The ‘problem of evil’ in Christian apologetics is and has been one of the top apologetic issues throughout history. Many have pointed to the attacks on 9/11 (September 11, 2001) as a turning point in our generation concerning this issue. The ‘New Atheists’ (Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, etc.) began writing their – soon to be popular – books not long after this event. For the … [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...]
The Value of Existential Apologetics
As part of my exploration of new approaches to apologetics, I’ve been reading through Clifford Williams’ book Existential Reasons for Belief in God. So far, the hardest thing about understanding Williams’ thesis has been getting my head around the difference between an evidential argument for faith that uses needs as evidence of God and the existential argument for faith which … [Read more...]
Faith: ‘wishful thinking’?
I often hear people talk about faith as if it is ‘wishful thinking’. This is especially true in the ‘science vs. religion’ debates. “I have my reason…. you have your faith…” is the general sentiment. I have even heard Christians use a similar way of speaking. In some circles, there seems to be an attitude that you should ‘just believe’ and not question anything. These views of … [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...]
The Existence of Evil and the Non-Existence of God
In a recent debate with the Christian apologist William Lane Craig, the atheist philosopher Alex Rosenberg put out a challenge: “If Dr. Craig could provide me with any kind of logical, coherent account that could reconcile the evident fact of the horrors of humanity…with the existence of a benevolent, omnipotent agent, then I will turn Christian.” … [Read more...]
Why Doesn't God Do Something About Evil?
We watch the news and are appalled at the unspeakable evils committed. We do not understand why such things happen. We do not have the answers, so we are often left asking questions. Where is God? Why didn’t He stop this? Why doesn’t He do something about evil? These are questions we should be prepared to answer. We should rightfully expect them when tragedy strikes. We … [Read more...]
Is God Good? Are Humans Bad?
The following is the transcript of a talk given at Church of the Cross during the "Dealing with Doubts" series on August 19, 2012. Today we are going to look at perhaps the most difficult question that any human can face: the problem of evil and suffering. The problem of pain. This is a problem that everyone has to resolve. Christians agonize over how to think about the … [Read more...]
Religion As A Crutch
A criticism that is sometimes levelled against religious faith is that it is ‘a crutch’ for those who want comfort and who are unable to deal with death and other hardships in life. It argues that belief in God is simply a coping mechanism and that if people were able to deal with life without God they would not believe in him. This criticism and others like it are particularly … [Read more...]
If God is good and all-powerful, why does he not prevent evil, suffering and hell?
The problem: If God is good and all-powerful, why would he allow evil and suffering, and send people to hell? Here are 3 things to consider. 1. Unconditional love is impossible if suffering and evil are impossible. God, like a good father, allows us to learn from our mistakes, rather than dysfunctionally protecting us from them by a) preventing us from making them, or b) … [Read more...]