It's been an amazing journey in Albuquerque reaching out to students at the University of New Mexico. Surprise encounters and challenging conversations have come to the surface. Many of these relate to previous podcast topics. Here is a summary of the year in podcasting, experiences with outreach, insights about wisely engaging in conversations, the God who drives my motivation, and my heart for you to know Him better.    

Kurios Minds

Year in Review

I always tell myself to avoid social and political issues and stay the course with apologetics and evangelism. At the same time, the stories on everybody's mind provide an opportunity to think through a strong biblical approach. Here are a few stories of highly racist people who have been changed by the presence of God.There are also stories from the Bible that show person-to-person tension and hatred are a recurring problem. They arise out of insecurity and a choice to walk in darkness, apart from the light of the Lord.I make no claims to have political resolutions or strategies for social change. That was not Jesus's goal; it would be far too small of a goal. He had a bigger chasm to bridge than human-to-human enmity. We must turn our eyes toward grace. We must adjust our vision to look past the clutter impeding our line of sight. We are all that corrupt, desperate, and needy tax collector who hoped for mercy. We receive all sort of reconciliation and peace when, and only when, we set our primary focus on God. When we realize this grace, how can we look down on others?

A Biblical Christian Approach to Racism and Bullying

Why do people claim that all religions teach essentially the same fundamental truths? It is tempting for those who have not committed themselves to a single worldview to claim this because they have an incomplete, even shallow, perspective of the major claims of various world religions. They also may just want to avoid controversy and see the value of each type of diverse person.However! Does this claim align with logic, with fundamental religious claims, and can it withstand the claimant's own scrutiny? No. Occasionally. And no. Here is how we can highlight the major differences between religions is a way that includes disjunctive logic. Here is also a Christian perspective on the fundamental worldview differences.  

"All Religions Teach the Same Basic Thing"

The book of Romans does not explicitly mention the practice of apologetics, that is, the defense of the Christian faith. However, there are many portions of Romans that have a lot of relevance with apologetics today. This looks at chapters 1 through, where faith versus works is one of the central ideas. The concept of grace through faith divides orthodox Christianity from false spin-off groups and other world religions. Other issues in apologetics also surface, including evidence for the existence of God, the Messianic status of Jesus, homosexuality, and the problem of evil. 

Apologetics in the Book of Romans

The Evangelical Christian community, the philosophy community, the apologetics, and the intercultural ethics community lost one of the most powerful voices. Ravi has bridged many gaps, from East to West, from academic to common, from seasoned believers to unbelievers, from philosophers to story-tellers. This tribute features some pieces of a Ravi paper I wrote recently, some of the quotes that best define what he taught, thoughts from others in the philosophy/ apologetics community. It closes with thoughts on how we should evaluate our own lives and ministries going forward.

Tribute to Ravi Zacharias

This is the fourth part on testing the inspiration of Scripture. These are tests 7-10 we can use to test the inspiration of various texts that are claimed as Scripture. What does the authorship reveal about the possible inspiration? Does it depend on a single author, many authors, or later recollections by unknown scribes? What is the level of unity that resides in the text? Is it uniformity, disunity, too shallow for profound unity, or deep unity through diversity? Even more importantly, does the faith from which the text sprouts hold to coherent ideas of God? Finally, are there miracles, signs, and wonders that attest to the validity and supernatural development of that text of Scripture? We’ll blaze through these things to see that the Bible proves to be astoundingly strong in every test for inspiration.   

Bible Inspiration: Unity, Theology, Miracles

Prophecy is an intriguing topic even for those who seem religiously disinterested. However, prophecy is a sign of God's existence. It is a sign of God's communication and specific interest in what is being revealed. Several religions, religions with critical disagreements, claim to have prophecy as a sign of their legitimacy. How legitimate are the claims of prophecy contained in various holy writings? How is Bible prophecy different? We'll take a quick but vast overview of Bible prophecy to show how Bible prophecy contains the marks of divine inspiration. 

Testing Bible Inspiration through Prophecy

This is a middle portion on the inspiration of the Bible. There are 10 marks of inspiration that will be weighed against 12 religious texts. While brief references are made to the texts of other faiths, this mostly stands as a test to the Bible's authenticity. Enough references to the nature of other texts shows the marks of inspiration on the Bible alone.Test 4: Is the text consistent with scientific fact? How much science is does the Bible intend to communicate? Are they any divine scientific insights? Test 5: Does the text have a coherent view of the human condition? Does it form a coherent resolution to this condition?The Bible presents the human condition in a way that humans would not make up. The objective observer, rather than the bias observer, of the human condition is a mark of divine inspiration. 

Bible Inspiration: Science and the Human Condition

If we only take the accuracy of the Bible as evidence for the validity and inspiration of Scripture, a large void still remains. Does every reliable text have the mark of inspiration? Do other religious texts have the mark of being divinely inspired? Why or Why not? There are several tests and several texts to examine. Candidates for inspired documents have included the Bible, the Tanakh, the Quran, the Mahabharata, the Tripitaka, Guru Granth Sahib, the Avesta, Science and Health With a Key to the Scriptures, the Book of Mormon, writings of Baha'ullah, Nostradamus, and channeled writings. Here is a quick look at what these texts are, a brief critique, and an evaluation of how the Bible lines up with the first 3 of 10 tests for inspiration.   

Testing the Inspiration of Scripture/ Religious Writings

Bart Ehrman and Daniel Wallace agree that there are hundreds of thousands of variants (differences) between all the New Testament manuscripts. Why does one say that this destroys the textual integrity of the Bible while the other says that the textual integrity remains very much intact? How many manuscripts are there and how close to the events are they? Were the authors of the New Testament able to speak in an informative manner? How did we land on the books that are now in the Bible rather than others?

Has the Bible Been Corrupted?

David Hume taught that a lie is always preferable to the unlikely event of a miracle. Here is why he depends on circular reasoning and naturalistic presuppositions, and thereby cannot make any judgments regarding the likelihood of miracles. But why should we think that miracles are possible?Why should we believe that the Resurrection, the central miracle to the Christian faith, is more likely than a lie or a deception?We'll examine the philosophical proof of miracles, the marks of honesty within the Gospel accounts, and the four basic facts to the Resurrection.   

Evidence for Miracles and the Resurrection

New events often take us right back to the problem of reconciling evil and hurt with a good, powerful, loving God. However, the problem of evil depends on the existence of prior good. And when we take an objective look at humanity, nature, and even viruses we see an overwhelming sign of intricacy and good design. But why is there any that goes wrong?In addition to this subject, there are still some interesting things that Christian leaders are doing and saying. Should pastors keep gathering large groups of members? What's a good biblical case against that? Thanks to Reasons to Believe and AJ Roberts for the much of the information here. 

Why Would God Make Viruses?

America and the world at large are carefully focusing on the effects and responses to the Coronavirus. As history is being written in the global response, ecclesiology and theology are being fleshed out as well. There are a variety of perspectives that seem to contribute to a healthy overall perspective.Ministry leaders see this time as an opportunity to serve, share truth, and learn new things.Reformed Theology/ Calvinism emphasizes God's complete and specific control.Pentecostalism focuses on beckoning the power and authority of God over the difficult conditions.Open Theism focuses on God's experience of it with us.Free will theology focuses on our responsibility to integrate healthy measures to mitigate the overall effects.Whatever the emphasis, the value of human lives is highlighted. This is still explained best through a transcendent value-giver.

Christian Perspectives of the Coronavirus

Everyone in the world seems to have a perspective on who Jesus is. To figure this out, isn't it best to see what the man said about himself. He wouldn't be something he claimed not to be, right? Many say that Jesus never claimed to be God. While he didn't utter the specific phrase that modern westerners demand, he did communicate his deity with certainty to the people around him. Here are another 15 to 20 ways Jesus communicated the nature of who he is.

What Else Did Jesus Claim About Himself?

What is the self-understanding of Jesus?Muslims tend to believe that whatever Jesus said about himself is true. They are quick to point out that Jesus claimed submission to the Father. Jesus certainly realized this and stated a few things about it. But what else did he say? Well, he didn't say the words, "I am God; worship me." However, he communicated such things in ways that alluded to the established Scriptures--with which the people of that area were very familiar. We will begin working through a list of things that indicate what Jesus thought about himself.   

Did Jesus Claim to be God?

Thinking well about the things that matter most. Helping to equip Christians with tools to defend their faith. Showing the reasonability of Christianity to non-Christians.

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Kurios Minds

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