Out of the Question Podcast

Should We Follow the Dietary Laws?

Christians routinely declare that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable—until they crack open Leviticus. In Episode 387 of Out of the Question, Andrea Schwartz and Charles Roberts ask the question most believers quietly skip: Should we follow the dietary laws? Their answer may surprise you. The dietary laws were never quietly abolished by the New Testament; they have simply been quietly ignored by a church that prizes comfort over the demands of obedience. Drawing on a biblical-law framework rooted in Christian Reconstruction, Andrea and Charles examine why the Levitical dietary distinctions were given, what they accomplish in the life of the believer, and what it means theologically to dismiss entire sections of God's word as obsolete. If you believe Scripture speaks to all of life, this episode is a disciplined call to honest engagement with one of the most avoided topics in Christian practice.

Can One Book Turn Your Life Upside Down? (guest Perry Coughlan)

Perry Coughlin didn't set out to become a Christian Reconstructionist. He was being trained as a Wesleyan Arminian minister when a single book reoriented everything — and the questions it raised were too large to ignore from a pulpit. In this conversation with Andrea Schwartz, Perry traces his theological journey across five decades: the grip of sovereign grace, the abiding validity of God's law, the founding of a Christian school as a kingdom enterprise, and the humbling work of heart surgery and covenant faithfulness in marriage. Application, Perry insists, is not optional. It is the fruit of grace. Tags: Christian Reconstruction, Theonomy, Biblical Law, Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, Sovereign Grace, Kingdom of God, Postmillennialism, Christian Education, Covenant Living, Reformed Theology, Chalcedon 3. Facebook Post A Wesleyan Arminian seminary student picks up Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law — and steps out of the pulpit because the questions are suddenly too large to ignore. Perry Coughlin has spent five decades working out what it means to take every word of God seriously: in his marriage, in the Christian school he built as a business, in the years of heart surgery and hospital beds, and in the daily discipline of putting off the old man and putting on the new. This is not a theoretical conversation. It's what reconstruction looks like when it comes home.

Why Do So Many Fall for Scientology?

L. Ron Hubbard reportedly told a science fiction conference that the surest way to make a million dollars was to start a religion. In 1954, he did exactly that. In this episode, Andrea Schwartz tells her own story of being recruited into Scientology as a nineteen-year-old, spending a decade selling its lies to others, and the providential path God used to bring her out. She unpacks what the cult actually teaches about man, sin, and salvation, why intelligent people are its prime target, and how the absence of biblical foundations leaves any soul vulnerable to deception. A sober warning and a testimony to the sufficiency of Christ. Listen now. KEYWORDS/TAGS Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, cults, Christian testimony, Andrea Schwartz, Chalcedon, Reformed faith, false religion, deception, dianetics, biblical worldview, conversion testimony

Andrea G. Schwartz, Charles H. Roberts, Mark Rushdoony, Special Guest

The modern church has softened the word "witness" into something polite and passive — but in Scripture, a witness was the one who cast the first stone. Andrea Schwartz and Mark Rushdoony examine R.J. Rushdoony's treatment of the Ninth Commandment and what it means that Christ is called the faithful and true witness. They discuss the inversion of the word martyr, the cross as the dividing sword of humanity, the Amen of God, the failure of the disciples to grasp the kingdom, and why optimism about Christ's advancing reign is the only honest response to history. Sobering, clarifying, essential. Tags: Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, Ninth Commandment, faithful witness, biblical law, theonomy, Reformed theology, Chalcedon, Christ the Judge, postmillennialism, Andrea Schwartz, Mark Rushdoony

What Does the Bible Say About Diplomacy?

In this episode of Out of the Question, Andrea Schwartz and Pastor Charles Roberts examine diplomacy from a biblical perspective, arguing that true peace and just international relations can never be built on political pragmatism, compromise, or humanistic power struggles. Instead, they contend that God’s law is the only objective standard for justice, whether between individuals or nations. The conversation explores the relationship between diplomacy, war, and civil government, showing how modern states often use diplomacy as a tool of manipulation, self-interest, and global control rather than truth and righteousness. Drawing heavily on the work of R. J. Rushdoony, the hosts contrast the “warfare state” with the biblical vision of nations under God, accountable to His law and called to pursue justice, peace, and obedience. Rather than accepting conflict, propaganda, and globalism as inevitable, this episode calls Christians to recover a distinctly biblical view of statecraft. The central message is that peace does not come through compromise with evil or elite management of the nations, but through regeneration, covenant faithfulness, and submission to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.