July 1, 2021 Show with Kenneth R. Samples on “Christianity Cross-Examined”

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron.

This is a radio platform in which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing

the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens

another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to

have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with

your own questions.

And now here's your host Chris Arnzen.

Good afternoon Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity

living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio

.com.

This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a

happy Thursday on this first day of July 2020.

I'm always thrilled by a return visit to my program

from one of my oldest friends in the Christian faith, Kenneth R. Samples,

who is a senior research scholar at Reasons to Believe and author of a number of books.

Today we are addressing his latest book, Christianity Cross -Examined.

Is it rational, relevant, and good?

It's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens.

Iron Radio, Ken Samples.

Chris, it's so good to talk with you and get to interact with

you a little bit.

1993 or 94 and spending time with you and

your wife

so bad, and I

surely remember your wife.

Yes, and

she certainly was extremely fond of you.

Always referred to you, even though.

She knew she was mispronouncing your name, always referred to you as Ken Sampson.

And I can remember having a wonderful time of

fine dining with you and fellowship at Sherry's Restaurant, which is no longer

in existence, but it was a very nice French restaurant in

Babylon, Long Island on the water.

I even remember we had a window seat looking out at the Great South Bay

on Long Island.

I can even remember the first time I heard you before I met you as a panelist on the Bible Answer Man

alongside with Hank Anagraff.

And I remember immediately being pleasantly startled and saying, there's a reformed guy on the panel

at the Bible Answer Man.

And they only met one on the panel.

Yes.

And in not so long a period of time, removed the one guy.

That's right.

Hank was not and is not now a fan of Calvinism, that's for sure.

But I remember that was what immediately put the bug in my brain.

Wow, I've got to get this guy out to Long Island to speak at what was then

Calvary Baptist Church of Amityville, Long Island that later, after a merger, became Grace Reformed Baptist Church

of Long Island in Merrick, New York.

But my pastor at that time, Mike Adosh, always had

an open mind and ear to my strong recommendations for

guest speakers.

In fact, I don't think he ever turned me down on any of my recommendations.

Wow, that's great.

And I was so glad that you came out there.

And I remember getting there late, perhaps after dinner with you,

and the parking lot was filled with people standing there waiting for the door

to be unlocked.

I remember that.

Yep.

But yeah, what a blessed time that was.

So tell us about your position as a senior research scholar at Reasons to

Believe.

Yes, Reasons to Believe focuses on science, faith issues.

I'm kind of in the

study of theology and

philosophy.

Amen.

Well, if anybody wants more information about Reasons to Believe, go to reasons .org.

Now, this book that you have written, your latest, Christianity Cross -Examined, is it rational,

relevant, and good.

What are or were the compelling factors that

drove you to begin writing this book, or even before that, that planted the seed in your mind,

I need to get this book into the hands of believers and unbelievers alike, whether they are

trying to communicate their faith in an effective way with their unsaved family, friends,

and loved ones and acquaintances, or whether they themselves may be

lost, may be outside of the realm of Christianity or investigating the claims

of various religious groups?

What was the compelling factor or compelling factors, plural, that made you say, yeah, there are other

things out there?

There are many other apologetics books that could fill the shelves of the

largest library on the face of the earth, but I think I have something still to say on this issue

that hasn't been addressed quite in this way, and let me get this into.

Print.

So, what were those factors?

Yeah, Chris, you

mentioned that in those days, I spent a lot of my time studying new

religions.

I worked with Walter Martin.

That was kind of controversial.

We're not cults like you would find with the witnesses.

In those days, Chris, I would go to the university, sometimes to

faculty, often to students, and in those days, in the late 80s, early 90s, I got mostly

truth questions.

That is, would I give a

talk?

Does God exist?

Was Jesus raised from the dead?

How can I know that Christianity is true in light of...

Now, moving

forward, in my 25th year,

I noticed about a decade or so to

give talks, the kind of questions I was being asked seemed...

Every once in a while, they'd ask me a truth, particularly the students.

They would ask me questions like, well, has Christianity been a good

force?

Has Christianity been good for racial minorities?

They would say, you know, I don't know if the the New

Testament.

After experiencing that over a 10 -year period, I thought to myself, you know, I think we're

seeing a shift.

We're seeing a shift from what a philosopher might say, questions of truth, which is kind of

characteristic, to a shift to what I would call

postmodernism,

about

how

to

address

issues

relating to logic, historical,

to look

at issues like killing in the name of God, or how

about Joshua's conquest against...

I think if there is a unique feature of the book,

it is people back to the ideas that are awfully important.

Given the days in which we live with postmodern skepticism and

kind of a...

I think it's also important to talk about why Christianity is good and why the God of the

Bible...

The first question in the

subtitle of your book is interesting.

Is it rational?

There are some aspects of Christianity that to the

average mind, and perhaps even rightfully,

to the sinner saved by grace, seem very unrational.

The fact that Christ would actually

come into this world as God in flesh, the God -man,

and that he would suffer the most excruciating agony

that a human has ever experienced in the history of executions, and that's

not just because he was physically nailed to a cross, but the

far greater agony that no human other than he has experienced on

this earth is experiencing the wrath of his own father

for the perpetuation of the sins of his people.

He would do that not only for people

who would later come to love, adore, and follow him, but he did it while these

same individuals were haters of him and his son.

Some of history's greatest heroes include some very vile and

wicked and despicable people.

We all are in some realm that, but even in a human understanding of that,

there have been really evil and satanic people who have later come, by

the mercy of God, to know him and love him and follow him after they receive new hearts

from him.

And even one of the chief of these that comes to mind is the Apostle Paul,

who describes himself as the chief of sinners.

Actually, when he was still a Jewish zealot, a Jewish

Osama bin Laden of that day, rounding up men and women for

execution because they loved and followed Christ.

But it seems like an irrational thing for God to say, I am going to

give my own son to die a gruesome death and pay the penalty of the sins of these people

who hate me.

Doesn't that seem irrational?

I'm glad you raised that because I think it's very important when you ask the

question, is Christianity rational?

I think it's very important.

And that is that God is

infinite and eternal, and we are finite in

temper.

And God reveals mysteries.

You mentioned explicitly the mystery of the, how is it

the Trinity would take a human nature and come into

the world?

And

through God,

certainly Christianity is loaded with theological

mystery, the Trinity, the incarnation, the atonement.

What I think is

interesting about it, Chris, is we are talking about God, and if it were too simple, I

mean, if I could comprehend, if I could fully fathom, then it's

likely that God is infinite.

When we do ask the question, is Christianity rational?

We have to realize that the early Christians, the

later Christians and the ones that crafted these

creeds that we recite in our churches,

they did two things.

They prized mystery on one hand, and they prized reason on the other.

And so while I

fully comprehend or are

nevertheless consistent with

reason, I like to say that Christians go beyond human reason.

We can talk

that don't defy the law of non -contradiction.

I can present the incarnation the way the ancient Christians did

that undermine human

reasoning.

That never takes that kind of mystery away.

And of course, you even

see this

in

Scripture itself.

It's a very specific point.

To modern people, probably it's been that way through the centuries, but it's certainly true now.

How this lowly carpenter from

Nazareth, through his crucifixion,

that somehow that sets us right with God, that's a scandal to many.

Some have even called it cosmic child abuse.

That's exactly right.

I mean, we could talk about that

even though

these are deep

myths, we'll never fully

comprehend

it in ways unlike a

lot of other religions.

Well, obviously, in this day and age that we live in,

we are constantly having those in the media,

those that dominate the media are typically far leftists

who hate Christ, even though they would never dare publicly articulate it in that way.

They clearly hate the Christ as he is truly

described and identified in the inerrant God -breathed Scriptures.

And they have elevated science as if science is a God, and as if

science is always the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In fact, it's quite astonishing when you think about how many leftists

who are also rightfully opposed

to the hatred of other people with different skin colors

and different ethnic origins.

And actually, that is something that's being contradicted today when you

have leftists in favor of critical race theory, which is actually promoting the hatred of white

heterosexual males.

But those that would at least openly say, oh, of course, bigotry is a horrible

thing.

And yet they simultaneously promote the idea of Darwinian evolution,

which was clearly racist in origin and something that even the Nazis

used to bolster their idea that all other peoples

outside of what they called the white Aryan race were closer

on the evolution chart to monkeys.

And, you know, it's mind -blowing how they could still perpetuate this theory.

Perhaps it's out of ignorance, and perhaps it's just because they don't want to be ostracized by

the majority, it seems, who will vilify you if you publicly

disagree with Darwinianism.

But tell us why hasn't

scientific discovery made God unnecessary?

Yeah, you touched upon it.

As you know, and

I know,

you know, you

raised some

really good points.

And you

also

mentioned

a very ancient, that

science

was still

born in the ancient world, and what he meant by that,

the Chinese, and even the Islamic,

they made contributions to

mathematics,

and this is somewhat

controversial, right on the money,

body, or

in Islam, if

God, if Allah can just

mind and do, the early Christians in the 1600s,

Christianity has

a,

probably

an

agnostic, said,

look, his

title was

professor of evolution.

So when he

was

talking about math

and logic,

form

and

its

patterns,

Chris, those

are not things we learn from science.

Those are philosophical starting points.

I argue that, contrary to science,

God was rational and logical.

They believed that the creator imbued with logic and order,

people are made in God's image.

To add one

more point, I think in the

early 20th century, Chris,

a lot of

secular

scientists

thought, to

some degree, even

of Albert

Einstein,

discovered,

began, therefore,

in human

life.

You know,

this idea, it seems like you

have

to be in the habit, none of that's

contrary.

In fact, we have to, we

have to go to our.

Midway break, so pick up right where you left off there.

How do you explain it?

And by the way, folks, for those of you who are not aware, the full original title

of Darwin's book, The Origin of the Species, something a lot of people don't

know, or they just don't care to admit it, is this quite

startling title, The Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the

Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.

Just thought I'd give you that tidbit of information about the racist

Charles Darwin.

But we are going to our first station break right now.

If you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

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Welcome back.

This is Chris Armisen.

If you just tuned us in, our guest today is Kenneth R. Samples, senior research scholar at Reasons to Believe.

We are discussing his latest book, Christianity Cross -Examined.

Is it rational, relevant, and good?

And if you'd like to join us with your own question on the air, our email address is chrisarmisen at gmail .com, C

-H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

Give us your first name, at least city and state of residence, and country of residence.

And right before the break, Ken, you were delving into the

lack of response or adequate response from the anti -Christian, anti

-theist world on some of the.

Most crucial issues that involve our existence.

Yeah, exactly right.

I mean, again, if you go back

to the

early

times,

and not only find

issues

like human beings,

human beings,

bipedal primates, human beings are different in

kind, mathematics, and logic, and philosophy,

compulsion, and all of this

in a natural Darwinian perspective.

And so, what I try to do in that first chapter, the

secular scientist, you know,

I'll make this

one more small point here, Chris.

Sometimes people will say, well, you know, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

I don't know that I agree with that.

I think extraordinary things

like that, and atheistic naturalism for a moment, I mean, where did

reason come from?

Well, if there's no God and no mind behind the universe, from the non -rational

to the non -personal, did mindful creatures come from non -mind?

To me, like an extraordinary claim, it's

not difficult to think that if he has an infinite

mind, that he would create creatures that have finite minds, and are

capable of rationality.

So, he holds up pretty well, and I think God

is understanding the nature of physical and intellectual

reality.

We have a question from Chris in Suffolk County,

Long Island, New York.

Chris says, I know that those who hate God and the Bible openly

are a great threat to the cause of truth in the 21st

century, and always have been.

But I have an actual belief that those that pose

as God lovers, those that claim to be theists and even Christians,

but in their theology would reveal that they are false Christians or charlatans or

cults, pose an even greater threat to the cause of the gospel.

Now, I understand that God is sovereign, and nothing is going to thwart or crush

his plan.

But at the same time, in an earthly sense, I believe that those who would give us lip service and claim

to agree with us on many issues about the origins of the earth and humans, etc.,

but have a false gospel, pose an even greater threat.

What is your guest's opinion?

Yeah, Chris, thanks for that question.

Let me

tackle,

sin tends

to blind

people.

Paul very clearly in Romans 1, and then in Romans,

they understand and they know, but the natural disposition of fallen human beings...

What's interesting, of course, is oftentimes, non -Christians are not aware that

they too suffer from biases, and they too suffer from intellectual blindness.

He didn't want God,

and there are blind spots, and they suffer from them like all of us do.

So I think there are times where secularists think it's only religious people that are kind of...

What I'd like to do, and what I did when I was teaching philosophy, is I

would...

Are you equally skeptical of your skepticism?

I know you're critical of...

Are you equally critical?

Part of that is, I think,

a very...

They may

not be...

You know, a

view of Christianity that

is not...

Differ with you a

little...

Eastern

Orthodox...

I think they're all

together and stand up for life,

and in...

We might even...

In Christ, they're...

But why couldn't we stand up for...

We live at a time where...

I am saying, we

can have

our...

I don't think

anybody who

affirms

the Nicene

Creed...

I

agree, but I

also.

Believe that there are those on an extreme

end of the spectrum regarding that, that belittle the differences to a realm

of unimportance.

For instance, I happen to love listening

to...

His name just flew out of my head.

A very, very popular Mormon conservative, and I don't know why his name has flown out of my head,

because I...

Not Romney.

No, no, no, no.

I wouldn't even call him a conservative, really.

The political talk show host, he has a radio show, and he's Mormon.

He has white hair.

I can't remember his name.

I don't know why.

But anyway, he is so right on the money on so many things, politically,

ethically, morally, but there are evangelicals who have adopted him as a brother in

Christ, and you cannot be more opposite on theology and doctrine to

Christianity than Mormonism.

He's got three gods, yeah.

Oh, even an infinite number of gods, when they believe that if they are faithful Mormons, they will be

gods of their own planets, and so on.

So, you know, there is a danger of conservatives adopting

their own social gospel, whereas liberals once

cornered the market on the social gospel, and they rallied together on

things such as feeding the poor,

clothing and housing the poor, and many other things that are right and good.

They threw out what the gospel really was, and they threw out

theology and doctrine as being in the highest realms of importance.

You have conservatives doing the same thing.

You have conservatives who seem to care little or nothing about the gospel.

I think that would actually reveal that they are not truly regenerate if they have gone to that length of not caring

about the gospel, but they do so under the banner of Christianity.

So that's just my two cents about that.

Yep.

And I can't believe I can't remember the name of that.

You're getting old, Chris.

You're getting old.

But I'm sure it will come to me during the break, because we have to go to the break right now, the midway break.

Oh, it just popped in my head.

Glenn Beck.

Oh, yeah.

Glenn Beck.

I mean, I really I am so often so enthusiastic about things that are coming out of his mouth

and am in agreement with so much of what he says, but he is a

strong proponent of perpetuating the lie

that Mormonism is just another denomination of Christianity, and that's a lie from the pit of hell.

And he actually had a rally in Washington, D .C. years ago where he specifically said,

this is not a political rally.

This is a spiritual rally.

And he was, I think, speaking over the heads of the multitudes of

evangelical Christians there who were applauding him at certain points when he was actually giving Mormon references

that were, I think, going over their heads.

But anyway, we have to go to the midway break right now, folks, and please be patient with us,

because the midway break is a bit longer than the other breaks.

Grace Life Radio, 90 .1 FM in Lake City, Florida, requires of us a longer break because

Grace Life Radio has to localize geographically their programming, including Iron Trip and Zion Radio

to Lake City, Florida.

They do so by airing their own public service announcements and other local things, and we simultaneously

air our globally heard commercials.

So please write down as much of the information provided by our advertisers as you possibly can

so you can more successfully and more frequently respond to our advertisers.

And sometimes that just means contacting them and thanking them for sponsoring this show, if

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So please support them in any way you can, and at the very least by thanking them.

Also, send in a question to Ken Samples on Christianity

Cross -Examined, his latest book.

Our email address again is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

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Give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence.

We'll be right back after these messages.

I'm James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries.

My friend Chris Arnson, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, and I are headed down to Atlanta, Georgia once

again for the G3 Conference.

This year's G3 will be held Thursday, September 30th through Saturday, October 2nd on the theme,

Christ is Supreme Over All.

I'll be joined by over 20 other speakers and musicians to lead in the worship of God through preaching, teaching, and

singing, including John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Conrad M. Bayway, Daryl Bernard Harrison, and

Virgil Walker.

For details, visit g3conference .com.

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Chris Arnson and I hope to see you September 30th through October 2nd at G321.

This is James White.

Reminding you that Christ is supreme over

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Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My name is Banu Gadi.

I'm a pharmacist in New York, which is the epicenter of the latest crisis the world is going

through.

In Psalm 139 verse 14, the psalmist offers praise to the Lord like this, I praise you because I am fearfully

and wonderfully made, and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well.

He saw God's goodness and mercy, kindness, and the beauty in what God has

designed, and he has erupted into praise.

In any crisis or problem, brothers and sisters, our only fallback position is to trust God's

design, and once we do, there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him.

When the whole world is searching for a solution, God, in his infinite mercy, has given us what we need to

address this illness, which can be very serious.

Such is the beauty of his design.

Knowing that design, how can we not erupt in praise to our great God like the psalmist did?

May God bless you and give all of us wisdom to see greater.

Things in his design.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Anthony Uvino, and I'm one of the pastors at.

Hope Reform Baptist Church in Quorum, New York, and also the host of the reformrookie .com website.

I want you to know that if you enjoy listening to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show like I do, you can now find it on the

Apple's iTunes app by typing Iron Sharpens Iron radio in the search bar.

You no longer have to worry about missing a show or a special guest because you're in your car or still at work.

Just subscribe on the iTunes app and listen to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio show at any time, day or night.

Please be sure to also give it a good review and pass it along to anyone who would benefit from the teaching and the many

solidly reformed guests that Chris Arnson has on the show.

Truth is so hard to come by these days, so don't waste your time with fluff or fake news.

Subscribe to the Iron Sharpens Iron radio podcast right now.

And while you're at it, you can also sign up for the reformrookie .com podcast and visit our website and the YouTube

page.

We are dedicated to teaching Christian theology from a Reformed Baptist perspective to beginners in the faith as

well as seasoned believers.

From Keach's Catechism and the Doctrines of Grace to the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Leviticus, the Reform

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And finally, if you're looking to worship in a Reformed church that holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession

of Faith, please join us at Hope Reformed Baptist Church in Coram, New York.

Again, I'm Pastor Anthony Avino, and thanks for listening.

Here's what Gary DeMar, president of American Vision, had to say about Iron Sharpens Iron radio

recently.

Good to be back, Chris.

I always enjoy our time.

I have to tell you, I'm one of the better interviewers out there, and I've been doing this for more than

30 years.

Wow, that's some compliment.

How much do I owe you for that?

You don't have to owe me anything.

We're in good shape.

I'm glad you said it on the air so I don't have to brag about myself.

Tell your friends and loved ones about Iron Sharpens Iron radio, airing live Monday through Friday, 4 to

6 p .m. Eastern Time, at IronSharpensIronRadio .com.

We're a diverse family of all ages.

Enthusiastically serving our Lord Jesus Christ.

In fellowship, play, and together.

Hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman, and I invite you to come and join us here at Linbrook Baptist Church and see all that a church can

be.

Call Linbrook Baptist at 516 -599 -9402.

That's 516 -599 -9402, or visit linbrookbaptist .org.

That's linbrookbaptist .org.

Hi, this is John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona.

Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnzen and the Iron Sharpens Iron podcast.

I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity.

He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions, while always defending the key

doctrines of the Christian faith.

I've always been happy to point people to this podcast, knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet

where folk won't be led astray.

I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide.

This is a day of great spiritual compromise, and yet God has raised Chris up for just such a time.

And knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer

and in finances.

I'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting Iron

Sharpens Iron financially.

Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?

I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would.

All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com, where you can click support.

That's ironsharpensironradio .com.

As host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, I frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations.

The church I've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is Grace Covenant Baptist Church

in Flemington, New Jersey, pastored by Alan Dunn.

Grace Covenant Baptist Church believes it's God's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he

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They believe churches need to turn to the Bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship

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Grace Covenant Baptist Church endeavors to maintain a God -centered focus.

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Or call them at 908 -996 -7654.

That's 908 -996 -7654.

Tell Pastor Dunn that you heard about Grace Covenant Baptist Church on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Anchored in Truth Ministries is the mission arm of Grace Life Church of the Shoals.

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Anchored in Truth is in partnership with 36 church plants, as well as radio stations,

theological seminaries, and various programs for unreached people groups.

With an aim to glorify God and reach the nations with the gospel, it is a blessing to see

how God has used Anchored in Truth in so many different contexts globally as well as

locally.

To find out more about this vital work worldwide, visit anchoredintruth

.org.

Getting

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We produce free parenting resources, train church leaders, and offer biblical counseling so that the next generation of

dads and moms can use the scriptures to parent their children for life and godliness.

Please visit us at truthloveparent .com.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,.

Give yourself unto reading.

The man who never reads will never be read.

He who never quotes will never be quoted.

He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.

You need to read.

Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the Prince of Preachers to heart.

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Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

And never forget, folks, how we need so vitally

the financial support, the continued financial support of solid -ground -books .com, one of

our premier advertisers.

Without their continued financial support, we would likely be forced to go off the air, barring a

miracle from God financially.

So please visit solid -ground -books .com frequently and purchase generously, not only for

yourself, but for family, friends, and loved ones, whether they are saved or lost.

Remember, it's not only a wonderful and good thing to provide for your

brothers and sisters in Christ, the finest in Christian literature, so that they can

be reminded and warned to stay away from a lot of the fluff and

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So please never forget your lost friends and loved ones, too.

But remember, you're not only going to be doing solid -ground -books

.com a favor when you purchase books from them, and you're not only going to be doing Iron Trupman's Iron Radio a

favor by keeping one of our most important advertisers happy, you're going to be doing

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an enormous favor of incalculable value, because they publish nothing but the finest in Christian literature from

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That's solid -ground -books .com.

Always mention that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Trupman's Iron Radio when making a purchase.

Before we return to my guest today, Kenneth R. Samples, and our discussion on his latest book,

Christianity Cross -Examined, is it rational, relevant, and good?

We have some important announcements to make.

First of all, please keep my oldest brother, John, in your prayers.

The bad news was that he has cancer, critical stage emphysema, and an

inoperable aneurysm.

I also have been asking for prayer for him lately because

he had been unconscious for several days after a return trip to the hospital

subsequent to a very debilitating bout with

chemotherapy and radiation.

The glorious news is that,

no doubt, answer to the prayers of many of you in this audience.

My brother not only regained consciousness, but he is now speaking

and he has reached such a stage of recovery that the doctors are already

discharging him, possibly, and sending him home on Friday.

My dear friend, Pastor Mac Tomlinson, who providentially lives in the same town

as the hospital where my brother, John, has been a patient, has been visiting him, he

has had four visits with my brother, each one better than the one

before.

He has been sharing the gospel with my brother each and every visit with the permission

of my brother.

The thing that is still lacking is a crystal clear demonstration

and vivid evidence that my brother has truly embraced the gospel.

Please pray that our Lord shows mercy to my brother.

He has already shown him great mercy in regard to his physical condition, sparing him once again from

death.

He has spared my brother from death on a number of occasions.

Please pray that the Lord has mercy upon his soul and that he gives my brother a new heart,

that I may know with certainty that my brother is on his way to meet his Savior in heaven

on that day when he takes his final breath here on earth.

So please pray for John.

And also, a more recent prayer request that

I have had involves another brother of mine, one much closer in age to me,

my brother Bob, who is 64 years of age.

He just had a cancerous tumor removed from his bladder.

And Bob was very pleased how everything has

gone so far.

He says that the cancer is out, and he goes to see the doctor tomorrow to discuss next steps.

And he prays that when the results come back from pathology, it's a

stage one or earlier.

So please join me and my brother in prayer.

My brother Bob, by the way, is a born -again evangelical Christian.

So join me in praying for his physical condition.

And he has a wife and four children, one still a very

young child.

So please, actually, I'm sorry, he has a wife and five children.

His other children are adults other than the young one at home.

But pray for Bob.

Also, folks, I hope you mark your calendars to tune in tomorrow to Iron Trump and Zion Radio.

We have joining us for the very first time ever on Iron Trump and Zion Radio, somebody that I've wanted to interview

for a very long time, Marvin Alasky.

He is the author of over 20 books.

He's an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America denomination, an editor -in -chief

of World Magazine, and dean of World Journalism Institute.

We are going to be addressing his latest book, Lament for a Father, The Journey to

Understanding and Forgiveness.

So make sure you mark your calendars for tomorrow, Friday, July 2nd, for our interview

with Marvin Alasky.

Also, folks, if you love this show and you do not want to disappear from the airwaves, please, I'm urging you, go

to IronTrumpandZionRadio .com, click support, then click to donate now.

You can donate instantly with a debit or credit card in that fashion.

We are in urgent need of your financial help.

Right now, we can't even pay the rent that is already past due on this

facility where I am sitting, where my studio exists to conduct this program.

We also cannot afford to pay for our live streaming fee that

is due.

So please help us.

The coronavirus pandemic hysteria has hurt a number of people in our audience,

and therefore our giving has gone down.

And we are in a very precarious situation financially.

I'm urging you to please go to IronTrumpandZionRadio .com, click support, then click, click to donate now.

Donate like you've never given before.

Donate for the first time if you have never given before.

And I want to thank all of you who have been consistently giving, sometimes going all the way

back to 2005 when we first launched the show.

And some of you are new time, first time givers.

We thank God for you from the depths of our hearts, more than I can possibly describe in the

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I am so grateful to you and to God for you.

But please help us at this urgent time of need.

Go to IronTrumpandZionRadio .com, click support, then click, click to donate now.

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If you'd like to advertise with us, we would love to help you launch an ad campaign as long as whatever it is you are

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You don't have to believe identically with me, but you need to be promoting something that is at the very least compatible with what I believe.

You can send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line.

Also folks, if you give to this program, remember I don't want anybody siphoning money away

from their regular giving to their own local church where they are a member in order to give to Iron TrumpandZionRadio

.com.

One of the primary reasons I launched this show in 2005 is to be a

help, an aid, an arm, a platform, and a friend to the local

pastor and the local church.

I never want to do anything to hinder or harm the local church, and that includes finances.

So please don't punish your own church as it were financially by blessing us financially.

Also, please don't give if by doing so you are going to be plunging yourself further

into financial peril when it comes to your own home and family.

Those two things are commands of God in the Bible, providing for your church and your family.

Providing for my show is not obviously a command of God, but if you are financially

blessed above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands, you have extra money collecting interest,

you have extra money for recreational purposes and for trivial purposes.

God has indeed blessed you financially, and you love this show.

Please help us out.

If you want us to stick around, please help us out.

Go to IronTrumpandZionRadio .com, click support, then click, click to donate now.

Last but not least, if you are not a member of a local Bible -believing church, a biblically faithful church, a

theologically sound church, no matter where on the planet earth you live, I may be able to help you find a church.

I have lists, extensive lists of biblically faithful churches all over the world, and I've helped many people in our audience

in all parts of the planet earth find churches, sometimes within minutes of their own home,

and they have either joined these churches or they have recommended them to family, friends, and loved ones, or they have

visited these churches on vacation.

But whatever the case may be, if you are in need of a biblically sound church, send me an email to chrisarnsonatgmail .com,

chrisarnsonatgmail .com, and if I need a church in the subject line, I need a church in the subject line.

That's also the email address to send in a question to Ken Samples as we discuss his book, Christianity

Cross -Examined, Is It Rational, Relevant, and Good?

That's chrisarnsonatgmail .com, chrisarnsonatgmail .com, as always give us your first name at least,

city and state and country of residence.

Well, one of the aspects, one of the questions of your subtitle, Ken, is

probably stemming from the most arrogant,

the most prideful, the most despicable

element of mankind that thinks so highly of himself

or herself, so highly of their intellect, and sophistication, that they would

dare say God and Christianity are not relevant.

That is the one that it probably makes me the most nauseous, the most angry,

and the most disgusted.

If you could answer that question for us, is Christianity relevant?

Thank you, Chris.

Look,

the

Christianity

is

faith and love.

It seems to me that Christianity clearly

comes

from our...

I think that Christianity is uniquely relevant.

I think when people...

I think those kinds of questions...

I think people are probably asking different questions now.

That doesn't mean that the subjective is...

I think it's...

Look, I feel

like

I need to

talk...

That maybe you're already...

We have Mike from Monroe, New York, who asks, The late

Greg Bonson used to say, Everyone does philosophy.

It is just that few do it well.

Can Brother Ken please speak to the spiritual benefit and value of studying philosophy

and philosophical method in pursuit of a biblical and rational faith?

Yeah, Mike, I appreciate that very much.

I knew Greg Bonson.

We were...

We had a friend.

You can find that on the web.

I appreciate it, Mike.

C .S.

Lewis said...

You know, I think we clearly see this coming out of Scripture.

You know, stop...

Geist of your mind.

And Paul uses the word philosophy.

I think philosophy is a great discipline.

And I think that

in the modern world, as a handmaid,

the idea of thinking about the nature of

reality, the nature of knowledge, the nature of...

I see philosophy...

Friend Greg Bonson, the great author...

Need to answer.

In fact, I would say this, Chris.

I used to think...

Only kind of gray -haired, old philosophy professors...

You know, that was just...

I no longer hold that view.

I now believe that when there are bad ideas, if you don't...

I wanted to give a plug to the Bonson Project.

Bonsonproject .com.

B -A -H -N -S -E -N project .com.

I greatly value this project and those that have contributed to

its existence.

Those who lead it and so on.

And in fact, if anybody wants to listen to the interviews I've done with a number of people who

are involved in the Bonson Project to continue the great biblical

and theological soundness of the legacy of Greg

Bonson.

If you typed in Bonson in the search engine at ironsherpensironradio .com B -A -H

-N -S -E -N all of the interviews that I've done and connected with Greg Bonson will

show up.

By the way, thank you, Mike, in Monroe, New York.

Please give us your full mailing address in Monroe, New York, so that we can have Cumberland Valley Bible

Book Service.

CVBBS .com Ship out to you a free copy of Christianity Cross

-Examined Is It Rational, Relevant, and Good?

And we thank Reasons to Believe for giving us these books that we

are giving away to a limited number of listeners.

And also, I want to remind Chris, I think I forgot to tell Chris in Suffolk County,

Long Island that you've also won a copy of this book.

So make sure we have your full mailing address.

Could you actually just very briefly go into a

more definitional distinction between philosophy and theology

for those of our listeners who are somewhat confused about that?

Sure.

Again, I like very much what

Augustine,

they talked about for a

long time the idea is that, but philosophy in and

of itself,

one of the criticisms that I have, kind of the differing apologetics,

you know, some are organizations, you know, historic,

some even a literary apologetics.

I think that anybody who does apologetics,

particularly, again, looking at the biggest physical analysis

and study, and of course, philosophy.

And I think that philosophy has to be informed well by,

for the most part, you know,

theology is the queen of the sciences.

Theology is who God is.

You're going to be an apologist.

You can't know everything.

I believe

my

colleague,

people

that he

saw.

I'm sure you would agree that some of the most dangerous people are people that are

extremely gifted in philosophy, but have a very bad theology because they,

in their articulate way of spinning

ideas through philosophical thought, if they're theologically is not grounded in scripture,

they can be more capable and gifted at deceiving people.

I think that's very true.

You know, ideas really, I remember when I told my dad, my dad was a combat soldier.

He was a coal miner in West Virginia,

studied philosophy.

And he asked me, how much money will you make?

Ideas.

But I finally convinced my dad because that world war you fought in, that

was a war about ideas.

Chris, I think they come out of the pens of

people like the German philosopher, Nietzsche.

They come out of

exactly right ideas.

That's why it's

philosophy and theology.

And they're able to speak to the today.

So, and that web

could also

be regretted.

We have BB in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, who says, why is it

that the church has seen such radical, drastic decline over

the ages from a place that they enjoyed at one time in

history, where they were considered extremely

relevant in the world, even by those who were unbelievers.

Of course, the church has always had its severe critics and opponents and

mockers and scoffers.

But society at large at one time had such a high respect for the church that it was

still viewed in some way as being extremely relevant and the source of truth

and knowledge, perhaps even especially in times of crisis that spanned

the nation or the globe.

Even most of the Ivy League schools were founded by Christians, even

Christians of Puritan theology and thought and practice.

Why is it that today we have arrived at the place where the scoffers and mockers

seem to dominate the reaction to the church and it is seen as being

a laughable institution with little or no relevance?

Is this because mankind has gotten worse or the church has gotten worse, in your opinion?

Yeah, that's

a trick from

the Netherlands.

Kuiper talked a lot about the

conceiving of Christianity.

However, here you have this leading reformed thinker in 1900 talking about,

and in a hundred years,

discriminating against minorities.

And that is, in and of itself, racist.

Yeah, what you're saying is these racial minorities aren't capable.

It's interesting that we have reached a place, I think

schools have

answered

that and

undermined,

but I think as well the church has.

I know you love Yaroslav Pelikan.

He comes up a lot.

Pelikan said that the church is always more than a school, but it should never be less than a school.

I think that in many ways by that,

teach

people

to

know

the

doctrine of the Trinity,

the doctrines of the resurrection,

what we believe in and why we believe it.

And there have been places, Chris, in church history where Christianity was

advancing and seemingly moving ahead.

And then there were other times when it was declining and seemed to be shrinking.

That is such a distinguishing feature of theology that you and I love.

That is where we

are.

I want ideas

that

are...

I'll tell you, Chris, that 2015, if

you would have told me that years

ago, I

would have

said no

to these ideas.

John in Bangor, Maine asks, could it be that the

decline in the popular, the popularity of Calvinism over the centuries

until a recent uprising in popularity has been the

cause for the decline of the church being viewed as relevant?

The reason why I'm saying this is that there is an Arminian idea, even if it is

unconscious, that far more than being precise about theology,

numbers matter in regard to the number of people that you bring into the church

and hopefully see them saved.

I don't discount this as being out of an important area,

but that seems to overwhelm other considerations to such a degree

that seeker sensitivism has become all the rage for far too long,

where the church modifies its teaching and its

practices and its mannerisms in order to mimic the world so that

they will become more appealing to the world outside them.

The reason why I think that it could be possible this is an issue that lends itself to the church

being ironically less relevant is that the outside world

does not see it as having answers that they do not already possess.

So on one hand, it might seem that the church is trying to be more relevant by adopting the

world's music and tastes and sermons and behavior.

They are actually becoming less relevant because the world gets their answers that seem to be

very close to the church's answers in their own worldly non -Christian sources.

I think that that's a very insightful concept that our listener,

John in Bangor, Maine, has had to say.

What do you think about that?

You know, I think that, John,

you know, in the reformed tradition, reformed people, they know what they

believe in.

They may not always be the most gracious people in the world, but they know what they believe in.

I want them to practice,

but I'm a Calvinist myself.

I think that

biblical ideas

that have

kind of...

I don't think it's true.

They're rather thin.

Now live at a time...

What do you do with critical race theory?

It seems to

me that churches these days need to be kind of like the monasteries were in the Middle Ages, where they're...

Think old doctrines, kind of intellectual.

I don't believe that at all.

I believe that...

Learning in our doctrine...

And we want to be...

I think you've made a very powerful point, but I don't want to...

I don't want to give up.

I don't...

When the Lord will...

Calculate too much...

Done good and faithful...

And that part...

I appreciate that, brother.

And we have to go to our final break.

So if you have a question, send it in now.

Don't go away.

We'll be right back.

Over 20 other speakers, including John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Votie Balcom, Joel

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G3 2021.

This is Justin Peters reminding you that Christ is supreme over all.

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I'm Dr. Tony Costa Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary.

I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love Hope

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in Corham who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into

the unfathomable riches of Christ in his holy word and to enthusiastically proclaim

Christ Jesus the King and his doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island, and

beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing

of being showered by their love as I have.

For more information on Hope Reformed Baptist Church go to hopereformedli .net.

That's hopereformedli .net or

call 631 -696 -5711.

That's 631 -696 -5711.

Tell the folks at Hope Reformed Baptist Church of Corham, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa

on Iron Sharpens Iron.

Welcome back.

We have a listener, Ken, in Tulsa, Oklahoma who says,

My friend Ken Samples raised the point that secular scientists hope to take God out of the picture,

but an astronomer whom I heard lecture while in graduate school in New York

City later acknowledged God with a book, God and the Astronomers.

His quote at the end of the book is a gem.

For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story

ends like a bad dream.

He has scaled the mountains of ignorance.

He is about to conquer the highest peak.

As he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians

who have been sitting there for centuries, and that is Robert Jastrow, God

and the Astronomers.

Your audience might enjoy hearing this.

That's Ken in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Any thoughts or comments on that?

Yeah, and start chapter one with that.

I think it also illustrates how there has always been a historical connection.

You have to have the right world.

Well, the last question that you ask is, Is Christianity good?

And it's an interesting question because I had gotten an

agreement years ago, an acceptance of an invitation by Christopher

Hitchens, the late Christopher Hitchens.

Wow.

To debate my dear friend, Dr. James R. White of Alpha Omega Ministries.

And he was actually on the phone with me, Christopher Hitchens, that is, a very pleasant and gracious person,

very humorous person, and very humble and polite, and not at all the persona that

he often radiated in the media.

But unfortunately, that debate never happened because Christopher

Hitchens developed esophageal cancer, which eventually took his life.

But David Silverman, at the time president of American Atheists, the

organization founded by Madeleine Murray O 'Hare, he took up the mantle on the same theme, Is the New Testament evil?

And it is interesting that an atheist could dare describe anything as good or

evil because they really have no basis to do so.

But if you could comment on Christianity being good, and we're going to have to have you return, I

think we could do a full two hours on that one question.

Good.

I raised the question, what about people?

And, you know, as I re -situation,

I looked at some of the things.

Number one, the new atheists,

even the Inquisition, hard to believe anything other than

would tell you

that not

only do they maximize the so -called sin, they

minimize,

have to deal with it because communism is dialogue.

In fact, we have to have you return, Ken, because we're out of time.

We have to...

Okay.

We'll spend even the whole two hours on the goodness of Christianity.

I want to thank everybody for listening today.

I want to thank especially those who took the time to write.

And I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater savior than you are a sinner.