Recently, I had a conversation with a friend concerning epistemology (how we come to know certain ideas to be true) and religious propositional claims. My friend asked me how I could be so confident that the evidence supports Christianity when I have not investigated every other religion to find out whether they have any evidence going for them. This is a common talking-point … [Read more...]
The Penalty For Apostasy According to Islam
Tariq Ramadan, an Islamic scholar and writer, wants us to believe that Islam does not demand a death penalty for apostasy. Although he concedes that the ahadith reports Muhammad to have said "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him," (Sahih Al-Bukhari volume 9, book 84, no. 57) and other words to similar effect, Ramadan argues that such a penalty was to be applied … [Read more...]
Introducing “Treesearch”: A Novel Apologetics Website
Imagine equipping everyone in the world with something like a pocket-apologist, an Artificial Intelligence available to present for you customized evidences supporting Christianity and to offer instant scholarly answers to complex questions. Well, it looks like a website is in development to do something like this. It is called “Treesearch” (treesearch.org) and seems like it … [Read more...]
On Miracles and Historiography: Can The Supernatural Ever Be The Best Explanation?
Anyone who has engaged in or interacted with any public discourse on the subject of miracles in the New Testament (especially the resurrection) will have encountered this objection: How can an historian infer that a miracle is the best explanation of historical data, given that supernatural phenomena are, by their very nature, extremely improbable? One might grant that the mass … [Read more...]
Principles of Godly Contentment
"I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." These were the words of the Apostle Paul as he wrote from his lonely prison cell to the Christians in Philippi. Those are challenging words, and far easier to say than to live out. Paul knew what he was talking about, however, when it came to suffering and tribulation. Few people have had it worse than him. In 2 … [Read more...]
The Status of Women According to Islam
The status of women in Islam is a subject enshrouded in controversy. According to many Muslims, Muhammad was a champion of women’s rights, bestowing upon the women in his community privileges and rights that they did not have previously. The notion that women in pre-Islamic Arabia had no rights, however, is demonstrably untrue. Former Muslim Nabeel Qureshi lists some of the … [Read more...]
The Art of Biblical Integrity for the Christian Intellectual
Do you really believe what you say and think you believe, and how can you know? The answer may at first brush appear obvious -- "of course I believe what I say and think I do," you might say. If you didn't, after all, why would you be spending so much time engaged in the intellectual defense of it? This raises an interesting question: Can you believe that you believe something … [Read more...]
Answering An Islamic Objection: The Justice of Penal Substitution
Frequently, in dialogues with Muslim polemicists, one will encounter the charge against Christianity that the doctrine of penal substitution is unjust. How, after all, can the blame of all humanity be laid on an innocent? How can an innocent be made to carry the burdens of mankind? In this article, I want to offer a responses to this objection. … [Read more...]
Advice To Young Aspiring Apologists
I am sometimes asked to offer advice to up-and-coming young Christian apologists. As one who is of the younger generation myself (having just turned 25), and who has been active in the public apologetics arena from relatively young (from around 20 years of age) I have some experience to speak of when it comes to being a young defender of the Christian faith. In this article, I … [Read more...]
The Qur'an, Muhammad and Modern Science: Scientific Miracles or Blunders?
Anyone who has had even a mild exposure to Islamic apologetics will have encountered the argument for the Qur'an's divine origin based on its purported scientific miracles -- that is, scientific assertions contained within the Qur'an which have only been validated by modern science. Out of all of the arguments for the Islamic religion, this is the one which, in my judgment, … [Read more...]