“The deep longing of the human heart is for a story that is both true and satisfying.” But how can we know which story is true? Does the religious or non-religious story better line up with reality? Dr. Paul Goul looks at 11 clues to understand the universe at our place in it and encourages you to adopt a different posture toward the question of God.

Dr. Paul Gould is associate professor of philosophy and director of the philosophy of religion master’s program at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He is the founder and president of the Two Tasks Institute, an apologetics institute and podcast, and a sought-after speaker. Gould has written numerous books, including “The Story of the Cosmos” and the award-winning “Cultural Apologetics.”

Content Discussed:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 2:25 Why write your new book “Good and True Story”?
  • 5:00 The main thesis of the book
  • 7:22 What about apathetic people who don’t long for what is true?
  • 10:18 How do you communicate the fact that people have twisted desires?
  • 14:18 How the story changes our identity
  • 18:14 How does the universe point to the truth of the Christian story?
  • 20:33 What is the contingency argument?
  • 22:39 Do most philosophers agree that there must be a necessary foundation for the universe?
  • 24:00 Why can’t the universe be the necessary thing that has always existed?
  • 27:55 How does meaning come from the Christian story?
  • 34:11 If God doesn’t exist, is life without ultimate meaning, value, and significance?
  • 35:20 Does platonism give ultimate meaning without God?
  • 36:00 What is platonism?
  • 39:08 How does happiness connect to the Christian story?
  • 44:44 How does beauty point to Christianity? Isn’t all beauty subjective?
  • 48:46 How do you argue for objective beauty? What is the argument for God from beauty?
  • 53:58 We can know beauty and morality by looking at it.
  • 55:50 How do you help people perceive beauty?
  • 59:12 Are some of the eleven clues more persuasive?

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