Alex Rosenberg, the atheistic philosopher, ended his recent debate with William Lane Craig by admitting he believes that no thoughts are about anything. He meant exactly that. No thought is about anything. This may come as rather a shock to some readers. It's strange. It's really strange. One consequence of it (if Rosenberg is right) is that if you believe atheism is true, … [Read more...]
On an idiosyncratic faith
Bear with me as I offer some thoughts on why I think so many criticisms of Christianity – along with so many versions of Christianity – miss the mark. Consider this list: God (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) exists God is uniquely revealed to us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, whom God raised from the dead By having a relationship with God though Jesus, who is … [Read more...]
Book review: The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, Robert Louis Wilken
From a famous skeptic of Christianity: “But we must examine this question whether anyone who really died ever rose again with the same body. […] While he was alive he did not help himself, but after death he rose again and showed the marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced. But who say this? A hysterical female, as you say, and perhaps some other one of … [Read more...]
European Witch Hunts and the Christian Church Part 1
“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” –Leviticus 20:27 Few topics have suffered the plight of revisionist history as severely as the European witch hunts. Christian fanaticism is often blamed for the atrocities that took place in the name of snuffing out witchcraft, but … [Read more...]
Craig, Law, and Evil God: Oh My!
The debate between William Lane Craig and Stephen Law has sent what amounts to shockwaves through the Christian community. Law’s “Evil God” argument is certainly interesting. These are some thoughts and criticisms about Stephen Law’s Evil God argument. The argument is: 1. If gratuitous good exists, then Evil God does not exist. 2. Gratuitous good exists. 3. Therefore, Evil God … [Read more...]
Filtering Science From Dawkins’ Scientism
In "Growing Up in the Universe" lecture, Richard Dawkins informed us that, “The universe is nothing but a collection of atoms in motion, human beings are simply machines for propagating DNA, and the propagation of DNA is a self-sustaining process. It is every living object’s sole reason for living.”[1] Dawkins’ metascience is ingeniously knitted in science in a way that a … [Read more...]
Putting God Back Into the Equation
As students of the Word of God, we receive many disparaging remarks about our precious Holy Bible. I can’t tell you how many times individuals have approached me, telling me how man alone wrote the Bible and use the fact that there are countless extraneous books left out to fit an agenda of modern Christianity. The Gospel of Judas, Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Jehoiakim, or whatever … [Read more...]
Book Review: Cold Case Christianity
Introduction Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels (Paperback Kindle, Audiobook) is one of the latest books to examine the evidence for the reliability of the New Testament. Detective Jim Wallace was an atheist before he began putting Christianity to the same tests that he places witnesses and suspects to in his investigations of … [Read more...]
A lesson learned from angry atheists
I had a chance to interact with some atheists in response to a post I had written for Bravefaith.org. While I did not intend it this way, some of what I had written came off as "insulting and hate inducing" according to one of the commenters. I did not do a good job of understanding their point of view before writing the post. The comments helped me better understand why they … [Read more...]
From Religious None to Disciple: My story.
When I was 15 I thought Christians were all idiots. And I had good reason, based on what little I knew. Raised in a home where the most religious thing we ever did was say grace at dinner, I had very little exposure to church. I'm not even sure I knew it existed. Despite this, I was always instinctually curious about religion. I was raised to be a reader, and at 14 I had … [Read more...]