I grew up unchurched and was pretty much an agnostic up through my twenties. Even though I got baptized as a teenager into the Presbyterian USA denomination, I did it more for social reasons than anything else. There was no great care taken to make sure I was in the faith. Most of my experience with church up until I was 26 years old was about teachings of being a nice person … [Read more...]
Emergent Christianity in Memphis, Part 2
Emergents are Tolerant, Uncertain, and Relativistic, Except When They are Not In Part 1, I introduced a gathering of Emergent Christians in Memphis to honor Phyllis Tickle, Memphis' resident Emergent, and the forerunner in Emergent thinking. While the first post focused on Tickle's opening talk, and the claims she made in it, this post will focus on her controversial closing … [Read more...]
Emergent Christianity in Memphis, Part 1
2 Timothy 4.3-4 Earlier this month a meeting of Emergent Christians happened at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis, Tennessee. The meeting was an event honoring Phyllis Tickle, a forerunner in Emergent thinking. Among the over 400 attendees were such emergent luminaries as Brian McLauren, Doug Pagitt, and Tony Jones. … [Read more...]
Science vs. God on the Stossel Show
On December 13, an episode of the Stossel show titled "Science vs. God" aired on the Fox Business Channel. John Stossel opens the show asking questions and making statements about the origin of the universe, the origin of life, evolution vs. intelligent design, and whether or not God is involved. Three segments of interest to Christian apologists would be the opening panel … [Read more...]
Witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses
As any Christian apologist knows, there are vast differences between orthodox Christian and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) beliefs. The biggest difference that marks the Jehovah’s Witnesses (hereafter JW, or plural JWs) is their teachings on the nature of God. According to Dr. William Lane Craig from his “Defenders” (Series 1) podcasts the historic … [Read more...]
Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Dr. Edward Craig
A REVIEW The A Very Short Introduction series of books, published by Oxford University Press, is helpful for gaining inroads into unfamiliar topics. These books are usually in the 120-150 page range and cover a myriad of topics, with new ones being published even today. In this review, I will take a look at Dr. Edward Craig’s Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Craig is a … [Read more...]
Frustrations of a Lay Apologist, Part 2
About a month ago, I wrote about my frustration with being a lay apologist and I stated my frustration often came from two camps, both fellow Christians and unbelievers. I mentioned in that post how it seemed I could not win sometimes because unbelievers told me I was not intellectual enough, while my fellow church members often said I made things too complicated. In my first … [Read more...]
Frustrations of a Lay Apologist
I seem to get into a catch-22 often where nonbelievers tell me I am not intellectual enough, but then I am told by those in the church I make things too complicated. Does anyone else have this problem too? It is frustrating for sure. In this post I want to deal with the church side of things. I will likely address the nonbelievers in a future post. On September 28, 2010, I … [Read more...]