When Feelings Become Truth: Critical Thinking in a Post-Truth Age | Juan Valdes

Episode Summary: 

We’ve entered a world where seeing is no longer believing.

In a culture shaped by deepfakes, viral outrage, and endless information, a deeper question emerges: how do you know what’s real? When feelings become truth, reality doesn’t disappear; it just gets ignored. And increasingly, that confusion isn’t just out there; it’s showing up inside the Church.

In this episode, we sit down with pastor and apologist Juan Valdes, author of How to Think: A Crash Course in Critical Thinking, to confront the rise of post-truth thinking and its impact on apologetics, everyday discipleship, and your personal life. Why do arguments fall flat when emotions become the referee? And how is the authority of Scripture quietly being replaced by modern ideas of authenticity?

Juan helps us chart a better path forward. We explore how to test ideas against reality, ask better questions, and rebuild a biblical worldview that connects every area of life. This is a conversation about recovering clarity, confidence, and compassion in an age of confusion. If you’re tired of the fog and want to think clearly again, this episode is for you.

Who is Disciple Nations Alliance (DNA)? Since 1997, DNA’s mission has been to equip followers of Jesus around the globe with a biblical worldview, empowering them to build flourishing families, communities, and nations. 👉 https://disciplenations.org/

🎙️Featured Speaker: 

Juan Valdes is a pastor, apologist, and speaker with a passion for answering life’s hardest questions with biblical truth. He is dedicated to equipping young people, parents, and church leaders to stand firm in an increasingly challenging culture, helping remove intellectual obstacles to faith in Christ.

He serves as pastor of a bilingual congregation in Miami, Florida, and holds advanced degrees from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Logos Graduate School, along with a Doctor of Ministry in Apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary.

📌 Recommended Links

     👉 Book: How to Think–A Crash Course In Critical Thinking

     👉 Recommended Videos: Debunked Videos — DeBunked

     👉 Website: Reasons for Hope - Home

     👉 Recommended Book: Tactics by Gregory Koukl

     👉 Recommended Book: Fake ID by Abdu Murray

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Episode Webpage

Transcript

Luke Allen 0:00

I'd like to just kind of present the issue to make people aware of how bad it actually is right now before we start getting into the answers. Just kind of spend it like, you know, five, ten minutes there before we start getting into kind of that context of the yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Allen 0:16

All right. Well, great to be back again and uh we're thrilled today to have with us um a new guest uh who's not new to Luke and I and to the DNA, but new to the podcast, uh Juan Valdez. Juan, thank you so much for taking time to be with us today.

Speaker 1 0:35

Super excited to be with you guys. I can't wait to uh to get into some of these topics.

Introducing Our Guest

Scott Allen 0:40

Thank you, Juan. Let me just give our listeners a bit of background and feel free to just add in anything that uh you feel is important, Juan, for our listeners to know a little bit more about who you are. Um is uh we well let me start here. We first met, I first met Juan last uh August in uh Panama, and he was a featured speaker at our DNA Global Forum, and he um uh did such it was such a powerful message uh on truth, on critical thinking, just the power of biblical worldview, biblical truth. Um I was really, really blessed. Um and then as I got to know Juan, and I'll share a little bit of his background here with you, I I was struck by a guy, here's a guy who has uh incredible um background, education, very accomplished, and yet deeply humble. And I just found that to be so attractive and a bit rare, I will say. So, Juan, I just so appreciate that about you. Uh Juan's a featured teacher and apologist with uh the organization Reasons for Hope. That's an apologetics ministry that exists to equip believers to fulfill the command of 1 Peter 3.15 to be ready to give a reason for the hope that you have within you. He is an author. He has written uh most recently How to Think, a crash course in critical thinking in 2023. That's a revised and updated version. Um when he is not doing his apologetics ministry on the road, he's uh a pastor, he's part of his pastoral team at his bilingual congregation in Miami, Florida. Um Liberty University, a doctorate in apologetics and ministry from Southern Evangelical Seminary, and has done graduate work at Ted's Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Um, you spend most of your time teaching between North and South America, which I think is interesting. Um again, that's part of why he was a featured speaker at our forum in in uh Panama. Uh Juan, remind me where are you are you are from, were you born in the United States or were you born in in uh Latin America?

Juan Valdes 2:58

I I was born in the United States to Cuban parents. Cuban parents, okay, yes.

Scott Allen 3:03

And you're completely bilingual and you move back and forth between the two cultures and the two worlds, it sounds like, yeah.

Juan Valdes 3:10

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Scott Allen 3:12

Yeah, which is really, which is wonderful. And that's I I have questions even about that, just the differences that you encounter uh in in this area of apologetics ministry between North and South America. We can get into that a little bit later, maybe. I I kind of want to start here though, Juan. Um, we at the DNA we talk a lot about how we're living in, you know, it's important for people to know the times that they're living in. Um we live in uh a time that is dominated by by postmodernism, even if nobody knows what that word means or uh has done any thinking or study about the deconstructionists or whatever, they have really imbibed this uh postmodernism. I I always think of that viral video that was released on uh, oh, I don't know, it's about 10 years ago by that uh uh group up in Washington, the Family Research Council of Washington State. A young guy goes onto the campus at University of Washington and starts asking students questions like, What if I told you I was a woman? He's a 30-year-old man, let's say around 30 years old, and everyone's like, Oh, that's fine, you can be a woman. And then he goes on and he says, What if I told you I was six foot five, you know, and uh you know, he's about five foot eight, and they said, Well, you know, they struggled a little bit with that, but nobody would say no. You know, I think the last question was, what if I told you it was a six foot five Chinese woman, you know? And they struggled with that the most, because he's Caucasian, but but nobody would say you're wrong, right? Like that's wrong. And I just thought that's so indicative of this post-truth culture where we can't, you know, we have we struggle to say there's right, there's wrong, there's true, there's false. Uh you be you, you define reality for yourself, and we're all just so kind of immersed in that. And of course, I'm not telling you anything you don't know very well. Um, in one more piece of this, well, maybe a couple more setup pieces here, in 2015, um, Oxford English Dictionary uh named Post Truth, that's POST hyphen truth, as their word of the year because of its widespread use in social and political discourse across the West. And it defined post-truth this way. It said, objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Um that's post-truth. Objective facts are less influential in shaping a public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Um I I think I this hit me. I I'd study, I love, you know, philosophy and ideas, and I'd studied postmodernism. But where I first really saw this hitting uh i I I felt it, let's just say, or there was some I felt that the the winds had really shifted. And you may remember this, Juan, but uh there was a famous uh debate between Christopher Hitchens and William Lane Craig at Biola University. Again, this is about eight years ago. Yes. And William Lane Craig, one of the great apologists uh uh in in the West, and the people that were sponsoring that, I was talking to one of the sponsors on the Biola campus, they were so excited, they felt like this was a real great opportunity for uh the church to to win a debate, to gain a lot of credibility. Anyways, they had their debate, and um it was an interesting debate. William Lane Craig, of course, was very careful in his arguments and his words and his logic and reason. I mean, on that standard, won the debate. But the students all fell after it was over that Christopher Hitchens won. And he was all about, you know, being kind of funny, humorous, snarky, and every you got the kids laughing, you know, and you know, but but didn't hardly engage with the ideas. But at the end of it, they all said, no, he he was the winner of that debate, and I thought, wow, things have really shifted here, you know. I'd love your thoughts on that, Juan, just as we begin. Uh in terms of a person like you who's d really called, devoted his ministry, his calling to apologetics, which is kind of a reasonable, reason-based, logical defense of the faith. Uh how you how you how you do that? How did how is that going for you in these postmodern times that we're living in? I know that's a broad question, but I I just I would love just to start there.

Luke Allen 7:49

Yeah, tough times for apologists, right? It seems like it.

Feelings Versus Reality In Debate

Juan Valdes 7:54

It it it really is. And and here's here's the thing. Uh what we're battling is is uh reason versus emotion. Yeah that that's the that's the the layman's way of expressing what the what's going on here. Uh the the post-truth mentality is that my personal feelings and my personal preferences are more important than objective truth. Right for any decision in my life. Uh and so how do you argue with somebody's feelings? How do you argue about somebody's emotions? Uh at best, you have to begin by by pointing out that listen, how you feel about something really has no bearing on reality, of on what things really are, on the truth of something. You may be onto something, you may be way off, but your feelings reflect something happening inside of you, not in the outside world in which you're living. Uh, it's very frustrating because any attempt at reason is shot down because yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I I know what the arguments are, but I feel that this and I feel that and and those feelings are are held up to be the yeah, that's the authentic you, isn't it?

Scott Allen 9:09

That's always used. This the the you know the feelings, these deep, strong feelings, that that defines this kind of authenticity in a way that reason and thinking don't anymore.

Juan Valdes 9:19

Don't but but even there there's such an incoherence because uh people don't realize that uh the truth just doesn't cohere when when that's how you approach it. Um and what let me let me explain that. Uh we we we make such an emphasis in our in our culture today on being authentic. But what does authentic mean? Authentic means agree with me. Because if your authenticity is about I'm wrong, then please don't be authentic. Authentic means you have to agree with me. We we push authenticity, but when somebody authentically you know disagrees, we we bash them. So do you want me to be authentic or do you just want me to go along with everything you have to say? Um it it's just it's continuously self-defeating, continuously, you know, self-refuting arguments and positions. Um and and again, uh my uh when you when you deal with somebody who's diehard in in this post-truth mentality, I have to start appealing to to counterexamples. Uh so so what you're saying is this, and then I give them a counterexample that points out how ridiculous what they're saying is. Well, there is no such thing as objective morality. Okay, okay. Uh I I see that's how you feel. So what you're telling me is that there's no difference between a a child molester and and and somebody that that really you know respects children and women and life, and there's no difference, right? Because there's no objective morality. Everybody does what they want, and we can't judge anybody, right? It's like, of course, something in your mind is gonna say, wait a minute, like, is that what I believe? No, no, that's not what I'm saying. Well, then what are you saying? I mean, it it's just confronting people, showing people a mirror of reality. It it's just it's it's it's incredible to see just the shock in some people's faces when they start to see what it what they mean. Not what they said, what they mean, which they haven't really even stopped to think about.

Social Media Rewires How We Think

Luke Allen 11:24

I I Dad, it's funny you bring up that example of what happened in the University of Washington, I think it was, with that reporter going around asking those questions. That happened to me at a Christian college. Same thing. Uh I was in school back in 2017, yeah, right around then. Everyone was angry about um down on the border, Trump was putting kids in cages, right? We all remember that. That was what was getting tossed around. And no one would admit that there actually was a true answer to that debate. It was just let's debate it and see who's more, you know, loving and caring. And I was always like, well, well, are there or not? You know, because this is when it first came out, and no one really knew what if the reports were accurate or not. And I'm like, if we drove down to the border, would we find kids in cages? That's all I care about. But now instead it's like, no, who did you listen to? Where'd you hear that? Where'd you get that from? Well, that's just your that's just your sources. That they're all biased, you know. Well, and then I'm like, well, your sources are biased too. And they're like, well, I guess there's no way that we can ever figure this out. And I'm like, yeah, there actually is a way we can figure this out. Hop in our cars and drive down there. And it's just every time you present a counter-argument, it's like, well, that's just your opinions, you know, right back at you. And that just it shows you that even in Christian circles, we've got to this place where nope, we we really can't figure out the truth anymore. It's all spin. Everything you see is spin, it's all narratives. Like, no, no, we really can't give up on that as Christians. That's that's that's not how it works. So that that that really worried me when I was in school seeing that. Um, and I didn't really know what to say at that point, unfortunately. I wish I did. Um, but um the other thing that I wanted to talk about here at the beginning is so postmodernism, essentially this idea that truth has you know no weight anymore. Um there is no truth, it's all subjective feelings, um, is one wave attacking us. And then the other wave coming at us from the other side is just the birth of social media and the social media era that we're in. Um this is newer, they're much newer, you know, the last less than 20 years. And um they're starting to realize now more and more there's reports coming out nonstop. Uh Jonathan Heid has a lot of good stuff coming out on this, is uh these devices, social media, especially devices that we interact with, are changing our brains. And we all agree on that, but like they're they're really changing our brains. The neuroplasticity makeup of our brains is being affected in a way that we just cannot think in large we have short tor short short attention spans, and we have an extremely hard time putting together, evaluating, making arguments, critically thinking beyond one minute. And because of that, I heard you you know say this, Juan, on a podcast once, uh, you can be sitting on social media for ten minutes and change your entire worldview ten times. Because these 30-second clips coming at you, wow, that's a great point. That shatters my you know entire universe. I'm gonna believe you now. And then you see another one, wow, that's amazing. Now I believe you. And because of that, you know, the people that are controlling social media, the influencers, are just taking advantage of that left and right. And it's all about being the first one to speak into an argument, being the first one to present your quote unquote facts, being the first one to be really dramatic and dramatized something because they know people will just listen to them. No matter if it makes sense or not, no matter if it's based on truth or not, no matter if it's pure lies and they know it's lies or not, just get it out there because people will not think. That worries me. Uh Juan, have you experienced that?

AI Deepfakes And Reality Confusion

Juan Valdes 14:53

Oh, absolutely. And what's behind all of this is the lack of critical thinking. We just we don't know how to think. We we know how to listen and we know how to be persuaded, but we don't know how to think. We don't know how to evaluate an argument, we don't know how to take a step back and say, okay, is somebody trying to spin this? Is somebody trying to sell me something here? Is somebody pushing an agenda here? Like, we don't ask these questions. We don't stop and say, okay, what are the facts? Like you're you're you're you're a comment. Okay, let's go down to the border and see what's there. It's it's look, it's a test of correspondence, okay? We want to know what's true, what corresponds with truth. They're either kids in cages or they're not kids in cages. And and it can't be both ways, so let's go down and figure it out. We can definitely find truth. But we have to think that way. We have to think critically, and that's what we're missing. We're missing it as a culture. What kids are taught today as critical thinking is, you know, don't let anybody, you know, override your feelings. Don't let anybody override your preferences. You know, think critically. You're entitled to feel the way you feel, you're entitled to do what you do. You know, it's a it's a complete uh twisting of of of of truth. And and we know, again, take a step back. Any attack on truth has one source. Paul said to the Ephesians, our battle is not with flesh and blood. Our battle is with the father of all lies. And he is absolutely, I mean, you know what he's winning? He's winning the cultural battle. And I don't say that lightly, because you you you add the social uh media dimension to it, and uh there there's a uh sociologist out of uh, I believe it's you University of California, I can't remember it was San Diego or Berkeley, uh who wrote a book called IGen not not too long ago. One of the most in-depth studies on on the effect of social media on young people. Uh, she's not a believer. Uh, but uh I believe her name is Susan Twang, if I'm not mistaken. She's not a believer, but the conclusion she reaches is phenomenal uh uh about the damage it's doing to our brains, how the addictiveness of it, the dopamine release when you get the likes, the depression when you don't get the likes on your posts. Uh she just went in so much in depth in depth. And her conclusion at the end of the book is if I had one piece of advice to give every parent in America, is have your kids do anything that doesn't involve a screen. Anything. Anything that does not involve a screen, that is the most healthy the health healthiest thing you can do for your child. Because it it's absolutely and then throw in another dimension

Speaker 1 17:50

here. Social media is just the platform, the the the tool. What's feeding that tool now? AI. The percentage of content in social media that is human generated. I saw I saw recently a study that said that the the the the the the he the percentage of human content in social media is in in the neighborhood of about 30%. 70 plus percent of the content is AI generated. Wow and and on social media today. And so you stop and say, wait a minute, what? And then you have the issue with deep fakes, which are more and more prevalent today. So you have a political can uh a Hollywood star that's that's the media throws out there under the bus and says, she voted for Trump. She's a Trump supporter. Look at this video where she talks about how wonderful Trump is, and they're hating on her. Then there's another video where she comes on and says, Look, that was not me. That was not my picture, and that was that well, it is it was my image, and it was my voice, except I never said that. That's AI. I I am not a supporter of Trump, and she's defending herself. What does the other side say? Oh, that's that's the fake AI video.

Luke Allen 19:19

Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:20

So wait a minute, which one is the fake one? Her pro-Trump or her against Trump? We don't know what reality is anymore.

Scripture As An Anchor For Truth

Scott Allen 19:29

Yeah, it's true. I mean, it's uh I had this exact happen. I'm I think all of us are gonna be having these things happen to us. I had uh somebody send me a video of the Pope making a speech, you know, just this new Pope from Chicago, and uh and and he was convinced, I can't remember the content, it was very political, you know. I I I think it was strongly anti-Trump or whatever it was. And um I I think there's you know I think that's true, uh in in the sense that the the current Pope is is not inclined to support the president. But but it was so over the top, it made me wonder, you know, and so I started doing a little research, and sure enough, it I don't know if that particular one was not true, but there's a whole slew of them out there, you know, with this Pope, you know, putting words in his mouth, saying things that he didn't say. And I thought, oh man, we don't know what he said, like what's true. Absolutely, absolutely. And so you're right. Uh listen, we're uh this this is uh we're we're laying the groundwork here saying this is a very challenging time to get at the truth, so challenging, and it's gonna get harder that Luke, to your point with your students, I I've had the people say the same thing to me. They they they just kind of shrug their shoulders and kind of give up and they say it's all spin. And it they give up on the idea that you can actually get at the truth about almost anything. You know, you just have to kind of pick your side in the narrative battle and you know, just give up on this idea that there's a truth out there to find that goes, you know, that that transcends that. Obviously, though, one, this is not true. God exists, whether we believe him or not, you know, this is his world. So there's objective truth, you know. Um and in some ways, one, too, uh you know, we're talking about the challenges of doing apologetics and battling for for truth, biblical truth, or just any truth. Um, but at the same time, we're living in this time of of uh, I don't know, Eric, I was thinking of Eric Mataxis's book recently, like It's Impossible to Be Athe, I wish I had the title in front of me, but it's impossible to be an atheist. There's there's incredible scientific evidence for the faith that that just it's steamrolling and snowballing to the point that, you know, anybody who looks at it goes, gosh, there has to be a God behind all of this. Uh so i i we're in some ways it's kind of the best of times and worst of times, you know, to uh to to quote Charles Dickens a little bit there. Any thoughts or reactions to that? Because it seems like you know. Yeah, these challenges are real in post-truth world, uh fortified with social media and AI, but at the same time, there's never been better arguments and and you know, better evidence, let's just say, for the reality of the biblical account of God and creation and human nature and everything else.

Speaker 1 22:20

Absolutely. What what we're experiencing uh guys is i i i there's a book that just came out that I I read uh and I endorsed, I read before it came out, uh, and I endorsed it. It's called Fake ID by by Abdumurray. Uh-huh. And I think I think it uh it it nails this in such an incredible way. Because he's talking about a reality collapse. That's what he calls it. The collapse of reality. Um, and what is it that can survive the collapse of reality? What can survive a world where reality collapses? Funny, a verse comes to mind. Heaven and earth shall pass away. But my word, it will not pass away. We have an anchor. That verse has never been more relevant than it is today. We have an anchor. We have an anchor on reality, and it's God's revelation to us. This this collapse of reality doesn't surprise God, it surprises us. God has that anchor in place way before the storm arrived. Uh, where do we find that anchor? We where do we find truth? It's there, it's in scripture. And and and like you said, we're living in amazing times where reality is corresponding with scripture. In science, reality is corresponding with scripture. The more we know about the human body, the more we know about the cell, the more we know about anatomy, the more we understand DNA.

Scott Allen 24:07

You know, the the all of these like finely tuned details that have to be exactly right in order for a universe to exist at all. I mean, these are things we didn't know even five years ago, you know, and and and it just keeps snowballing, you know, that uh that scientific evidence that backs up the biblical account, you know.

Speaker 1 24:25

And so the Bible is there, and we are able to back it up scientifically. Right. We're able to back it up uh logically, we're able to back it up reasonably, uh, we're able to back it up with experiences, with with you know, the the transformation of of lives. Uh and so we have an incredible foundation for truth. Yes, an incredible foundation. Our challenge is to get people to take the blinders off and look at what's in front of them. Look at reality, take a second and look at reality. And again, Paul says to the Corinthians that that the enemy has blinded people, he he he's got a blindfold on people, and and our job through the word of God and through the the the the the obviously the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to help people.

Scott Allen 25:17

Spirit of truth, by the way, if I can underscore that.

Speaker 1 25:20

Absolutely. Let's get rid of those of those blinders. Let's let's remove that blinder and let's people let people see truth for what it is. And it's amazing when we see when when that happens. When we're doing evangelism and we're talking to somebody and they're and they are they are they're they're they're seeking truth honestly enough to allow a dialogue to occur because that doesn't happen automatically anymore. People don't won't even want to talk if you don't agree with them. But when you run across that person that is seeking truth, and you sit down and you talk and you dialogue and you walk them through, it's amazing to see the expression on their face when the blinders come off. And it starts to click in their head, and like, wait a minute, that makes so much sense. Wait a minute, why why hadn't I seen that? Like, wow, like this is amazing. And and what we're telling them is just basic, but they're seeing it for the first time. It's it it it's powerful. The truth there is hope, and we have it. It's Jesus Christ, it's the word of God, it's the gospel.

When The Church Doubts Scripture

Scott Allen 26:26

Yes, yeah, no, I I so appreciate that word of hope because um, you know, the greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world, and God is more powerful than Satan, and that means truth is more powerful than lies at the end of the day, and truth will win. It will. Um and so I think a part of it just is having that confidence, that full confidence as Christians. Juan, I wanted to talk to you about another problem though I see in the church, and that is that, yeah, you're right, the word is truth. Um it's nothing but a burning light. There's a there's this great song by this Canadian folk artist. It's called Nothing But a Burning Light, speaking of God's Word, just this powerful anchor of truth, God's very word, spoken into a word of a world of lies and confusion, and we just have to have full confidence in that. But uh one of the problems is I think we uh we being the church struggle in this area of having confidence in God's word as kind of comprehensive or what Nancy Pearcy would call total truth. We we have a kind of a compartmentalized understanding of truth where the Bible speaks to spiritual truths about uh sin and uh redemption and heaven and the afterlife, but it doesn't speak to uh issues of, let's say, justice. So, for example, I noticed this big time when before I wrote my book, Why Social Justice is not biblical justice, I had a debate with lots of Christians who didn't even know the biblical definition of justice, and consequently they have fully absorbed the cultural definition, which comes out of Marxism and critical theory. And they believed that what they were saying was biblical, you know, that it was true, if you will, because they didn't that their biblical under their their understanding of the Bible didn't carry over beyond kind of this limited spiritual uh understanding not understanding, but scope, you know. It applies to certain things but not other things. They probably wouldn't say that, but that's kind of how they're functioning. Um so I you I guess the question that we have to ask ourselves as Christians these days is who actually determines what is true? Is it the Bible? And does that apply to all, you know, all things or or just some things? Um your thoughts or reactions to that?

Speaker 1 28:55

Well, I I I think you're right. I mean, the the authority of scripture is under attack consistently, constantly. The inerrancy of scripture is under attack within the evangelical world. Uh man, I I've I've seen the post-truth mentality begin to flourish even in the Christian academic world.

Scott Allen 29:15

Yes.

Speaker 1 29:17

It wasn't too long ago, maybe four or five years ago, at an uh Evangelical, philosophical, theological society annual meeting where all the academics come and present papers, and uh these are Christian academics from Christian colleges and universities across the country. And I saw a track and I went and listened to some of these papers, and here are these seminary professors who are teaching the next generation of pastors and and and church leaders and evangelists and missionaries, that you know what, the church has got it wrong with the LGBT community. Because what's important is how how can how can what we believe, if what we believe hurts people so badly, how can that be the way to see it? How can that be true? I mean, uh it's the when we preach these things against LGBT, it hurts them. And and something that hurts them is not from God. And it's like, where am I? Am I at an uh evangelical, philosophical, and theological society meeting? Is this what's a good example?

Scott Allen 30:28

So who determines truth is the feelings of the people who say, I've, you know, my feelings are hurt by your claims. That's what determines truth here, not the word of God.

Speaker 1 30:37

And it and that's what we're teaching future pastors.

Speaker 4 30:40

Yeah.

Speaker 1 30:41

Jeez, that's that's scary.

Asking Questions To Keep Dialogue

Luke Allen 30:43

That happened to me not too long ago. Is we I was having an argument with a friend who's a Christian, and I pulled out a verse, you know, and I'm like, here, the here's a verse that talks about this very clearly. And he's like, Oh, well, I mean, that's just a verse, you know, like I could find another verse that would contradict that. And I'm like, no, you actually couldn't if I'm not if I'm not taking this verse out of context. It's not my verse. Uh it's it's God's word, and it doesn't contradict anywhere else in the Bible. And maybe I was taking it out of context. I don't think I was. Um, but he he was treating it like, well, that's just your your verse. Let me go find my verse, and my verse is going to contradict your verse, and ha ha ha ha. It's like that that's not how the Bible works. Nope, nope. I mean, that's classic deconstruction, right? It's just pulling apart a literary text and interpreting it for what you want it to be. Um, but it's I was just shocked. I was like, that's not actually how this works when I quote a scripture. Like this is God's word we're talking about here. It was shocking to see that. Absolutely. Yeah, I that that sentiment, that sentiment of how could something hurt someone so bad and yet still be of God? That's where I run into a real difficulty here. Is at the beginning of this podcast, Juan, you said um it's important to remember that our feelings don't actually change reality. That statement could not be more true, more true, but also more hateful right now, you know, by this world. Yeah, well, good for you. That is the most hateful thing you can possibly say in modern America, right? And it it's hard because if I was ever gonna say that to someone who disagreed with me vehemently, they wouldn't listen to a single thing I say after that. You know, the c discussion is completely shut down, their ears are closed. So I'm always like, hmm, how do we approach sharing the truth in a way to keep them engaged, but also say something that is completely antithetical to everything their life is built upon? That's where I have a hard time.

Speaker 1 32:38

Yep. I I I think we we can all we all owe a debt of gratitude to Greg Kolkel and his tactics. I mean, the evangelical world owes him for that. Because he shows us how to engage people and try to keep the conversation going by asking questions. Just asking questions. Uh and and and it's hard to offend somebody by asking them questions. Because you're asking them to tell you, tell you what they think. Tell me what you think, tell me why you think this. I talk to me. I want to hear you. I mean, I'm interested in what you're thinking. Because we live in a world where nobody cares what anybody thinks. Everybody cares to say what they think, and then they don't stop to listen what anybody else thinks. So Greg makes a great point when he says, look, just ask people questions. You just got to know the right questions to ask. Questions that include counterfactuals, questions that include counterexamples, questions that raise the the the take the roof off, as he calls it, of of of their this this building that they made up, you know, that that that just doesn't really exist. Uh and and so that that's the way to do it.

Relearning Reading And Discipleship

Scott Allen 33:44

But it's how do people learn those skills? Um, what where would you send people to to learn? Because that's a skill, you know, to to be able to ask those kind of questions and guide a discussion in that way. Um what what resources would you immediately point people to? You know, obviously Greg and his ministry, anything else?

Speaker 1 34:06

Yeah, I I I think Obviously your book too, right? My book on critical thinking, you know, incorporates some of Greg's stuff in in a way that that's very easy to digest, some of his teachings. Uh but i I think we need to take one step back before we even answer that question is Okay, can we get Christians to read? Can we get them to read again? Because uh Christians are are notoriously walking away from reading. We we don't like to read, we like to hear podcasts, which is amazing. I love podcasts, but we don't like to read. Good came on the podcast. We don't like to stop and engage the mind with a book. We don't read the Bible. Yeah. And and and so if we can get people to to read, I can recommend so many amazing resources. You know, but but that that's not a given. It's not a given that people are gonna buy these books and read them. And so that's a challenge we face now. That's a that's an internal problem uh in in Christianity. Uh the ignorance that we as Christians manifest in public discourse, whether it's ignorance about the Bible, which is shameful because we're supposed to know what it says, or ignorance about science or ignorance about philosophy or ignorance about critical thinking, uh we don't have a good reputation of being the academics and the intellectuals and the people that you can sit down and have a good dialogue with. We need to change that perception in people. We need to change that. We need to be more into the books, we need to be more learned people, as were our forefathers. As were our Christian, the the Christian, the great Christian people we stand on their shoulders and have built, have continued to build the kingdom off of their legacy. They were thinkers, they were readers, they were writers, they were engaged in thought.

Scott Allen 35:59

Um and they established the universities, places where people could go and really plumb the depths of of you know knowledge and wisdom. Um that comes out of our, I think it's such a good reminder, Juan, that comes out of our heritage, and you can't have that without a commitment and a deep understanding that there is truth at the end of that road.

unknown 36:20

Yeah.

Scott Allen 36:20

Um, you you will not read or learn if you don't believe in truth that you're pursuing. You know, you're you're there's fruit that comes from that. Um and so I think, yeah, part of the answer to the challenge that we're talking about today is just to recover our own heritage, uh, isn't it? And Juan, do you think that that's beginning to happen? I I do feel like while we're talking kind of negatively and critically for good reason, um it seems to me that there is some change too. You know, I think um I I I think of Charlie Kirk, for example, you know, I mean, he was one who was seeing some fruit, wasn't he, from going on to campuses and, you know, in a very kind of, I think, respectful way, you know, just engaging the students with their questions. Um, but you know, and he had done his homework. He had kind of modeled a person who studied, learned, asked really good questions of people. You know, he was he was a lifelong learner type of person, but for the purpose of of just being able to kind of critically and lovingly engage with people, with, you know, with the truth. There was a commitment to truth. It seems that that was bearing fruit, you know, even in our post-truth times, that he was getting a hearing. Obviously, there was a lot of people that dismissed him, hated him, he eventually obviously was eventually assassinated. But but but there was something happening there. Any thoughts on that?

Speaker 1 37:48

Yeah, absolutely. We have good we got good role models, Scott. We have we we have good role models in in in in in academia. We have great thinkers, right? Uh people that we could we could we would do well to imitate in in what they're doing and how they're engaging. And and there is hope and there is a change. I've noticed in the younger generations, they're there they're they're more uh intentional about learning, about being learned, about not being ignorant. Um and and I know that again, older generations tend to criticize the younger generations. That just happens every generation. Uh and so uh the the parents of the greatest generation thought that their kids were not as good as they were, you know. That that that happens just naturally. But I think that a lot of the of the of the younger people they're they're they are responsive to to good scholarly uh uh learning and academics. And what they what they don't want to be is they don't want to be the fool. They don't want to be the person that doesn't know. And so that's motivating a lot of good habits to re to be reinforced. Uh what what's lacking, uh another area that's lacking, yeah, going back to the the original question is you know what what could what could we recommend for people to learn? I think it needs to start in the church. I I I the church and the home, both. But the church has got to be a catalyst. Um I I think churches need to have discipleship groups that that focus on apologetics, discipleship groups that focus on evangelism, but but evangelism in the 21st century, you know, that's tactics, that's engagement, how to ask questions, you know. Uh and if we can disciple people in a church setting, in small group settings, in these areas, man, we're sending people into the world that are going to be effective, effective in promoting and the gospel and and leading people to Christ. If we could preach the word of God from the pulpit every Sunday instead of motivational talks, yes, instead of story after story after story and antidote after antidote, if we could open the word of God and preach it, I think people would become enamored again with scripture. And I think when you hear a good preacher of the word, what does it make you want to do? It makes you want to go back and read the entire section again. It makes you want to go back. I I sit there and when I hear somebody speak the word, man, I get so many ideas. I said, wow, that's really good. That point, I could take that point and develop that into a talk. That is so good. And man, wow, I had read this and I hadn't really noticed that. I need to go back and read it again. It it comes alive.

Scott Allen 40:50

Absolutely.

Speaker 1 40:51

But we're we're not seeing that a lot. We're not seeing a lot of that. We're preaching a lot about everything else except the word of God. And that that's hurting us. We're shooting.

Scott Allen 41:01

I think it's changing though. I think you're right. I I see it, you know, this post-truth world where everything is in flux and fluid and it's all based on your feelings, and there is no, you know, people feel like the ground is so shifted underneath of them, they don't know where to stand, or if there's anything stable that they can stand on, which is very disorienting. And then there's the fear that's now layered on top of that that AI is going to just make this even worse. Where can I stand? Is there any place that I can stand and I can hold on to something that's fixed? And I think that's leading people into churches and to the scripture, you know, and and so yeah, like you say, we as the church, the Christians, we have to be people ready to say, yes, this is true. This is your anchor in a storm, and this is what you need to know and hold on to. Uh, this is God's very word. Because I do think you're right. I think there's people that are so ready for this right now. You know, they just can't Yeah, they're hungry. You cannot live in this post-truth kind of way, you know. I mean, it it's it's ultimately you can't build anything on it, uh this unstable foundation.

Speaker 1 42:14

And I I uh yes, absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And people are hungry. As a pastor, I'm speaking to you as a pastor, and and and and pastors that will listen to this podcast. If you open a discipleship group or a small group that's gonna focus on answering the five toughest questions that are asked of us as Christians, do you think you're having to have any time any trouble feeling that? Open up a small group that talks about, okay, how to talk to people about Christ without feeling like a goof. You know. You think you're gonna have any trouble feeling that? You know, we we need to be proactive. We need to be working this in through the discipleship small group, one-on-one, or one on six, or one on twelve. Let's get sit down, let's open these books, let's go through the book of tactics together and and and look at how Jesus implemented these tactics in the New Testament, how Jesus asked questions. Or let's go through you know Jesus' evangelism method. Let's go through the Samaritan, the the Jesus and the Samaritan woman, and let's break that down. Or Jesus speaking about the harvest analogy for for for we if we disciple people in this, they're hungry for it, they're gonna eat it up, and and we're making a difference. We're starting to give them a platform, a solid foundation to stand on. Because if we as as ministers of the gospel and as teachers, and if we if it's hard for us to engage with this world, how hard do you think it is for them? And we wonder why they don't want to engage, because they feel they don't have anything to offer. They feel they they they wouldn't be able to stand a second of attack. And in a lot of cases it's true. Sadly.

Worldview Fixes Siloed Thinking

Luke Allen 44:02

That's yeah, that's such an important place to start in the family and the church. Um one thing that worries me is um Nancy Pearcy talks about this is how the way we're educated, uh Darrow talks about this a lot too, the way we're educated in America and have been for the past hundred plus years is keeping everything we learn in these siloed categories. We go to math class, we learn about math. We go to humanities class, we learn about history. Um and the way that just trains our brain from a young age, especially for kids, is just to always see every part of life in bits and pieces into these little little segmented compartments. So then when we get to church and we learn about these things and we learn about, you know, basic apologetics or whatnot, or discipleship, which is usually not going to be very practical discipleship, it's gonna be more kind of personal Bible study type discipleship. There's no there's no transfer, which is essentially what we were just talking about. But how can churches pull back from that? We kind of need to reform people's minds, you know, because we're so used to thinking in these siloed compartments. How can we, or maybe maybe it's reaching the young kids, like we need to we need to stop this trend. It's it's messing people up. Um we don't look at the Bible and say, wow, that's that's the argument for what I was learning about in biology class. Wow. You know, it's there's no crossover there. When the Bible is the answer to what you learned about in biology class, you just we're not seeing it that way because our minds don't even cross those barriers. Uh have you thought about that, Juan?

Speaker 1 45:30

Yes, absolutely. What what I try to do with my church and what I try to do through our ministry is early on when I'm engaging with any group, is I s I I I I throw out there the worldview. World worldview talks. Let let's let's begin with worldview. Let's look at the big picture. Because it I like to use the analogy of of a of a c of a jigsaw puzzle. I said, look, we we are all specialists on that one piece, which is our lives. Uh and even then we get it wrong a lot. Uh but does it help us to know that there's a puzzle, that our piece fits with that piece and that piece and the other piece? There's a big picture here. And we need to be knowledgeable of that big picture. And and worldviews, uh speaking and teaching on worldviews really, really opens up people's mind. And that gives us an opportunity to say, look, you cannot believe this in this area of your life, and then believe this in this other area of your life, because when you put the two together, they don't work. You're contradicting yourself. Uh you you can't believe in that on on Sundays in your church box or your church compartment, you know, the word of God is an authority, the word of God is it, you know, we trust the word of God. And then when you're in your ethics class, well, you know, everybody decides for themselves what's right and wrong because uh isn't that the way it works? I mean, we we all have our moral opinion and we all decide, well, wait a minute, have you tried to put those two together? Um is is it God who decides or is it I who decides? Like I you can't have it both ways. People don't see that because they're not taught the big picture. And I think we all need to do a lot more on worldview. Um, you know, there there was a time when worldview was the buzzword, and and and and all everybody always wanted to talk about worldview. Um and at some point we stopped. Uh and I I think that we need to we need to retake that that that that stand on worldview.

Luke Allen 47:31

Oh yeah, it's so powerful. The it feels like a superpower once you understand it. It makes sense of all of life, obviously. It's a worldview. But uh someone came up to Darrow once after he was talking and said, uh the way I've looked at my Christian faith has always been using the same example you just gave, like looking at a bunch of puzzle pieces scattered on a table. I'm staring at them, scratching my head. But what you did in this talk on what a biblical worldview is, is you showed me the cover of the box of the puzzle of my life. Now I can see the picture, so now I can see how the pieces actually go together. And that's what worldview does for you. You can take concepts that you don't even really understand, and if you understand a biblical worldview, you can speak into those. Me. I'm not an economist in any way, but I can read Thou shalt not bear fault ball you shouldn't covet, right? That's a principle from the Bible. And I can apply that into economics, and it's actually gonna work in economics because this is God's world, so economics that actually are in line with his world won't covet. And they'll just apply that principle into it. And it's just like a superpower. All of a sudden, oh, I can start understanding the way economy is supposed to work. That's fascinating.

Speaker 1 48:42

A short, encouraging testimony to your ministry. I just got back from Mexico. I spent, you know, uh a few days doing worldview and apologetics with young people that are working for for YWAN in Mexico. Um, and uh a pastor came up to me. A pastor brought a group of young people from his church from another state. They traveled 14 hours by road on a road trip to get to this venue to be there for those three days. And he said to me that when you guys, your ministry, visited their town and spoke on worldview, you changed their church. He said to me, My vision changed, my church changed. I I my eyes were opened. He says, I've been in ministry for many years, I had not seen this, I had not understood the big picture. Uh and he was so encouraged, and his young people are now being formed in worldview. So, in that small town, in that remote area in in southern Mexico, there's a group of people that understand worldview because of what your ministry brought to them. And and we can all do that. We can all do that in our scope of influence, in our area where we can teach this. Let's open people's minds, let's show them the big picture. When you show somebody the big picture, you can't unsee that. Once you see that, you can't unsee it. And it affects the way you look at everything else and how it fits together in scripture. That to me, I think, is a key. And and kudos to what you guys are doing. It's making a difference.

Objective Truth Explained Simply

Scott Allen 50:22

Thanks for that encouragement, Juan. You know, it's all God, isn't it? But uh boy, yeah, it's we I feel like before we talk about apologetics and evangelism in the sense of trying to convince others of the truth, there's certain things that have to happen in our own minds and hearts as Christians that we have to have the paradigm shift that you guys are talking about, because the way that we've been trained by the culture to think very deeply, especially in the West, is that, you know, you you learn this, for example, in twelve years of public school. The Bible is fine in home and church, but don't bring it into the public school. When we study math, when we study science, economics, whatever subject we're studying, there's no reference to God. You can't, you know, and that's taught as neutral, right? That's that's neutral. Well, that is not neutral. God is at the foot at the foundation of everything because he created everything. You can't understand anything, any of those subjects apart from him and his word. But we've been trained so deeply not to think that way. And and we we believe it, you know, yeah, the Bible applies to me personally, it applies in the church, it applies to spiritual things, has nothing to do with all of these things I learned in school. You know. And so we've we've trained our we we we've been formed in this kind of uh uh you know fragmented individual puzzle pieces not connected to each other kind of way. That has to that's the the that has to change. That's where it has to, you know, begin. And like you said, Luke, it it changes everything when you understand that. It changes it's like yeah, it's it once you understand that, uh as you said, Juan, you can't un understand it. God you know God's word applies to everything, you know, and the principles of his word apply to everything. Uh there's such beauty and freedom in that too, because you know, Jesus says you'll know them by the fruit, and the fruit that comes from applying truth in all these areas is always good. It's always it always leads to goodness and flourishing. Whereas the other ones they don't. They they they tear down and they they destroy. So Amen.

Luke Allen 52:31

Yeah. Uh uh Juan, I've heard you speak on objective truth. That's kind of a Christian buzzword, but it is important to understand because objective truth is something that we can stand on firmly. And like you were just saying, Dad, it actually bears good fruit always. Always. Uh it's not hateful, it bears good fruit. It's it's God's design for our good that He gave us. Um Juan, just could you help people like understand that? We hear that word so often that I think it just kind of goes in one ear out the other. But just when we when we really understand that, it really changes the way that we speak to this world.

Speaker 1 53:02

Amen. Objective truth is has to be understood in contrast with subjective truth. Um we understand these terms to mean that subjective, when you say something is subjectively true, you're talking about you, the subject. It's something that's true for you. That's the subject here is you. So if I like vanilla ice cream, that is subjectively true. That that I like vanilla ice cream. If I think vanilla ice cream is the best ice cream in the world, that's my opinion. Subjective truth is all about opinion. And what the world wants us to believe is that everything is about opinion.

Scott Allen 53:40

I remember Nietzsche, one of Nietzsche's famous quotes is there are no facts, only opinions. Exactly.

Speaker 1 53:45

That's what the world wants us to believe. That you know, God's existence, it's a matter of opinion. Is the Bible God's word? It's a matter of opinion. God exists for you, but he doesn't exist for me. You know, kind of like it's like, no, no, wait a minute, because there's another category of thought and truth, and that's objective truth. And objective has to do with the object, not the subject. And so the best way to explain that is an objective truth is something that's true, whether we like it or not, whether we're even aware of it or not, whether we agree with it or not, because it's it's its truthfulness is independent of us. And so I like to use an analogy because people understand analogies. I tell them, look, two apples and two apples is gonna be four apples. That is objectively true. That's not true because it's your opinion. That's true because it's just true. It has to do with the apples, not with you. I said, if you grew up in a country or a culture where everybody believed that two apples and two apples was three apples, everybody was wrong. Because it's not, it's four. If your parents taught you that two apples and two apples is five apples, your parents taught you wrong. Because it's four apples. If you hate the number four, it's still four apples. And the bottom line is if you had never been born, it would still be four apples. And that's where it clicks. That's like what? Yeah. That's the nature of objective truth. And what are the things that are objective, objectively true? God's existence. You see, you can you have objective objective truth claims that need to be verified, whether they're actually objectively true or not. So when somebody says, well, God exists, that's a truth claim. An objective truth claim. Which means either God exists or he doesn't, and my opinion is irrelevant. In shaping the truth of that. Either he exists or he doesn't. And then let's look at the evidence. A hundred percent of the evidence shows that he does exist. There is absolutely no evidence to the contrary. So you know what? It's objectively true that God exists. It's not a matter of opinion. It's not that God exists for me, but not for you. The fact that you don't believe God exists, that is definitely your opinion. You're entitled to that opinion. But please understand that that has no bearing on reality. Reality is that there is a God there. And that that's how I try to work through and explain the difference between these two. And we look some people try to mock and ridicule, and and it's so hard not to be sarcastic. Oh yeah. Sarcasm is a is a is a third language that I'm very good at, and I have to fight myself on it. Because somebody says, Well, there is no objective truth, and my first desire is to ask him, Well, is that true? And it's like I gotta I gotta hold back and say, you know what, that that'll make a point, but that'll make him feel really bad, and then I won't be able to persuade him to follow Christ. I want to win a soul to Christ, not an argument. You know, I don't want to ridicule anybody. So let's look, you know, what you're saying, let me let me show you how what you're saying doesn't make a lot of sense. Because you're telling me something that that you believe to be true for you and for me. But you're telling me that such a thing doesn't exist. So maybe you haven't seen the fact that there's some contradiction here in what you're saying. You know, can if I give you an example of something that is objectively true, would you be able to, would you be willing to at least consider changing your mind? You know, and that's a bad that's a very important question because some people don't care what you say, they're not gonna change your mind. They're gonna tell you that. In which case you'll say, Yeah, have a nice day, man. Cool. I'm not gonna continue if you're not gonna change your mind. If you're not willing to listen, but if you say, if somebody says, My typical answer that I get is, well, I don't think you're gonna change my mind, but yeah, obviously, if you had something that showed I was wrong, I would. Okay, and let's talk about it. Two apples and two apples, and then we go there. Okay, how is that not objectively true?

Luke Allen 57:59

I really love what you said about not stooping to sarcasm because man, I'm right there with you.

Speaker 1 58:05

It's hard. It's really hard.

Persuasion Without Sarcasm

Luke Allen 58:06

Or or or mocking or making fun of, or you know, just taking the opportunity to dunk on them. I mean, that's that's the problem with the short attention span era that we're in, again, bringing up the Christopher Hitchens and William Lane Craig debate. Christopher Hitchens, quote unquote, won because he was using sarcasm, he was mocking, he was making fun of, and that's all people seem to care about these days because we're just led by their feelings.

Scott Allen 58:31

It's all the kids that we're gonna do that, aren't we? Right, yes.

Luke Allen 58:35

Exactly. And so as Christians, we're like, well, we'll just do it right back at them. And guess what? We have better arguments, which we do. So it's like the ultimate recipe. But is that is that what it means when it says speak the truth and grace and gra speak speak with love and truth? Well, I'm totally messing up this verse. Grace and truth, you know, be winsome. You know, you're trying to you're trying to win a soul to Christ here. You're not trying to win an argument, you know, and remembering that is so hard, but so important. And I I don't love how there's a lot of Christians out there today who are stooping to those tactics. It's a little distasteful, even though it really works. It gets a lot of cold.

Speaker 1 59:15

When I'm speaking to a Christian crowd, I allow myself to use the sarcasm and stuff and laugh with them, and then I tell them, look, I'm using sarcasm with you, but please don't go out there and use it with the unsaved. You know, because we don't want to we don't wanna if you make somebody feel stupid, they're not gonna want to follow Christ with you. They're not gonna want to do anything with you, they're not gonna want to listen to you because you you've made them feel dumb.

Luke Allen 59:40

Yeah, yeah, know your audience. That's important. Yeah. Uh sorry, Dad, I've been asking all the questions. We're getting near the end of our time here.

Scott Allen 59:47

Yeah, we do need to wrap up. Juan, I just really this has been really terrific, and I am so grateful for the work that you're doing in Christian Apologetics, uh, people like you, Greg Kokel, others. It's a tough time to be doing this, but boy, do we we need it. We need people to to to do the work that you're doing because God exists, whether we believe him or not, is an objective reality. And we you know, uh you know, human flourishing, the flourishing of our culture and nations depends on that. So we cannot give it up. You know, we just we just have to keep pushing and trusting. And uh, you know, and again, ultimately God is um God is you know truth is greater than lies, and we just have to have that conviction. But uh how do people if they want to connect to you, Juan, if they want to have you come out and speak, learn about your books, um, just take advantage of your ministry. What's the best way for people to connect with you?

Speaker 1 1:00:42

Oh the best way is is is Reasons for Hope, the ministry that I work with. Uh the website is R F O R H.com. The R for Reasons, the word for F-O-R and H, which for hope, R for H.com. Uh and just everything is there, all the resources are there, the links for booking a speaker are there. Uh my please, if if you want to share my email with your audience, you know, I can be reached by email at uh Juan Valdez, my name with an S at r for H.com. Um I I'm I'd love to come and speak and teach and do what I do. That's this is what God has called me to do.

Scott Allen 1:01:24

And again, if you're part of a yeah, a Spanish-speaking congregation, uh Hispanic speaking group, uh take advantage of Juan because he'll come and speak in your native language and uh so and and culture. So that I just think that's a wonderful resource that you can go back and forth between the two ones.

Speaker 1 1:01:40

So Amen. And I I see such a uh a lot of people think that what we do is we we each have our lane. You know, there's the discipleship lane, there's the evangelism lane, there's the apologetics lane. But the more I do ministry, the more I realize these are more like the streets of Mexico City, where there are no lanes and everybody just merges together. Uh I I I see that that's discipleship and apologetics go hand in hand. Evangelism and apologetics go hand in hand. Uh, you know, just uh cultural worldview and apologetics and a discipleship and all of it just meshes together because you you can't do one without the other. You know, you're gonna do discipleship, you know, yeah, it's a component. You're gonna do evangelism, it's a component. So I I'm glad to partner with with ministries like yours and do these podcasts and do these things because I think together we can make such a difference.

Scott Allen 1:02:36

It's a really good word. I I completely agree with that. Yeah, we are all working, pulling in the same uh yoke, you know, together. But at the same time, there's certain things that you've gone deep into that we really can benefit from. You know, how how do you best engage uh with non-believers in arguments? I mean, these are things we do need to, those are expertises that you you bring to the table. Um I just completely appreciate it.

Luke Allen 1:03:05

On that note, yeah, on that note, I wanted to highlight your guys' app too. It's R for H, uh, the app you can find in the app store, and on there is all of your guys' short videos, which are unpack all the big questions that you're gonna hear at school and work.

Speaker 1 1:03:18

Debunked videos, phenomenal. They're three to five day debunked plus questions.

Luke Allen 1:03:23

Exactly. Yeah, those are awesome. Short videos, but they'll they'll answer the questions that you're definitely hearing and thinking about. And then one more time, the name of the book is How to Think A Crash Course in Critical Thinking by Juan Valdez. You can find that wherever books are sold. It's also linked down in the show notes below. Amen.

Speaker 1 1:03:39

And it's also available in Spanish for our Spanish-speaking friends. This book is translated into Spanish as well. Uh so that's available. I edited both of them because that I wanted to make sure that what I was communicating was available in both languages. Uh, and so that's available. Uh it's a good resource. Critical thinking is something we all lack. Every parent, every grandparent should be worried about their kids and their grandkids being able to think critically.

Luke Allen 1:04:06

Oh, yeah. The amount of times I've been convicted during this discussion. I'm affected by these things, so I gotta I gotta be careful. Yeah. Critical.

Scott Allen 1:04:13

I just want to endorse you, Juan, again. I just think one of the things that's so appealing to me about you, Juan, is just your the humility in which you carry yourself. You've got um advanced degrees, you're you're you're comfortable working, you know, in uh elite circles of Christian life and community, but you have no problem just talking and being a part of everyday Christian lives. And I just find that to be um uh unusual and really attractive. I just appreciate your spirit so much. So I appreciate that, brother. Thank you. I really want to yeah, let our listeners know that you just how wonderful, warm, and approaching you are. There's no um you no guile, you know, just a really wonderful uh humil humility about you, Juan. Well, listen, thanks for for being with us, Juan. This has been great. We'd love to have you back, and yeah, as I say, it would be our our thrill and our our privilege to to continue to work together as closely as God would allow in ministry and just you being on this podcast as a part of that. So um thanks again. Yeah.

Luke Allen 1:05:17

All right, great. Let's uh let's