Michael Easley inContext
Michael Easley inContext
Michael Easley
What True Crime Reveals About Human Nature, Identity & Truth With J. Warner Wallace
53 minutes Posted Sep 1, 2026 at 5:00 am.
— What True Crime Reveals About Us
— Why Are We Fascinated by Crime?
— The Three Root Causes of Crime
— What Crime Reveals About Human Nature
— Identity, Purpose, and Meaning
— When Your Career Becomes Your Identity
— Finding an Identity That Doesn't Change
— Retirement, Trauma, and Identity Shifts
— How to Identify Your Idols
— Is Christ the Foundation of Your Identity?
— A Life Well Experienced vs. Well Lived
— Aging, Wisdom, and Letting Go
— Learning Through Mistakes and Pain
— Financial Freedom and Simplicity
— Why We Root for the Bad Guys
— The Enigma of Human Nature
— What Is Truth?
— Objective Moral Truth
— Apologetics, God's Power, and Our Responsibility
— Sharing the Gospel One “Single” at a Time
— Final Thoughts
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Show notes
What can cold-case investigations teach us about human nature, identity, purpose, and truth?
Michael Easley sits down with J. Warner Wallace, former cold-case homicide detective and Christian apologist, to discuss what years of investigating murder have taught him about humanity—and how those observations point back to Scripture.
Wallace explains why people are fascinated by true crime, the three root motivations behind crime, and why proximity matters when investigating a murder. The conversation then moves into a much deeper question: Who are we when our careers, accomplishments, relationships, or abilities change?
Wallace argues that identity is one of humanity's greatest struggles and that Christians need an identity that does not shift. Rather than making Christ one label among many, he describes Christ as the foundation supporting every other role in our lives.
They also discuss aging, retirement, marriage, financial freedom, mistakes, objective moral truth, the nature of humanity, apologetics, and how to faithfully share the gospel while trusting God's power to change hearts.
Key topics covered:
-Why we're fascinated by true crime
-The root motivations behind crime
-What cold cases reveal about human nature
-Identity, purpose, and meaning
-Finding our identity in Christ
-Retirement and identity shifts
-Learning wisdom through mistakes
-Aging and changing seasons
-Financial freedom and simplicity
-Objective truth and moral truth
-Human depravity and the biblical view of humanity
-Apologetics and gospel conversations
-God's sovereignty and our responsibility
Chapters:
Links Mentioned:
Cold Case Christianity Website
The Truth in True Crime by J Warner Wallace
Other Books by J. Warner Wallace
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