Tag Archives: Please Convince Me

Podcasts

Do people choose their religion based on their country of birth?

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This podcast is from Jim W. Wallace of Please Convince Me. (H/T John Barron)

Topic:

Do people choose their religion based on the country of their birth, or based on peer pressure from their local community, or based on pressure from their family?

The MP3 file is here. (31 Mb, 67 minutes)

Summary:

  • people in the early church did not become Christians because of peer pressure
  • Christianity thrived in an environment of hardship and persecution
  • even today, Christianity is thriving in China, in a hostile environment
  • Christianity is actually growing the fastest in non-Christian countries
  • in America, the two fastest growing religions are Islam and “No religion”
  • the entertainment industry, mainstream media and university are anti-Christian
  • many people become Christians on their own, which no family/community pressure

If you listen to his read e-mails, he mentions my post on the hiddenness of God and plugs my blog! Wow!

Podcasts

Brian Auten interviews Jim Wallace of Please Convince Me

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I spotted this on Apologetics 315. This is really well done.

The MP3 file is here. (43 minutes)

Details from Brian’s post:

Today’s interview is with Jim Wallace of PleaseConvinceMe.com and host of the PleaseConvinceMe Podcast. As a cold case detective, Jim brings a unique perspective to his approach to apologetics and a very down-to-earth logical style. In this interview, Jim talks about his approach to the evidence (inference to the best explanation), Tactics and apologetics, debate vs. dialogue, pitfalls to apologists, and more.

Topics:

  • Jim’s background as an Catholic-raised atheist, and cold-case detective
  • Jim believed in the progress of science to answer all the unresolved questions
  • How did Jim become an atheist?
  • Why didn’t Jim respond to Christians witnessing to him without evidence?
  • What approach worked to start him thinking about becoming a Christian?
  • What did Jim do to grow as a Christian?
  • How did Jim’s police training help him to investigate Christianity?
  • What investigative approach is used in his police work?
  • Does “abductive reasoning” also work for investigating Christianity?
  • What sort of activities did Jim get involved in in his community?
  • How Jim’s experience as a youth pastor convinced him of the value of apologetics
  • How young people learn best by training for engagement with opponents
  • How Jim takes his youth on mission trips to UC Berkeley to engage the students
  • Is it possible to run an apologetics ministry part-time while keeping a day job?
  • Do you have to be an expert in order to have an apologetics ministry?
  • What books would Jim recommend to beginning apologists?
  • How the popular apologist can have an even bigger impact than the scholar
  • How the tactical approach is different for debates and conversations
  • Jim’s advice for Christians who are interested in learning apologetics
  • How Christian apologist need to make sure they remain humble and open-minded
  • How your audience determines how much you need to know from study

Jim’s reason for becoming an atheist, (his mother was excluded from the Catholic church after her divorce), is one I have heard before. Without saying anything about the Catholic church’s policy. I like the way he eventually came back to Christianity. No big emotional crisis, just taking a sober second look at the evidence by himself, and talking with his Christian friends. I’m impressed with the way he has such a productive ministry, as well.