August 7, 2012

Podcasts & Podcatching

By John Paine

DowncastThis post describes how you can tap into a wealth of audio and video resources in the form of podcasts.

If you’re not familiar with podcasts, they are essentially online audio and video files that you can listen to or watch on your computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone, and many other portable devices.

Videos, music, sermons, radio programs, TV shows,  lectures, debates—you name it—can all be delivered free or inexpensively and played back whenever and wherever you like.

Interested in personal discipleship?  Podcasts give you easy access to teachers like Andy Stanley, Tim Keller and Dick Woodward. Go for a walk while listening to Dan Wallace describe exciting work at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts.  Listen to Hugh Ross explain why the universe is the way it is while stuck in traffic.  Cook dinner while Ray Vander Laan teaches about the Dead Sea Scrolls.  How about Mark Driscoll while waiting at the doctor’s office? OK, you may want to wait on that last one, but you get the idea.  Great teaching is easier to access than ever before.

There are lots of ways you can get podcasts, which is why I’m writing this post.  It’s easy to get lost in jargon and apps and how-to guidance.  There is a great app for podcatching (that avoids synching with iTunes) called “Downcast”  but there isn’t a lot of documentation.  So here’s a quick video to get you up to speed.

If you decide to use the Downcast app, here are a few more videos that go deeper into the features.  Enjoy!

1. Downcast Features

2. Downcast Additional Features

3. Downcast on iPhone and meet the Developer

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Tools

July 29, 2012

One Minute Apologist

By John Paine

No way around it, discipleship is a lot of work.  We all wish there were more shortcuts.  So here’s a flyer for those of us pouring through book after sermon after website.

The One Minute Apologist packs a lot of sound doctrine and theology into scores of short video clips.  Check out their Search page and start watching the experts come to the point quickly.  Enjoy!

One Minute Apologist

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Apologetics

July 26, 2012

How to Pray

By John Paine
Arts of the South

“Arts of the South” by Thomas Hart Benton, 1939

Here’s an absolute gem on the subject of prayer, from Andy Stanley.

The Backstory

I had two shots (spiritually speaking) to the solar plexus this week. First, Clarke Morledge posted a comment about listening to podcasts from a British apologetics website, and secondly I came across the above podcast by Andy Stanley.

Stag at Sharkey's

“Stag at Sharkey’s” by George Bellows, 1909

Prior to Clarke’s comment, I knew very little about podcasts. I must confess to being a little jaded about every new technology—who has the time? These days nearly every website has RSS and/or podcast feeds. So what? But I figured if Clarke finds it useful I may as well figure out what all the hoopla is about.

After many, many hours (thanks Clarke!) of researching and resourcing I was able to boil down how podcasts and feeds work, how to get them on my iPad, and how to play podcasts in my car. (For those who spend hours in traffic good audio material is a welcome relief.) Again…so what? This is cool stuff, but I then found myself listening to hours of slow, please-get-to-the-point, mostly boring material. Until I hit upon Andy Stanley’s podcast.

Part of what we’re trying to do with this blog is encourage you to become an autodidactic disciple of Jesus Christ. Some of that involves sharing resources, and some of that involves tools. Look for a forthcoming video that can save you hours of stumbling and fumbling around, and get you painlessly into podcasts and RSS feeds.

In the meantime, meditate on the above message—it packs quite a punch. Enjoy!

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Topics

July 22, 2012

Veracity’s Top 10 Apologetics Sites

By John Paine

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.“
Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17 (NIV)fly

It seems everyone has a top 10 list: the FBI, the NCAA, Mr. Blackwell, Time Magazine, David Letterman, even God.  So why not Veracity?

We spend so much time on the web fishing for resources, we just can’t help but want to share the good stuff.  So here you go—our very first top 10 list of online apologetics resources.

These are sites you can use for personal devotional Bible study that will take you well beyond the sacred page.  They spur our imagination and challenge us to think.  They are also rich with content that keeps us coming back for more.  The list includes a devotional catalog, an indispensable reference, lessons from a historian, topical blogs, and a video outlet.  And several are straight-ahead apologetics.  Put them in your tackle box and enjoy them on your next fishing trip.

So with great appreciation we extend a Chi Rho hat tip to the following sites (all of which tied for first place). Continue reading

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Apologetics, Tools

July 18, 2012

Process of Suffering

By John Paine

Do you ever think about why God works by processes?  After all, why doesn’t God just ‘poof’ everything to be the way he wants it to be?  Why take 13.7 billion years to get to today?  Why take 4.6 billion years to build the earth and shape its climate?  Why did Jesus have to suffer?

Why do people have to suffer?

Countless theologians have taken aim at that question.  Most dissect it from the standpoint of purpose—as in “What is the purpose of suffering?”  The realities of suffering remain among the biggest stumbling blocks for atheists and believers alike.

When it comes to suffeDick Woodwardring, I have no credentials.  But I do know an expert.  Here are two messages Dick Woodward preached on the topic (from among many cataloged here) that get to the heart of suffering.

Some questions we just can’t answer.  Other questions we should never even try to answer.  Just like the difference between knowledge (knowing the answers to questions) and wisdom (knowing which questions count), it’s really important to know when to keep our mouth shut.

Here’s a short video that illustrates the value of “showing up and shutting up.”

It also highlights the processes by which God redeems us from suffering—not just for the care receiver, but the caregiver, the pastor, and everyone else.  Redemption is a process.  For whatever reasons, God followed his own rules, and suffered ultimately for our redemption.  There was no way to ‘poof’ the redemption of mankind—God had to prove it.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8,9 (NIV)

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
Apostle Paul, Galatians 5:6b (NIV)

The above story has a happy ending.  All three men interviewed in that video are ministers—and very good ones at that.  All three will tell you when people are suffering the most important thing you can do is show up.  And don’t pretend to know the reason for their suffering.

Sometimes we see the happy ending.  Sometimes the ending is just too hard to bear.  It’s hard sometimes to understand that God makes the rules, knows what he is doing, has a plan for each of us, values sincerity, doesn’t need us to attempt to explain anything for him, and intends ultimately for us not to have an ending.  But let’s keep our mouths shut and just use our feet and ears and arms when people are suffering.  The process is important.

HT: Steve Flanary, John Green, Bill Warrick, Steve Hooge, Dick Woodward

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Topics