Maybe God Podcast

“I can understand people wanting to ‘agree to disagree’ about homos*xuality, but there are two substantial problems with that. One is that Jesus himself and the New Testament authors seem to take s*xual sin exceedingly seriously.

People sometimes think that Jesus kind of loosened up the Old Testament law when it came to all sorts of things, including s*xual sin. But actually, Jesus tightens it up. In a famous scene in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, ‘You’ve heard that it was said, do not commit adultery. I say to you, anyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery in his heart.’ And then he goes on to say, ‘If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. Because it’s better to enter the kingdom of God without an eye than it is to keep your eyes and to be thrown into hell.’ I mean , it couldn’t be more serious. So I think it’s really important for us to then answer the question: what is and is not s*xual sin?

Now, the reason why I don’t think we can set these questions aside and just ‘focus on the gospel’ is that Christian marriage is actually about the gospel. In the Old Testament, the prophets compare God to a loving, faithful husband and they compare Israel to his unfaithful wife who is cheating on Him with these other idols. And it seems like this marriage between God and His people is in crisis. But time and again, God forgives and draws His people back, only for them to cheat on him again.

And then we see Jesus step onto the stage of human history. And one of the strange claims that he makes is that he is the bridegroom, which is a very odd thing for a man to say. He never got married in his life on earth. So you’re thinking, what is this about? Well, it’s one of the ways Jesus steps into the shoes of the creator God of the Old Testament. He’s saying, ‘I’m the groom, I’m the husband, and I’ve come to claim God’s people for myself.’”

’s conversation with scholar and author goes far beyond the standard LGBT debate, instead focusing on the eternal, gospel-centered purpose of God’s good design. Watch it in full on our YouTube channel!

“Billy Graham built this institution around him that was intended to prevent certain very common, very basic human flaws. He took that very seriously in ways that not a lot of our institutions do.

You’ve seen this surge of non-denominational churches over the years. And you’ve also seen this push from the church growth movement to strip the denominations of their authority so that the churches can move faster, so that charismatic leaders can quickly move up the chain and have more power. And with the surge in church scandals, I think this is a great moment to go, hey, what did that get us?

Ultimately, it comes down to the question of ends. How are we measuring our success? If success is simply about numbers, if success is simply about the growth of the movement, the sense of excitement, and charisma, then I think we’ve really got to question what we’re doing. Like, how are we preparing people for their encounters with death? How are we preparing the institutions for our own deaths? What’s gonna be here in 30, 40, and 50 years when we’re all returned to ashes?”

Watch Maybe God guest host .brierley’s conversation with podcast host and author on our main YouTube channel, or wherever you get your podcasts!

“My parents were ideological atheists, as opposed to atheists who just say, ‘I don’t have enough evidence to believe in God.’ No, my parents were ideologically convinced, mostly through Marxism. They were members of the American Communist Party and were committed to the idea that religion is evil. In their minds, Christianity was a tool of oppression by the ruling classes, which is standard Marxist ideology.

I did feel there was something missing in my life, but at the time, I was able to build that gap with science. I began studying science in college and then in graduate school, I went to biochemistry and got my PhD in that. I found that very fulfilling, but the problem was that I ran into conflicts with my worldview. The science that I knew was very materialistic. The idea was that everything is easily explained by a group of equations and there are no mysteries…that there are things we don’t yet know, but we’ll eventually solve them. But when I learned quantum mechanics, and things like the uncertainty principle, I realized that there are things we CAN’T know.

When I started studying how proteins are made, I felt chills going up and down my spine, literally. I just thought, this is unbelievable! How do we have such an incredibly complicated, beautiful system in every cell of our body? I thought it was probably evolution, but still, it raised questions in me. How can we answer all these questions that are coming up from science itself? That did not immediately lead me to believing in God, but it did break down this certainty that science is the answer to everything.”

As a respected research biochemist, Sy Garte was loud and proud about his anti-theistic worldview, until the day that his journey to answer his own pressing questions transformed him into a fully committed Christian. Now, Sy is determined to show others the truth: modern science does NOT contradict Christianity in the slightest – in fact, it supports it. Listen to Sy’s conversation with Maybe God guest host on any podcast platform – OR set an alert to watch it on YouTube TOMORROW, after 9am CST!

As you'll hear on our latest episode (featuring guest host
Justin Brierley), the very illness that aimed to end
Tammy M. Peterson's life led to a surprising new faith in God. So, what catalyzed this conversion? And is Jordan next? Catch the full interview on YouTube!