In Francis Schaeffer’s classic book Art and the Bible he wrote, “Is the creative part of our life committed to Christ? Christ is the Lord of our whole life and the Christian life should produce not only truth—flaming truth—but also beauty.” He argued that art is important to the Christian life because it is a work of creativity and God is the Creator. Moreover, since man is created in the image of God, he has the capacity to create, and that makes his works of art meaningful. My guest on today’s show argues that we ought to take the works of art in film seriously and view them as opportunities to experience our Creator. His name is Richard Goodwin and we discussed his new book Seeing Is Believing.

How does God view me in my sins and sufferings? We often ask ourselves this question. We wonder if he pulls away from us because of our sinfulness. Our hearts doubt that he could desire someone who is as spiritually broken as we are. In this episode, I share a teaching from one of my favorite passages in Scripture. The story of David and Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9 shows us how God views the spiritually crippled. We learn how God sees us in our sins and sufferings, as well as his invitation to us.

Suffering causes us to ask hard questions about life. It also tests our faith as we question God’s goodness, or even existence, in the reality of a deeply broken world. One of the most important factors in how we handle suffering is the story that we believe about the world and ourselves. The story we believe will determine the answers to those hard questions. My guest on today’s show argues for the Christian worldview as the story we need in order to understand the condition of life and to live well in the face of suffering.

Can I be a woman born in a man’s body? Is it possible that God could have made a mistake when he made me? Is the idea of gender merely a social construct that I should reject in order to be my authentic self? These questions are the kind of thoughts that many teenagers and young adults in our culture are considering. Many people find it shocking to discover that those who identify as LGBTQ+ are on a sharp increase in Gen Z. Discerning Christian ask why, how can we respond, and what do we do to protect our children from gender confusion. My guest on today’s show is Sarah Zylstra, a writer at The Gospel Coalition, who has done excellent work investigating this topic to answer these questions.

Do you find yourself distracted lately? We live in a culture that has trained us to expect constant entertainment, endless content, and no effort to achieve contentment. These expectations have been made possible by the dominance of digital media in our lives. Jay Kim returns to this episode to argue that we need the wisdom of the biblical worldview to discern the tech’s promises and break free from our digital slavery, as we discussed his newest book Analog Christian.

Masculinity is a hot topic today in our swirling debates about gender and sexuality. Both in the church and the broader culture, people argue over the fundamental differences, roles, and definitions of masculinity and femininity. My guest on today’s show has an approach to considering the nature of masculinity that doesn’t rely on cultural stereotypes but instead looks at the motivating heart of a man. His name is Chase Replogle and we discussed his new book The 5 Masculine Instincts.

The Christian faith will always have opponents, skeptics, and seekers who will attempt to challenge its credibility, which is why apologetics is always a necessity. Moreover, we need apologists because there are a wide diversity of intellectual challenges and personalities which must be engaged when defending the faith. On today’s show, my guest is a Christian apologist with a new book that provides a unique approach to presenting Christianity to the skeptic. His name is Neil Shenvi and we discussed his book Why Believe? A Reasoned Approach to Christianity.

As Christians, we believe that every person in a relationship with God has a calling from God. We read this in passages such as Ephesians 2:8-10 where Paul tells us, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift ​— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” We live out these callings and good works that God has called us to in every day of our lives. Whether you are an employee, entrepreneur, homemaker, or missionary, you must discover how God has called you in your time and place. My guest on today’s show wants to help us discover our calling and follow it faithfully. His name is Gordon T. Smith and we discussed his newest book Your Calling Here and Now.

When we go through times of difficulty, we often question God’s plans, promises, and disposition towards us. It’s easy to wonder what his purpose is for us when we are experiencing trials and suffering. There’s consolation in that when we read Scripture, we see many examples of God’s people going through such times and asking similar questions. I recently preached a sermon at our church on God’s message to the Jews in exile who were contemplating similar questions. In Jeremiah 29, God speaks directly to his suffering children and tells them what his purpose is for them in their trials. No matter what kind of difficulty you experience in your life, this letter is incredibly relevant to us too.

One of the biblical themes that we read about God’s people is that we are sojourners. This means that we are resident aliens. We reside somewhere that we do not ultimately belong. In other words, where we live now is not our true home. As sojourners in this world, there are many ways that we can experience the otherness and difficulty of not belonging to it. The Christian Worldview helps us to understand how we are different from our surrounding culture and teaches us the truth. I’m excited to have a guest who’s an excellent Christian worldview guide in our confusing culture. His name is Shane Morris and we discussed a wide range of topics.

They say that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. What about those who misunderstand or distort the past? It’s not only important that we know history but that we get history right. As Christians, history is another segment of life that we can approach and understand from the biblical worldview to gain a proper view. I’m glad to welcome on the show Vern Poythress to discuss his newest book Redeeming Our Thinking About History: A God-Centered Approach.

Being a Christian means more than adopting a set of beliefs. To be a Christian is to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ and to be transformed by the Holy Spirit through that relationship. We call this discipleship. It should be the core part of every believer’s identity. Sadly, we often have murky definitions or misguided ideas about what exactly discipleship means. That’s why I’m glad to welcome Jonathan Dodson back to the show to discuss his book Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

Jonathan and I discussed what discipleship means and how we tend to get it wrong in the church. He helps us to understand how discipleship involves our minds and our hearts, as well as how we can get down to the heart. Lastly, Jonathan explains what this kind of discipleship looks like in practice.

Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia rank as many peoples’ favorite epic tales. These fantasy classics have stirred the imaginations and inspired good action in millions of people around the world. As such powerful stories, they are evident examples of how stories play a role in our virtue formation. I’m glad to welcome Louis Markos back to the show to help us to understand the virtue-forming power of stories and how these books inspire such virtue through discussing his book On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue in Tolkien and Lewis.

You’ve probably noticed the rising prices in the cost of living this year. Everyone is feeling the squeeze on pocketbooks as everyday essentials are becoming more and more expensive due to inflation. I’ll be the first to admit a lack of knowledge in economics and the factors that drive inflation. That’s why I’m glad to welcome Tho Bishop to the show today.

Tho and I discussed a lot in this conversation. We began by talking about Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian school of economics. Tho then explain the bad monetary policies and history that have led to the economic woes we’re facing now. We finished by talking about Tho’s recent spiritual journey to Christianity and what he’s learned.

We are faced with dozens of decisions in everyday life. On top of the mundane, daily decisions, we have large questions to answer and choices to make. These moments of decision-making can be some of the most challenging, yet rewarding times of our lives. My guest on today’s show seeks to help you to think better about decision-making, what it means to seek God in our decision-making, and how to work a better process for our big decisions. Her name is Aimee Joseph and we discussed her new book Demystifying Decision-Making: A Practical Guide.

The challenges to the Christian faith must be answered in every age. Moreover, the specific problems and objections to Christianity are always changing with each new generation. In 1 Peter 3:15, the apostle admonished us to be prepared to give everyone an answer for the hope that is in us. So, the church needs to be equipped in the practice of apologetics—the defense of the faith.

That’s why I’m excited to welcome Douglas Groothuis back to the podcast to discuss the new edition of his massive work Christian Apologetics. We discuss the work of apologetics, what’s new in his book, and the unique challenges to the Christian worldview today.

Scholar George Yancey is no stranger to this podcast and I am excited to feature him on the show again. We recently got to do a live Q&A at my church when George came to speak on Beyond Racial Division. I got to receive questions submitted from our congregation to ask him as well as share some of my own questions. We ended up covering a lot related to racial alienation, collaborative conversations, and even education.

In the previous episode, I shared part one of a conference talk that I recently gave at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I attempt to address what is beneath our culture’s sickness and argue that the loss of a sense of purpose is a primary contributor. When we lose an objective basis for truth and purpose, then our world becomes meaningless and valueless.

This episode will continue in my talk on “The Problem of Purpose” and consider how Christianity can provide a solution to the problem. Remember, if you enjoy this content, I also have a new article out at Boundless on the same topic and you can find the link in the show notes.

We live in a time of deep irony. On the one hand, we enjoy the healthiest, most affluent, and most secure society that has ever existed. On the other hand, in spite of these blessings, we have some of the highest rates of depression, anxiety, and unhappiness than at any other time. How do we account for our misery in spite of our decadence? While we might point to many factors, I argue that one of the most prominent is that people have lost a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives.

Here on Filter we regularly cover topics related to apologetics, philosophy, theology, history, and literature. However, there’s one aspect of life that’s particularly important to me which we’ve never covered—fitness. That’s why I’m excited to welcome today’s guest Jake Lockert. We talked about fitness can play an important role not only in your physical health but also in your spiritual health and character development.