
Think Well
Training Christians to THINK WELL by curating conversations with Christian thinkers and giving a framework for engaging the culture with a biblical worldview.
Ryan Pauly has been working with students for over a decade as a high school teacher, missionary, and apologist. He is the Founder and President of Think Well, an organization focused on training Christians to engage the culture with a biblical worldview, and the Director of Immersive Experiences at MAVEN. Ryan holds a B.A. in theology and youth leadership from Vanguard University, an M.A. in Christian apologetics from Biola University, and is pursuing a doctorate in cultural engagement from Talbot School of Theology. Ryan lives in Southern California with his wife and two sons. He enjoys watching hockey, roasting coffee, and playing with his boys.
Latest episodes

Jan 19, 2024 • 1h 5min
Atheist Shares Insights On Arguments For Christianity (The Faithiest Atheist)
How convincing are the common arguments for Christianity? Do they hit as hard as apologists think they do? What can Christians do better? The Faithiest Atheist joins the show to discuss why different arguments for Christianity are not as convincing as we often think.

Jan 11, 2024 • 60min
Design Requires A Designer (Atheist Book Response, Part 1)
"Why There Is No God" by Armin Navabi gives simple responses to 20 common arguments for the existence of God. This series will cover all 20 arguments, one chapter at a time. We begin with chapter 1, "Science can't explain the complexity and order of life; God must have designed it to be this way." What is Armin's response to the design argument? Do his objections stand up to cross-examination? Join me and find out. An open Q&A will follow my discussion of the chapter.

Jan 5, 2024 • 1h 2min
You Should Want Christianity To Be True (Dr. Greg Ganssle)
We long for relationships, pursue goodness, desire truth, are startled by beauty, and want to be free. The things that you most want, your deepest desires, will affect how you pursue the best life. It is only within the Christian story that we can understand these desires. Join me and Dr. Ganssle as we show how our desires point back to God and should cause you to want Christianity to be true.
Dr. Greg Ganssle is professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He is the author of several books, including "A Reasonable God: Engaging the New Face of Atheism" and "Thinking About God," and he is the editor of "God and Time." He joined the show before to discuss whether atheism or theism had a better explanation of morality.

Dec 22, 2023 • 1h 3min
Sharing the Gospel with LDS Culture (Dr. Ross Anderson)
What do you do when LDS missionaries knock on your door? Do you ignore the knock as if you're not home or confidently engage with biblical truth? Today's conversation includes insider knowledge, personal stories, cultural insights, evangelistic wisdom, and best practices from former LDS missionaries themselves, to help Christians share their faith wisely and effectively with Latter-day Saints.
Ross Anderson was born in Utah and was raised LDS. After leaving Mormonism as a young adult, he pursued a Master of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Ministry. Anderson has served as a church planter and pastor in Utah for four decades and is currently a teaching pastor at Alpine Church. He is the executive director of Utah Advance Ministries and the founder of the Faith after Mormonism project and the Culture-Wise podcast. Ross has authored various books, including Understanding the Book of Mormon, Understanding Your Mormon Neighbor, and Jesus without Joseph - a study guide for former Mormons. Ross is an avid cyclist and reader. He and his wife, Sally, are parents to five adult children.

Dec 14, 2023 • 1h 9min
Must A Scientifically Minded Person Reject Miracles? (Dr. Richard Howe)
Students frequently tell me that they believe in science, not Christianity. Have scientific facts replaced supernatural myths? Has science shown that miracles are impossible? Dr. Richard Howe joins the show to explain why science has not refuted miracles or the supernatural.
Dr. Howe is Provost, Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics, and Norman L. Geisler Chair of Christian Apologetics at Southern Evangelical Seminary. He is a writer as well as a public speaker and debater in churches, conferences, and university campuses on issues concerning Christian apologetics and philosophy. Both his master's thesis and doctoral dissertation focused on the issue of the existence of God.

Dec 5, 2023 • 1h 32min
My Doctoral Research on a Theology of the Body and Transgenderism
My year 1 doctoral research project was on applying a theology of the body to transgenderism. We are able to respond better to cultural issues when we understand each issue in light of God's story of creation, fall, and redemption. How did God design and create our bodies? How has the fall affected our view of our bodies? What is God's plan to restore our bodies? The answers to these three questions will give Christians a more compassionate, true, and biblically faithful response to transgenderism.

Dec 2, 2023 • 1h 7min
Using Questions When Facing Objections To Christianity (Greg Koukl Street Smarts)
We cannot send people out to engage the culture and have evangelistic conversations without equipping them to handle objections that will inevitably come. Greg Koukl's newest book, Street Smarts, is a follow-up to his best-selling Tactics and will help you use questions to answer Christianity's toughest challenges. This is a practical and proven guide to help you better engage in productive conversations with those who challenge your Christian convictions.
Greg Koukl is the founder and president of Stand to Reason. He holds MA degrees with honors in both apologetics and philosophy. He has spoken on more than 80 university campuses and has hosted his own call-in radio talk show for more than 33 years defending "Christianity worth thinking about." Greg serves as adjunct professor of Christian apologetics at Biola University and is the author of the award-winning The Story of Reality and the bestselling Tactics.

Nov 30, 2023 • 1h 6min
Explaining Different Christian Views of End Times (Kenneth Samples)
Are we living in the last days? Is the conflict in Israel connected to what is predicted in the book of Revelation? What does the Bible say about the end of the world? While the church has shared common points of agreement "Mere Eschatology," we have also differed in many areas. This has led to different ways of interpreting the Bible's apocalyptic literature (preterist, historicist, idealist, futurist), different views on the relationship between Israel and the Church, if and when the rapture will happen, and understanding the nature of the millennium (historic premillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism).
Rather than be overwhelmed by these views, the goal of this show is to ground you in "Mere Eschatology," help you see the pros and cons of each view, but most importantly to help you see the apologetic and practical significance of studying eschatology. It's a topic that many shy away from, including myself, but I think we are missing out when we do. This show will explain why.
Kenneth Samples is a senior research scholar at Reasons to Believe and an adjunct instructor of apologetics at Biola University. Samples is the author of many books, including "Classic Christian Thinkers," "Without a Doubt," and "God Among Sages." The book that we are discussing today is titled "Christian End Game: Careful Thinking about the End Times."

Nov 18, 2023 • 1h 4min
An Accessible Account Of Personhood - Who Are You, Really? (Joshua Rasmussen)
What does it mean to be human? What is a person? Where did we come from? How can there be something that thinks, feels, or decides, anywhere, ever? "Who Are You, Really?: A Philosopher's Inquiry Into the Nature and Origin of Persons" answers these foundational questions and more! Join our conversation as we dig deep into what we are and how we came to be.
Joshua Rasmussen, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Philosophy, and his area of expertise is analytic metaphysics, with a focus on basic categories of reality, such as objects, ideas, and necessary existence. He is the author of several books, including "Defending the Correspondence Theory of Truth," "Necessary Existence," "How Reason Can Lead to God," and "Is God the Best Explanation of Things." He is also the founder of the Worldview Design YouTube channel, which helps people use reason to address the big questions of life.

Nov 14, 2023 • 1h 2min
Coming To Faith Through Dawkins (Ruth Jackson)
Richard Dawkins and his fellow New Atheists ended up causing many people to turn to Christianity. Rather than showing the credibility of Atheism, many became disillusioned by the arguments of Dawkins. This caused them to take another look at religious faith which led them to Christianity. Join me and Ruth Jackson as we discuss the journey of 12 men and women from five different countries out of atheism and into Christianity. These individuals were philosophers, artists, historians, engineers, scientists, and more. Find out why they saw that "authentic Christian faith is in fact more intellectually convincing and rational than New Atheism."
Ruth Jackson is a producer, presenter, and youth specialist for Premier Christian Radio's Unbelievable? program and podcast, presents The CS Lewis Podcast with Professor Alister McGrath, and hosts Unapologetic. She interviews leading apologists, theologians, and evangelists in order to help Christians understand, defend, and share their faith with confidence. Ruth studied theology at Oxford University before working at the BBC’s flagship children’s television show Blue Peter. She then moved to the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, where she helped set up the youth apologetics strand Reboot. Ruth contributed to Hope Rising 365, a book for young women. She also plays bass guitar in the award-winning all-girl rock ‘n roll band The Daisy Chains.