Josiah Concept Ministries

I regret to announce that Josiah Cast is officially done and over with.  I was going to do one more episode, where I answered Sean Hutton’s comment on my Catholic Mass article, however due to time constraints I am not going to be able to do that episode.

I enjoyed podcasting, so I will definitely bring Josiah Cast back in the near future.  Right now, with returning to school, working, fatherhood, and other ministry commitments, it isn’t feasible to continue podcasting.

As for the response to Sean Hutton, I will craft a written response in the early portion of next week, after I finish dissecting Rook Hawkins’s “Which Jesus: A Legend with a Multiple Personality Disorder?”  I plan to delve into Rook’s article about the apostle Paul after that.

My answer to “Which Jesus?” will be up a little later than expected.  I had to do more background reading than I thought.  It’s still a fairly easy article to tackle once the underlying presupposition is taken care of.

Better late than never, right?  Josiah Cast is all about women in the Bible this week.  I show how the Bible is used to elevate women rather than denigrate them.  I forgot to mention some website resources at the close of the program, so instead I’ll provide the links below.  As usual, if you want a copy of the show e-mail me to make download arrangements.  I’m still having difficulty finding a good host for the podcast.

Resources:

• Christian Think-tank
• Shawna R.B. Atteberry, author of the work-in-progress Career Women of the Bible
• Is God sexist?
• Response to Examine God’s Sexism

I worked so hard to get the final podcast product set to go that I neglected to find a way to distribute it.  The final size is to big for Yahoo-GeoCities and WordPress won’t allow MP3 uploads without a paid upgrade.

So, for right now, if anyone would like to listen to the first podcast, please drop me an e-mail and I will send it to you.  The final size is 19 Mb, so you’ll need to make sure that your mail reader will support something that large.

Thank you for your patience.  I will find a distribution method for the podcast very soon!

My critics may look at this as symbolic, but I need to strike this story while the iron is hot.  I am preempting my very first podcast, which was supposed to be on the Bible and women, in favor of a Christian response to the Tom Cruise video that has been sweeping the Internet like a great storm.  The Bible on women episode will air February 15.

The current episode is on schedule to air February 1.  If anyone would like to make a listener contribution on either the Tom Cruise video or on the Bible on women, please e-mail an mp3 file to tucholskic@gmail.com.  Listener contributions are always welcome!

I’m almost halfway through my answers to the unfortunate website GodIsImaginary.com. Check us out at God is NOT Imaginary!

My first podcast is coming along. I need extra time to finish it because of the number of interviews that end up being involved. It will be extra light blogging this month, as I’m going to be busy writing the articles of incorporation for Josiah Concept Ministries, and I’m going to have to meet with my future board of directors shortly to draw up the rules page.

I read somewhere that Brian Sapient is too lazy to file the paperwork to make the Rational Response Squad a 501(c) 3 nonprofit. I can actually sympathize with him. I think it is less that he is lazy and more along the lines that he thinks his time is better spent doing the actual work of the RRS. There is a lot more paperwork than I had originally thought.

My goal is still on pace to be incorporated by the end of March. I’ll probably be up and running much sooner than that!

Between the articles of incorporation, the new podcast, and God is NOT Imaginary, my plate is full. I will keep regular progress reports coming here, but that is probably the extent of the blogging that I will do on this site for at least the month of January. Feel free to browse my archives and definitely check out God is NOT Imaginary.

It’s been a great past year. I really feel like the ministry has made some forward progress. My one prayer for this ministry is that my work is leading souls to Christ. I have no way to track that, but I do receive over 1,000 hits per month so I’m hoping that some of those are from honest seekers who the Holy Spirit convicts while they are here. Praise God for the wonderful work of all apologetics ministries, including this one!

Next year is going to get better! I plan to continue working on my responses to Marshall Brain over at the new God is NOT Imaginary site. I should hopefully be completely done with that site by mid to late January. I’m working on porting that site over to a free, no advertisements web host service so that I can tweak the appearance of the site better than I can in WordPress.

Starting in either February or March I will be adding a biweekly podcast to the site, which will be available every other Friday. I’m aiming for either February 1, 2008 or March 7, 2008 as the first show. The first show, inspired by a thread at RRS, will be on women in the Bible–how the Bible elevates them in the traditional Christian interpretations and it is unnecessary to try to find a more “politically correct” interpretation. More details on the podcast and that show in particular as they become available.

Sometime within the first quarter of 2008, I will be officially incorporating Josiah Concept Ministries as a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization. Right now, I am officially asking you, dear readers, that if my writings have blessed you, please prayerfully consider a donation to this ministry to help make the incorporation possible. Please e-mail me and I will send you any information that you request about me, the ministry, or anything that will help you make a decision for either a one-time donation, or a commitment to donate monthly. Apologetics is an important cause, now more than ever. Christianity is under attack from all sides and from within. Apologetics ministries, like this one, can be used by God as the glue to hold His church together, and to defend His truth from the many attacks against it.

If you have no money or do not wish to donate money at this time, your prayers for financial support and in general support of the ministry activities would also be greatly appreciated. Drop me a line and let me know about your prayers for the ministry. I love knowing that I’m being prayed for.

Finally, I need a name for the podcast. If you have suggestions for that, include it in your e-mail.

Thank you for everyone who has remained a faithful reader, and I pray to God again that we gain many more over the coming year. Pray with me that we go from 1,000 hits per month to 2,000 (or even 3,000!).