Hard to Believe #020 – Pastor June Joplin
Until last summer, June Joplin had been serving as pastor at Lorne Park Baptist Church in Toronto. Then she delivered a sermon that would change her life. In the months since, she has been interviewed by the New York Times, Vox, and the CBC, and her story has been featured in major news outlets far and wide. She spoke to John about what led to her wanting to be a pastor, what led to her coming out, and her hopes for Christianity and herself as she considers what comes next.
You can find more about her at her website, PastorJune.com
She is on Twitter @beloved_june
You can contribute to her GoFundMe here.
#3.15 – Dr. Joshua Bowen – Hard to Believe – A Podcast About Belief
For the first episode of 2023, John spoke to Dr. Joshua Bowen. He’s an expert in the ancient near east and a regular on YouTube and podcasts, as well as the author of The Atheist Handbook to the Old Testament, which guides curious people with no personal faith investment through what the Old Testament actually says and how to understand it in context and as an historical artifact.
Here Dr. Josh talk about his former life as a fundamentalist, how research and critical thinking moved took him out of that belief system, and what often stands in the way of a real understanding of the Bible and who wrote it.
You can learn more about the work he does alongside his wife, Megan Lewis and how to support them and their work here:
Digital Hammurabi
Dr. Josh's book, The Atheist Handbook to the Old Testament, is available here in physical and digital form.
He is on Twitter @DJHammurabi1
Hard to Believe 