Reasons To Believe Podcast

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Hugh Ross as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Sixth Mass Extinction Where have all the animals gone? Collaborators from Mexico and the US provide added evidence that we are entering a sixth mass extinction—triggered by human damage to the environment. The impact of the loss of species and the collapse of ecosystems could be much more devastating to humanity than climate change. How should Christians respond to the sixth mass extinction?  In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses the latest insights into large-scale species loss, explores the biblical basis for Christian environmentalism, and makes the case that the Christian story provides explanatory power for the extent of the damage that humans are causing to ecosystems around the world.   RESOURCES: Mutilation of the Tree of Life Via Mass Extinction of Animal Genera Additional Resources: A C

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Earliest Rope Making When did humans first begin deploying fiber technology?   This question is important because fiber technology makes composite technology possible, such as textiles, ropes, baskets, nets, weapons, housing, and boats. It also reflects the capacity for advanced cognition.   An international team from the Philippines, France, and Germany recently published evidence that humans in the Philippines possessed fiber technology around 40,000 years ago. In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses the scientific and theological implications of this discovery.   What does this advance mean for RTB’s creation model for human origins and the scientific case for the image of God?   Rana will also discuss the ramifications of this discovery for recent claims that Neanderthals invented fiber tec

Join biochemist Fazale “Fuz” Rana and astronomer David Block as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Purpose in Cosmology and Biology Is the fine-tuning of the universe limited to the constants of physics or does it manifest in other areas of science such as chemistry, biochemistry, and biology? In this episode, David and Fuz describe and discuss the anthropic principle and its theological implications. They also discuss the idea of process structuralism, an evolutionary model that maintains that physical forces—not natural selection—shaped the history of life. How does this view of the evolutionary process intersect with the anthropic principle? And how do these two ideas provide evidence for design and purpose in the universe and life? References: The Creator and the Cosmos Fit for a Purpose

Join Jeff Zweerink and Eric Hedin as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   God and Information Theory In this episode, we discuss how living things exhibit a high degree of information­—far beyond what can be explained by natural causes. The physics underlying information theory shows us that natural forces will degrade the information content of a closed system over time. Since the origin and progressive complexity of life manifests a dramatic increase in information, we conclude that the existence of living things is consistent only with intelligent design—as ascribed in the Bible to the creative work of God.   References: Is Life an Information Ratchet? Information and Life’s Origin—A Retrospective View Physics, Information Loss, and Intelligent Design

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Hugh Ross as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Designer Proteins Recently, a research team from the University of Washington achieved a milestone in nanotechnology when they used computational methods to design proteins from the ground up shaped into structures that resemble axles and rotors. In turn, they assembled these components into rudimentary protein machines. This proof-of-principle work sets the stage for scientists and technologists to design other machine parts that can be used to fabricate even more sophisticated protein machines.   In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses this exciting work and explores how it can be marshalled as evidence for a Creator’s role in the origin and design of life.   Resources: Computational Design of Mechanically Coupled Axle-Rotor Protein Assemblies   Additional Resources: The Cell’s Design: How Chemis

Join astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink and philosopher Brian Huffling as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Local vs. Real In our macroscopic world, things behave in a “classical” way that seems obvious to us. A ball has a definite position and speed at any given time. Additionally, it exists whether anyone sees it or not, and the only things that influence the ball’s motion are close enough to not violate the light travel time. However, when we delve into quantum mechanics, these obvious truths no longer apply, which leads to an important question: What is the true nature of our physical world? We will discuss one recent paper that provides some insight into this question.   References: A Strict Experimental Test of Macroscopic Realism in a Superconducting Flux Qubit   God and Abstract Things Does red exist? What does it mean to be circular? Is murder wrong? Many people see these qu

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Neanderthal Engravings An international team of collaborators recently discovered “engravings” on the walls of the La Roche-Cotard cave system (in the Loire Valley of central France) that date to be older than 57,000 years. These engravings appear to reflect the intentional activities of Neanderthals, suggesting that these hominins displayed the capacity for symbolic expression—just like modern humans. This discovery raises several questions:   Can we no longer consider modern humans as truly exceptional? Were Neanderthals just like us? How do we make sense of this discovery from a Christian perspective? Is there any scientific evidence for the image of God?   In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses this important discovery and addresses these questions and more.   Resources: The Earliest Unam

Ken explains the Christian view of truth and why it matters

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Hugh Ross as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Synthetic Embryos A research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently reported on the first-ever production of synthetic embryos from monkey embryonic stem cells. This work follows on the heels of other research that demonstrates how (1) synthetic embryos can be produced from human embryonic stem cells, and (2) synthetic mice embryos made from embryonic stem cells can develop in a bioreactor beyond the earliest stage to display the beginning of organ formation.   In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana addresses questions such as:   What is a synthetic embryo? Why are scientists interested in creating synthetic embryos? What are the most salient ethical issues to consider with this work? What should the Christian response be to the production of synthetic embryos?   References: Cynomolgus Monkey Em

Hugh Ross discusses Dave Rogstad's pivotal role in RTB's founding and their long-time friendship

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Hugh Ross as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Human-Neanderthal Hybrids Is it true that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred? If interbreeding took place, what does that mean for the credibility of the biblical account of human origins? Are humans truly exceptional? Are we really made in God’s image? Would any children resulting from interbreeding events have had a soul? Would they have borne the image of God?   In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana takes on these questions and discusses a recent study done by investigators from Spain who explored regions of the human genome completely devoid of any Neanderthal genetic material. Rana explains how insights from this research help address challenging questions about human-Neanderthal interbreeding and the offspring they might have produced, from a creation model perspective.   References: A Brain Re

Guest Brian Huffling discusses Thomism and divine simplicity

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science, discoveries that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Homo naledi Art? A team of paleoanthropologists made a splash when they announced that the enigmatic hominin, Homo naledi (who lived about 330,000 to 250,000 years ago), buried its dead, made art, and mastered fire. These claims are shocking because H. naledi had a brain size comparable to a chimpanzee. Most paleoanthropologists have long held the view that a large brain size was necessary for advanced cognition. If these claims stand, they will upend the prevailing thinking about what makes us human and undermine the notion of human exceptionalism, an idea closely linked to the biblical view that human beings uniquely bear God’s image.   In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana, author of Who Was Adam?, will discuss these claims and their impact on RTB’s creation model for humanity’s origin

Defining doubt and considering evidence for Jesus's resurrection

Join Hugh Ross and Jeff Zweerink as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science—discoveries that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Saving Radio Astronomy The last unspoiled refuge for radio astronomy is the Moon’s far side—the most “radio quiet” place in the solar system. There, researchers hope to place four 3-meter antennae to measure the “cosmic dawn,” the radio signal from the universe’s first stars that will reveal the characteristics of those stars and evidence for the big bang. However, international lunar exploration could generate so much noise as to eliminate radio astronomy’s last unspoiled refuge. In this episode, Hugh discusses how radio astronomers hope to protect this frontier.    References:  Are Telescopes on the Moon Doomed before They’ve Even Been Built?   Dating Bible Battles Archaeologists have discovered many sites where battles described in the Bible occurred, but determining the dates has been difficul

It's OK to harbor doubts about the faith

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and Hugh Ross as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science—discoveries that have theological and philosophical implications, including the reality of God’s existence.   Lab Meat Futurists think that lab meat will soon be commercially available as an ethical and environmentally friendly alternative to meat produced from animal stocks. However, a research team from UC Davis has challenged the environmental friendliness of lab meat by arguing that the effects of making such meat from current technology are much worse for the environment than meat produced through agricultural means. In this episode, biochemist Fuz Rana discusses the pros and cons of lab meat and offers a Christian perspective on this emerging biotechnology.   References: Environmental Impacts of Cultured Meat: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment Additional Resources: A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 1 A Theology for Synthetic Biology, Part 2   Photosynthetic Zone Four astronomers have d

Human exceptionalism in light of the image of God