708: Mistaking Certainty for Maturity with Joshua Harris
The Holy Post
Phil Vischer
4.5 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Thirty years ago, Joshua Harris became the cheerleader for purity culture with his book "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." Since then, he's apologized for the book, exited from ministry and his marriage, and announced he's no longer a Christian. He talks to Skye about his journey from fundamentalism to deconstructionism, and back toward curiosity about Jesus. Also this week, how the Trump administration is making paganism great again, why secular progressives are rediscovering the benefits of religion, and how Christians in Springfield, Ohio, have organized to protect Haitian immigrants from deportation. Plus, cannibal jellyfish are taking over Venice, and Phil has seen the wrap light.
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Joshua Harris Bonus Interview:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/151002394/
Ad-Free Version of this Episode:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/151013259/
2:15 - Theme Song
2:37 - Sponsor - Rocket Money - Find and cancel your old subscriptions with Rocket Money at https://www.rocketmoney.com/HOLYPOST
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8:52 - Cannibal Jellyfish Attack Venice!
14:18 - Springfield Christians Help Haitian Immigrants
24:04 - Donald Trump, the Pagan King
35:19 - Secular Progressives Miss Religion
50:48 - Sponsor - PolicyGenius - Secure your family's tomorrow so you have peace of mind today. Go to https://www.policygenius.com/HOLYPOST to find the right life insurance for you
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54:09 - Interview
58:35 - Teenage Fame
1:09:52 - What Wisdom Does Joshua Wish He Had?
1:14:50 - Value of Slowness
1:20:22 - Trump and Deconstruction
1:26:55 - End Credits
Links Mentioned in News Segment:
Cannibal Jellyfish Attack Venice!
Ohio Churches Help Haitians:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/springfield-ohio-haitians-deportation-threat.html
Donald Trump, Pagan King:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/opinion/donald-trump-pagan-king.html
Other Resources:
Holy Post website: https://www.holypost.com/
Holy Post Plus: www.holypost.com/plus
Holy Post Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/holypost
Holy Post Merch Store: https://www.holypost.com/shop
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Holy Post. Thirty years ago, Joshua Harris became the cheerleader for purity culture |
| 0:05.6 | with his book, I Kiss Dating Goodbye. Since then, he's apologized for the book, exited ministry |
| 0:11.5 | and his marriage, and announced he's no longer a Christian. Today, he talks to me about his journey |
| 0:17.1 | from fundamentalism to deconstructionism and is moved back toward being curious about Jesus. |
| 0:23.5 | Also this week, how the Trump administration is making paganism great again, why secular progressives |
| 0:29.2 | are rediscovering the benefits of religion, and how Christians in Springfield, Ohio, have |
| 0:33.9 | organized to protect Haitian immigrants from deportation. Plus, cannibal jellyfish are taking |
| 0:39.3 | over Venice, and Phil has seen the rap light. A quick note before we jump in, my conversation with |
| 0:45.3 | Joshua Harris this week was close to an hour long. That's way more than we could fit into just this |
| 0:50.5 | episode. So the first 30 minutes are here, but we've posted the other half of the |
| 0:54.8 | interview on Holy Post Plus. If you're not yet a Holy Post Plus subscriber, you can learn how to |
| 1:00.0 | sign up by going to holypost.com. Of course, you'll get access to my full interview with Joshua |
| 1:05.1 | Harris, along with everything else we're creating. Shows like Getting Schooled by Caitlin Chess, |
| 1:10.5 | 66 verses that explain the Bible |
| 1:12.5 | with Esau McCauley, full episodes of the SkyPod every Friday, bonus interviews, the Holy Post |
| 1:17.8 | Book Club, behind the scenes content, games, resources, and merchandise. The very best of what we |
| 1:23.3 | produce here at Holy Post Media is all there for you when you sign up for Holy Post Plus. |
| 1:28.3 | And by becoming a subscriber, you'll be helping us be able to make even more faithful pro-nebber |
| 1:33.3 | Christian content. So go to holypost.com today to sign up. Here is episode 708. |
| 1:40.2 | Hey there. Welcome to the Holy Post podcast. I'm Phil Visher. I'm here with Caitlin Shus. Hi, Caitlin. |
| 1:46.5 | Hi, Phil. And Sky Jitani. Hello. Hi, Sky. So Sky and I are discussing whether we should both color our beards. Oh, my gosh. Just dye them jet black. |
| 1:56.3 | Would we look more macho? Maybe I should dye green for St. Patrick's Day. Oh, yeah, you could be like the Chicago River. Right. The Chicago River flowing. Pink, yeah. Pink for Valentine's Day? No, Galentine's Day is when we're recording. I just learned about Galentine's Day because I missed Parks and Rec and I guess that's a thing. And now I'm like poking. It was a Valentine's Day and he just got grumpy with me. No, I just got confused. It was not grumpy. |
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