The CAA is participating in Apologetics 315's weekly Read Along program. We are reading "The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul's Mars Hill Experience for Our Pluralistic World" by Paul Copan and Kenneth D. Litwak. See the first announcement on the CAA Facebook page. These are my initial thoughts: This "context" topic has come up recently in my own circle of apologetics … [Read more...]
Sufism – Mystical Islam (Part 1)
INTRODUCTION Sufism is the mystical or esoteric school of thought in Islam. The Arabic word for Sufism is 'tasawuff'. A practitioner of Sufism is called a Sufi or a Dervish. The following quotations reveal the various understandings of Sufism. … [Read more...]
HBO's True Detective: Touching the Darkness
"Matthew Coniglio's Georgia home held a trove of child pornography, more than 50,000 images and videos stored on laptops, external hard drives and thumb drives. Among the stash, hidden in a bedside table turned around to conceal the doors, authorities made an even more horrifying discovery: 56 8-millimeter cassette tapes they say show him raping and molesting girls. All were … [Read more...]
Why should I believe something?
People believe all sorts of things. Some believe in aliens, while others don’t. Some believe in global warming, while others don’t. Some believe in evolution, while other's don't. Some believe in a God or gods, while others do not. Why the disagreement, given there are certainly people of good intention and intellect on either side of many important issues? Why should we … [Read more...]
Was The Gospel of Mark Forged?
Was the Gospel of Mark a fake? That’s something you might hear liberal scholars ask, not just about Mark, but about many of the New Testament documents. In fact, in a book called Forged, Bart Ehrman said that “the vast majority of these apostolic books were in fact forged” (p.218). For example, he says The Gospel of Mark really wasn’t written by Mark. Instead, later scribes … [Read more...]
Breaking Down the 'We're all Atheists' Objection
Introduction Several months ago, I went to a local "religious freedom" rally here in Fredericksburg. The rally was commemorating Thomas Jefferson's Religious Freedom amendment, with a parade from downtown to the Religious Freedom monument and included a host of speakers. The keynote speaker was William J. Murray, the son of the late Madalyn Murray O'Hair. Marching in the parade … [Read more...]
Islam – Religious Practices (Part 4)
This is the fourth and final installment on this topic. In this post you will be introduced to Islamic conversion, circumcision, Jizya and Halal food. 12. Conversion: Islam is a one way street. A person is "free" only to convert to Islam but not out of it. The punishment in many Islamic countries in accordance with the sharia law is death. Yes, Islam in its purest sense … [Read more...]
A Look at Acts 17: Can Apologists Follow Paul’s Example in Today’s Culture
When it comes to apologetics, Acts 17 has always been one of my favorite chapters of the Bible. I have used it in the attempt to motivate others to learn about apologetics which is the rational defense of the Christian faith. The question at hand is whether the culture is the same today as it was in Paul’s day. Also, does Paul’s approach work for Christians today? First, a … [Read more...]
Does One Need To Investigate Every Religion Before One Can Conclude That Christianity Is True?
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...]
What Is Faith Really?
I have been interested in reading the reaction to the debate between Dr. Tim McGrew and Dr. Peter Boghossian. I listened to the debate, and one thing struck me as particularly odd. There was a lot of time spent from the side of Dr. Boghossian discussing what he believes the majority of Christians in the 21st century mean when they refer to faith. However, I don’t believe that … [Read more...]