Come, Let's Reason Together: Recent Episodes
Dr. Paul Bowles and John Baldwin
"Come, Let's Reason Together" is an open discussion on the deep mysteries of Christianity. Come join Dr. Paul Bowles (retired pastor, counselor) and John Baldwin to discuss the difficult and paradoxical questions we face as Christians. Paul and John's guests don't claim to have all the answers, instead we seek the value in open conversation to reason together in our quest to find common ground and spiritual inspiration through fellowship and mutual respect. Join us and let's reason together!
Paul and I start a new series to go through the Gospels, to Introduce Jesus. Based on the book 'Introducing Jesus' by Michael Strauss. In this episode we delve into the nature of the relationship between John The Baptist and Jesus; the cruelty and motives of Herod at Jesus' birth, and other discussions.
This is a very familiar miracle performed by Jesus, but as Paul and I discussed it, we both gained new insights and a new appreciation for one of the most famous of Jesus' miracles.
We're starting a new series focused on the book of Luke. In it, we'll discuss Miracles, Parables, and a few character studies. Tonight Paul and I talk about the Miracle of Jesus Healing the Paralyzed Man in Luke 5. There is way more to this story than first meets the eye!
Luke 5:17-22,24-26 NLT
One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus. [18] Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, [19] but they couldn't reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. [20] Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, "Young man, your sins are forgiven." [21] But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, "Who does he think he is? That's blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!" [22] Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you question this in your hearts? [24] So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!" [25] And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God. [26] Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, "We have seen amazing things today!"
Today Paul and I talk about the people who influenced the most outside of our families, spiritually and professionally with a few other stories thrown in, including hearing Paul tell us how he came into possession of a Playboy magazine!
Most of us are fortunate to have people in our lives that have influenced and shaped us for the better. Some had a major active role, others had a profound influence on us and they may not have even known they did! Tonight, Paul and I are going to talk about a few of the people in our lives who positively influenced us spiritually and professionally.
Music in the church has undergone dramatic changes over the years. Paul and I have seen much of that change as participants, because nobody would ever consider either one of us to be musically talented! The hymns of old still resonate strongly with both of us like a warm blanket. In today's episode we talk about the transition of music in worship, what we've experienced, what we like and don't like about it. In the final half, we pull up next to the fire and listen to a few of the great old hymns of the Christian faith.
Today's discussion explores how to leave a legacy for your family and how we tried to do that, all the good and all the not so good!
We are starting a new series on Legacy, which we expect will be a 3 or 4 episode series. In this opening episode we talk about our personal legacies in the various periods of our lives, how our fathers helped mold our future legacy stories, and stories of others in our lives that inspired us.
Paul and I are joined by Paul's wife of 36 years, Cosette, who is the founder and CEO of Anthem Strong Families, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged families, in all walks of life, to soar and succeed. Today we're discussing the role of women in the church, which is an interesting conversation, given the somewhat restricted role that women have in many evangelical denominations. As the three of us share our experiences and thoughts on this topic, we hope that you will find the conversation interesting, respectful, and thought provoking.
Tonight, Paul and I are joined by our good friend Steve Sigrist to discuss a shared ministry to the homeless population in Dallas, who we go to visit every Thursday night. In this episode we talk about how we got involved with the ministry, what we feel call us to minister to the 'down and outs' of our society. This is a ministry that we know and love; and we wanted to share it with you tonight. Hope you enjoy.
We conclude our discussion on prayer, sharing our personal experiences of where prayer was vital to our spiritual lives, as well as our frustrations. Prayer is an important part of our Christian walk, but questions remain. In today's episode we'll talk about the Lord's Prayer, the prayer model Jesus gave us to use, along with other teachings from Jesus to draw other insights on how prayer works.
Today Paul and I embark on a 2 part discussion on prayer. What is our definition of prayer? How do we handle unanswered prayers? What is taught in seminary about prayer? We even talk about Paul preaching on top of an Ark!
Dr. Bowles and John discuss the impact the Apostle Paul had on the formation of the early church and its core beliefs.
Today we discuss how several biblical examples to if Jesus can be trusted. Paul and I discuss our personal experiences of when we trusted Jesus and times when we did not trust him. This is a personal episode that explores our personal ups and downs of faith.
Today Paul and John discuss how the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit, contrast the writing styles of John and Luke, share stories of how our favorite passages came so important to us, and why it's Bible is a reliable source for us.
John and Paul discuss the questions the James Webb Space Telescope Deep Field Image raises for Christians. In this 35 minute episode we ask ourselves what the impact the discovery of intelligent alien life would have on the Christian faith, if the revelation of the extreme vastness of the universe forced us to question if God is real, and why given our smallness in the universe, would God even bother having a relationship with us.
John and Paul discuss the questions the James Webb Space Telescope Deep Field Image raises for Christians. In this 35 minute episode we talk ask ourselves what the impact the discovery of intelligent alien life would have on the Christian faith, revelation of the extreme vastness of the universe force us to question if God is real, and why given our smallness in the universe would God even bother having a relationship with us.