Ryan Pauly
Ryan Pauly is the founder and president of Think Well and the Director of Immersive Experiences at MAVEN. He has been working with junior high, high school, and college students for over a decade as a missionary, school teacher, field guide and speaker.
After graduating from college he became a missionary in the Dominican Republic where he spent four years teaching English, Worldview, Apologetics, and Leadership to junior high and high school students. Ryan moved back to Southern California in 2015 and started teaching Historical Christian Doctrine and Apologetics, Comparative Religions and Worldviews, and Philosophy of Ethics at a Southern California Christian high school. He taught high school full-time for 12 years until 2023 when he left to work with Think Well and MAVEN.
Ryan started in the apologetics world back in 2015 with his blog, Coffeehouse Questions. This led to the podcast in 2016 and YouTube in 2020. Think Well was officially launched in June of 2022. Ryan joined MAVEN as a field guide in 2017 and was promoted to Director of Immersive Experiences in 2023. He also serves as a faculty member at Summit Ministries, a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Reasons to Believe Scholar Community, and a volunteer at www.talkaboutdoubts.com.
Ryan received a Bachelor’s degree in Theology with an emphasis in youth leadership from Vanguard University. He completed his Master’s degree in Christian apologetics from Talbot School of Theology and is currently working toward a Doctor of Ministry in Practical Theology. His research is focused on what Scripture says about the most pressing practical issues of our day like gender and sexuality, race, technology, politics, deconstruction, and more. He also holds a certificate in Science Apologetics from the Reasons Institute.
January 18, 2019 at 9:40 am
Great answer! I think also that God has ingrained in all of creation a strong self-preservation instinct. For humans, this is done for many of the reasons you cited (we have a purpose, our presence is a blessing/benefit to others around us, we will be missed, etc). But I think it’s even more fundamental. Life is a gift from God! He doesn’t want us to squander that gift. The purpose of human life is to know God and to make him known to others. We should do everything reasonable to live our lives to the fullest while living out that purpose. He doesn’t want us to fear death in the sense that we fear what will happen after we die (of course this is a different answer for unbelievers, who should fear the afterlife). He put within us a strong sense of self-preservation to ensure we won’t casually give up our lives when we have an opportunity to continue to live, and thus be more able to fulfill our purpose.
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January 18, 2019 at 10:35 am
Thanks, Stuart. That is a great point!
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