Worldview Legacy | The Think Institute

Joel and Parker answer the question: how should Christians think about Jordan Peterson?

God is the infinite, personal, Triune Lord, who is higher than everything yet present everywhere, and who has exercises authority and control over all things. There is much we could say about the biblical view of God. However, whatever we say about him, we must do so in a way that both agrees with what the Bible says, and is understandable (which means avoiding unnecessary theological jargon). Knowing God is life’s greatest privilege, and it is our privilege as believers to share that knowledge with others. This episode is an audio recording of the Think Institute article, How to Explain Who God Is. To get the full show notes, go to truthinconversation.com

When Is It Right to Get Offended? As we strive to be more like Jesus, we find ourselves confronted with the question, when should Christians get offended? We can clearly see in the New Testament that some things did offend Jesus. In fact, some things that got him the most upset seem to be things that would be commonplace to us--nothing worth getting mad about. Other times, we see him resist reacting, or respond calmly (or not at all), over instances that would cause us to fly off the handle. How do we think biblically about our experiences, in order to respond the way Jesus wants us to? Are Trigger Warnings Helpful? In the interest of not offending students, professors started issuing trigger warnings at the beginning of lectures dealing with potentially-sensitive subjects. What began as a potentially-helpful practice has, over the last few years, grown into a cultural meme far beyond the halls of academia. Today, the idea of “triggering” others has become a badge of honor for some who take pride in “melting” (offending, refuting, etc.) “snowflakes” (people who are just as unique and special as they are fragile). I (Joel) have been known to offend atheists, by making arguments like the ones in the episode, “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Science.” The offense was not intentional, but it happened nonetheless. It is ironic that it is self-styled conservatives who take the most pride in triggering self-professed progressives (who are usually more accurately called Leftists), given recent history. Going back about one generation, it was those on the left who were taking pride in offending conservatives and Christians. Their repeated refrain was a call for Christians and conservatives to be more “tolerant.” Today the roles seem to have flipped. What Being Offended Really Means When someone says they feel offended, they are really saying they have been wronged. In theological language, we might say they have been sinned against. They are the victims of an offense. Do We Have the Right Not To Be Offended? As Christians, our interest is not to be in defending our own honor. We are not to be those who seek to avoid becoming triggered at all costs. Like our Lord, we are to exhibit thick skins in the face of personal offense. Jesus, “was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). We need to be seeking spiritual conversations (for help with this, see “How to Get Into Spiritual Conversations”). However, when we do this, we will inevitably encounter positions we disagree with. When that happens, we ought to look to the Bible as our guide for how to respond. When we look at Scripture, we see that there are times when it is right to exhibit righteous indignation. Jesus became outraged when Gentiles and children were hindered from drawing near to God. In the latter case, he rebuked his disciples. In the former, he flipped some tables and got out a whip. He warned people sternly not to cause children to sin. He was angered by the Pharisees who closed the door to the Kingdom of God and refused to let anyone else enter. As followers of Jesus, we need not be preoccupied with defending our supposed right to not be offended. However, when barriers are placed between repentant sinners and the love of God, then we are right to not only get offended, but to act accordingly until things are made right. Get complete show notes at truthinconversation.com.

Feeling Weary? Have you ever felt weary? So weary that you felt it in your soul? When was that? Maybe it was after busy season at work, or after wrapping up a major ministry project in ministry caring for a loved one. What does God say about being weary? The Bible has a lot to say about the weary soul. Also, I have I have discussed a biblical perspective on weariness in episodes, If God is Good, Why Did He Let This Happen to Me? and Ends, Means & Evangelism (blogcast). Because the Bible has so much to say, it can be easy to pick a verse for a quick “head” fix, like Philippians 4:6, which says “Do not be anxious about anything,” and then grit your teeth and white-knuckle your way through. It can also be tempting to fixate on a verse for a “heart” (emotional) fix--something like Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Neither way--seeking only a “head” fix or only a “heart”/emotional fix--is very effective. Yet as Christians, we are supposed to have everything needed for life and godliness--and we’re supposed to be able to take what we know about God and experience rest and restoration for our weary souls. So how exactly does that happen? What does it mean to have a weary soul? And what do we do about it? In this episode we’re going to help you find the answer. My guest is Pastor Joe Thorn. Joe is the Lead Pastor at Redeemer Fellowship in St. Charles, Illinois, and a host of the Doctrine and Devotion podcast, with Jimmy Fowler. He has also written several books about the relationship between theology and the Christian life. Those books include Note to Self (which he talked about with the Biblical Counseling Coalition in 2011), and Experiencing the Trinity, in which he explains how a robust knowledge of God's nature can strengthen one's faith and bring believers back from the brink of falling away and restore them after burnout, exhaustion, and distress. Together we discuss the importance of theology as well as finding theological coaches to help us along our journey.  Get the show notes at https://bit.ly/2jWBB2m

Manliness is an incredibly hot topic right now. There is a whole online ecosystem known as the Manosphere, filled with guys ranging from so-called pickup artists all the way to those who run Christian ministries aimed at helping men pursue biblical manliness (our own friend Jarrett Samuels at the Pursuit of Manliness is doing great work in this are). The Art of Manliness is a massively-impactful website with a podcast near the top of the charts. Jordan Peterson, who encourages men to stand up straight with their shoulders back, has skyrocketed in popularity. Our guest today is Alex Rodriguez. Alex has launched a ministry that is uniquely focused on discipling and deploying men for Christ and his kingdom. We connected with him via social media months ago, and I (Joel) brought my son to one of his four-hour boot camps recently. In this episode, we will talk about the Men's Muster ministry, a man's place in the local church, the family and society, and how to develop the masculine mind. In addition to founding the Men's Muster, our guest earned his M. A. in Biblical and Theological Studies from Knox Theological Seminary. He's the Student Ministries Director at North Suburban Church in Deerfield, Illinois, and he's a husband and a father of four children. We've been looking forward to this conversation for a long time.  To follow the Men's Muster or contact Alex about a biblical boot camp for the men at your church, visit themensmuster.org. Would you help us get the word out about the Think Institute and Think Podcast? Give us a five-star rating and write us a short review on Apple Podcasts (tiny.cc/thinkpod). Follow along with the Think Institute for more great resources: truthinconversation.com. Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThinkInst Facebook: http://fb.me/thethinkinstitute Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethinkinstitute/

My son has been in the hospital for over six months now. My wife posts updates on our Facebook page, "Pray for Superhero Lukas,", but I have not written much about him (outside of social media). However, as Lukas has been hospitalized, I have been doing a lot of thinking about God’s sovereignty, and I want to share my thoughts. Specifically, I want to talk about how I think the Lord is using my son’s health crisis to accomplish his mission for our family. So what does God’s sovereignty have to do with Lukas’s stay in the hospital? Aliza and I have been praying for the Lord to bless our ministry. What we most certainly did not expect were the means by which God was going to do this. What do I mean? What I mean is that the Lord is using our time here in the hospital to encourage Christians and to evangelize non-Christians. Aliza and I have had opportunities to share the Gospel with nurses and parents of other patients. Aliza’s blog is getting thousands of views–and she is sharing the Gospel in every post. Literally thousands of people are reading and hearing about Jesus Christ through our family’s pain and suffering. We do not have full insight into God’s plan as to why he has allowed us to enter into this trial. However, we are not afraid. Rather, we are “bold as lions”(Proverbs 28:1) because we know whom we have believed (2 Timothy 1:12). So we pray that God’s word would prove true: that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22), and that by the means our tribulations, our Sovereign God would accomplish his ends of saving many souls. Would you help us get the word out about the Think Institute and Think Podcast? Give us a five-star rating and write us a short review on Apple Podcasts (tiny.cc/thinkpod). Follow the Think Institute for more great resources: truthinconversation.com. Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThinkInst Facebook: http://fb.me/thethinkinstitute Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethinkinstitute/

Over the last decade or so, there's been a resurgence of robust theology in many local churches, and all kinds of exciting, Gospel-centered movements have sprung up.  However, in the last year and a half, there has been a disturbing trend of many of those same churches turning away from making the Gospel their top priority and turning instead toward cultural and social activism. Churches chasing after societal improvement seek to address supposed social and political needs, in order to help people live better lives in the here and now. However, while these desired social outcomes are said to be "Gospel issues," there is a real danger that churches are chasing them at the expense of the Gospel. Certainly, the Gospel has implications for how Christians will function within the broader society, and there is no shortage of social problems to address. Yet our weapon is the word of God--the Bible--and the heart of the Bible is the Gospel.  The Gospel is the cure for sin, and this is what we must bring to the sinful world.  With all the talk about the Gospel, it would help to know what it actually is. So, do you know what the Gospel is? Can you explain it? How well can you articulate it?  First we will talk about the need for Christians to understand the Gospel, followed by what our attitude ought to be toward it, according to Scripture. Then we'll give a very clear and biblical definition of the Gospel and get practical by outlining five ways to communicate it.  We pray this helps you get equipped and encouraged to communicate the best news on earth and the greatest story ever told. Welcome to the Think Podcast. We hope it makes you think. In this episode we mentioned the Changing Face of Evangelism training. If you want to get this training for your church, contact Joel Settecase: https://thethink.institute/contact. Visit churchmovements.com for more information. Follow the Think Institute: Twitter: @thinkinst Facebook: @thethinkinstitute Instagram: @thethinkinstitute Truthinconversation.com The Think Podcast: Tiny.cc/thinkpod Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and write us a short review! Thanks for your help and support.

Is there an overarching plan for your life, the universe and everything? And if there is, just whose plan is it anyway? It has been popular in recent years to personify "the Universe," as though the matter-and energy, space-time reality we inhabit is somehow personal and even governs our lives in some way. In this episode I discuss that trend and how the personification and even deification of "the Universe" is a cheap substitute for the biblical presentation of God as the sovereign Lord over his creation (including us and the universe too).   During the time that I was a pastor at a local church (actually at a couple of local churches), I used to blog on my personal Wordpress site, Settecase.Wordpress.com. I got a lot of traffic over there, and I still do (at least by my standards), but now I write exclusively on the Think Institute site, Truthinconversation.com, so I’m faced with a dilemma. I want to preserve that blog, but I also want to deliver that content to the folks I'm serving through the Think Institute, yet without simply reposting the article onto the T. I. blog.  How do I introduce the articles, resources and content from my personal blog to the new audience of the Think Institute, and the churches I want to partner with for equipping, engagement and encouragement in Gospel ministry?  The answer is this: I’m taking some of my most popular articles from my personal blog and bringing them over to the Think Institute in audio format--i.e. as podcast episodes. I did that already with "30 Questions for Atheists, Agnostics & Skeptics, which was one of the articles on my personal blog that had gotten the most hits. And now I’m doing it with this article. I hope it's helpful and "I hope it makes you think." Take your study further:  Ravi Zacharias on the four questions of a coherent worldview: https://www.rzim.org/listen/just-a-thought/a-coherent-worldview Cornelius Van Til on God’s Transcendence and Immanence: https://corneliusvantil.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/transcendence-and-immanence/ A helpful diagram of God’s Lordship Attributes (John Frame's concept) by Neil Robbie: https://transforminggrace.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/john-m-frame-on-the-lordship-attributes/ “One or Two?” by Peter Jones: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/one-or-two/ “The Universe Has A Plan, Kids” – a blog post by Virginia Pasley that helped inform this post: https://thoughtcatalog.com/virginia-pasley/2013/11/the-universe-has-a-plan-kids/

When did Christianity really begin? The church began at Pentecost in or around the year 33 A. D....right? It was then that God sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples of Jesus. Yet the church's roots go back much further; it is also the continuation of the special relationship with God that believers enjoyed for thousands of years before Christ.  Those B. C. believers put their hope in the same Messiah that A. D. believers (i.e. Christians) hope in today. They were looking forward to his first coming, whereas we look back on his first coming and forward to his second coming. There is continuity between the Church of Jesus Christ and the believers who came before (as a particular example, Christians are said to have the same faith as Abraham). Enter the Old Covenant Law (A. K. A. the Law of Moses). The nation of Israel, the covenant people of God in the B. C. era, were given 613 laws and told to obey them in order to maintain the terms of their covenant with God.  As believers today, this side of the events of the life, death, resurrection and reign of the Messiah, how should we view those commands? Should we obey them all? Is that even possible today? Should we keep some but not others? Should we unhitch from them all? And how do we know? In this episode, Dan Osborn and Joel Settecase sit down to address the question of the Law of Moses and Christians today. We hope it makes you think. We need your help to introduce the Think Podcast to more people. Would you help us out? Give us a five-star rating and write us a short review on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/…/this-is-apologet…/id1462722483…). Follow the Think Institute for more great resources: truthinconversation.com. Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThinkInst Facebook: http://fb.me/thethinkinstitute Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethinkinstitute/

The SONS OF THUNDER (Joel and Parker) are back, and there are many things the brothers can't agree on.  For starters, which one of them is the host, and which one is the "co-guest"?  Second, should these Sons of Thunder episodes fall under the auspices of the Think Podcast, or is this its own separate thing?  And the third thing they can't agree on is what should be the catchphrase at the end of each Sons of Thunder episode? (You'll have to listen to the end to see what they came up with--also, in the spirit of the Marvel Cinematic Universe we may have left a few "post credit scenes" for you to enjoy as well).  Alright, so these guys might not see eye-to-eye on everything, but one thing they absolutely, unequivocally *do* agree on is that Christian Theism is correct, rational and satisfying, while atheism (naturalism, materialism, and every form of "physicalism") is, well, not so much any of those things.  There are many excellent arguments Christians may use to support the truth of the Christian message, but in this episode the brothers analyze two similar arguments (so similar that they're sometimes thought to be two versions of the same one), one from philosopher Alvin Plantinga and the other from author C. S. Lewis. Plantinga's "Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism" and Lewis's "Argument from Reason" both make the case that, if God did not exist, then (for reasons illuminated by the arguments) human beings would have no reason to trust their conclusions (including their conclusion that God does not exist!). It gets technical, but it's a fun and engaging conversation, and (probably) overly-inflammatory as well, which is what you expect from a couple of guys intentionally calling themselves the Sons of Thunder.  Parker does a lot of the heavy philosophical lifting on this episode, bringing to bear his study of the two arguments and two men making the arguments.  He also makes a shameless plug for his pretentious, pretentious blog (his words), which you can locate, read, educate yourself with at http://www.trendsettercase.wordpress.com. Seriously, his blog is incredible, and you'll want to check it out.  Follow along with the Think Institute on Twitter (@ThinkInst), Facebook and Instagram (both are @TheThinkInstitute), or get more articles and resources to help you get equipped with knowledge, encouraged to share and defend the Christian message, and engaged in conversation with unbelievers as you seek "Truth In Conversation" at http://www.truthinconversation.com.