Basil and Nicole finally break the silence on Help My Unbelief. What is discouraging and encouraging them right now in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic? Find out in today's episode.By Basil and Nicole Roccas and Ancient Faith Radio

Christmas is a time for giving and we are giving our listeners three fun Christmas gifts. We’re deeply thankful to all who have listened to or written us about Help My Unbelief in this first season. Though the holidays can be a difficult time for folks, we wish you all the hope of Christ’s entrance into this world. P.S. This is our last episode of …

Does God grant us personal callings? If our overarching calling as Christians is to learn to live to Christ and die to the world, is it silly to try to discern our individual vocations? In this second half of Basil and Nicole’s conversation about calling and doubt, they explore the tensions between our “Capital-C” Calling and little-c “callings” in…

One of the things that has caused Basil the most doubt over the years is what to do with the calling to the priesthood he's felt for most of his life. Does God even grant personal callings? If so, how can we be sure of our own calling? This episode is the first of several devoted to the intersection between vocations and doubts.Resources mentioned …

Basil talks with Nicole about the subject of her newest book, grieving infertility in the context of marriage. Infertility has been a part of their faith (and doubt) life for over five years. The episode ends with an excerpt of the book: Under the Laurel Tree: Grieving Infertility with Saints Joachim and Anna (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019). You c…

It's our tenth (episode) anniversary! To celebrate, Basil and Nicole invite you over for dinner and a few rounds of a beloved Roccas ritual: Chat Pack. This short and sweet episode is just for fun and has nothing to do with doubt . . . or does it?By Basil and Nicole Roccas and Ancient Faith Radio

Basil and Nicole duke it out (again) over James van Praagh's book, Talking to Heaven, in this week's On Second Thought. Questions that surface: whose side is Basil on? Is atheism an attracting or repelling force? Also, should we get burritos? Shout out to Steven Christoforou and Christian Gonzales and their podcast, We Are Orthodoxy. Check out the …

When Nicole was 16, she read a book that rattled her faith: Talking to Heaven: A Medium's Message of Life after Death. For years, she has lived in fear of this book. In this episode, she re-reads the book to see if it will cause a new crisis of faith.Resources relevent to the episode:What are Toll Houses?Radiolab Podcast Episode “You Are The Judge”…

Last week, Basil and Nicole concluded that how we understand what faith is affects how we lose faith. On second thought, why even believe in the first place? In this episode we return to points made last week and re-examine them from a new perspective. Questions raised include: is Christianity a religion, worldview, or none of the above? What is a …

This summer, two prominent Evangelical figures, Joshua Harris and Marty Sampson, announced that they had lost (or were losing) their faith. Their statements, and the way they describe faith, raise an important question: do Evangelicals lose their faith in a way that is unique from folks of other Christian backgrounds? We address this question by ex…

One of the pitfalls of Holy Tradition is that it can turn into just another "sola," something singular we misrepresent without context. In this episode, Basil and Nicole return to the questions raised in last week's episode.Resources that pertain to this episode:Dunning-Kruger effectMatthew 16:17-18A note from Basil on Orthodox catechitical texts: …

Someone we know recently left the Church after being told that her son, who suffers from a medical condition, could not receive communion after taking medication as prescribed by his doctor. Holy Tradition can be a beautiful thing when approached with love for Christ and our neighbor, but when it is applied without understanding or regard it become…

If God gives wisdom liberally to ALL who ask (James 1:5), what about psychopaths who seem to lack a conscience? In this episode, we revisit St. James's notion of doubt discussed in the previous episode and share our own second thoughts.Resources mentioned in this episode:Dr. James Fallon's book, The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Jo…

James 1:2-8 ends with some sobering words: "he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." What's a person with doubt to do with these tough words? In this episode we tackle these verses, concluding that these verses are not a global statement about doubt in general, but a warning against a particular form of doubt, the kin…

Every other episode, we revisit the topic of the previous episode and express some “second thoughts” about what was said (or not said). This week we revisit the story of the father with the demon-possessed son as recorded in Mark 9:14-29 and talk about epilepsy, what it means to heal, and what demons are. Resources related to this episode:The Greek…

In this inaugural episode, Basil and Nicole discuss the inspiration for their podcast, the father's words to Jesus in Mark 9:14-29: "I believe, O Lord, help my unbelief!" Faith is not the antithesis to doubt but the willingness to surrender doubt to Christ in the spirit of humility and hope. Find the Help My Unbelief page on Facebook. And check out…

Have you ever doubted? Do you ever feel like you're leading a double life, split between the faithful pilgrim in the pews and a burned-out, faithless failure—secretly wondering if God is even there? In Ancient Faith Radio's newest podcast, husband and wife Basil and Nicole Roccas team up to tackle the tough questions surrounding faith, doubt, and t…