Hard Questions & Doubt
326 conversations across 16 years of the show. Try a few, or go by subject.
A few to try
-
Simeon's question: 'what made God?' and the case against scientism
- What made God? How can a being have no beginning?
Guest Simeon Clawson names his recurring faith question: what made God, and how can a mind process a being with no beginning?
From No. 556 · A Christian Mid-Life Crisis
-
Why people ditch God
- Why do people ditch God?
Reading a Christian Post article by Robin P. Shoemaker, the hosts work through three reasons people leave faith: bad events that wreck a life, bad representatives of the faith, and bad morals that collide with sexual freedom.
From No. 505 · Because of Fussy and Fuzzy
-
Dear LFTP: the significant other who hijacks every religious discussion
- How do I get my significant other to stop hijacking religious discussions with hostility?
A woman writes in that her significant other, nice in every other respect, injects sarcasm and hostility into any religion or spirituality discussion and always ends with 'show me proof.'
From No. 454 · Read, Protect, and Complain About Your Husband
-
Don't take macro action based on micro analysis
- Am I taking macro action based on micro analysis?
A host introduces his principle — 'don't take macro action based upon micro analysis,' or 'don't take broad action based upon narrow analysis' — and the room tests it across examples.
From No. 450 · Good News of Narrow Focus
-
Proof 35 read aloud: notice Jesus' myopia
- If Jesus were God, why didn't he use his power to end slavery, sexism, disease, poverty and war?
A host reads the full text of proof 35 from godisimaginary.com. The argument: if Jesus were God, he would have used omniscience and omnipotence to end slavery, sexism, racism,…
-
Proof 50 from godisimaginary.com: 'Ask Jesus to appear'
- Why doesn't Jesus appear to everyone today like he appeared to Paul and the 500?
- Is 'blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe' just a cover for a long con?
A host reads aloud proof number 50 from godisimaginary.com at length: Jesus would appear to everyone today if he had truly risen, since he appeared to hundreds after the resurrection (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20-21, 1 Corinthians 15:3-6).
All conversations
320 conversations
-
Midlife-crisis faith questions: when suffering gets close to home
- Which of God's promises can I count on as mine when people are free to refuse them?
The hosts name the first cluster of midlife-crisis faith questions: when the broken world's weight lands close to home, believers ask whether God is really good even when they cannot see it.
From No. 556 · A Christian Mid-Life Crisis
-
Christian Post 'Missing Heaven': what would it take to become a Christian
- What would it take for you to become a Christian?
- What would it take for you to give up on Christianity?
A host reads from a Christian Post article titled 'Missing Heaven' about the opener 'what would it take for you to become a Christian?' and argues the most interesting question…
From No. 531 · Just For The Taste Of It
-
Article: why people reject Christianity, and record unhappiness
- Can you be holy and happy at the same time?
- Are people actually unhappier than past generations, or just more willing to say so?
A host reads an article arguing that beneath surface objections, two reasons top the list for rejecting Christianity: bad experiences with professing Christians who look nothing…
From No. 519 · Folk Ain’t Happy
-
Ask the Pastor: Why Is Revelation the End?
- Why is Revelation the last book of the Bible, and how do we know the 66-book canon is closed?
Boova asks why Revelation is the last book and how the 66-book canon got closed. The answer pushes back on the 'council of old white dudes at Nicaea hid books from you' narrative:…
-
Suffering, character, and the weed-whacking analogy
- Is suffering and going through hard things worth the good that comes out of it?
The host engages Emma's core doubt: is suffering worth the good that comes out of it? God isn't buying perseverance by hurting people — human suffering is reality, and he can use it for good; it's more call to repentance than punitive lesson.
-
How do we even know the Bible's true?
- How do we even know the Bible's true?
A host raises the common objection that the Bible can't be trusted, mocking shady YouTube channels and people who do just enough Greek research on one word to argue with a translation.
From No. 504 · Saul, Naturally
-
Pastor Ryan Bell tries atheism for a year
- Can a pastor 'try out' atheism for a year?
The hosts read and react to a CNN story: pastor Ryan Bell of a Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Hollywood resolved to live a year as an atheist - no prayer, church, or Bible…
From No. 174 · Trying Atheism for a Year
-
Deconstruction: Nicodemus, demolition, or examination?
- Is deconstruction like what Jesus did to the Pharisees, or is it more destructive, and why?
Mike's question: when Jesus showed up and presented a reality of following Yahweh that was completely foreign to the Pharisees, was that deconstruction, and is modern deconstruction like that or more destructive?
From No. 460 · 14 to 25 Mistakes From Wildin’
-
Putting teaching over conversation
- When is 'just having a conversation' really avoidance of what Scripture says?
The 'teaching over conversation' item gets another false-dichotomy verdict: people learn from teaching and then talk about it, so do both.
From No. 458 · 12 to 13 Mistakes From Wildin
-
Proof #51: Think about God and Baal
- Does the Elijah-and-Baal story in 1 Kings 18 prove that God is imaginary?
The hosts walk through proof #51 from godisimaginary.com: think about God and Baal. A host reads the 1 Kings 18 account of Elijah confronting Baal's prophets on Mount Carmel, then reads the site's argument that God's failure to show himself today proves he is imaginary.
From No. 148 · Now Serving Seven
-
Reading proof #49: look at who speaks for God
- If God is real, why doesn't he silence the lunatics who speak in his name?
A host reads proof #49 from godisimaginary.com verbatim from the site: since God is silent, his only spokespeople are people, and many of them are lunatics (citing clips like Westboro's 'thank God for dead soldiers' and a 'holy spirit enema' video).
From No. 146 · Ask Jesus to Appear
-
Proof 46 read aloud: Pascal's wager
- Is Pascal's wager a sound argument for believing in God?
A host reads proof 46 from godisimaginary.com, 'ponder Pascal's wager': believers argue 'I have nothing to lose, you have everything to lose,' and the site rebuts that thousands…
-
Rebutting proof #44: the Christian housewife's mustard-stain prayer
- Is God imaginary because He supposedly answers trivial prayers, like removing a mustard stain from a blouse, while great suffering goes unanswered?
The hosts read proof #44 from godisimaginary.com, which argues God is imaginary because believers pray trivial prayers — a Christian housewife in Pasadena who believes God removed a mustard stain from her blouse — while terrible suffering goes unanswered.
From No. 140 · The Mustard-Stain Prayer
-
Proof 41: 'Flip a Coin' read aloud
- Does unanswered coin-flip prayer prove that Jesus is imaginary?
A host reads proof 41 from the godisimaginary website's '50 proofs', cleverly entitled 'Flip a Coin': pray to the sun god Ra to make a coin land heads 50 times and note that…
-
Proof 38 read: Christian divorce rates
- Why do Christian divorce rates match the general population, and does that prove God is imaginary?
A host reads Proof 38 from an on-air list of proofs that God is imaginary. The proof argues: Christian weddings invoke God as witness, the Bible forbids divorce (citing Matthew…
From No. 136 · The Divorce-Rate Proof
-
Proof #33: contemplate the crucifixion
- Does the crucifixion story make sense, or does it prove God is imaginary?
The hosts read and rebut proof #33 from godisimaginary.com, which calls the crucifixion absurd: an all-knowing God who designed human nature, foresaw every sin, and then had himself crucified to feel better.
From No. 130 · January 21 2013
-
Proof 31 read-through: 'Understand that religion is superstition'
- If God answers trivial prayers, why does he not stop massive evils like murder, rape, and starvation?
The host reads proof 31 from godisimaginary.com aloud: the Pasadena housewife who believes God removed a mustard stain versus the world's unanswered suffering, a long checklist of…
From No. 129 · January 14 2013
-
Grace for deconstruction: separating church culture from the faith
- Has anyone ever approached you about deconstruction and asked for help?
A host admits the word 'deconstruction' irritates him but offers a grace-filled reading: many who use the term come from large celebrity-pastor church cultures where the culture…
From No. 450 · Good News of Narrow Focus
-
Why people walk away — disappointment, ego, and the guilt argument
- What kind of moral mechanism would produce guilt if there is no God?
Nathaniel adds that many walk away quietly without announcements, which makes a host wonder what could convince a real believer otherwise.
From No. 450 · Good News of Narrow Focus
-
Temptation four: avoiding suffering and failure — "Dan, let me ask you directly"
- Are you tempted to avoid suffering and failure?
Ben reads the article's fourth temptation — avoiding suffering and failure — and asks Dan directly whether he's tempted by it. Dan and Mike both say no.
From No. 429 · Following the American Jesus
-
What would it take for you to stop believing Christianity?
- What would it take for you to think that Christianity wasn't true?
A host poses the question directly: 'Dan, what would it take for you to think that Christianity wasn't true?'
-
TikTok faith conversations, the ban, and the verdict
- Is going live on TikTok a valid way to talk to people about Jesus?
- Why would God allow the coronavirus pandemic and racial injustice?
Boova describes late-night TikTok lives where strangers ask about his faith — why God allows the pandemic and racial injustice — and the surprisingly good conversations that result, including regulars from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
From No. 408 · Gone, Gone Boova
-
Derek Webb and the deconstruction interview
- What are the earthly consequences of being spiritually libertarian — of saying 'I don't care what you believe as long as you're cool'?
A host describes a podcast interview with Derek Webb, the former Caedmon's Call singer who renounced Christianity and now frames it as 'deconstruction.'
From No. 395 · How the Church is Solving Every Modern Problem Incorrectly
-
The church that will not answer hard questions
- Do churches need more apologetics ministries to stop young people from leaving the faith?
A host reads from a Robin Schumacher article in the Christian Post: a trained apologist offered her megachurch a free apologetics ministry and got ghosted, while Barna data shows Gen Z drifting from religious identity.
From No. 395 · How the Church is Solving Every Modern Problem Incorrectly