As Christians, we are taught to turn the other cheek, give to others sacrificially, never return evil for evil, and forgive rather than retaliate. So sometimes saying “no” to someone, or simply asserting our own needs, seems wrong to us. Still, the Kingdom of God is not here yet, and the world is filled with obnoxious, manipulative and outright toxic people. The Bible has no pithy verse that tells us how to deal with a bully or narcissist, but it does contain wisdom that helps us build a framewo...
Jun 13, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Two synagogues, two outcomes. In Capernaum, Jesus amazes attendees with the authority of his teachings and casts out an impure spirit. Back home in Nazareth, it's a different story. Just like the neighbors were unable to see past Jesus' background a carpenter, do we as Christians sometimes take Jesus for granted, holding onto familiar but unchallenging notions but missing the chance to greater growth in the spirit? John Opiyo, Ben Taub Hospital chaplain, joins us as we discuss ways to keep our f...
Jun 10, 2025•56 min
We look at the the raising of the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue official and the healing of the bleeding woman, commenting on the significance of both miracles as well as their presentation as a story-within-a-story.
Jun 03, 2025•55 min
"We must trust Jesus to quell the storms in our life," is the "church answer" to this story. We think this takeaway, while not wrong, is superficial. Like many episodes recounted in Mark, there is deeper significance in the way this miracle is reported, especially for men. To start, when we call on the Lord in a crisis, what exactly are our expectations?
May 27, 2025•55 min
How should Christians push against the modern "throwaway" culture that encourages both overconsumption and waste, be it with our land, material goods or human relationships? We discuss the virtue of simplicity in choosing value over cheapness, in living fruitfully but sustainably, and cultivating Bible-based stewardship in all we care for.
May 20, 2025•1 hr 4 min
The fellows talk about the Second Coming, starting with the question of why there has to be one. Why wasn't God's plan of salvation and restoration accomplished all at once? Was the doctrine of the Second Coming tacked on after it became obvious the lion was not laying down with the lamb? If Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of God on Earth, where is it?
May 13, 2025•48 min
Despite being a Bible study podcast, we've never taken up the fact of the sheer number of translations available. We remedy that oversight this week with a discussion about the history of Biblical translation, memories of Bibles we grew up with and what our preferences are now. This week's podcast is sponsored by Magic Mind. Visit www.magicmind.com/NoChurchAnswersAPR and use the discount code NoChurchAnswersAPR for 48% off your first subscription or 20% or your first purchase.
May 06, 2025•57 min
Inspired by last week's NFL draft, the fellows got together to draft their favorite prophets from the Old and New Testaments. Who made their teams? Moreover, who got left of the board? And what do our listeners think? Join us as we take a fresh look a some of the notable, and sometimes overlooked, figures who have spoken for God. And a big h/t to The Incomparable Mothership podcast for inspiring this week's episode. This week's podcast comes to you from Magic Mind. Take the Magic Mind challenge!...
Apr 29, 2025•57 min•Ep. 366
Author Timothy Keller says it is the Trinity that makes God capable of love. It is a mystery, to be sure, and not always explicit, but from Genesis 1:1 on, scripture shows us one God but in three “persons” which all support and give freely in relationship with each other. Therefore, love began, or better still, has always existed, within the creator God himself, an idea unique to Christianity. We wrap up our study of Keller's The Reason for God with a discussion of the significance of a Trinitar...
Apr 22, 2025•54 min
Jesus' resurrection is a binary proposition: it either happened or it didn't. And there's nothing to support the idea that the testimony Gospels and the Apostle Paul should be taken as symbolic or metaphorical: they all clearly testify to Jesus' bodily resurrection concrete terms. But to accept the truth of the resurrection is to confront so many implications about God that it's no wonder that so many of us, Christians included, want to pretend scripture doesn't mean what it says. With Easter th...
Apr 15, 2025•57 min•Ep. 364
“Why did Jesus have to die?” is a question author Timothy Keller heard more often than “Does God exist?” To skeptics and, if we're honest, some Christians, the crucifixion is confusing, if not outright cruel. If God is so loving, they ask, why did he demand such a horrific sacrifice from his purported son? He’s God, after all, why can’t he just wave his hand and declare everyone forgiven? Join us as we continue our look at Keller's The Reason for God.
Apr 08, 2025•59 min•Ep. 363
Popular novels and movies like The Da Vinci Code have contributed to the belief that the gospels and letters in the New Testament Bible were either embellished or made-up completely. Academics, including contemporary Christians like John Dominic Crossan, tell us Jesus' miracles, let alone, his Resurrection, could not have happened, and it wasn't until the 4th Century that the Church declared Jesus was Son of God. We discuss Tim Keller's challenge to this popular assertion, starting with the star...
Apr 01, 2025•59 min•Ep. 362
For centuries the Church supported--and underwrote--the study of science and the natural world. Only in that late 20th Century did Evangelicals go to war with science. To us, the conflict, largely ginned up by the culture, detracts from more important messages in the Bible. Join us as we continue our study of Timothy Keller's The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 361
There's no way around it, Christianity teaches the only way to eternal life is through a conscious decision to accept Jesus Christ's sacrificial atonement on the Cross. Timothy Keller states many find this the most offensive doctrine in Christianity. We take up the difficult question of why a loving God would consign people to eternal torment. We divine some answers from the Parable of the Rich Man and the beggar Lazarus. But what about those who have never heard the Gospel? What about one-time ...
Mar 18, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 360
Who among us has not heard someone claim “Religion is responsible for more suffering and injustice than anything else in the world!”? Author Timothy Keller won’t shy away from the facts of the church’s history. He simply concedes the church, as a human institution, is part of the same fallen world as any other. That doesn’t necessarily mean the basic tenets of Christianity are wrong. Also, it’s not as if the Bible lets organized religion off the hook, either. When Jesus appeared on the scene, it...
Mar 11, 2025•59 min
"I don't like church or religion. It limits my choices, my options and my own ideas about what's right." So goes another common complaint about Christianity, as if any organization, sacred or secular, does not set standards and expectations for members. This week we talk about what Christian choices actually are, versus what the culture and media say. Is Christianity a rigid, narrow set of rules, or does it, in a paradoxical way, offer liberation that starts with the notion that you can't have i...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 2 min
We continue our study of Timothy Keller's The Reason for God with one of the most oft-asked questions about God. Keller turns the question back on the skeptic, does suffering and evil really negate the existence of God, or is God just acting the way the doubter thinks he should? We don't have easy answers, but we think some comprehension begins with the Christian belief that in an incarnate God that took on the worst this world had to offer.
Feb 25, 2025•59 min
Skeptics, pull up a chair! We begin a study of Timothy Keller's The Reason for God. First up, the question of whether there is a one true religion or if all Truth is relative to one's culture or worldview. Keller would say the statement "I have no doctrine" is a doctrine in itself and that every worldview, no matter what it is, comes down to a leap of faith. Listen and comment. This week's podcast is sponsored by Magic Mind. Visit www.magicmind.com/NCANSWERS and use the code NCANSWERS20 to recei...
Feb 18, 2025•51 min•Ep. 354
Hades and Styx! It's time for our latest deep dive into the crowd-funded streaming TV series The Chosen. We discuss the show's bolder choices and bigger risks as we follow Jesus and his band of disciples through the "Year of Opposition." There's confrontation and confusion mixed with reconciliation and resurrection. Spoiler Alert! This week's podcast is sponsored by Magic Mind. Visit www.magicmind.com/NCANSWERS and use the code NCANSWERS20 to receive 48% off your first subscription of 20% off on...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 355
In six short verses, Paul offers some basic points on how individuals within a group can get cooperate toward successful outcomes. We discuss how to successfully model Christian attitude and behavior whether it's on a church project or in the workplace. This week's podcast is sponsored by Magic Mind. Visit www.magicmind.com/NCANSWERS and use the code NCANSWERS20 to receive 48% off your first subscription of 20% off one-time purchases.
Feb 04, 2025•56 min•Ep. 354
Grace is the essential Gospel. You are saved in spite of being mired in sin and death. God has mercifully thrown you a lifeline purely out of love. So why is this such a stumbling block? Why do even committed Christians feel they must be something transactional about the grace of God? With some help from scripture and a bit of Lynyrd Skynyrd, we explore mystery of amazing divine grace. For more on this topic, check out our Faith vs. Works video podcast. This week's podcast is sponsored by Magic ...
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 353
The fellows talk about their experience in mission work locally in Houston, and their trips to Mexico and to Kenya. We discuss the importance of being a part of church efforts that create connection and empathy with neighbors. We also talk about the way, in the post-colonial, post-Christian era, patronage has given way to partnership in response to the explosion of Christianity in the Global South. This week's podcast is sponsored by Magic Mind. Visit www.magicmind.com/NCAJAN and receive 45% off...
Jan 21, 2025•58 min•Ep. 352
Statistics tell us that church net closings in the U.S. reach about 3,000 a year and every year 2.75 million churchgoers fall into inactivity. We look at the reasons for this decline and address the importance of regular church attendance to growth in the faith. The fellows talk about growing up in various denominations, and the changes they have seen in parishes and congregations—for good and ill—over the course of their faith journeys and how today’s churches can make themselves more meaningfu...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 351
Is there moral equivalency in shooting someone in the street and using AI algorithms to deny medical care to thousands of patients, perhaps leading to untimely death? To start the new year, the fellows take up the topical concept of structural violence, the idea that organizations and institutions, just because of the way they work, can be as much a source of human suffering, injustice and harm as an angry man with a gun. The Bible says murder is a sin, but what about cold indifference? Is sin s...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 350
For our fifth annual Christmas podcast, we look at the Virgin Mary. Beneath the trappings of tradition and legend, we find a Biblical narrative of an ordinary young woman responding to extraordinary circumstances. We look at the arc of Mary's faith, from her skeptical question "How can this be?" to her courageous affirmation of God's promise of salvation and her resolve to move forward as mother of Christ. The fellows are joined by Ruth Opiyo, a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Semin...
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 349
Scripture exhorts us to be grateful. But can well-meaning Christians apply the message of gratitude the wrong way or in the wrong situations? We discuss the idea of "dark gratitude," which instead of providing support, steers us away from confronting problems, difficulties and outright hardship we need to face. Hat tip to Elizabeth Bernstein, whose article "The Case for Being Ungrateful" in the Nov. 24 Wall Street Journal sparked this week's discussion.
Dec 10, 2024•49 min
Woke culture has made diversity a dirty word. Christians can reclaim it by rooting human diversity in the context of God's creation, not racial, ethic or sexual identity. Every human is made in the image of God, which alone confers dignity and value to every human life. Diversity follows, as Paul notes, but we remain united--and equal--by the claim God makes on us. Join us as we discuss another paradox: organizations, including churches, that set "diversity" as an end goal invariably fail at it....
Dec 03, 2024•58 min
What is the Christian idea of a flourishing, abundant life? Can the Bible's metaphorical green pastures measure up to a 10.000-acre Texas ranch? And can people flourish in exile, as Jeremiah urges? Download and listen before you buy that next graduation card! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 19, 2024•53 min
We wrap up our study of Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option debating the author's contentious view of the Internet, social media and the accompanying cultural message to envelope oneself in a virtual world to escape the real one. We add a discussion of AI, which has exploded since Dreher published, and what ethical questions it raises for Christians. And is "Transhumanism," Raymond Kurzweil's vision of combining humanity with AI, an attainable goal or a false idol? Can we use technology to create a...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 4 min
"To reduce Christian teaching about sex and sexuality to bare, boring, thou-shalt-not moralism is a failure of imagination," Rod Dreher writes in the The Benedict Option. Instead, Churches should strongly proclaim the stability Christian sexual ethics offer men and women who seek true intimacy, romance and fulfilling partnerships in their love relationships. Even as the media and elites attempt to glamorize hook-up culture, pornography and single parenthood, there is growing pushback from many y...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 8 min
