Haters gonna hate, and one of the recurring doubts that I hear circles around the principle of free will in the form of the following question: if God is always doing what is in our best interest, how much “free-will” do we actually have? Great question; glad you asked. Using the 2016 Disney movie Moana, we discover that the answer to this question is a lot easier than we might think. "What can I say, except you're welcome ..read more

At the beginning of the New Year, it's common to make goals and resolutions which often become a source of guilt and irritation in the following months. However, from a religious, long-term, eternal kind of perspective, are the small goals we set around New Year's actually distracting us from the bigger visions and dreams we should be aiming for? This episode explores "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and the value of dreams and larger vision instead of set-in-stone, micro-goals to guide our progress and improvement ..read more

This episode is a brief introduction to the "In the World" podcast and includes the origin story and purpose of its creation along with my deepest hopes and dreams for its content. L'Chaim ..read more

Nothing proves the importance of having a powerful personal testimony like a murder ballad from the early 2000s. This episode takes a close look at a story about vengeance from the upbeat country song "Goodbye Earl" by The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) and pares it down to a cautionary tale about the influence of others and building strong, independent moral convictions.  ..read more

Is it possible that we've been approaching forgiveness in the wrong way? Often times, we think about forgiveness in terms of whether or not the offender is repentant, but, does that actually matter? Using the brilliant story and characters from season 3, episode 16 of "Avatar: The Last Airbender," we discuss the misconceptions about forgiveness and talk about how we can all do a little better to be a little more at peace when others do us harm ..read more

The beloved classic "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens shares a delightful tale about Ebenezer Scrooge and his journey of redemption. Traditionally, Scrooge is seen as both the protagonist and the antagonist in the story, but in this week's holiday episode, we'll be passing on the "sinner" label to other characters as we discuss the lesser-acknowledged elements of pride and how we can better love those around us ..read more

There are Disney villains we love, Disney villains we hate, and Disney villains we love to hate. This episode is the first in a five part series about the top 5 most dangerous Disney villains and explores their fatal flaws while discussing scriptural evidence that condemns said flaws and provides guidance for how these wayward souls could have been better and--possibly--redeemed.  ..read more

This heartbreaking story of redemption and forgiveness has, at its core, a message about the conflict between justice and mercy as appropriate responses to mistakes and wrongdoings. In this episode, we turn the tables and assert that these principles of justice and mercy are actually in harmony, not conflict, and the typical assignments of Javert as the representative of justice and Jean Val Jean as the representative of mercy are incorrect.  ..read more

In honor of Halloween, this episode features the 2004 Touchstone thriller movie "The Village" and discusses questions about faith and fear using examples from the life of the apostle Simon Peter in the New Testament as a comparison to the character Ivy Walker ..read more

Is it possible that we've been approaching forgiveness in the wrong way? Often times, we think about forgiveness in terms of whether or not the offender is repentant, but, does that actually matter? Using the brilliant story and characters from season 3, episode 16 of "Avatar: The Last Airbender," we discuss the misconceptions about forgiveness and talk about how we can all do a little better to be a little more at peace when others do us harm ..read more