Theology For The Rest Of Us | Quick Answers To The Questions About God And The Bible

Whenever discussing creationism, the topic of dinosaurs will always inevitability always come up as a part of the conversation. In this episode Kenny answers the question, "What happened to the dinosaurs?" He gives three potential responses to this question that are held by evangelicals. Afterwards, Kenny then dovetails into a brief conversation about dragons and whether or not the legends and myths that speak of dragons are actually exaggerated narratives and tales about the dinosaurs and dinosaur-like creatures that were living in pre-modern history, co-existing with humans.

Many people claim to be committed to “science” or claim to be focused on "the evidence” and they demand that every argument and every theory within our natural realm and world solely be argued for (or against) with only secular, natural, and/or physical arguments. This philosophy, called naturalism, is embraced by many people in the Western world today. Many secular progressives (and their contemporary ideological allies) assert things such as "We are committed to evidence" and they make comments like "Christians are only focused on faith, not evidence." However, while this philosophy is prevalent, is this philosophy really sound? And are the naturalists actually being honest in their evaluation of the known evidence? In this episode, Kenny explains why this philosophy of naturalism is flawed and presents quotes from well known naturalists that show the flaws in this philosophy. Kenny presents information from the worlds of physics, biology, cosmology, and philosophy. He quotes from known philosophers, scie

Many people claim to be "scientific" or focused on "evidence" when all the while ignoring one important potential genre or stream of evidence, and that is any evidence which may cause people to conclude that there is indeed a God and a supernatural realm. Those people often demand natural or physical explanations for all things in the natural realm. This expectation, which is now prevalent in our society today, is founded upon the ideology of naturalism. In this episode, Kenny explains the history and foundation of naturalism, its re-emergence during the Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment, and its impact upon modern philosophy and science.

In this episode, tackles the question about animal death before the fall of mankind. Some Evangelical Christians assert that all death entered the world through the fall of Adam, therefore there could be no animal death before Adam's sin. However, does the Bible actually teach this concept? If this were true, Old Earth creationism would be counter-Bible because this view ordinarily affirms the typical understanding of the fossil records that show animals living and dying long before the appearance of humans. If death entered with Adam, this view would be unorthodox and inconsistent. But is this view actually asserted in the Scriptures? Or is there a totally different way to look at animal death?

In this episode, Kenny interviews author, apologist, podcaster, and philosopher Tyler Vela to talk about the literary framework hypothesis of Genesis 1 as well as Tyler's thoughts about pieces of Genesis 1 being motifs and metaphors that would lead us to believe that Genesis 1 is in large part a polemic argument written by Moses on behalf of Yahweh the creator. Tyler Vela studied Philosophy and English at California State University, Sonoma. He also earned a Bachelors degree in Biblical and Theological Studies from Moody Bible Institute. Currently, Tyler is working towards a Masters of Biblical Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte). Tyler is the host of The Freed Thinker Podcast and blog and is a frequent guest on many Christian and skeptical podcasts and forums. Subscribe to The Freed Thinker Podcast: www.thefreedthinker.podbean.com To check out Tyler Vela's paper: A Historical-Grammatical and Polemical Reading of Genesis 1 Check out The Mentionables Conference. Recommended Reading: The

This episode is very unique because Kenny uses the life of Steve Jobs as an illustration for this point. This episode is a sequel to the previous episode (Understanding Genesis One: Part 1) wherein Kenny gave the audience some history about how Christians have viewed Genesis 1 and where he also challenged the false narrative of uniformity that often is asserted by many modern Evangelical Christians. In that previous episode, Kenny then outlined the two primary ways of understanding and interpreting Genesis 1 (and similar styles of Biblical literature): the concordist view and the non-concordist view. In this episode, Kenny tells about the life and achievements of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple. Kenny tells his story in two separate ways, to illustrate the two approaches to Genesis 1.  

There are many different ways to interpret and understand the book of Genesis, especially chapter one. In this episode, Kenny gives some history about how Christians have viewed Genesis 1 and he also challenges the false narrative of uniformity that often is asserted by many modern Evangelical Christians. Kenny outlines the two primary ways of understanding and interpreting Genesis 1 (and similar styles of Biblical literature): the concordist view and the non-concordist view. The concordist interpretations assert that God made the Earth and everything in the natural world using the sequence of events described in Genesis 1. Some proponents of the concordist views take the pieces of Genesis 1 as being literal and others take the pieces of Genesis 1 as being metaphoric, but in either form of concordism, the proponents claim that Genesis 1 is a historical narrative of the sequence of events of all created things. With the non-concordist interpretations of Genesis 1, the proponents assert that Genesis 1 is tea

In recent times there has been a new debate about the historicity of Adam. Was he a real man or is the Biblical figure just a metaphoric figure? Was he uniquely created or did he evolve? Does this even matter to modern Christians? In this episode, Kenny gives us several clear reasons why we should believe in a historical Adam and he teaches us why this matters to the Gospel.   Recommended Reading 10 Reasons to Believe in a Historical Adam [Blog Post] Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?: Who They Were and Why You Should Care (C. John Collins) Four Views on the Historical Adam (multiple contributors, edited by Matthew Barrett and Ardel Caneday)  

This episode is unique from most episodes of the podcast because this episode covers content and material from a previous episode, but simply does so in a shorter time (episode 248 is similar, that particular episode was the shorter version of content from episode 247). This episode covers the same content that is covered in episode 249 however this episode aims to cover the same material is much less time (this episode is less than 18 minutes while episode 249 is nearly 47 minutes long). Questions and topics related to the origins of humanity, the age of the universe, and the age of the Earth often come up in debates and conversations whenever Christians are seeking to reconcile the words of Scripture with the ideologies from the world of science. In this episode, Kenny tackles the question, "Should Christians Believe in Evolution?" First, Kenny asserts the importance of clarifying what type of evolution we're actually talking about. There are many different types of evolution, and making sure that we have

In this episode, Kenny tackles the question, "Should Christians Believe in Evolution?" First, Kenny asserts the importance of clarifying what type of evolution we're actually talking about. There are many different types of evolution, and making sure that we have clear understanding of our verbiage is essential. The two prominent types of evolution that are being alluded to when we're discussing the topic of the origin of species are macro-evolution and micro-evolution. Macro-evolution is the concept that species evolve into other species, a concept for which there is no scientific evidence, just theory. Micro-evolution is the concept that species change and evolve over time within their own kind, a concept for which there is scientific evidence. Secondly, Kenny then explains the two types of macro-evolution being asserted by people today: secular (naturalistic) macro-evolution and theistic evolution. The secular (naturalistic) form of macro-evolution is the concept that all living creatures today all evol

This episode is somewhat unique in that it covers material from a previous episode, but in a shorter time. This episode covers the same content that is covered in episode 247 however this episode aims to cover the material is much less time (this episode is less than 17 minutes while episode 247 is nearly 45 minutes long). Questions and topics related to the origins of humanity, the age of the universe, and the age of the Earth often come up in debates and conversations whenever Christians are seeking to reconcile the words of Scripture with the ideologies from the world of science. The five views that Kenny talks about: 1- Secular Evolution 2- Young Earth and Literal Six-Day Creation 3- Old Earth with "Days" of creation being metaphoric 4- Old Earth with Gap Theory 5- Old Earth with Historical Creationism In this episode Kenny also foreshadows the content of episode 249 wherein Kenny will tackle a sixth view known as theistic evolution, the concept that God guided and shepherded the process of evolut

How old is the universe? How old is the Earth? These are questions often asked by Christians throughout the world, seeking to understand the origins of humanity while also seeking to reconcile the words of Scripture with the news updates coming from the world of science. In this episode, Kenny challenges listeners to be charitable and diplomatic when tackling this topic. Kenny gives various historical insights that are helpful, and then Kenny gives us five perspectives that are often embraced when people are answering this question and when tackling the sub-topics that often arise. The five views that Kenny talks about: 1- Secular Evolution 2- Young Earth and Literal Six-Day Creation 3- Day-Age Creationist with Era-Long "Days" 4- Old Earth with Gap Theory 5- Old Earth with Historical Creationism   Recommended Reading: Genesis Unbound (by John Sailhamer) Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design (multiple contributors, edited by JB Stump) Three Views on Creation and Evolution (multi

Many people in our world are lacking true joy and satisfaction, longing for "something more" but so many of them end up settling for a sub-par life and sub-par spirituality, simply because they do not know the true source of joy and satisfaction. Furthermore, there are many genuine Christians that do not understand or value certain key doctrines and philosophies simply because they haven't been taught those truths and ideas in a manner that is accessible. In this episode, Kenny interviews pastor and author Jonathan Parnell about these issues and they discuss how Jonathan tackles these trends in his newest book "Never Settle for Normal: The Proven Path to Significance and Happiness." Jonathan is the lead pastor of Cities Church in Minneapolis–St. Paul, where he lives with his wife, Melissa, and their seven children. His book "Never Settle for Normal" is not a self-help book, neither is it just another run-of-mill "enrichment book, but instead it is a Gospel-filled book, packed with transcendent Biblical trut

A frequent (and tragic) trend in modern American Evangelicalism is the devaluing of the importance of quality doctrine and theology. This is evident in many ways in contemporary American Christendom, but fewer moments make this more obvious than when church leaders (and lay people) refuse to objectively (or critically) assess the theology, ideology, and preaching content of many prominent preachers. Many American Christians simply refuse to "pass judgement" on preachers. Is this right or wrong? After several months off from podcasting, Kenny returns to tackle this important (and apparently controversial) topic. How important is theology? How much does doctrine matter? Is it appropriate to judge preachers' based on their theology? Or should we only pass judgement on those whom we know well? And is it possible that theology or doctrine can somehow actually get in the way of ministry? Kenny tackles these questions in this episode, with his ultimate conclusion and statement being a strong, but simple, challenge

In this episode, Kenny answers the question: Will people from all Christian denominations go to heaven, or will only certain ones, with the right doctrine, be saved in the end? This can be a controversial subject indeed, but Kenny seeks to make it simple by making the point that faith in Christ is what actually saves us, not right doctrines. Studying theology and doctrine is very important, and there are indeed certain types of doctrines and certain theological beliefs that may very well impede a person's faith in Christ, or may demonstrate that their faith in Christ is actually fraudulent, but the act of embracing certain doctrine, in and of itself, doesn't necessarily save or condemn human beings. Kenny believes that there will be people from all sorts of Christian denominations represented in heaven.

Last year, our host Kenny did a mini-series on the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Kenny tackled multiple topics related to the Holy Spirit. One of those topics was the topic of prophecy. You can listen to that episode here: "87: What is Prophecy?" Kenny made the case that the gift (or function) of New Testament prophecy has been grossly misunderstood by many contemporary Christians, and that the spiritual gift of prophecy often gets maligned or abused. In response to that previous episode, Kenny received an email from a regular listener asking for clarification about the topic of prophecy. In this episode, Kenny seeks to bring clarity by again explaining that the Old Testament office of “prophet” was restricted to only one person, meaning that only one person had access to the fullness and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, but that ever since the day of Pentecost, all New Testament Christians now have full access to the fullness and empowerment of the Holy Spiri

Romantic relationships can be complicated, even under the best of circumstances, but they get even more complicated when flawed philosophies and bad theology are thrown into the mix. One of the flawed philosophies that often gets embraced, in terms of romance, is the ideal concept of a soulmate. While this concept has lost popularity over the past two decades within contemporary Christian circles, there are still many that believe and embrace it. In this episode, Kenny clearly tackles the question: Does God have only one specific person you’re meant to marry or is it more a matter of personal choice? Kenny's answer in this podcast is clear: There is no such thing as "the one." This concept of "the one" or the idea of a soulmate is totally a result of modern media, movies, and pop culture. The idea of "the one" is not at all a result of any Biblical insights. Kenny explains that the Bible talks extensively about marriage and relationships, but it never says anything that would cause us to embrace this concep

Civil disobedience has long been an effective manner of protest, both in antiquity as well as in contemporary societies. The protests led by Gandhi in India, the American civil rights movement of the 20th century, and the Boston Tea Party (as a part of the events leading up to the American Revolution) have all been some of the most famous and most effective forms of civil disobedience in world history. Was it sinful for the founders of the USA to disobey the king of England in this manner? Should they not have rendered unto King George what seemingly was King George's right? Was it sinful for globally-known civil rights leaders like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King to encourage people to disobey the law? When should we submit and obey our leaders, and when should we intentionally disobey? Is it always sinful to disobey leaders, or are there moments when it is okay to disobey the law In this episode, Kenny clearly answers these questions by reminding us about the purpose of governments in the

In response to an email from a regular listener which included a question about the mixture of Christian theology and American nationalism. Some Christians claim that the USA is a "Christian nation" and that we ought to structure our government with this ideal in mind. Is this true? Are we a Christian nation? If not, should we seek to make it an officially "Christian" country?

In this episode, Kenny explains the concepts of natural rights and natural law. Kenny compares and contrasts natural rights, that originate from a source that transcends governments, with legal rights that originate from a national government or from the leadership of some jurisdiction. Kenny explains that the Biblical purpose for national governments is to bring law and order for the people, to acknowledge the natural rights of humans that have been given to us by God, and to build and cultivate the appropriate systems which will honor and protect natural rights. Whenever a government violates natural law, or fails to acknowledge and protect the natural rights of the people, then that specific government, and its leaders, has lost its right to survive and exist. Whenever a government has violated this idea, and hence therefore has forfeited its own right to even exist, then it would be appropriate for the people of that nation (or the leadership of other nations) to remove the existing government from powe