Open to Truth

What‘s the Meaning of/in Life?

What is the meaning of life? What's the meaning in life? Are those separate questions? In any case, we explore various potential sources of meaning and what to make of them.  We discuss whether meaning if objective or subjective, to what extent we can give our own lives meaning, the implications of the existence of God on meaning, and what exactly we mean by "meaning"!

Stay Curious!

Does God Know the Future?

One of the trickier problems in theology is sorting out how God can know the future and how human beings can have free will.  If God can't be wrong about his beliefs, and some of his beliefs are about my future decisions, then don't I have to make certain decisions (lest God be wrong - which is purportedly impossible!).

We discuss the problem at length and examine an interesting, yet controversial way to relieve this tension: Open Theism.

Stay Curious!

Why Get Married?

Why do people decide to get married? In particular, what is the rationale behind monogamous marriages and why would that be a choiceworthy arrangement for people to aspire to rather than an alternative?  There's much more to be said on this topic than what we get into, but here's a start!

Stay Curious!

Mailbag #4 - Pray for Satan, Religious Experience, and Consent Issues

You wrote in - we responded! We discuss your questions about whether it makes sense to pray for Satan, whether conceiving is unethical due to the impossibility of acquiring consent, if the government has monopoly on education and is abusing it, and religious experience regarding prayer and trinity.

Stay Curious!

Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? (pt. 2) - feat. Janet Kellogg Ray

In part 2 of this conversation, we discuss some of the major misconceptions about the theory of evolution and one of the bigger concerns for people of faith  - what to make of the origins of human beings.

Stay Curious!

Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? pt. 1 - feat. Dr. Janet Kellogg Ray

Why do we have the various lifeforms on this planet that we do? What is the biological history leading up to this moment?  And for those who are people of faith, what are the implications theologically, if any, for the various answers to those questions?

In this episode, Dr. Janet Kellogg Ray, author of Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark?, discusses some of the main pieces of evidence for evolutionary theory and addresses the prominent arguments offered in opposition.  

We get into many subtopics such as the whether there is conflict between science and religion, what motivates anti-evolutionary ideas, the fossil record, flood geology, and human evolution.  Stay tuned for next week's part 2 and as always....

Stay Curious!

Should You Eat Animals?

Animals are killed for the purpose of being eaten by humans. This fact has come under ethical scrutiny much more in recent years, mostly due to the exposure to the public of HOW we get our meat. Most of it is from factory farming. We discuss some of the horrors of this process, how this impacts the ethics of consumption of animal products and a way forward for those wishing to live a more ethical life.

Stay Curious!

How Free Should Speech Be?

Debates on the Freedom of Speech have raged over the last decade.  With the advent of social media, a greater voice has been given to everyone - and there's no doubt that some speech will be hateful or have negative consequences.  The question we are all asking is how much speech should be allowed - when are we justified in limiting someone's liberty to freely speak?  

Stay Curious!

Does God Have Moral Obligations?

It has long been a part of Western theology that the divine is morally good - morally perfect even.  But how should we think about this perfection; what does it mean? Does God have to do the right thing - does God have moral obligations? What does the right thing mean when we are talking about God - isn't God in some way the source of morality?  What sorts of things are "moral principles" anyway? They seem pretty weird.  We discuss all of this and more in this week's episode.

Stay Curious!

Getting More Organs - Consent, Money, and the Greater Good

Though not in the national spotlight currently, the topic of organ donation continues to touch the lives of many people.  Those in need of organs and their loved ones can be surprised at the intricacies of getting more organs and who is prioritized to receive them.  It involves consent laws, whether to allow people to buy and sell organs, and how we allocate the organs once we get them.  

Stay Curious!