Restitutio

How do you engage with culture? Are you aware of how culture is shaping your sensibilities about meaning, power, morality, religion, and aesthetics? Do you blindly reject everything in the culture so that you can remain separate from the world or do you blindly accept everything so that you remain relevant? My guest today is Dr. Justin Bailey of Dordt University in Iowa. Today we’re talking about his book Interpreting Your World. Rather than accepting or rejecting culture, professor Bailey advocates exegeting the culture and evaluating it in light of the gospel and the Christian worldview. Then we can better understand our own hearts as well as reach unbelievers with the gospel. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts —— Links —— More about Dr. Justin Bailey on his website pjustin.com See these posts about culture or apologetics Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Questions—— To begin, could you tell us a little about yourself and your work? You seem like the kind of person who straddles the fence between theology and praxis. Is that a fair characterization? You’ve written a book about culture. It’s called Interpreting Your World: Five Lenses for Engaging Theology and Culture, published by Baker Academic. Why did you write this book? I’ve been in pastoral ministry for 17 years so far. During that time, I’ve seen two extremes. On the one hand, you’ve got the people who fully embrace separation from the world and for the sake of holiness, disengage from the culture as much as possible. On the other hand, you’ve got the people who so inhabit the culture that they are super relatable to unbelievers, but they also indulge in the sinful behaviors of the world to such a degree that they lose their witness. Have you seen that too? (How can your book help people figure out a good balance on this?) Let’s talk about your concept of Christianity as a virus. What do want to get across with that analogy? (Little awkward writing this during COVID, eh?) You structure the book around five main dimensions of culture. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to go through each–if time permits. Let’s begin with meaning. What does our culture say about meaning? What does the bible say about meaning? What about power? It seems like we’ve fully entered the Nietzschean age when everyone is obsessed with power. It’s the lens through which we judge each other. What’s going on? What does the bible say about power? Can you briefly explain the other three lenses? morality, religion, aesthetics Dr. Justin Bailey, thanks for joining me today. Once again the book is called, Interpreting Your World. How can people learn more

What do we do when the science in the bible seems wrong by today's standards, but typical for their world? For example, those who believe in a flat earth often point to scripture as evidence for their belief. Indeed the bible arguably does contain some texts that imply a flat earth. But, if the Hebrew people believed in a flat earth, does that mean we should today? Should we posit an elaborate conspiracy that Google, SpaceX, and NASA are trying to hide the truth of a flat earth? In addition to tackling scientific inaccuracies, Will Barlow will also cover many scientific accuracies that point to divine inspiration in scripture. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBPmdNyROgQ&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV1Etu1jXO3jbUQ6CFI-2k6W&index=16 See below for notes. —— Links —— We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out! See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Science in the Bible • Cases when the science is “wrong”• Cases when the science is “right”• Overview and concluding thoughts Cases when the science is “wrong” • Flat Earth• Dome over the Earth• Unmovable Earth• Foundations of the Earth• Thinking with your intestines Flat Earth Isaiah 40:22   It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; Daniel 4:10-11   The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Matthew 4:8   Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Dome over the Earth Job 37:18   Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror? This question by Elihu assumes a hard dome ove

When COVID first broke out many endeavored to put their extra time to good use. Tom Huszti began listening to podcasts. He was intensely curious about theology. Huszti came to question several key beliefs he had imbibed as a lifelong Anabaptist, living in rural Ohio. Eventually he saw that the church's God and the bible's God were at odds with each other. Huszti embraced unitarianism and faced significant troubles because of this change. He is now launching a new ministry on YouTube called "The Unitarian Anabaptist" in which he intends to share his insights about Christ's identity with others. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKDRJOklzU —— Links —— Check out Tom Huszti's website unitariananabaptist.com as well as his YouTube channel Listen to Mark Cain's interview with Huszti on the UCA Podcast Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Dr. Steven Nemes is an analytic philosopher and theologian who uses a phenomenological approach to reading scripture and constructing theology. In this interview I ask him about his unique approach to evaluating doctrine, especially the Trinity, from a phenomenological perspective. We also discuss restorationism as a common ground and delve into Church history extensively. In the end Nemes argues for freedom rather than dogma when evaluating various doctrines related to the Trinity. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts —— Links —— Check out Nemes’ personal website, blog on substack, and YouTube channel Here is his interview with Dale Tuggy from three months ago Follow Nemes on Twitter @snemes2 Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Questions for Interview —— 1. Most people know what systematic theology is–simply the categorizing of doctrines or beliefs–but most don’t know what phenomenology is. Can you offer a brief explanation? 2. A lot of your work focuses on reading scripture. Why did you decide to focus on the phenomenology of reading the bible? 3. Let’s talk about the Trinity. When I listened to your interview with Dale Tuggy in September you listed off a whole series of problems with the Trinity. Then he asked you, “Well, why do you still believe in it?” You replied because it’s hard to disprove one ousia in 3 subsistences. Now, however, you no longer identify as a trinitarian. What changed? 4. You mentioned Mark Edwards’ book, Catholicity and Heresy that what the Gnostics did–hypostatizing attributes of God like wisdom, spirit, mind, etc.–influenced Nicene reasoning. Could you talk more about that? 5. You’ve recently been making a public case for unitarian theology and christology, what has prompted that? 6. It seems like you’re a fan of the Polish Brethren and specifically, their book The Racovian Catechism. What drew you to this work? Would you identify as a Socinian? 7. Tell me about your book, Orthodoxy and Heresy. What’s the main idea. 8. As you probably know unitarians have been excluded, deplatformed, persecuted, and even martyred for centuries. Have you faced any opposition? 9. What advice would you give to unitarian Christians to help us grow as a movement?

What happened in Egypt during the ten plagues? Approaching the matter from a scientific perspective, our teacher, Will Barlow, brings to light some interesting connections. Probably most of us think God's miracles are akin to magical interventions where he breaks the laws of nature to perform a supernatural feat. As we saw last time, the bible doesn't require that view nor does it shy away from offering details occasionally about how God achieved the miraculous. Drawing on the work of Colin Humphreys, Barlow takes a close look at the events surrounding Israel's exit from Egypt, including the timing of the event, the number of people involved, the ten plagues, and the location of Mount Sinai. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7QRFotwkkw See below for notes. —— Links —— We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out! See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— The Miracles of Exodus • Background• The Ten Plagues of Egypt• A Possible Route Background Colin Humphreys received a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge University. He is also an expert in chemistry, astronomy, and geology. He has spent a great deal of time and effort researching ways to reconcile Scripture and science. Dating the Exodus • If we take the evidence from Exodus 1:11, the Hebrews built the city of Rameses (1300 BC)• But 1 Kings 6:1 seems to indicate that the Exodus occurred 480 years before the Temple (1446 BC) Humphreys prefers the later date because it is easier to reconcile historically. How then can we understand the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1? The Septuagint says 440 years, and this is a great clue. Really, 480 years could be an approximation based on the numbers of generations since the prior events. Humphreys actually goes much further than this. He demonstrates that there are 14 high priests starting from Aaron and ending at Azariah, the high priest at the time of the construction of the Temple of Solomon. But Aaron is 2 generations old (age

What is a miracle? Does it mean God breaks the laws of physics or merely that he intervenes within the system? After considering several definitions of miracles from Christian thinkers, Will Barlow interacts with a number of biblical incidents to explain what a miracle is and is not. He examines the parting of the Red Sea, Moses getting water from the rock, the collapse of Jericho’s walls, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire, and Daniel in the lions’ den. For each Barlow looks at how God performed the miracle, shedding light on how science and scripture interact. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts See below for notes. —— Links —— We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out! See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Miracles • Defining a Miracle • Archetypal Example • Other Examples What is the big deal with miracles? Why are miracles important? • Thomas Jefferson famously refused to believe in miracles – his edited version of the NT had all of the miracles removed • In modern times, miracles are still controversial Richard Swinburne on miracles: “What the theist claims about God is that he does have a power to create, conserve, or annihilate anything, big or small. And he can also make objects move or do anything else…He can make the planets move in the way that Kepler discovered that they move, or make gunpowder explode when we set a match to it…” “or he can make planets move in quite different ways, and chemical substances explode or not explode under quite different conditions from those which now govern their behavior. God is not limited by the laws of nature; he makes them and he can change or suspend them – if he chooses.” Francis Collins on miracles: A miracle is “an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin.” —The Language of God, page 48. William Lane Craig on miracles: “You see, natural laws have implicit ceteris paribus conditions—that’s Latin meaning, ‘all other

Having looked at the basics of earth science last time, we are now ready to consider Noah's Flood. As always you'll learn the major options for interpreting this biblical event. Some Christians understand the flood to have been a local event, largely limited to the region of Mesopotamia. Others hold to the notion that this flood covered the entire planet, rising above even the highest mountains. No matter which position you take, you'll have to answer key biblical and scientific questions.  Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0xPsa6WrPE&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV1Etu1jXO3jbUQ6CFI-2k6W&index=13&t=4s See below for notes. —— Links —— We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out! See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Noah’s Flood • Considerations• Global or local?• Evidence for Noah’s Flood• Implications of Noah’s Flood Considerations • Rain before the flood?• Plate tectonics and evolution• Scope and evolution• How big was the ark? Rain before Noah’s flood? Many have taught that, before Noah’s flood, there was no rain: Genesis 2:5-6   When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground-- Scholar Mark Futato suggests that “mist” should be translated as “rain.” • In the context, there are two “problems” • No rain• No man to till the ground • Thus, “mist” could equal “rain” Reasons why “mist” could be better: • If you hold late tectonic shift, mist would be required (“land” singular in Genesis 1:10)• The sign of the rainbow — the rainbow is only physically possible with rain• Possibly rain kicked off the modern water cycle - this answers the objection “where did the water go?” Plate Tectonics and evolution What we believe about plate tectonics impacts our view on

So far we've considered physics and biology in our exploration of scripture and science. Today we begin to consider how earth science and the bible fit together. This becomes particularly significant when considering interpretations for Noah's flood. We'll get to that next time. But, for today, our teacher will lay out the basics of geology and earth science to give us a good overview. He'll also cover radiometric dating, which has a bearing on how scientists determine the age of the earth. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VzgrLAFXfg&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Flhim.org%2F&feature=emb_imp_woyt See below for notes. —— Links —— We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out! See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Geology, Earth Science, and Atmospheric Science • Geology• Important cycles• Plate tectonics Geology • Types of rocks/rock cycle• Geological principles• Dating methods• Structure of the Earth What is Geology? Geology is the study of the Earth and the processes related to the Earth. • Geologists study rocks (and the rock cycle)• Subfields include atmospheric studies (meteorology), volcanology (studying volcanos), and mineralogy (study of minerals) Types of Rocks There are three major categories of rocks: • Sedimentary - formed by pressure acting on sediment• Igneous - formed by lava• Metamorphic - formed by extreme pressure and heat The Rock Cycle Since wind and water are constantly affecting change, there is a rock cycle. Geological Principles There are several main principles of geology: • Superposition• Cross-cutting relationships• Uniformitarianism Dating Methods There are major types of dating: • Absolute dating• Relative dating Absolute Dating Absolute dating is based on radioactive decay. What is radioactive decay? • Some forms of certain elements are (by nature) unstable• Over time, these elements change on the atomic lev

I’d like to take an opportunity to interrupt this Scripture and Science class. We’ve just done three episodes on evolution. The first one covered the basics of what evolution is. Our second teaching evolution covered biblical problems and the third surveyed some scientific problems. Then Will interviewed Sam about his beliefs in both Christianity and evolution. I figured we’d just leave it there and move on to hear what Will had to say about geology. But after seeing various comments coming in, I decided it would be good to interject some of my own thoughts both defending my reasons for honestly engaging with evolution as well as my reasons for still not believing in it. My reasons: Lack of evidence for evolution Problem of first life Mutations as an inadequate mechanism Humans ill-adapted for survival Allegorical readings of Genesis are ad hoc Evolution undermines the Fall Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts —— Links —— We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out! See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here

Since it's inception, evolutionary theory has remained controversial for many. Although one might think only uneducated laypeople find the idea unpalatable, quite a sizeable minority of scientists too struggle to come to terms with Darwinism. In today's episode, Will Barlow explores a number of major scientific objections to evolution, including the Cambrian explosion, mutations as an insufficient mechanism, irreducible complexity, and the fossil record itself. Additionally, he briefly explores the issue of abiogenesis--the presumed starting point for any evolutionary development. Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdx6kuhRqQY&feature=emb_imp_woyt See below for notes. —— Links —— We are doing follow-up discussions to these episodes on YouTube. Check them out! See other episodes in this Scripture and Science Class Check out Barlow’s previous podcast episodes Learn more about and support the church Barlow and his team are starting in Louisville, KY, called Compass Christian Church Find more articles and audios by Barlow on his website: Study Driven Faith Support Restitutio by donating here Designate Restitutio as your charity of choice for Amazon purchases Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here —— Notes —— Scientific Objections to Evolution • Evidence problems (open scientific questions)• Methodological problems• Evolution or design? Evidence Problems The theory of evolution has several major open problems that are yet to be solved: • The Cambrian Explosion• Mutations The Cambrian Explosion Much of the fossil record could be viewed in a light to support evolution, but the Cambrian Explosion poses a big problem: • The theory of evolution requires slow changes over a long time• Cambrian explosion was a big change in a short period of time Simply put, what is the Cambrian explosion? • Evolution would predict species would diverge and lead to new genera, families, orders, classes, and then phyla• Most animal phyla (and many major classes within them) appear fully formed in the Cambrian period “According to modern paleontologists James Valentine, Stanley Awramik, Philip Signor, and Peter Sadler, the appearance of the major animal phyla near the beginning of the Cambrian is ‘the single most spectacular phenomenon evident in the fossil record.’”— Jonathan Wells, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design, page 1