Reconnect

Andy listens to Chapter 4 of Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love.   Chan teaches that a crazy love from God demands a crazy response from us.  But... too many people who claim to be Christian are responding in lukewarm ways.   In Chapter 4 of Crazy Love, Chan details the profile of a lukewarm person.  The lukewarm person is not the good soil of Jesus' "Parable of the Sower and Soils."  The lukewarm person is not a lukewarm Christian, since lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron.   The kicker though is that we all have elements of lukewarmness in our lives, and even Chan admits this, so wouldn't that mean none of us our saved?  How would we know if we have too much lukewarmness in our lives to be counted among God's people?   The biggest problem is that Chan is pointing us towards ourselves for assurance of our justification and not to Christ and his saving work.  He is saying that a fulfillment of the Law on our part is how we can know if we are really saved or not.   Crazy Love is an immensely popular book and A

Adam Ford is the man behind the prolific and often viral producing online comic-strip Adam4D.  He’s a Christian, a husband, and father of three young boys.  Back in 2014, he quit his job to create comic strips full-time.   Since launching the Contradict – They Can’t All Be True Facebook page to help promote my book by that title, I have regularly found myself sharing Ford’s work.  Those posts generally draw many likes and shares.  His strips are often times found on many other Christian social media pages, typically groups or individuals who accept that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God.  Groups and individuals who are not labeled as liberal Christians or heretics!   When he’s not using presuppositional apologetics to tear down false-worldviews, or picking apart the lies of Darwinian Evolution, Ford is typically highlighting the pitfalls of legalism and self-justification within Christian circles, or the way verses are often times ripped out of their context and twisted to mean something that

Andy, Conni, and Jonathan discuss the importance of church choirs from their Biblical support and historical role in the Church.  Jonathan Aigner's blog post, "9 Reasons to Keep the Church Choir Alive"  serves as a guide for the discussion topic too.  As always on Reconnect, the church choir theme is tied to sharing the Gospel.  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/ponderanew/2014/09/23/9-reasons-to-keep-the-church-choir-alive/

Andy was a guest on Fear Knot Radio, where he got to share Contradict Movement with Vincent and Cynthia Hill, the hosts of Fear Knot Radio.

This episode is short.  It's an update for the state of the podcast.  Andy's taking two months off from releasing any new episodes.   In the meantime, he hopes to finish a process of being a called Theology teacher in the LC-MS and get some Sunday School curriculum made that will be available on the Contradict Movement website. 

A gorilla was recently killed at the Cincinnati Zoo to save the life of a toddler that had fallen into the gorilla's cage.   The result was a social media uproar!  There was immense outrage that the gorilla was shot.  Many suggested that the child should be the one to have died or that the parents should be charged with the death of the gorilla.  At stake in such backlash to the zoo's decision to kill the gorilla to save the child is the value of human life in comparison to that of animals.  Is all life equally valuable?  Are some species more valuable than others?  Is human life more valuable than the life of all other species?  Would the zoo have killed 10,000 gorillas to save the life of one toddler?  Where is the value of life derived?  Where does human value find its grounding?   Wes, Ben, and Andy discuss all of these questions from a Christian worldview, while trying to get inside the inner workings of some other belief systems. 

Andy received the following email in response to a Contradict tract a man was handed: Hey Andy Wrasman, Someone handed me a pamphlet about your movement! I read through it and I noticed a few problems. You say, "In light of these contradictions, all religions simply can't be true. They could all potentially be false, but they can't all be true" and I'm inclined to agree! However, if this statement about contradictions is true, how do you reconcile all of the contradictions among the Gospels like Joseph having different genealogies in Matthew and Luke, the date of the Last Supper which differs from the others in John, and the nature of Judas' death in Matthew and Acts? By your own logic, shouldn't the Gospels be viewed as false? Secondly, you say in your pamphlets that "the original Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, or written by people who wrote using eyewitness testimony." The earliest Gospel, Mark, was written 30-40 years after Jesus died, allowing plenty of time "for myths to have crept into the acc

Andy watches an episode of CrashCourse, an educational channel on Youtube, that answered "The Problem of Evil".  The answers from the show focus on a Theistic response to evil and the existence of God, which utterly fail to present the answer to the problem from a Christian worldview.  Enjoy! 

How can 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.  Visit www.andywrasman.com and see the post for Episode 57 to access show links. 

Episode 16 of Reconnect featuredguest, Ken Chitwood, sharing an article he wrote entitled,“Building Bridges: Toward Constructing a ChristianFoundation for Inter-Religious Relationships in the Shift fromReligious Privilege to Spiritual Plurality”.  Thekey points for inter-religious dialog that Ken suggests are: payattention, 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 approachinginter-religious dialog, I have a different application of the term“building bridges”.  I explain this approach in an articlethat I wrote for Reformation 21: “Embracing Religious Contradictions to ProclaimChrist Crucified: Tolerance andCoexistence”.   Looking at Acts 17, I see how Paul knew thebeliefs and culture of those he was sharing the Gospel ofJesus.  He made the presentation of the Gospel from startingwithin their belief system with a point of contact that he coulduse to make a connection to the Biblical narrative ofs

David 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 M

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 go to Episode 54 at www.andywrasman.com to access the guide Andy created 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 cult

Christians believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  Eyewitness testimonies attest to the truth of this belief, testimonies that are reliable on account of the witnesses’ willingness to die for their claims, as well as the solid physical evidence of the empty tomb with a corpse that was never found.  However, many non-Christian skeptics assert that it is more likely these eyewitnesses were lying, or that we have no eyewitness testimonies at all, but instead the New Testament is simply plagiarized by the apostles or imposters in the second century who applied resurrection narratives of other gods to the man, Jesus of Nazareth.  This episode of Reconnect presents both sides of the arguments through the use of multiple audio clips downloaded from Youtube with Andy giving commentary throughout the show. 

The central claim of Christianity is that Jesus died for sins, was buried, and rose from the dead for our salvation.  Episodes 50 and 51 of Reconnect shared 14 evidences that indicate that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead confirming his claims to be God in the flesh, the savior of all men.  When faced with these evidences, not everyone comes to the conclusion that Jesus did rise bodily from the dead.  Alternative theories are thus offered to naturally explain the evidences.  Sometimes these theories offer evidence also.  This episode looks at an elaborate explanation for the empty tomb of Jesus that involves the theft and reburial of Jesus’ corpse in a different location, a location that that is speculated to have been found by the discovery of a family tomb that contained an ossuary with the name, “Jesus, Son of Joseph”, inscribed on it.  This theory was put forth by The Lost Tomb of Jesus, documentary that was produced by James Cameron.  Andy Wrasman plays audio clips from this documentary and offer

If Jesus rose from the grave, Christianity is true. If Jesus did not rise from the grave, Christianity is false.To make a case that the resurrection of Christ occurred, it needs to be shown that Jesus died, was buried, his tomb was found empty, and people interacted with him alive again.Robert Bowman of Credo House made a list of fourteen evidences to support the resurrection claim of the apostles and early Christian Church. This episode of reconnect focuses on the last seven evidences Bowman listed. With the help of Ben Fisher, Andy Wrasman provides details to flush out Bowman’s brief summaries of these strands of evidence.Evidences for the Resurrection 8-148.  Paul and Luke’s Independent Testimonies9. Cleopas and that Other Guy10. Brother James11. John’s Eyewitness Testimony12.  Ancient Skepticism13.  Paul’s Conversion14. Paul’s Mission to the GentilesGo back to Episode 50 to hear evidences 1-7.Visit www.andywrasman.com and see the show notes for this episode.

If Jesus rose from the grave, Christianity is true. If Jesus did not rise from the grave, Christianity is false. To make a case that the resurrection of Christ occurred, it needs to be shown that Jesus died, was buried, his tomb was found empty, and people interacted with him alive again. Robert Bowman of Credo House made a list of fourteen evidences to support the resurrection claim of the apostles and early Christian Church. This episode of reconnect focuses on the first seven evidences Bowman listed. With the help of Ben Fisher, Andy Wrasman provides details to flush out Bowman’s brief summaries of these strands of evidence. Evidences for the Resurrection 1-7 1. Jesus’ Existence 2. Jesus’ Death 3. A Crucified Messiah 4. Joseph’s Tomb 5. Women Witnesses 6. Ancient Theories Tune in for Episode 51 to hear evidences 8-14. Show Links Robert Bowman’s “14 Evidences for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ” Reconnect Episode 7 – “Did Jesus Fulfill All Messianic Prophesies?” Reconnect Episode 31 – “Tatto

Total depravity is a divisive doctrine within the Christian Church. This doctrine teaches that since the Fall of Man, all of mankind is in a state of complete corruption by sin. Our minds, bodies, spirit, emotions, desires, will, relationships – OUR EVERYTHING – is ruined by sin. The wreckage is so great that we can do nothing whatsoever to please God, draw near to him, or to please him. We are truly dead in our sin. If we can do nothing to accept God, then that must mean our salvation is purely a gift. Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. (Ephesians 2:8) Most Christians recognize that grace is pure gift, but total depravity necessitates that the faith of believers must also be solely a gift, the work of God alone. If faith is a gift of God, then why are some saved and the multitudes damned? Did God not love them? Did Christ not die for them? Did God not choose to save them? These questions and many more rightly flow from a proper understanding of the doctrine of total d

1 out of 6 adults will experience depression at some point in their life. Depression affects about 16 million Americans every year. Christians are not immune. For those who haven't suffered with depression, the many devastating symptoms aren't known or even understood when they are. Adam Cumpston shares his bouts with depression and anxiety and how out of desperation, after trying all other options, he turned to God for healing, and he was healed. Adam does a good job of taking his experience and making it applicable to everyone, since we all will face some sort of "storms" in our lives. Scripture speaks volumes to what Christians can gain from difficult times of sufferings and how even if we don't experience healing in this life, God's grace is sufficient for us. As a take away for Reconnect, since this podcast is dedicated to sharing and defending the Good News of Jesus Christ, Adam spoke about the importance of memorizing Scripture so that we can defend ourselves against the lies of Satan with the truth of

Are religions falsifiable?  How would you go about testing a religious truth claim?  They typically aren't observable or repeatable?  So the scientific method is out.   In fact, most of life's important realities aren't subjectable to the scientific method. However, we aren't limited to the scientific method for gleaning knowledge and discerning truth.   We also have historiographic testing.  Andy reads Chapter 4 of his book, Contradict - They Can't All Be True, to explain the historiographic method and it's three tests.  Andy closes by sharing listener feedback for the past four episodes. 

Ben Fisher riffs on "12 Arguments Evolutionists Should Avoid" that he shares with his high school class.  Answers in Genesis created the list of bad arguments.  Do you agree?  Are these bad arguments that evolutionists should avoid?  Show Links:12 Arguments Evolutionists Should Avoid "Busting a Myth about Columbus and the flat Earth" by The Washington Post