 15:26 The impossibility of the formation of an actual infinite by successive addition 21:21 Whatever begins to exist has a cause 30:25 Live Question: What did God do before he did the first thing? 31:19 Live Question: Infinite regress is something you have been through. 33:00 Live Question: Must all things have a cause? 34:15 The theological implications of the Kalam Cosmological argument 47:18 Live Question: There's no logical reason why you can't have an infinite regress 49:51 Caller: Abstract objects, a personal God, God and time, defining supernatural, and if we can choose our thoughts 1:18:05 Caller: Is an infinite regress possible?

1 Corinthians 15:17 says, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." This means that either the tomb was empty, or Christians have an empty faith. Dr. Timothy Paul Jones (vice president for doctoral studies, professor of Christian family ministry, and chair of the department of apologetics, ethics, and philosophy at Southern Baptist Theological Studies) wrote the short book, "Did the Resurrection Really Happen?" as part of the TGC Hard Questions series. The goal of his brief book is modest. He writes, "I simply want you to recognize that the first followers of Jesus didn't claim their leader rose from the dead because of gullible ignorance or blind faith. They knew dead people stay dead." Today's show will look at his main argument as I make an evidential case for the resurrection of Jesus. Content Discussed: 0:00 Intro & Update 5:22 What's the point of the book? 8:05 Why does it matter whether Jesus resurrected or not? 10:44 Christian faith should not be blind 14:02 A resurrection is only implausible in a world where miracles are impossible. 18:42 Did the disciples copy the story from other dying and rising Gods, or did they have a Jewish expectation of a resurrection? 24:35 The resurrection is traceable to a time and place where it occurred. 39:50 What impact does a resurrection have? 43:52 CALLER: Should we live according to "What ifs"? How does God speak? Do we have souls that continue living? 1:07:12 CALLER: Is the resurrection just a story? When was the New Testament written? 2:05:07 The unrivaled power of the resurrection to explain the historical data.

"The Cosmological argument is a family of arguments that seek to demonstrate the existence of a Sufficient Reason or First Cause of the existence of the cosmos... The kalam cosmological argument traces its roots to the efforts of early Christian theologians who, out of their commitment to the biblical teaching of creation ex nihilo, sought to rebut the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of the universe." The argument is extremely simple: 1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause. 2. The universe began to exist. 3. Therefore, the universe has a cause. This is part 2 of our apologetics study as we work through "The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology." James Sinclair, co-author of the chapter on the kalam cosmological argument with William Lane Craig, joins the show to discuss the scientific evidence in support of premise 2. We look at the FRW mode, astronomical evidence for the Big Bang, the Hawking-Penrose singularity theorems, the BVG theorem, quantum gravity approaches, and the exceptions to each of these approaches. Come join the conversation and bring your questions! James D. Sinclair (MS Physics Texas A&M, BS Physics Carnegie-Mellon) is a senior anti-air warfare analyst for the United States Navy with a specialty in the constructive (digital only) modeling of air-to-air combat. Some career accomplishments include analytical support for the fielding of the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, combat utility evaluation of the F-35 Lighting II, and presentations at public symposia such as the Military Operations Research Society (MORS) and the Combat Identification Systems Conference (CISC). He began to interview cosmologists in the early 2000s on the topic of the beginnings of the universe, bringing Navy knowledge integration methods to the formulation known as the Kalam Cosmological Argument. This ultimately led to a collaboration with philosopher William Lane Craig and two co-authored articles: “The Kalam Cosmological Argument,” in The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology and “On Non-Singular Spacetimes and the Beginning of the Universe,” in Scientific Approaches to the Philosophy of Religion. He also co-authored the article "Fine-Tuning and Indications of Transcendent Intelligence" with Robert Spitzer.

Andrew and Christian Walker write, "The logic of bodily sex differences helps explain the moral logic of biblical sexual ethics overall. The mandate for sexual relations in Scripture is tied to the design of the body... The end for which the body is organized--namely, reproduction--tells us what sexual actions are proper to the body and which actions are immoral." If you were to take a poll on the most controversial and delicate biblical views, homosexuality would probably be near the top if not at the very top. Because of this, if we are going to stand in our Christian convictions, then we must know what the Bible teaches and why it teaches it. For those who object to the Christian view, it is equally important for them to understand the what and the why in order to offer an accurate and fair critique. Today's show will take a look at homosexuality as we walk through chapter 5 of Andrew and Christian Walker's new book, "What Do I Say When...?: A Parents' Guide to Navigating Cultural Chaos for Children & Teens." I've done a few shows on this topic (see below), so I aim to keep the teaching short and get to your calls and questions as soon as possible. Join me for an important conversation! Content Discussed 0:00 Intro 6:14 Think Well Merch Store! 8:58 A look at future shows 10:33 The cultural narrative based on the Sexual Revolution 18:19 A more compelling Christian narrative 27:55 1st Biblical Principle - Everywhere homosexuality is mentioned in the Bible, it is mentioned critically 29:45 2nd Biblical Principle - The Bible prohibits all forms of homosexuality 34:19 3rd Biblical Principle - The Bible's prohibition against homosexuality is grounded in a creation mandate 38:58 4th Biblical Principle - Jesus affirms the immorality of homosexuality 42:15 5th Biblical Principle - Any identity at odds with Scripture is never fulfilling 49:13 A more authentic community 51:52 LIVE QUESTION: Am I presenting a false choice between biblical marriage and gay marriage? 53:41 LIVE QUESTION: Does the Bible ever look at slavery as an immoral institution? 56:40 LIVE QUESTION: Do you think all sinful acts should be illegal? 58:39 LIVE QUESTION: Has the Bible ever settled any argument? Christians are always disagreeing 1:02:00 CALLER: How do we make sense of Jesus's confusing parables and answers to questions? 1:06:37 CALLER: How do we explain gay penguins? Doesn't nature show that homosexuality is normal? Should gay marriage be legal? 1:39:56 CALLER: Questions on Christopher Yuan and biblical sexuality being oriented toward procreation.

Wouldn't we all benefit from a better understanding of what it means to think well? If so, why don't we do it? Alan Jacobs is the author of "How to Think." He serves as a Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Honors Program at Baylor University and a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He writes, "Relatively few people want to think. Thinking troubles us; thinking tires us. Thinking can force us out of familiar, comforting habits; thinking can complicate our lives; thinking can set us at odds, or at least complicate our relationships, with those we admire or live or follow. Who needs thinking?" Would you agree? Alan Jacobs finishes his book by giving The Thinking Person's Checklist. This 12-point checklist is designed to help us think well, and have better conversations. This conversation will offer "hope that each of us can reclaim our mental lives from the impediments that plague us all. Because if we can learn to think together, maybe we can learn to live together, too." Join the conversation, learn to Think Well, and bring your questions so we can put this checklist into practice. Callers are welcome! Content Discussed 0:00-7:52 Announcements, Merch Launch, and upcoming shows 7:53-54:09 The Thinking Person's Checklist 54:10-1:28:30 CALLER 1:28:31-1:45:07 LIVE QUESTIONS

Christians believe that God has personally, truthfully, and sufficiently revealed himself in the Bible. This should not be a blind following but is the result of the deep intellection tradition of biblical and theological studies. However, "pragmatism, consumerism, and an entertainment mentality have shifted the priorities of some churches away from our primary calling to devote ourselves to knowing God deeply through his Word." Why does theology matter? "Knowledge without devotion is cold, dead orthodoxy. Devotion without knowledge is irrational instability... The study of theology is learning to think God's thoughts after him so that our minds and hearts and actions are conformed to his image." Content Discussed 0:00 Intro 5:05 Announcements and future shows 10:32 Why cover biblical and theological studies? 19:00 Attitudes for doing biblical and theological studies 27:15 Christian Assumptions or presuppositions when studying the Bible 35:29 CALLER: Cynical vs Critical, Bias, and the Authority of Scripture 49:01 Functional absolutes regarding Scripture 51:50 Jesus's view of the Bible: Internal evidence for the reliability of the Bible 54:46 Sub-Disciplines of biblical studies 1:01:25 The Interpretive method 1:06:02 The process of theological studies 1:07:45 Areas of study in theology 1:10:32 Essential vs peripheral doctrines 1:13:05 Using reason, experience, and tradition in doing theology 1:20:29 CALLER: Knowledge vs lived experience 1:34:36 CALLER: What happens to those who die with wrong information or don't know about God? 1:44:58 LIVE QUESTION: How does one make sure they aren't deceiving themselves with their bias and presuppositions? 1:47:26 CALLER: Will Christianity become an extinct religion in the next 100-200 years if it doesn't adapt to culture?

Does the Trinity have a counting problem? How can Jesus be both all-knowing in his divinity and not all-knowing in his humanity at the same time? Doesn't John 20:17 show that Jesus isn't God because he has a God? These are just some of the objections to the Trinity that I have received from TikTok livestreams. Today's show will walk through some of the objections to the Trinity and show that the Trinity is logical and biblical. Live questions start at 48:15, and callers begin at 1:14:47