In Good Faith

20: Time to Build

Chong Shao, Daniel Shih

On today’s show, Chong and Dan begin by reflecting on the one year anniversary of In Good Faith. We share things we’ve learned, our favourite episodes, and give a heartfelt thanks to our excellent listeners. From there we launch into the topic of building things (not to build up our resume, but to build for others and our society). What are the barriers to building, what does the Bible have to say about building, and what are own experiences with building? We conclude with an exhortation to our listeners - what are you building, or helping other people to build?

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Show notes

Reflecting on one year of IGF (1:55)

  • What have we learned
  • Our favourite episodes - it has to be the Trump ones


A call to build (10:01)

  • Marc Andreessen’s “It’s Time to Build”
  • Poetry and narrative on the importance of building
  • What building looks like - vocation, recreation, procreation

Greek proverb - “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit”

The challenge today (19:51)

  • Barriers to building: consumption culture, busyness, therapeutic mindset, lack of respect for the past, precautionary principle, decadence


Building in the Bible (31:44)

  • We build because it was God’s first and most enduring command to humankind - Genesis 1:28
  • We build because God created the world for us to build - Genesis 1:31
  • We build to mitigate the effects of the Fall
  • We build to serve others
  • We build to pass on the faith down through the generations - Deuteronomy 6:4-9


How we have benefited from building (42:11)

  • Family and faith
  • Civilisation and culture
  • Work and business


How we are building (52:57)

  • Procreation - raising up our children
  • Recreation - IGF podcast
  • Vocation - church and ministry


Conclusion (1:02:10)

  • Chong’s exhortation - let’s get going, let’s be patient and persevere
  • Dan’s summary - history began in a garden but ends in a city