When was the last time you had a serious conversation about a controversial topic that didn't end in a fight? Our cultural discourse has backslidden into toxicity, particularly online. Ansen and Justin discuss what the Bible can teach us about how to speak to one another with the right combination of conviction, gentleness, and respect.

Ansen and Chaplain Justin follow up on their previous discussion about Genesis 1 with a deeper dive into the often adversarial relationship between religion and science. Our hosts wade through church history, Biblical interpretation, the scientific method, philosophy, personal experience, and more on a quest to discover what it might look like for religion and science to be allies in our search for truth.

The creation account in Genesis 1 is perhaps the most well-known story in the Bible, and yet even Christians can't agree on what it means. Ansen and Chaplain Justin discuss how applying a literary framework can help us see that the narrative isn't really focused on the mechanics of creation, but rather on exploring the nature of the Creator.

If Christians are "saved by faith," it's probably pretty important for us to understand what exactly faith is! Ansen and Chaplain Justin dissect the broadly used but often vaguely defined term through the framework of Biblical Theology. What is faith and where does it come from? And perhaps even more critically, what do we do when our faith seems defective or inadequate?

Reading the Bible can be confusing, and no genre of Biblical literature is more confusing to our modern eyes and ears than "apocalyptic" books like Daniel or Revelation. Ansen and Chaplain Justin break down what Apocalyptic Literature is, why it was written with so much figurative language and bizarre imagery, and how we as modern Christians can begin to make sense of it.

After getting a bit sidetracked with John the Baptist in the previous episode, Ansen and Chaplain Justin take some extra time to re-examine this compelling Bible character. Was this guy the ancient equivalent of a crazy street-corner preacher, or was there some method to the camel hair-wearing, locust-eating madness?

There's a lot of confusion and insecurity around the mechanics of baptism. Should we be baptized as kids or adults? By sprinkling or dunking? Does baptism save us, or is it just an optional rite of passage? Ansen and Chaplain Justin try to get to the heart of the issue, and find that perhaps more important than the "how" and "when" of baptism is the "why" and "who."

Scripture tells us to be holy as God is holy. But what does holiness mean? Is the Bible saying we must be good, righteous-acting people to earn God's favor? But if so, how do we live up to God's perfect standard? Justin and Ansen return to discuss both what holiness means and how we can attain it.