58. Crash Course – The Problem of Evil

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the devil

Andy watches an episode of CrashCourse, an educational channel on Youtube, that focused on answering “The Problem of Evil” from a Theistic worldview.  The answers however utterly fail to answer the problem from a Christian worldview.  Enjoy!

Show Links:

Watch the CrashCourse video here!

“Evil” related blogs posts at andywrasman.com.

Contradict Movement – Order a sticker, pack of tracts, or Andy’s book.

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57. Evil and God Quiz

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Dr. Evil meme
How can an all-good and all-powerful God allow evil to exist?

Listen along as Jon takes a quiz that Andy created to help facilitate a conversation to answer this common and difficult question against the consistency of the Christian worldview.

Show Links:

Take the Quiz before Listening!

iMom (Jon mentions this short film in the episode.

Why Does a Good God Allow Evil? (Video that is shared at the end of the episode)

Contradict – They Can’t All Be True (Andy’s book)

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56. Building Bridges Part 2

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Building_Bridges

Episode 16 of Reconnect featured guest, Ken Chitwood, sharing an article he wrote entitled, “Building Bridges: Toward Constructing a Christian Foundation for Inter-Religious Relationships in the Shift from Religious Privilege to Spiritual Plurality”.  The key points for inter-religious dialog that Ken suggests are: pay attention, find, and form, friendships, listen and learn, dine, dialog, and do together, discern, and witness to the worldview.

While I agree with many of Ken’s points to approaching inter-religious dialog, I have a different application of the term “building bridges”.  I explain this approach in an article that I wrote for Reformation 21: “Embracing Religious Contradictions to Proclaim Christ Crucified: Tolerance and Coexistence”.   Looking at Acts 17, I see how Paul knew the beliefs and culture of those he was sharing the Gospel of Jesus.  He made the presentation of the Gospel from starting within their belief system with a point of contact that he could use to make a connection to the Biblical narrative of salvation.  I was given the opportunity to share this approach to evangelism at Brookfield Lutheran Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin.  This episode contains that sermon message. 

Senior pastor at Brookfield Lutheran Church, Robert Mrosko, was a guest on Reconnect Episode 39, discussing Star Wars.

The building bridges technique I am advocating for is also shared in Episode 34: “Storytelling Evangelism”.

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55. David Pratt on Apologetics

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David Pratt 2David Pratt has been a Lutheran high school teacher for twelve years.  In his theology classes, no matter the course title, he constantly sprinkles apologetics into the lesson plans.  After listening to episodes 22 and 29 of Reconnect, which both explained and critiqued the use of various approaches to Apologetics, he had a lot of feedback to provide.  In this episode, David shares his commentary on those episodes, correcting what he thought was not always an accurate depiction of presupositional apologetics in those episodes.  Hopefully, you’ll learn as much from his feedback as I did.  His explanation and use of presuppositional apologetics has certainly given me a much better understanding of the usefulness and tactful approach to take with presuppositional arguments for the purpose of sharing both the Law and Gospel of God’s Word.   – Andy Wrasman

Show Links:

Episode 22: Mixed Martial Apologetics with J. Warner Wallace

Episode 29: What’s up with Presup? with Andy and Ben

David’s School: Faith Lutheran Middle School and High School in Las Vegas

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54. Christianity Has Pagan DNA!

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Christianity Has Pagan DNA

Andy likes to surf the New Age shops to see the new lingo and directions of the oneist, pagan lefties.  He discovered a sticker that read, “Christianity Has Pagan DNA.”  Andy snatched one (after purchasing it) and used it as a centerpiece for a small group church discussion guide.  Ben and Jonathan join Andy for this episode of Reconnect to discuss this sticker.  Hopefully you like the conversation that ensues, and if so be sure to access the guide Andy created (linked below) so you can have this same discussion with your local small group Bible study, Sunday school class, or youth group.

Christianity Has Pagan DNA! Questions

Who is a pagan?  What’s paganism?

Does the Bible give any indication that there is pagan DNA within Christianity?

Even if there are real and intentional connections to pagan mythology and beliefs in the Bible do these connections in any way discredit the Christian message?

Do you we have any pagan practices, imagery, or carry-overs from pre-Christian culture within modern day expressions of Christianity?  How do you respond to these?

What do you think this sticker means by pagan DNA within Christianity?

Show Links

Christianity Has Pagan DNA Sticker Group Discussion Guide

Episode 43 of Reconnect: Jesus’ Plagiarized Resurrection Myth

Episode 12 of Reconnect: Faith, Hope, Love, and the Club

Episode 13 of Reconnect: God is Too Big to Fit into One Religion

Blue Letter Bible

Contradict Movement

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