The Here I Stand Theology Podcast Interview with the guys from Faith Unaltered

And.

I'm playing the promo. So welcome to the here. I stand theology podcast. We have a great episode lined up for you all.

We've got the guys from faith unaltered with us tonight.

You got we'll be right back. Yes the moment what you're looking at now not what I always been.

I ain't breaking on my past. No power in myself to overcome my flesh. I bought clothes to get undressed but God revealed my nakedness. Hostile enemy speech was all venomy. Jesus was a nice guy But wasn't no friend to me.

My lips said I loved him. My actions despised his reign. I had my own agenda. I was my own king. Then he came. I would change my grace through faith. Every dollar that I owed it was pay pay pay pay. Send bill was something I couldn't pick up.

Now I got my hands raised high like a stick up. Even better than I know myself every hair on my head.

I'm not.

Podcast Welcome and Guest Introduction

Hey again, welcome to the here I stand theology podcast where we are a podcast devoted to a pointed and spirited bait of biblical doctrine. We as well are a podcast that is accountable to the local church.

The local church specifically Reformata Baptist Church of which we are pastor in an elder there. We are accountable for the things that we do in the things that we say here on the podcast. We are pumped about our guests and not without any further delay.

Let's go ahead and bring these guys in. Let's bring in Tyler and David. I think we're good. I mean, yeah, I think I was Oprah Winfrey right there in front and center, too. We we seem to have quite the audience.

That's it.

Here we are you all are live. Via the interwebs we are in the heart of Ramsey Manor in the study. Oh here to talk to y 'all tonight and find out about what you are up to. So for those who may not be aware of who you all are you are to my right maybe to your left.

I'm not really sure about the TV world. How do you go out? Do you go opposite. The guy with the guy with the glasses is Tyler? I'm Claude. I'm the happy Calvinist so glad to be with y 'all tonight guys.

Seriously appreciate y 'all taking time out of your schedules to be here. I know y 'all I've had a lot on your plates. You've got a lot going on with the with your new podcast. By the way, I do not own the rights to the song that played during that intro that was Andy Minio formerly known.

I thought how fitting because Sin this complete sinner's God and Porah puree now.

What are y 'all called faith unaltered?

Unaltered. So guys. Tell us tell us a little bit about yourselves. Here to start us off. David let's start with you.

Well, I have you know, I'm an old man. I just turned 40. So, uh, yeah. Yeah, I work at the FDIC. I'm an armed security guard, but in the meantime, you know in my personal time I linked up with this guy named Tyler.

He's kind of a weird guy, but we got along really great and everything just like clicked and that's like, you know. We're doing the show together, you know. But yeah, that's just a little bit about me.

I'm a father of Four and I live in Virginia.

Awesome. How about you Tyler? Yeah, I'm Tyler Fowler and Like David said we linked up like attracts like there. He's got his own weirdness. I got mine and collabing them things like we were doing our own thing, you know with the complete sinners guide.

David was doing his own thing with Porah and I reached out to Dave and I said man, we got a collab. You know, we've got to merge these two podcasts together instead of competing against each other. Let's work to the same goal.

And so that's what I've been doing man. That's what you know, David's been doing. I'm a dad and a husband and I've been married. Let's see. We're going on four years. We're celebrating our four-year anniversary on July 14th my daughter just turned two and.

Yeah, that's what's going on with me, brother. That's awesome. That's awesome guys. So there is a question that we start with. I don't know if y 'all are familiar with this. But anytime we have guests on there's a question that we're about to ask you all.

It's really gonna set the tone for the entire podcast. Okay, so so this is serious business. Are you ready for it? So If David and Tyler had to arm-wrestle.

We're actually gonna so we're planning on linking up so we will do that. We'll get a tick-tock clip for you Claude and whenever we whenever I meet up with David and we'll see who wins.

That sounds awesome. That sounds awesome. I've been I've been trying to get a. I tried to get Doug Wilson the other day to To get a picture of him and James White before their debate arm-wrestling. I don't think he's gonna go for it.

We'll get it for you.

We've been sending a video of me and Tyler going at it with it, that's it. That'll be good.

I need a picture for the for the page of manliness. So so it personally personally so. Star Wars or Star Trek. That's good, yeah, David. David was Letting me peruse his his paraphernalia there in his studio there and that and I told him that was gonna be one of the questions To ask you all.

So why Star Trek David? Well, you know, I grew up on it. My dad was a huge fan the for one of the earliest memories I have as a real little guy was actually meeting to Kai and Nimoy and stuff at a Star Trek convention that my dad had taken us to and it's just it's you know I had picture of it.

I don't know where that picture is now. I wish I still had it. But uh, yeah James, Johan was there and you know, it's just a you know, it was pretty cool. But afterwards, you know going down to see my dad every year in Georgia I would be inundated with Star Trek and I just fell in love with it.

You know the the whole idea of discovery and exploration and Running into stuff that you know. Conundrums like philosophical conundrums, you know. It's it just really set with me and the Starships the Starships were the best thing because You know the idea of a capital ship like that just exploring space and the unknown was just it's just awesome.

How about you Tyler. Wow.

Wars you may be like, I don't know if your listeners will believe me or not, but I've never seen Star Trek. So I'm biased in that sense. I never watched Star Trek only seen Star Wars. And so I've got a I got to go with Star Wars on that one.

But whenever I meet up with David, maybe we can have you know, Star Trek night binge binge some Star Trek episodes on it'll be fun.

The original movies.

I'm gonna say for for purposes of entertainment Star Wars has to be better. It just really.

That's where you're wrong. It's not even realistic.

Is any of it?

Like in Star Wars is as real as rasslin. And rasslin rasslin.

They have a you know, Star Wars the only you know drawback. You got these guys running around with these light swords, right? You never tell you how it doesn't continue to shoot after you turn it on. It just continues to go because it is a laser, right?

So. Then on top of that you have these guys running around not only with these lightsabers, which are cool and all. I love swords, man. I have my. I have fully functional swords here at the house. I guess we're hanging on the wall.

I do man. And I have a. I have a you know, a high carbon steel katana spring steel rapier and another high carbon broad sword, you know, but.

He's obviously.

The.

Thing is these guys have magic powers too, you know, so it's kind of like come on man, you know. The force and it's just nonsense. Is the philosophies even bad on it.

So I'll be honest with you the deal with lightsabers literally about 20 minutes before we we came on together I was trying to get my lightsaber to mute so it didn't have that humming sound. And I was my wife was in the kitchen.

I said April I said there is no way anybody could really handle one of these things. They would kill themselves.

For me Trek, I mean it really. It kind of like shows you what the future of humanity would be like instead of being in a galaxy far far away. And it's more fantasy. This is kind of like okay. This could be our future and if you notice now from like the 1950s all and you know.

Even Motorola has their their symbols are to Star Trek stars together. Space Force, you know. Is it is a comm badge. It looks like a comm badge, you know.

Star tech mobile phones they had we're all sliding glass doors.

So I don't remember these things. Yeah, I mean you could thank Star Trek for all the real stuff we have today, too.

So let's move into asking talking about y 'all. Personally so if y 'all don't mind, we'll start with Tyler. Tyler. Would you. Would you start by sharing with us your testimony? And then David when he's done you kind of share your story there too is.

Well, please.

Yeah, absolutely for so for those who don't know me. I Grew up in the church. My mom took me to a little independent fundamentalist Baptist Church I call it Gospel Center and But I never was Saved and I I was not born again and I had Cute but Whenever I was 18, I went to our mood to Florida and that's whenever I really let loose.

So to say I really started getting into things that I shouldn't have. I became a drug addict. Fairly quick did the rock-and-roll band try to get as many girls as possible. You know, that was my story that's what I was living for and It's crazy how it all worked out because my dad Went started going to this seniors Center to play pool every Monday and Wednesday and he ended up running into this guy named alpha.

Alpha is the guy who led me to the Lord and so they linked up and The worst of my worst I ended up in the hospital. Due to I was a pill addict and I ended up in the hospital due to taken 2425 lower tabs in one day and long story short that day who met me in the hospital who's his nickname and He told me the gospel for the first time and after that I was really thinking about Jesus.

I was you know, I started looking for evidence, you know the resurrection things like that and you know Did even Jesus really exist and who and I just kept talking and I'll never forget it one night. We was setting and he took a piece of paper and he literally drew the gospel out.

I've got actually a video of me doing that on the complete sinners guide YouTube pages our very first video and it's called the 14-minute gospel. And so I take the time to draw out the gospel on a piece of paper and I never I've never seen that before you know it it really opened the gospel up in a way that I could understand it and Whenever that happened, I mean I was thinking about it.

I was thinking about it and I really got interested in Christianity. I wanted to know all I could about it. And so I started getting who gave me. What was it like 30 some odd CDs man? I mean this dude is old-school, right?

So he's got old s Lewis Johnson sermons on like 30 CDs and I started listening those CDs. I burned them on my computer and I downloaded my mp3 player and I was listening those sermons. I remember it like it was yesterday one day at work I was listening to an s Lewis Johnson sermon and I ran to the bathroom like the Holy Spirit fell on me, bro.

And I ran to the bathroom and I said, all right, look, you know if Jesus existed Christianity is real and I just I bowed my head man, and I prayed for real for the first time. You know what? I mean? Like God, I know I'm a sinner, you know, I know I need you and that day man I was born again.

I really believe I was.

Praise the Lord I thought when he was when he was running to the bathroom being led by the Holy Spirit I thought that was Taco Bell. Well, you know my story's a little bit a little bit more ancient because I'm a lot older than Tyler but Hey, look, I'm not afraid to put myself down here if I'm gonna interrupt you in your testimony.

But Seriously, I you know, I was 18. It was I was it was right before 18 actually when when I started noticing this this softening in my heart and this idea that I you know that God was real my great-grandmother was going through a very bad bout with cancer and The whole family was being affected by it and I remember Listening to creed higher from creed and I was just like God if you really want me send me two angels, too.

And you know, it's so funny because I had you know, I have this idea I grew up around my grandmother who was the matron of our family and who put it You know showed us a lot of these Bible movies and watch touch by an angel.

But weekly and highway to heaven and stuff like that. So that's what I was thinking about. I was like man, so be a Michael Landon or something, you know. So, you know when you're ready to have me then just send them to me haven't convinced me and this and that well fast-forward to Probably okay.

I just turned 18. It was.

Probably.

Early. Or late January 2000. And My friend was like, hey, why don't you come with me to these? You know my friend's house and we'll you know, we'll sit down and and talk about the Bible. I was like, okay, man, that's cool, man.

He's been pushing me for a while ago, you know. And at the time I lived for myself, you know. It's my own God, you know, I had my own form of and ideas of you know, I believed yeah Jesus is God, you know, but you know, he gives me this life to kind of rule myself.

You know and I was in the stuff that I shouldn't have been in just kind of like Tyler but not as deep I don't think.

But I.

Decided to go with him and it was my senior year. So I was doing stuff at a young age. And I was failings my senior year and he took me over to this house and there were two guys there two angels two messengers of God and They convinced me and I gave my life to the Lord that night.

However the church that I went to was a Very Pentecostal church that's Hence the joke I gave you earlier.

And.

They taught me about what it means to have a relationship with God. But they didn't. They didn't teach good and it turned into a word word of faith movement, you know. And it slowly went from Pentecostal ism to that word of faith movement to where you know, the guys are yelling.

You know. Show me the money now type thing. And in the middle of the service, you know. Wow, and the pulpit wasn't protected and my walk was like a roller coaster up and down and up and down. I ended up having a child out of wedlock.

Which even said, you know ended my college days for a while and.

I.

Just started going down a deep hill until about 2007 my father passed away and I had a friend that had introduced me to CS Lewis for the first time and I was like Man, there's this this other side of Christianity that I don't even understand.

And then I had this conversation with my cousin at my father's wake and he's an atheist and he just looked at me. So why should I have faith and? Throughout that that conversation. I realized man. I don't know why I believe this.

I don't. I Don't and I was like God I said, you know If I'm going to give my whole life to you and my whole life to this and I don't even know why I believe it What in the world, you know, where is my faith.

And I started doubting everything but it was also God's stepping stone to launch me into apologetics into Studying different faiths and understanding why I believe what I believe and from there Everything changed everything, you know, um, I Was more, you know, I was on solid ground so to speak instead of you know enjoying the the sands of the beach and all that stuff and the and the slipperiness of it and yeah from there, you know God just Really gave me a heart to love him with not only my heart but my mind as well.

Hey, man.

Faith, Apologetics, and Knowing Why We Believe

Yeah, I appreciate what you said there the the you talked about the importance of not only knowing what we believe. But why we believe it and that is I think. Really has been the trend with Christianity for hundreds of years.

People are told blindly believe this blindly have faith. But faith really isn't about being being blind or ignorant. It's about being educated and educated according to the word of God itself.

Is what he expects? Yeah, you know Claude. I it's something that I picked up as I was doing. This is that God made us to discover. You know, he made humanity at their best when they're in Stages of discovery look at the space race and stuff like that.

We're competing and and trying to discover New things and we build rockets and you know. We advance in technology and the same with God. God wants us. He's created us that way to discover him. To discover more about him, you know and to so and there's only one way to subdue the world According to that original plan there and that is by discovery to discover new things and do new things and you know stuff like that.

So.

Yeah, and it's actually Ecclesiastes. Well, let me find that that passage. But it basically in the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon the preacher says that basically God has put eternity in the heart of man.

Right past finding out it's always going to be something that we're ever learning ever growing ever understanding more and more.

Right, I always always refer to Ecclesiastes as the apologetics of the Old Testament, yeah.

So Spartan theology says hey Holler at your friends Ethan tell them to jump on with us. Oh. So Tyler, it's a question that was requested pre interview. The question is why is Tyler a heretic? Well, you're gonna have to ask David that.

Reason. Tyler is still a heretic as David hasn't Emphasized his vocabulary. He hasn't expanded it in the last year. So Heretic. But David why am I heretic? Well Tyler?

That the Bible is the Word of God, oh, yeah, and you're constantly saying things against it and you know I have to call it out. You're definitely your Calvinism. Definitely. That's heretical in itself, you know.

Marcionism really gets to me.

Marcy and the favorite the favorite heretic. This is good, this is organic we're organically moving to theology now, don't forget you're just shortly. We're gonna show y 'all's intro video for your new podcast as well.

But while we're we're we're rolling here. So we're just gonna we're just gonna roll with it. So theological. Your theological putting your theological grounding your theological mooring Tyler. Let's start with you Calvinist or let's just let's not.

Let's not because so many people are afraid to that word. Let's let's use the word reformed or Arminian.

Reformed, Arminian, and New Covenant Theology

David I am Reformed Arminian because the Arminius was part of the Reformation my friend. So I think you would be more behooved to say Calvinist versus Arminian is but yeah, I I lean more towards Arminian I don't like Labels, I was mentored by Calvinists as well.

And I've also been mentored by Arminianists Molinists and you know, I go wrong and then provisionist right there, you know a Traditional Baptist as well such as Herschel Hobbes and so forth.

He cut out. You're muted. We'll jump over to Tyler while you're working on your mic, yeah.

Well David's figuring that out. I'm working on my side. We hear you hear me now. Yeah.

Sound like you almost had a short bub. Huh? You can hear me. Yeah. Yeah, you're good now. Okay. I can't hear you guys.

That's weird. You can't hear us.

Let me check.

So, well, yeah, well while he's working on that. Tyler, let's go with you there.

Yeah, so I'm actually like David in some senses. So whenever it comes to arteriology, I lean more Calvinistic, right? I'm definitely five points. Even though I am looking more so at limited atonement now more than I ever have right and so I'm currently under the position that Jesus in fact died for the entire world for every man.

But what does that mean? What does that look like? Practically did he? Bear everyone's sins on his body. Well, I believe if he had done that then everyone would be saved, right? And so I believe in the universalism exactly and so I'm definitely not a universalist.

But at the same time, I believe that there's an aspect of Jesus's death that affects the entire world every man. I'm just trying to figure out what that is. So whenever it comes to that, like I said, so teary ology I win Calvinistic now.

Where Calvin would say something, you know along the lines of infant baptism I'm I'm creative Baptist so I can't say that I'm a Calvinist on that, you know level. So I'm really a mutt man whenever it comes to my theological beliefs.

I can time all together relatively. Well, I think but I mean with Calvinism you have It's so much more than the five points everything Intertwines together and with my New Covenant theology stance, you know, I'm not oh Wow it Gone Covenant theology.

I'm not I don't hold the Covenant theology. I hold to New Covenant theology and so that kind of throws the wrench in the whole Calvinism thing. But I agree with him whenever it comes to soteriology. So.

Yeah, yeah what I was saying before is I you know I really don't I I don't like the labels because I don't think any one system gets it totally right, right, right? And I and in that way I think Tyler said it really really good with being a mutt in a way is that there's a lot to it that.

That I don't think we can really touch because we're not omniscient. How can how can finite creatures understand? Omniscience fully we can there's just no way you know and how you know. Maybe there is a way that this predestination works with free will that we just haven't figured out yet, and I'm fine with that I'm not gonna appeal to say it's mystery because the you know, it's not really mystery.

It's just God, you know, it's and whatever he does if he says that there's free will there's free. Well, if he says that there's predestination, there's gonna be predestination on some level. I lean more towards the Arminian view.

And you know, so. That's I guess that's what you could label me. So to speak is more of a classical Arminian. Or a provisionist Mullen is I don't know. Yeah, whatever. I don't even know what to call it myself.

But uh, yeah, that's that's kind of my leanings.

I like the word mutt.

Yeah, but that's that's cool because I guess aiming toward the purpose of your all's podcast Faith unaltered, right? It's about it's about platforming conversations between differing views and resolving as.

And in there there are primary issues, of course that we that we can't you know, we can't agree to disagree on The fundamentals of the faith right but there are all these secondary issues we should be able to Debate discuss talk about these things and not necessarily go away Despising one another right?

We can absolutely we're still gonna obviously think he's stupid, you know, that's an that's a.

This.

We all have that, you know just to be honest again. This is the here. I stand. Theology podcast here I stand. We can say these things. But we can still we can still talk to one another and get through it.

At the end of the day, so tell us how did faith unaltered coming about so complete sinner's guide? Porra PRA. If if you would let's go start with David here and then we'll go to Tyler. Tyler porra or PRA.

What does that represent. Because I never know how to say it or what?

Origins of Faith Unaltered and the Complete Sinner’s Guide

Porra it was a Concept that my first co-host came up with he recruited me. He was a guy from Charlotte that his name was Titus. He's a Reformed I would say Mennonite that would you know non-violence to the whole degree?

Not really Strict Mennonite, but yes, that's why I say reform, but he was like, hey, look I got myself into some trouble. I need some help. Uh, I saw that, you know, you do an apologetics pageant in Virginia and I'm in Charlotte can we meet up so we met up and He got me to do this this broadcast with him and I was nervous.

I had never done something like that before and Man, it took me a good little while to get comfortable in the seat and stuff like that. But we ended up starting it off and and PRA is basically proselytize or apostatize, right?

So do we proselytize the faith or do we apostatize it? Is it worth? One or the other because if it's true if Christianity is true, we need to proselytize. If it's false we need to reject it completely right so and that was kind of like the the idea and We both me and him both were huge fans of Justin Briarley in the UK and the unbelievable broadcast.

So we we fashioned our show after his for an American audience. And I gotta say the journey was phenomenal. I ended up talking with Probably I want to say at least three of my heroes that I've probably learned the most from.

You know, and I was able to interview them and actually partner with them in many ways. What are they used to believe. Hugh Ross is one of them? Gary Habermas was another one that I got to interview a Jay Ward or Wallace who's just a great guy.

I love him to death. He you know that man that man you give him one question and he will answer it and answer it in The most exciting way you can you can imagine. I mean, he just he will he knows he knows exactly What he believes why he believes it and he's able to express it in such a way.

It's just gripping. You know, I got to talk to fuzz Rana. I love a lot of his work. But yeah, that's what PRA was. We ended up getting the interviews. We would put host debates between atheists because like you said, yes, we want to facilitate conversations and we wanted to do that PRA.

But we also wanted to engage the culture which is very important. And we wouldn't hold back if people want to talk about politics that we we talk about politics and over that time We were able to form a base of people that were like family, you know.

Even our atheist brothers and sisters, you know, not not as far as like Christian but like our friends they became our family and they they loved the platform so much because of how we ran it and the kindness and the and the Respect that we show to one another they wanted to come back and it created a community of people that would always come back and talk about different issues debate on different issues and we dive deep and then we would Network and go to other shows and that's what I really wanted to do with Tyler when we first met and we talked about it.

And he had the same exact idea to network to be to collaborate more and stuff like that. And then like we're doing our own thing. Like he said and I was just like, you know what? You know, it's a lot of hard work and if we want to if we want to grow this we're gonna need to have something kind of new and You know like a network of some sort have a team because it really takes a team to be truly successful in this field.

Right, so now. With faith unaltered. I think that's what we can bring to people even more because not only do do we bring two sets of families together but we're also combining the type of content so we'll be able to explore theology and the culture plus Atheists and Christians.

Very nice and how about the complete centers got.

The complete centers guide started off as a YouTube channel. That's originally what I wanted to do. I did not think about radio I did not think about Podcasting and then I met Noah Chalaya the guy that really got me started now his dad owns a radio station, North Dakota and so the him and the table are the Yeah, the table I guess they run it so it's him and I think three or four other Gentlemen.

Now, here's the funny thing Claude I did not know it getting into the radio station that they were all Seventh-day Adventist every single one of them and they promoted Seventh-day Adventist content right only Seventh-day Adventist only and The really here you come and here I come and so Noah convinced me to you know Radio and I think a little part of that was because he had just gotten out of Seventh-day Adventism, right?

He understood the gospel and I think a little bit of that was him wanting me To just show up on the radio station and just talk the truth, right? He really loved that that I was seeking the truth like I was and so we started the complete centers got started off that way.

And the original like how we came up with the name was the complete idiots guide, right? Whatever think about it, you know the complete idiots guide to whatever and and it just kind of stuck and we're like All right, let's make a Christian show.

You know, we started off reformed theology. That was in my reformed days I was man. I had the sword I had the shield and I was ready to go to war brother. Like let's go our minion heretics. You know age I was I was very cage stage back then my brother.

But I've calmed down a lot now and so we originally started off with a theology you know theologically based and Here's the thing. I'm I feel now if I could do it over again I definitely would and here's why I say that I miss so much of the practicality of Christianity, right right now.

We're actually continuing with complete centers guide and we're finishing up our 10 episode series on practical Christianity. I think we're on like episode 7 now and so we've got a couple more shows to do there.

We're gonna close that series out and then David and I are gonna you know, really jump on faith and altered. But I wanted to get practical for the first year of faith art for the first year of CSG. We taught nothing but theology we brought people on to debate.

We brought different people on to you know, discuss professors, you know different people like that and we we really focused on the theological side and then I Recruited my co-host Joshua Davidson and whenever I recruited him.

I had actually I had a co-host before that Michael Keaton and He was you know, he was having some family problems. And so we we decided to you know Kind of part ways and then I brought Joshua Davidson on board and whenever he came on he really opened up My eyes to the practical side of Christianity and that's what we've been focusing on for the past year ending with this.

You know 10 part episode. So that's what CSG has been going on. So I saw David, you know with Pora and I actually reached out to David. I said, bro What would you think about collabing these podcasts and David was all and he wasn't about it whenever we first started.

But the more he thought about it the more I kind of kept I don't know David. How long did it take you a couple months really to to climb on board with it?

Well, you know when you first asked me to collab it was like within the first year. We knew each other. Yeah, and it was like, okay, let's uh, let's collapse. I was like, okay, we could do a couple shows together.

Tyler had I guess this long-term goal. Oh, yeah.

I'm not talking about just a couple episodes.

It had to be probably now since we started talking more and Getting closer that we just said, you know what? We're both working so hard at this. Yeah, if we were to get together and do this together. We would do a lot better and dude.

You know, it's so funny because the first time I came on his show I was like, man, I'm going on the radio. You know, this is gonna be pretty cool, you know, and then I hear Tyler and I was like, man. He's got such a good radio voice.

I was like, dude, what's what Mike do you have? He's like, yeah, I got the roadcaster so I was like, yeah, let me go out get a better mic, too. But you know the friendship that was just kind of like almost immediate, you know, we were laughing.

Just talking and joking and just related on a level that you know. It's kind of hard to express because you know, you find certain friends in life and you know that you're just gonna be their friend forever, you know, and That's what I felt with Tyler as soon as and he has that same mindset.