Stand to Reason

Our conversations are becoming toxic and harmful rather than clarifying and informative. The next time you discuss theology or cultural issues, audit yourself and consider whether you need to rethink your approach.

Do you love the present world? This is the trade-off every “Christian” needs to avoid.

“In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” — Philippians 4:6

The next time someone corrects you, try the following: 1. Listen, even when the correction is harsh. Some people have poor bedside manner, but the content may still be worth hearing. 2. Ask whether there’s any virtue in the complaint. Assess the content and see if there’s something there. 3. Talk to others who know the circumstances. If two or three people are saying the same thing, they’re probably onto something. 4. Be willing to say, “You have a point there. I’m sorry.” Pride makes this hard, but being teachable is how we grow.

Before we can fight for justice, we have to define it. Jon Noyes talks with people gathered around signs calling for “liberty” and “justice,” asking what those words mean and where they find their moral authority. Watch the full video at shr.link/bv9v9.

Talking about his new book, "The War on Reality," @DrFrankTurek asks, why is the Bible only dangerous when conservatives use it?

Here’s how you can pray the Lord’s Prayer with intention: 1. Start with “hallowed be your name.” Put God first by acknowledging his holiness and exalted nature. 2. Ask for God’s moral will on earth. God’s sovereign will is already done in Heaven and on earth, but his goodness isn’t yet reflected here the way it is in Heaven. 3. Locate your “earth.” Pray for God’s goodness right where you put your feet—your family and your home. 4. Start with yourself. Pray that you would manifest God’s moral will at home, then pray the same for your family. Hear more on the October 30, 2026 Stand to Reason podcast.

“If you want to reform your faith, then move it towards the standard of Scripture.” — Alan Shlemon

Many Christians look for God’s personal plan. They want to know which school to attend, which job to take, and whom to marry, but the Bible doesn’t describe God’s will as a personalized blueprint for your life. Scripture uses the phrase “God’s will” in two clear ways. It virtually always refers to God’s sovereign will or his moral will. Romans 12:2 and 1 Thessalonians 4:3 tie God’s will to how we live. Presenting yourself to God is what allows you to “prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” Matthew 6:10 (the Lord’s Prayer) asks for God’s goodness to be done on earth. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” Other passages like Romans 1:10 and James 4:15 recognize God’s right to direct our plans. “Always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.” “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’” What does this mean for how we ought to pray “Thy will be done”? Ask for God’s moral will on earth. God’s sovereign will is already done. Pray for God’s goodness right where you put your feet, and start with yourself—that you would manifest God’s moral will at home, then pray the same for your family. Hear more on the October 30, 2026 Stand to Reason podcast.

Greg talks about God’s wills and praying for his will to be done, then he answers questions about citing the story of the rich man and Lazarus to someone who rejects Christianity because of unsaved loved ones who passed away, and whether Moses changes God’s mind in Numbers 14. Listen now at shr.link/no545.

God is in control of everything from the beginning. Everything happens according to the counsel of his will, not merely with his advance knowledge. God is not the author of evil. There is no evil in God, so his control over all things doesn’t make him the source of the evil people do. People make morally significant choices. The world isn’t a big clockwork, and human beings aren’t robots moving according to prior conditions. God works out his purposes through those choices. Human responsibility is real, and God still accomplishes his purposes according to his decree.

We live in a time and place where beauty is believed to be “in the eye of the beholder”—purely subjective, ornamental, impractical, a luxury, etc. But we know through simple reflection that this is not true. If something is purely subjective, it’s not actually real. Think of beauty as an aspect of reality like truth or goodness, its transcendental siblings. Not only is beauty real, it is vital to human flourishing. — Megan Almon, “Beauty: The Art of War,” #STRUniversity

This is a temptation we all have to fight, but being close to God is better than being in comfort going into the gave.

“God is sovereign over everything. There is nothing that surprises him. There is nothing that happens without his knowledge, and nothing happens without his purposing.” — @gregkoukl

#STRask How can we know that commands for the Israelites to kill all the inhabitants of a city, including women and children, were truly commands from God rather than from men falsely attributing their own commands to God? 1. The text presents the commands as part of God’s judgment on evil after he patiently waited 400 years. 2. The account doesn’t portray Israel as above judgment. Israel was warned that if they did the same evil, God would judge them, too. Israel’s history records that judgment. 3. The record doesn’t appear to sanitize Israel’s history. Israel did not fully carry out the commands, and that failure created problems later. 4. The conquest account is woven into the larger story of the Bible. It connects to God’s promise to Abraham, Israel’s later exile, and God’s work to bless the nations through Christ. Hear more on the October 22, 2026 #STRask podcast.

Do we care because we recognize right and wrong? Or is something else going on?

Greg is live and taking your questions at 4pm PT. Getting your question answered is easy. Just call 562-424-8714. Learn more and listen live at rsn.pub/broadcast.