Tag Archives: Christianity

Podcasts

What caused an atheist on RichardDawkins.net to become a Christian?

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Here is a very interesting dialog featuring a pastor, an ex-atheist and a fundamentalist atheist. (H/T Two or Three)

Here is the MP3 file.

Check out a summary from Two or Three.

Excerpt:

But what made him convert?  Two things.  First, Robertson asked him two simple questions.  Why are you an atheist?  What would it take to convince you that God is real?  Morgan, who was used to philosophical arguments rather than more personal, emotional arguments, was taken aback.  He realized that he was not open to actually being convinced otherwise.  Second, he remembered the following scripture, which led to his conversion experience, an experience of love which made him a believer:

1 John 4:19
We love Him because He first loved us.

This conversion, and discussion in the interview, bring out a few interesting things that Christians might want to observe in their outreach:

  1. We should pray before posting responses when arguing with unbelievers
  2. Often, simple repetition of the truth of God’s love go around philosophical barriers that opponents have in their mind
  3. We must engage respectfully and kindly (argh!) and consistently
  4. The *experience* of God in genuine conversion is critical

This show was extremely interesting and helpful for understanding how atheists think, and why they become atheists. Don’t forget the testimony of former atheist A. N. Wilson that I wrote about before.

Podcasts

The latest podcasts from Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse

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Here are some helpful podcasts from Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse.

The first two talks were given to 110 lawyers in training at an Alliance Defense Fund event. I highly recommend them. If you like informed, passionate advocates of social conservatism who are also experts in libertarian economics, then you’ll enjoy these podcasts!

Podcasts

  1. Marriage & Sex
    (June 12, 2009) Dr. J guest-lectures on the economic and societal impact of marriage and sex.  This talk, delivered at the Blackstone Legal Fellowship in Phoenix, is a little over an hour long.  Its companion talk was podcast on June 23, 2009.

    Direct download: Sep02_09.mp3

  2. Iowa Supreme Court: Same-Sex Marriage
    (June 12, 2009) Dr. J guest-lectures on the recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling on homosexual marriage.  This talk, delivered at the Blackstone Legal Fellowship in Phoenix, is a little over an hour long.  Its companion talk is podcast on September 2, 2009.

    Direct download: June23_09.mp3

  3. Informed Consent, et. al.

    (August 25, 2009) Ignorance = Informed Consent?  Dr J sheds some light on this troubling trend, the groups behind it, and how mothers and children are losing out. (Note: this program is about Oklahoma overturning the law that requires doctors to conduct an ultrasound before performing an abortion.

    Direct download: Sep04_09.mp3

  4. Defense of Marriage Act
    (August 19, 2009) Dr J appears on Issues, Etc to discuss the Obama Justice Department’s impending defense of DoMA.  She also shines some light on the strategies of the homosexual movement as they attempt to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act.

    Direct download: Sep03_09.mp3

  5. #4: Same-Sex Marriage in Vermont
    (September 1, 2009) Vermont becomes the 4th state to legalize homosexual marriage.  Dr J and Todd Wilken discuss how it happened, the next target(s) of the homosexual lobby, and why it’s so important for supporters of traditional marriage to respond.

    Direct download: Sep05_09.mp3

It’s more fun to discuss these issues if you get the proper training first. Dr. Morse is the William Lane Craig of social issues, and social issues matter. If the left makes it illegal to advocate socially conservative positions in public, then we run the risk of not being able to teach Biblical values to our own children.

Mentoring

MUST-READ: The Pugnacious Irishman does a brave thing that we must imitate

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OK, now this is what I really like to see.

Excerpt:

Set up my classroom today…it’s an ordeal.

I have this gigundous bookshelf next to my desk that contains the  books I’ve read.  My theory is that if I want to make my students readers, I must model it myself.  In order for that to happen, they need to see me as a reader, which means they should see what I read.

If a student’s parents sign a waiver, the student has permission to check out any book in my room, including from my shelf (the lone exception is that books from my shelf can’t leave the room–I’m very territorial about my books.  :) ).

While I have a large range of reading interests, there are many Christian themed books.  Science, philosophy, theology, history–it’s all represented.

I can see some students balking at this.  “Isn’t that illegal?” they might ask.  “Hey!  Them’s religious books, and that violates the separation of church and state!” they might quip.

One time during a discussion at my previous school in which a religious question came up, a student objected: “my junior high teacher told me that it’s a sin to talk about religion in the classroom.”  Now there’s a contradiction if I ever heard one!

There’s no way I’m gonna let some ill-thought out one liner from a student or even parent get me to back down.  I’ve thought about this, and I have a ready response.

Read the whole thing! He goes into details explaining why he is not intimidated by the threat of people being offended. This is a great post. Very inspiring!

And now I want you all to consider trying to be like Rich! If you have a workplace, consider adding something that identifies you as a Christian. Rich just got married, and it hasn’t affected his level of bravery one bit! One of the main reasons I avoid marriage is because to me it means the end of adventures. I just cannot believe that my wife would encourage me to be brave. But Rich’s example should be an inspiration to us all!

This is exactly what I wanted to do in life, but by then I was committed to computer science… I dream of teaching! But I’m not sure how to get into it, and I don’t want to be in a union.

To learn more about bravery in the workplace

Listen to some lectures by my favorite Christian of all, the one I try to emulate most in my day to day life.

Dr. Walter L. Bradley

  • Ph.D. in Materials Science, University of Texas at Austin, 1968
  • B.S. in Engineering Science, University of Texas at Austin, 1965

My favorite lecture of all time:

And variations of his “Giants in the Land” lecture that I like:

Other lectures:

Post what YOU do to be identified as a Christian in YOUR workplace in the comments!