The Bible is replete with miracles [1]. Sincere Christians who worship the Triune God will objectively believe every recorded miracle in the Bible. Miracles are intended to glorify God, meet human needs and establish the supernatural basis of revelation. Sincere Christians will also affirm miracles subjectively. They will subjectively assert their existence as a product of … [Read more...]
Ungracious Christians
Philip Yancey, in his classic “What's So Amazing About Grace?” describes ungraciousness as, “Ungrace does its work quietly and lethally, like a poisonous, undetectable gas. A father dies unforgiven. A mother who once carried a child in her own body does not speak to that child for half its life. The toxin steals on, from generation to generation.” Around us, ironclad in their … [Read more...]
“America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists”
Christopher Hitchens claimed religion poisoned everything; Dawkins has compared a religious upbringing to child abuse. Are they right? Sociologist Rodney Stark draws from an impressive range of studies to make the case that the opposite is true. Religion – specifically evangelicalism – helps everything it touches to flourish. Stark, a sociologist of religion, began his … [Read more...]
Six Flawed Claims in Buzzfeed’s “I’m Christian But I’m Not…”
Plenty has been written about Buzzfeed's viral video featuring people who address all the ways they believe Christians have been unfairly stereotyped. As much as I appreciate the spirit behind their attempt, I'm not as thrilled with every aspect of it. Though there are some solid observations, there are also a number of claims that reveal a fair amount of confusion about what … [Read more...]
Are Christians Intellectually Lazy?
By James W. Miller I guess I find myself stunned every time I hear it, but I heard it again recently. “Christians settle for God as their explanation for everything because they’re intellectually lazy.” Commonly the background experience of the speaker is one of growing up surrounded by an acculturated religion for which people have comfortably settled. She has come to the … [Read more...]
Christian Hypocrites
[This post is a work in progress as part of the CAA Catechism.] [Add the title only in the title field, not in the body of the post.] Summary in 400 words or less: Often the biggest (if not one of the biggest) hindrance to people becoming Christian or turning to God (“converting”) is people who call themselves Christians. This is of course, a great difficulty. Some may call … [Read more...]
European Witch Hunts and the Christian Church: The Conclusion
Today's post is the third and final installment of a series, but it can be read as a stand-alone article. For more background information, you can find the first installment HERE and the second HERE. Was the Church Ultimately Responsible for the Horrors of the European Witch Hunts? There are many different theories about the root causes of the European witch hunts. Some … [Read more...]
Book Review: Has Christianity Failed You?
One of the major obstacles that I come against in defending the Christian worldview is simply a misunderstanding of the worldview. So many times people tell me that they reject Christianity based on one thing or another that Christianity teaches. In the vast majority of the cases people are rejecting something that is not Christian but they believe is Christian. In Has … [Read more...]
Approaching the Existence of God
How do we know God exists? In the past when I was asked this question I used to automatically jump to an argument for God. I would sit down and try to explain it in detail to the individual. I have now decided to take a different approach and back up: I ask the person “How should we approach the existence of God?” or “ What method should we use?” Now, I know … [Read more...]
European Witch Hunts and the Christian Church Part 2
This post is part 2 of 3. Part 1 can be read here. The Realities of the Witch Hunts The period of European witch hunts is generally defined as the four centuries between 1400 and 1800. Perhaps in part because of the intriguing, sensational nature of the subject, witch hunts have been blown well out of proportion in terms of their prevalence and victim estimations. According … [Read more...]