Matters of Life and Death

Near death experiences are gaining serious scientific interest, as researchers explore what happens to the brain in life-threatening situations. Historical insights reveal their evolution since the 1740s, and personal testimonies shed light on common experiences during these encounters. The podcast discusses the intersection of NDEs with Christian beliefs and the implications for understanding the afterlife. It also delves into the conflict between materialism and spirituality, urging listeners to reflect on deeper faith beyond mere proof.

Pregnant women today are offered a battery of tests and screening for their unborn child, looking for an ever-increasing range of conditions and risks. But is the onward march of technology in this sphere always an unmitigated good thing? With abortion for a disability legal in the UK up to term, women are being given terrible choices previous generations never faced: give birth to a child who probably has a life-limiting or even fatal condition, or end the pregnancy early. In this episode we dig further into the complex ethics of prenatal screening and explore what the Christian tradition makes of seeking to understand the future, and the different arguments for and against aborting children we know will be disabled. • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

This week we speak with church pastor and author Ed Shaw about John’s book on friendship, and in particular how it intersects with those who are same-sex attracted like him. How has the church unintentionally colluded with the sexual revolution in prioritising and idealising marriage, relegating friendship in the process? Why is it so important for celibate, single leaders like Ed to cultivate and sustain an array of deep friendships in church? And how can we ensure this is being done sensibly and accountably, avoiding the potential for abuse and harm that we’ve seen in so many recent evangelical scandals? Ed is also ministry director of Living Out - https://www.livingout.org/ • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

Yoga and mindfulness are everywhere in popular Western culture: in school PE lessons, in company retreats, prescribed by doctors, and even sometimes endorsed by churches. Are these harmless or even quasi-Christian practices we can all enjoy, or pagan-derived movements which believers should steer clear of? And is there such a thing as ‘Christian meditation’ we should all be leaning into instead? Richard Foster – Celebration of Discipline https://www.eden.co.uk/christian-books/spiritual-growth/the-spiritual-disciplines/celebration-of-discipline/ John Mark Comer – Practising the Way https://www.practicingtheway.org/ • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

Harrowing testimony from healthcare staff at the UK’s national covid inquiry has reminded us of the horrendous sacrifices made by doctors and nurses during the pandemic, just a few years ago. And yet the inquiry has drawn hardly any media attention, with most of us happy to move on with our lives and never think about those long months in lockdown again. But is this a wise, or even a Christian, way of dealing with trauma in the past? And is covid even something in the past anyway, with new variants spiking and some public health experts baffled at our society’s ‘capitulation’ in the face of a resurgent virus? What damage may be being done to us as we wilfully ignore covid, and should Christians be among those trying to draw more people’s attention? Some of our previous episodes on covid: • Covid reconsidered 1:Pandemic amnesia, ‘Stay at home, Protect the NHS, Save lives’, lingering Long Covid, and 13.47 billion vaccine doses https://www.johnwyatt.com/covid-reconsidered-1/ • Covid reconsidered 2: Empty Nightingale hospitals, difficult triage decisions, a failure of Christian leadership, and reconsidering lockdown https://www.johnwyatt.com/covid-reconsidered-2/ • The origins of covid: Gain of function research, zoonosis, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and truth over tribe https://www.johnwyatt.com/origins-of-covid/ • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

The new British government has been crystal clear that in their view, the National Health Service – a state-run socialised system which is quasi-worshipped by most Britons – is in long-term crisis. Services from family doctors to cancer treatment to A&E in hospitals are struggling and failing to hit targets, and constantly underfunded. In this episode we discuss the reasons why healthcare services across the developing world and especially in the UK are buckling under the pressures of keeping our older and sicker populations healthy. Is the fabled ‘free at the point of use’ taxpayer-funded NHS really the best system to be facing the challenges of the 21st century? Will modern technology from overseas inevitably begin to take over, and will that be a good thing? And should we be enthusiastic about the new class of anti-obesity medication which seems to be having remarkable success in tackling the chronic conditions which bedevil Western societies and cripple our healthcare services? Or is the idea we can make people more virtuous and less addicted simply by mass prescribing new pills a foolish delusion? Our previous episode going into more depth on Ozempic and the new GLP-1 anti-obesity drugs can be found here: https://www.premier.plus/matters-of-life-and-death/podcasts/episodes/new-obesity-drugs-the-morality-of-food-and-has-neuroscience-killed-off-free-will • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

Daniel Maughan, a Christian psychiatrist specializing in psychosis, shares insights on the rising mental health issues post-COVID and the challenges within our healthcare systems. He discusses how faith influences his practice and the need for empathy in mental health treatment. Daniel questions societal stigma surrounding mental health and explores how churches can support mental resilience without medicalizing normal emotions. Through this lens, he advocates for a balanced approach to medication and emphasizes the importance of community support in healing.

The discussion delves into the rising trend of euthanasia tourism in the US as more states liberalize assisted suicide laws. It examines the emotional toll on families witnessing loved ones suffer and the generational divide on autonomy. The troubling role of online guidance in this debate is scrutinized alongside new political pushes in the UK. Ethical dilemmas for healthcare professionals are also addressed, especially for those of faith contemplating their roles in a changing landscape.

If and when autonomous and intelligent robots come into existence, should they be granted rights, or even personhood? A growing number of technologists argue governments must lay out what status conscious and rational machines would have before they actually have been invented. But how can we decide what is and isn’t a person, and what rights and responsibilities such a thing should have? And how could this philosophical and technical debate affect our Christian beliefs on human uniqueness? We then explore three Christian responses to calls for robot personhood, spanning the spectrum of hostility to optimism about the development. What Biblical truths and doctrines can we turn to as we wrestle with what is a fundamentally brand new dilemma? And how would our theology and practice as believers change should conscious, intelligent, autonomous robots come to live among us? • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com

We covered the case of Lucy Letby – a neonatal nurse convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill seven more – last year. Since then, there has been a growing campaign claiming she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, as Letby herself appeals the judgement. In this episode we look at why some people have become convinced of her innocence, how well-suited our criminal justice system is at getting to the truth, and how as Christians we can live with the unknown and grey areas implicit in this fallen world. • The Appeal Court judgement rejecting Letby's appeal: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/R-v-Letby-Final-Judgment-20240702.pdf • The New Yorker article which makes the case for Letby's innocence: https://web.archive.org/web/20240702001406/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/20/lucy-letby-was-found-guilty-of-killing-seven-babies-did-she-do-it • A Guardian article which also explores some of those who are unconvinced by the prosecution case: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/09/lucy-letby-evidence-experts-question • Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173 • If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John's website: http://www.johnwyatt.com • For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com