In this episode of Faith Informed, we will delve into prayer. What is prayer? Why should we pray? Does prayer alter God’s plans and purposes? Is prayer really efficacious or is it pointless? Dr. Craig Hazen (former director of the Apologetics Program at Biola University) joins Sam Raju to answer these questions and more. We will examine passages like John 15:7, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” What does Jesus mean here?

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Is there a conflict between belief in God and science? Has science rendered belief in God implausible? The prevailing idea that science has indeed made belief in God untenable is largely due to the immense cultural authority attributed to science today. When figures like Richard Dawkins assert that science has demonstrated the nonexistence or highly improbable existence of God, many accept this perspective without much contemplation. Another prevailing notion in contemporary culture is that science alone provides knowledge. Phrases like “follow the science” or “science tells us” underscore the perceived authority of science in culture today. Science is often regarded as the ultimate or sole source of knowledge. However, is it accurate to believe that science exclusively grants us knowledge? Furthermore, an idea deeply ingrained in contemporary culture is that, unlike religion, science is free from assumptions, grounded solely in hard evidence and facts. Religion, by contrast, is often characterized as irrational, dogmatic, faith-based, superstitious, subjective, and even anti-scientific. Some argue that religion hinders the progress of science. Does the belief in God impede scientific progress? Are science and faith fundamentally at odds or incompatible?

In today’s episode, Dr. Paul Copan joins us to help make sense of some troubling passages in the Old Testament. Paul is a theologian and an analytic philosopher who has written/edited over 40 books including “Is God a Moral Monster” and “Is God a Vindictive Bully.” He is a professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University and travels extensively, speaking and teaching around the world.

Paul brings his expertise and thoughtful responses to some very difficult questions raised in response to passages in the Old Testament.

• Does the OT condone slavery?
• How could a truly holy and loving God command the slaughter of an entire people?
• Is the God of the Old Testament a misogynistic, vindictive bully?
• What are we to make of imprecatory Psalms?

Although the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) might be unfamiliar to many, names like Bethel and IHOP likely ring a bell. Bethel, a major NAR proponent, is known for more than just popular worship songs. It’s important for Christians to understand the teachings and practices associated with this movement, characterized by self-proclaimed prophets and apostles and terms like “activate” and “miracle worker.” Join me as I discuss the NAR movement with Doug Geivett and Holly Pivec, co-authors of Counterfeit Kingdom. They have extensively studied the movement and will guide us through NAR’s beliefs, practices, and teachings.

In this episode, we will continue our conversation with Dr. JP Moreland on the relationship between science and religion, particularly focusing on whether scientific discoveries point towards the existence of a divine creator. From the Big Bang theory to evolutionary biology, each scientific discovery has provided insights into the intricate workings of the cosmos. However, as our understanding of the natural world has expanded, so too have the questions surrounding the existence of God. The “God of the gaps” argument suggests that as scientific knowledge fills gaps in our understanding, the necessity for a divine explanation diminishes. Has science shown that God does not exist or does science point us to God?

Many have raised moral and theological objections on the justness, theological coherence and compatibility of the atonement.

In this episode of Faith Informed, Dr. William Lane Craig joins me to discuss the crucial doctrine of the atonement and more specifically, penal substitution.

How does Christ’s atoning death reconcile us to God? Why did Jesus have to die? Was His death necessary? How have Christians historically understood the doctrine of the atonement? How does Christ’s atoning death serve to expiate sin and propitiate God? Is penal substitution incompatible with God’s love? How is it just for God to punish Christ, an innocent party in place of us, the truly guilty ones? We will examine these questions and more. Dr. Craig has written extensively on the subject in his book, Atonement and the Death of Christ, looking at the atonement from an exegetical, historical and philosophical perspective.

In today’s podcast we are joined by apologist and philosopher, Dr. Paul Gould, author of “A Good and True Story: Eleven Clues to Understanding Our Universe and Your Place in it.” We will look at 11 features of the universe that point us to the true story of the world. We will examine if the Christian story offers the best explanation for the origin of the universe and of life, and if it provides the most satisfying answers to existential questions on meaning, beauty, identity, love and happiness. We will explore questions such as: Is the Universe fine tuned by a fine tuner? Is there an uncaused first cause behind the universe? How do we ground our intuition that human life is valuable? Are there objective moral values and duties? If so, what grounds them? What is true happiness? Can we make sense of our yearning for happiness on an atheistic/naturalistic story? What is love? What explains our deep longing for love? Are there aesthetic facts? Is beauty an objective feature of the world? What is the meaning of life?

In Part 1, Travis shared how he began to doubt his Christian faith in seminary. He found he didn’t have good reasons to believe, but neither did he have good reasons to doubt. We all have questions about our faith that we wish we had a more satisfactory answer to. What should we do when we are faced with such questions? In this podcast we will learn about the distinction of “belief in” and “belief that” and will look at the argument from evil, does the existence of evil preclude the existence of God and the problem of divine hiddenness, if there is so much evidence for God’s existence why doesn’t everyone believe in God?

In this episode we continue our conversation with author and apologist Mary Jo Sharp, discussing the importance of the local church, what to look for when choosing a church, and the hope we have despite the brokenness we encounter. Mary Jo, a former atheist, was drawn by the beauty she found in the Christian story, but because of her experiences in the church she found herself questioning the truth of Christianity. Through her journey of doubt she discovered afresh the truth, beauty and irresistible hope of the Gospel.

Travis Dickinson encountered doubt in the most unlikely of places – seminary. He felt his faith was “accidental” because he was born into a Christian family. Since he didn’t have good reasons to believe Christianity to be true, he thought it might be false. Learn how he navigated his season of doubt and found that Christianity values reason and evidence in a way that other religions do not. We discuss how asking questions is crucial to having a robust faith. What is doubt? Is it wrong to have doubts? Does Jesus call us to blind faith, to belief without evidence? Find answers to these and more and be sure to look for Part 2 where we continue our discussion…

Have you considered giving up on your faith because of hypocrisy, legalism, and judgmentalism encountered in the church? More and more we are hearing stories of de-conversion, people once professing Christ turn skeptical and ultimately reject their faith altogether. Author and apologist, Mary Jo Sharp, was a likely candidate to do just that as she found herself questioning the truth of Christianity when confronted by the ugliness of hypocrisy within the church. Through her journey of doubt she discovered afresh the truth, beauty and irresistible hope of the Gospel.