A Commitment to Reality

The Story of Everything is one of the most important films to hit theaters in years. It's also one of the most beautiful films about science that you might ever see.  On this episode, Dave Hanegraaff is joined by biologist Doug Axe, one of the film's key figures, to unpack what it argues, why it matters, and what it means when scientists themselves are being confronted by evidence they can't explain away no matter how desperate they might be to disprove the reality of God.   It's a conversation for skeptics, seekers, and anyone who's ever wondered if the universe is really just blind accident or an intricately woven tapestry that science alone cannot explain—but can illuminate.   The path to truth leads through beauty.   The Story of Everything is a film about science that ends with a crescendo of beauty, beauty, beauty.   Please see related resources by authors featured in the film below: Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed by Douglas Ax https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-undeniable-how-biology-confirms-our-intuition-that-life-is-designed-atcr/  Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe by Stephen Meyer  https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-return-of-the-god-hypothesis-three-scientific-discoveries-that-reveal-the-mind-behind-the-universe-actr/ The Privileged Planet (20th Anniversary Edition-2024): How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery by Jay Richards and Guillermo Gonzalez. https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-the-privileged-planet-20th-anniversary-edition-2024-how-our-place-in-the-cosmos-is-designed-for-discovery-atcr/  Thank you for joining A Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow A Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube for full episodes + clips: https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality (Timestamps below.)  0:00 — Intro / How Douglas Axe got involved with The Story of Everything film3:00 — Undeniable—how biology confirms our intuition that life is designed  7:00 — The two competing stories or narratives about reality10:00 — The Price of Panic: How the Tyranny of Experts Turned a Pandemic into a Catastrophe 15:00 — The price advocates of Intelligent Design have had to pay over the course of their scientific careers16:30 — Surprising rebirth of the belief in God—is that happening in the sciences? 19:00 — The key concepts behind The Story of Everything 21:00— Why does it matter if the universe had a beginning or not? 22:30 — Why are so many scientists desperate to disprove the reality of God25:00 — The multiverse theory is evidence of desperation 28:35 — Materialism and free-will cannot coexist29:30 — Was there a first cell?30:50 — What does Darwinian evolution explain well? 33:15 — Why is the discovery of information such as DNA such a big deal?35:40— The power of visual representations in a film like The Story of Everything to help non-experts understand science37:00 — Intellectual honesty and the search for truth39:55 — What is specified complexity?41:40 — Why specified complexity infers design43:00 — The constraints of time for evolutionary theories45:10 — The hard problem of consciousness51:30 — The beauty principle—“it’s so beautiful it must be true”54:50 — Would the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe contradict Christianity?        

Sin is a problem. But, one of the great psychological tragedies of the West is a misunderstanding of sin. We turned it into a legal category — a list of infractions — and lost what the word actually means: missing the mark. The ancient Church didn't start with sin. It started with the passions — the disordered desires that pull us off target before we ever act. When we misunderstand the reality of sin, it makes it much harder to overcome the passions—which are the real problem. But, make no mistake, we are at war. The Church Fathers knew this. They trained for it. They built entire traditions around it. As St. John Chrysostom put it, “Our warfare does not make the living dead, but rather makes the dead live.” Powerful.   And then we forgot. Or worse, we’re ignoring the battle we’re in.  Like any good father, Justin Marler—former punk guitarist turned Orthodox monk turned author—wants the best for his children. Leaning on the legacy left by the Church Fathers, Justin has provided his children—and us—with a survival guide for life with his book The Art of Unseen Warfare: Ancient Teachers for the Modern Fighter.   In this episode of A Commitment to Reality, Justin and Dave cover such issues as why monks are the real punks, why trying actually matters, why the virtues are skills you practice and not feelings you have, why God wants progress and not perfection, why suffering is a gift and not a problem to solve, and what happens when you stop asking "Am I saved?" and start asking "Where am I right now — heaven or hell?"For more information on receiving Justin's book The Art of Unseen Warfare: Ancient Teachers for the Modern Fighter please click here. https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-the-art-of-unseen-warfare-ancient-teachings-for-the-modern-fighter/Thank you for joining A Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow A Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube for full episodes + clips: https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality (Timestamps below.)  0:00 — Intro / Unseen Warfare: A Guidebook for Life1:45 — From a punk to a monk 5:45 — Life in a monastery7:55 — The education of everyday monasticism vs “traditional” modern education10:35 — Practicing detachment while also embracing the beauty of life 17:00 — Having a healthy discomfort with the world23:45 — The difference between the passions and sin and the baggage with the way so many people perceive sin30:45 — The world is soul-sick and the Church is the hospital33:45 — The purpose of life is to become a saint36:45 — We need to try in life, to work out our salvation and become what we were created to be 41:20 — Why is it necessary for Christians to have the mindset of a fighter in battle?45:55 — The modern book of virtue—we don’t talk enough about the virtues51:30 — Trying to understand the will of God is all about developing a relationship with God56:30 — The virtues are something we practice like anything else we want to get better at 1:00:45 — The problem with apologetics1:08:35 — Should Christians spend time online?1:10:15 — The reality of the unseen realm1:12:45 — Suffering is a gift1:17:40 — The reality of spiritual warfare1:21:45 — We don’t talk enough about guardian angels1:32:30 — You don’t earn your salvation, but you do work for it1:34:45 — Salvation is a living process, you can experience heaven and hell on earth 1:38:55 — Where are we most eager to look away from reality?1:40:15 — In a world that feels increasingly unreal, what feels most real?

Re-Enchantment—Everyone is talking about it these days. But, you can’t re-enchant something that always was. We are simply realizing the reality of Enchantment.In this episode of A Commitment to Reality, Fr. Stephen Freeman joins Dave Hanegraaff to remind us that the world has always been Enchanted—we have just been ignoring that reality.Secularism has caused many modern people—even Christians—to misunderstand the reality of the world we live in. Modern life has flattened our conception of reality into something purely material, neutral, and abstract. Many Christians have even made God an abstraction—something Fr. Stephen Freeman calls Christian Atheism.But, God as an abstraction is no God at all. God is everywhere, present and filling all things. This leads to a myriad of misunderstandings—including something as important as our salvation. Salvation is about being restored to reality itself: to God, to others, and to the world as it truly is.Glory to God, in all things.For more information on Fr. Freeman's book Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe please click here.  https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-everywhere-present-christianity-in-a-one-storey-universe/ Thank you for joining A Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow A Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube for full episodes + clips: https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality(Timestamps below.)0:00 — Intro / The Story of Fr. Stephen Freeman6:45 — Enchantment9:45 — Understanding the “one-storey universe”16:45 — Reality is a gift. Be thankful for it, in all things18:45 — The true meaning of secularism21:30 — There is no neutrality in the public square24:15 — How Marxist rhetoric is used26:25 — Secularism is heresy30:00 — God as an idea is no God at all — Christian atheism35:40 — The reality of salvation40:30 — Salvation is not a legal problem, but a problem of communion49:30 — Total depravity, the imago dei, and the goodness of creation56:00 — Modernity, materialism, and money1:00:00 — We have so much to learn from the poor1:07:25 — Did history end with the Resurrection?1:10:45 — Become a fool for Christ1:13:00 — Technology and progress are not always what they seem1:18:15 — Literalism is the enemy of reality1:20:10 — We don’t weep enough1:23:15 — Who do you hate? Your work starts there1:31:45 — What happens to a culture that can no longer name what it sees?1:33:25 — Where are we most eager to look away from reality?1:34:30 — In a world that feels increasingly unreal, what feels most real to you?1:38:25 — Glory to God in ALL things

Are we all cyborgs now?We’re not just building machines that act like humans. We’re becoming humans that act like machines.In a world obsessed with whether AI can become human, far less attention is given to the way we are sacrificing our humanity at the altar of data, efficiency, and optimization.This is not inevitable.We can reclaim our humanity from the machine by making a commitment to reality—embracing our embodiment and the physical world around us.Making a commitment to reality means being intentional and communal in our assessment of every new technological breakthrough—and how we incorporate it, or don’t, into our lives.We must ask hard questions—and make even harder decisions.Where do we draw the line?On this episode of A Commitment to Reality, Joshua Pauling joins Dave Hanegraaff to discuss Are We All Cyborgs Now? Reclaiming Our Humanity from the Machine (co-authored with Robin Phillips), and what it means to remain human in an age increasingly defined by abstraction, efficiency, and disembodiment.Because we weren’t made for “datafication”—but for deification—communion with creation and the Creator.For more information on the book Are We All Cyborgs Now? Reclaiming Our Humanity from the Machine  please click here. https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-are-we-all-cyborgs-now-reclaiming-our-humanity-from-the-machine/Thank you for joining A Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow A Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube for full episodes + clips: https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality(Timestamps below.)0:00 — Intro / Have we made a technological deal with the devil?3:30 — Forget the Turing test, what about humans choosing to live as machines?5:50— The rapid pace of technological change7:45 — How is digital technology different from past technologies?10:45 — Why start a book on technology by writing about woodworking?13:45 — Gnosticism—how did our body become the enemy of our lives?18:15 — Personal Practices that help us live an embodied life20:55 — Intentionality23:25 — Will the Amish have the last laugh? (What we can learn from the Amish)28:15 — The distinction between access and ownership29:45 — Who were the Luddites and what can we learn from them?31:45 — Monastic wisdom for our world today35:45 — Should we be missionaries online?38:30 — Can you go to church online?40:30 — The problem with viewing church as education45:30 — Does a memorial view of the sacraments make light of our embodiment?46:45— We were made for deification not data processing and accumulation50:45 — Where do we draw the line with technology?54:30 —Human enhancement vs restoration—serious bioethical questions on the horizon58:30—Tech realism, pessimism or optimism?1:00:00 —The need for intentional, communal reaction and resistance to the machine1:04:00 — What is the joy of thingness?1:07:00—What is true leisure and how can it save us?1:09:50—the importance of No Agenda togetherness1:13:10 —Can hospitality save the world?1:17:00—Lightning round questions about reality

“What part of you has come here to die?”It’s a question that Martin Shaw—one of our great living storytellers—is famous for asking.Shaw offers these kinds of provocations to a Western world where Christianity has largely been domesticated and desperately needs to recover its wildness.Prayer doesn’t feel real to you? Rip up a twenty-dollar bill every time you pray. On your phone too much? Smash it with a hammer.Have something you need to confess but are afraid to tell another living soul?  Dig a “confessional hole” in the ground with your bare hands and shout it into the earth.In this episode of A Commitment to Reality, Shaw joins Dave Hanegraaff to explore how to recover a wild Christianity in a world where faith for many has become cold, abstract, and domesticated.Thank you for joining A Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow A Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube for full episodes + clips: https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality (Timestamps below.)  0:00 — Intro / Friends in Common Recovering Wild Christianity2:20 — Belief is cool again—Atheism is for old people3:45 — Aesthetic Arrest6:45 — You don’t want persona, you want presence8:00 — Make a covenant with limit in a culture of excess13:55 — Growing up the son of a preacher man17:15 — The cost of becoming religious23:05 — What is myth? (And why is it not what we think?)27:30 — On Sectarian Christianity30:00 — Theology without practice is the theology of demons31:35 — Night vigils and reclaiming initiation rites 35:50 — What part of you has come to die?42:15 — His home burned down—Discussion of losing everything.45:00 — What is a saint?46:35 — Death — how can we breathe new life into death?50:40 — The value of a good cry53:45 — How to tell our stories differently56:00 — On your phone too much? Smash it57:10 — Struggling with prayer? Rip up money when you pray59:20 — Confessional holes—dig a hole with your hands and confess into the earth1:00:40 — In a world that feels unreal, what feels real?1:02:30 — Johnny Cash had a Boy Named Sue. Glen Hansard has a Boy Named Grace: Dave tells the story of naming his son Grace.  

Jay Richards and Dave Hanegraaff explore why reality requires commitment, embodiment, and disciplined practices that keep us grounded when our digital lives lead us into abstraction.This is a wide-ranging conversation, beginning with the reality of economics before diving deep into the accelerating presence and authority of AI and why the tech debate is ultimately about anthropology—what a human person is, and what we’re becoming.Jay makes the case for why the forgotten discipline of fasting is a forgotten fountain of fortitude—for body, mind and soul—especially in a culture of excess increasingly out of touch with reality.Follow A Commitment to Reality wherever you listen.TIMESTAMPS00:00 – Intro00:30 – I used to hate you—the value of conversation and actually listening03:00 – How to change your mind05:15 – How social media bubbles create reality distortion07:35 – Go outside—embracing embodiment in a digitized world11:15 – Intentionality and going analog in an increasingly digital world15:10 – Beneficial uses of AI18:40 – We can’t stop AI: fear, inevitability, and panic20:20 – Metaphysics/anthropology: the real battleground beneath AI debates22:14 – Is AI demonic? What’s actually happening “under the hood” with AI tech?26:45 – “AI” is a marketing term—how that language shapes fear of AI28:30 – How AI could create a massive class divide32:25 – Mamdani and socialism—the power of images vs reality36:45 – The benefit of being able to say “I used to think that”41:25 – How to be productive45:00 – Why did most Christians stop fasting?50:00 – The appeal of ascetic practices in a culture of excess55:15 – Combatting spiritual warfare with fasting58:00 – Physical benefits of fasting explained—and how to begin1:08:30 – Why flipping the old food pyramid is a great idea1:13:00 – I hate talking about fasting—but we need to talk about fasting1:16:20 – How Eastern Christianity can lead a revival in fasting for all Christians1:18:10 – The forgotten gift of fasting seasons like Advent and Lent1:19:00 – “A feast without a fast is a strange, half-finished thing”1:23:30 – Fasting is a skill—how to start1:26:00 – Best practices for grounding us in reality1:27:40 – Where are we most eager to look away from reality?1:31:55 – Understanding what A Commitment to Reality means1:32:35 – In a world that feels increasingly unreal, what feels real to you?1:34:00 – New Atheism is dead  

Welcome to A Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff.Frederica Mathewes-Green and Dave Hanegraaff explore the importance of “shared reality” in a post-truth age—and why the most important word in the title might be commitment.This is a wide-ranging conversation about what it means to live in alignment with reality, while also hitting topics such as how the internet is optimized for outrage, why our social muscles are atrophying, and why AI feels different from every other tool: it presents itself like a person—earning trust and authority fast.Along the way we explore how to respond with everyday practices that re-align us with reality.Follow A Commitment to Reality wherever you listen.TIMESTAMPS00:00 – Intro00:49 – What A Commitment to Reality means07:17 – Who is Frederica Mathewes-Green?12:35 – The Glenn Beck moment: how listening changes conceptions15:23 – How is your soul?17:20 – What breaks your heart?19:15 – Social atrophy—why can’t we communicate anymore?23:44 – TV and the Internet—Architects of Anger25:15 – Why is it so hard to change our minds?29:05 – Charlie Kirk and the courage to speak up35:00 – Theology in West vs East: knowing about God vs. knowing God40:55 – Feelings and emotions are not the same (why that distinction matters)48:20 – How important is getting it right when it comes to truth?49:55 – Truth as living reality—alive like a forest, not dead like a cold statue56:15 – The Replication Crisis—A Modern Tower of Babel?59:30 – AI is dangerous, irresistible and irreversible1:01:00 – My cat died and ChatGPT comforted me—why AI feels real (and scary)1:14:25 – Are we experiencing true “Future Shock” today?1:16:13 – AI as the anti-Eucharist1:19:30 – AI is already an authority and everywhere in our lives1:21:30 – Practices that can re-orient us to reality1:28:00 – The pursuit of imperfection in a world where everything is the same1:31:00 – Do we need to follow the news?1:35:15 – Why reality must include the miraculous1:40:10 – Frederica Mathewes-Green is writing a new book?1:43:40 – How well does ChatGPT handle profoundly spiritual topics?1:47:10 – In a world that feels increasingly unreal—what feels real to you?1:48:45 – Synesthesia1:50:15 – Public challenge to Frederica’s son—David Mathewes to write a song about “A Commitment to Reality”  

A Commitment to Reality is a podcast for a post-truth—and increasingly post-reality—age.We are living through one of the most disorienting periods in human history—leaving many to wonder: What is reality? As artificial intelligence accelerates and institutional trust erodes, our shared sense of what is real continues to crumble.A commitment to reality is a dedication to discerning what is true and developing the discipline to live in alignment with that truth—with reality. This podcast is an apologetic for reality—each episode serving as an intentional act of grounding our existence together as we commit to what is beautiful, good, and true. Subscribe to A Commitment to Reality on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality for the full episodes + clips, as well as Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-commitment-to-reality/id1876254826 , Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/378rR6Oz8YkbTOIqSfhlV3 and follow wherever you get podcasts.  You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!