{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Dialog","title":"1.17 / What are you really certain of?","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3243,"description":"Before we hit record, Nick asked me what I'm certain about. My honest answer: not a whole lot. Nick is the other way. There are things he's certain of in his bones, things he'd die for.\nSo which of us is right? My co-host Nick Surface and I go back and forth on certainty and faith, on who you can trust when people say you can't trust anybody, and on why we keep building a black and white world when life hands us gray.\nWhat can you actually be certain of?\nI'm certain about the search. I'm certain about the pursuit. And the truth always stands up to questioning. The truth can handle questions.\nIs faith the same as certainty?\nNick puts it this way: certainty is something you get looking back, not looking forward. Looking forward, you have faith. Why would God put a desire for certainty in us and then put us in a world this uncertain? Because it shows our need for Him.\nShould you trust experts?\n\"Question everything, listen to nobody\" isn't critical thinking. Jesus said you'll know them by their fruit, so find people with fruit and listen to what they say.\nWhen should you stop asking questions?\nWhen my motive goes from learning to trying to make a point. Socrates knew that he didn't know anything and was always willing to question himself.\nScriptures\nExodus 9:12 · Romans 9:18-21 · Matthew 7:16 · Isaiah 11:2\nThinkers and people\nSocrates · C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity · Seth Godin · Sir Edmund Hillary · Sir Roger Bannister\nChapters\n0:00 Cold open and show intro\n0:52 Greatness, balance and \"good enough\"\n2:26 Comparison and self-talk\n4:51 Living in tension: God's plan and free will (Romans 9)\n6:27 Who decides what your life means?\n7:30 \"What am I certain about? Not a whole lot\"\n8:14 Should you trust experts?\n11:12 Selfish people see selfishness everywhere\n13:18 Life is nuance, not black and white\n13:56 Theory vs. reality: engineers and bridges\n15:57 Question everything? Even the moon landing?\n17:12 Experts, parenting and the fruit (Matthew 7)\n19:12 At some point you have...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/7YsfA4gq5VzjhvmKvDET1pQqT0OM6yxv1laklKclR7g/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83ZWZh/MTRmZDEzOWRjZGQz/Y2M2NThkNzYwOTJj/ODA4MC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}