The Cold-Case Christianity Podcast is hosted by J. Warner Wallace. J. Warner is a Dateline featured cold-case homicide detective, Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, adjunct professor of apologetics at Biola University and a faculty member at Summit Ministries. The Cold-Case Christianity podcast explores the evidence for God's existence, the reliability of the Bible and the truth of the Christian worldview. Please visit our website at www.ColdCaseChristianity.com.
In this Cold-Case Christianity video broadcast / podcast, J. Warner reviews the statistics related to young people leaving the church and then offers four simple ways parents can help make sure their kids stay in the Christian faith. Jim also discusses the simple math behind the problem and illustrates the challenges facing young Christians.
9/11/24 • 27:59
J. Warner makes a case for the eyewitness status of the New Testament Gospel accounts. Is it appropriate to evaluate these accounts as eyewitness statements? Were they intended to be read in this manner? Jim provides several reasons to accept the accounts as eyewitness testimony.
9/4/24 • 27:59
J. Warner makes a case for the reasonable nature of the Christian Worldview. Does Christianity require blind faith? Are we to accept the claims of Christianity without evidence or even in spite of the evidence? Or are we called, as Christians, to place our trust in Jesus because of the evidence? Jim also examines the way Jesus responded to those who had doubts.
8/28/24 • 27:59
J. Warner examines the statements of Jesus to see if He ever claimed to be God. While skeptics may acknowledge Jesus’ existence and even the value of His teaching, any assessment of Jesus’ instruction must account for his obvious claims of Deity. Jim looks at the cumulative case and assembles the evidence from the Gospels to demonstrate Jesus’ claims to Deity.
8/21/24 • 27:59
J. Warner describes 6 simple principles (all beginning with the letter “D”) to help you study the Bible like a detective. J. Warner then recommends a few tools to guide you in your study and finally incorporates the tips and tools into a four part strategy for Bible investigation and Christian Case Making.
8/14/24 • 27:59
J. Warner provides four observations from his youth ministry trips to UC Berkeley. These simple observations may help you improve the quality of your discussions with non-believers and help you better understand the underlying issues in some of these conversations. J. Warner also answers viewer email related to the disagreements between Christian denominations and the need for personal research.
8/7/24 • 27:59
What does Christianity teach about salvation? J. Warner illustrates a number of competing notions related to salvation. Jim asks six questions as he steps toward the orthodox Christian view and illustrates each concept on a whiteboard. Finally, J. Warner plays his visualization of the gospel, The Best Story, to conclude the broadcast.
7/31/24 • 27:59
J. Warner talks about the challenge we face, as Christian Case Makers, when trying to respond to the problem of evil. If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why is there so much evil in the world? Jim talks about the need for a cumulative response and explains why the problem of evil may be a bigger problem for atheists than for Christians.
7/24/24 • 27:59
J. Warner examines four popular misconceptions and misstatements about the nature of objective truth, tolerance and our over-reliance on science. If there are no objective truths (or they can’t be known) there is little reason to examine the truth about God. We need to get to the truth about truth before we can ever know the truth about anything else.
7/17/24 • 27:59
In this Cold-Case Christianity podcast, J. Warner re-examines an atheist objection related to the historicity of Jesus. Is Jesus merely a copycat of prior mythologies like Mithras, Osiris or Horus? How can we, as Christians, respond to such claims? Jim provides a five point response to this common atheist claim.
7/10/24 • 27:32
In this podcast, J. Warner talks about the role of evidence in making the case for Christianity and the need for an evidential approach to Christian Case Making. Jim also responds to an excellent blog post addressing his evidential approach to apologetics. Is evidentialism a valid apologetic? What is its relationship to presuppositionalism? Can Mormons claim a valid presuppositional approach to their worldview? Jim also talks about the validity of advanced degrees in apologetics.
7/3/24 • 52:37
In this podcast, J. Warner responds to a listener who wants to know how to become a public apologist. What strategies are effective? What goals are reasonable? Jim provides his most comprehensive podcast on this subject, tracing his own journey and providing tips to help yours.
6/26/24 • 61:00
In this podcast, J. Warner examines five responses typically offered to the question: “Why are you a Christian?” Are these responses sufficient, given the nature of the culture in which we live? How can we better respond to the challenges we face as we try to defend what we believe about Christianity?
6/19/24 • 47:10
In this podcast, J. Warner converses with Frank Sontag and Janet Mefferd about the nature of heaven and the soul. Have popular movies and books distorted the truth about Heaven? What really happens to the soul when we die? Why should we believe in the soul in the first place?
6/12/24 • 44:59
In this podcast, J. Warner examines the historic, creedal nature of Christianity. Why are creeds so important to the Christian worldview? How early did they emerge? How can we affirm the creedal nature of Christianity in a pluralistic, relativistic culture? Jim investigates the early use of creeds and the continuing role creeds play in defining the Christian worldview.
6/5/24 • 46:40
In this podcast, J. Warner reviews the philosophical, evidential case for life beyond the grave and then examines what the Bible has to say about Heaven and Hell. Are there any good reasons to believe in an afterlife (even without the evidence from Scripture)? What are the limits of natural revelation and logical reasoning, and what does the special revelation of the Bible tell us we should expect when we die?
5/29/24 • 53:52
In this podcast, J. Warner chats with Peyton Jones and Pete Mitchell, the hosts of the Church Planter Podcast about the challenges of church planting, the nature of church in America today and the role of apologetics within the Christian community.
5/22/24 • 67:32
In this podcast, J. Warner talks about four simple strategies to help strengthen the faith and understanding of young believers. How can parents help their children? Are our efforts little more than religious “indoctrination”? Jim also responds to two skeptical objections (in the wake of the Easter season) as examples of how to respond to the kinds of questions our kids may have.
5/15/24 • 66:35
In this podcast, J. Warner responds to a message from a listener related to doubt and agnosticism. How do we know when we have enough evidence to believe Christianity is true? Does unanswered prayer negate the existence of God? How much do our expectations and presuppositions cripple our confidence in the evidence for Christianity?
5/8/24 • 59:05
In this podcast, J. Warner talks about the habit many of us of speaking Christianese, the distinctive (and often confusing) language of the Christian faith. How can we learn to communicate important Christian concepts without sounding like we’re speaking Greek? Jim also discusses the dangerous consequences resulting from low expectations when sharing what we believe with people who seem to be completely uninterested.
5/1/24 • 54:18
Did Jesus rise from the dead? In this podcast, J. Warner talks about abductive reasoning, its application in death scene investigations and its utility when making the case for the Resurrection of Jesus. As Easter approaches, J. Warner outlines the material from his evangelistic booklet, ALIVE: A Cold Case Approach to the Resurrection. Is the Christian explanation for the Resurrection reasonable when compared to the alternatives? Jim examines the strengths and liabilities of many explanations for the empty tomb of Jesus.
4/24/24 • 72:47
In this Cold-Case Christianity video broadcast / podcast, J. Warner makes a case for an evidential, reasoned, case-making form of Christian belief. Using the New Testament gospels and letters as a guide, Jim articulates the foundation for a reasonable faith in Jesus and our common calling as Christians to a life of case-making. (For more information, visit www.ColdCaseChristianity.com)
4/17/24 • 27:59
In this podcast, J. Warner talks about the importance of leadership for those of us who hope to share the truth about Jesus. When most of us think about evangelism, we think of the importance of apologetics or understanding how to articulate the Gospel. We often overlook the role of good leadership. But if you hope to lead someone to Christ, you’ll need to become a good leader.
4/10/24 • 41:59
In this podcast, J. Warner reads a recent article describing the challenge of reaching unchurched “Millennials” (those born from the 1980’s to the early 2000’s). What are young people looking for in church communities and how can we respond to their needs? Jim also answers listener email related to moral relativism and the disagreements within denominations.
4/3/24 • 63:10
In this re-posted podcast, J. Warner begins to examine the case for God’s existence from the Laws of Logic (the Transcendental Argument). Jim also responds to email concerning objections to the Anthropic Principle and talks about the sometimes 'hidden' nature of God as he interacts with his children today.
3/27/24 • 68:56
In this podcast, J. Warner examines the difficulty involved in responding to rhetorically powerful objections based on the problem of evil. Jim talks about the need for a cumulative evidential response, and then provides six considerations to help you prepare a defense. Jim also plays a recent related interview with radio show host, Paul Ridgeway.
3/20/24 • 66:31
In this podcast, J. Warner examines the evidence of the origin of the universe and relates this evidence to the case for God’s existence. Jim describes the classic Cosmological Argument and compares naturalistic alternatives offered to explain the universe’s origin. Does the beginning of the universe demonstrate the existence of God?
3/13/24 • 64:40
Why is contentment often so elusive? What is the basis for contentment and how can we better understand and approach it? In this episode of the podcast, J. Warner talks with Dave Jenkins, the author of Contentment: The Journey of A Lifetime as they explore contentment as defined in Scripture. Dave provides practical help for those who want to gain contentment in their own lives.
3/6/24 • 44:41
In this podcast, J. Warner continues an examination of the pro-life arguments he used in his discussion with the atheist in last week’s podcast. Jim describes the SLED paradigm popularized by Scott Klusendorf of Life Training Institute and examines the Biblical position related to the status of the unborn.
2/28/24 • 87:36
In this podcast, J. Warner discusses his personal journey to Christianity with Frank Sontag from KKLA 99.5 Los Angeles. Jim spent an afternoon with Frank talking about atheism, Christian theism and the journey from one to the other. Jim also talked about the nature of the Church in America and the need for Christian Case Making.
2/21/24 • 56:14
