In so many of my interactions with people, I have found that they have already made a commitment one way or the other to certain worldviews and are looking for intellectual reasons to either maintain that commitment or escape another commitment. I know people who are ready to accept any worldview except for X and others who are committed to accepting any form of worldview Y. … [Read more...]
7 Tips on Engaging Skeptics Like Paul Did in Athens [Part 3]
7 Cultural Engagement Tips from Acts 17 Today, I’m closing out my series of 3 cultural engagement posts called “7 Tips on Engaging Skeptics Like Paul Did in Athens.” In parts 1 and 2, I shared 5 simple lessons from Paul’s time in Athens: Care About People Prepare for Insults and Interest Find a Point of Contact Help Them Connect the Dots Recognize the Potential for Truth … [Read more...]
Standing in the Light – Four Considerations for Defending the Faith
While driving, I had a chance to listen to an Apologetics 315 podcast featuring an interview with Peter Kreeft. If you have not subscribed to the Apologetics 315 podcasts, I strongly suggest that you do so if you have any interest in Christian apologetics. Brian Auten does an outstanding job of interviewing apologists in a way that is informative yet avoids technical … [Read more...]
GOD: The Best Explanation? Part 4
The Fine Tuning of the Universe Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 (Pt 4) This is one of the most astonishing discoveries of modern cosmology and astrophysics - the universe is incomprehensibly "fine-tuned" for the existence of complex biological life. This can be seen by looking at the initial conditions for the Big Bang, the mathematical value of the constants of physics, and many other … [Read more...]
Materialists: Where is hope? Look to the stars!
“[T]he Universe may harbor civilizations more intelligent than our own. Perhaps one day, through interstellar communication, some advanced civilization will help us resolve such age-old problems as war, famine, disease, overpopulation, misuse of natural resources, and human aging.”- John Oró, “Historical Understanding of Life’s Beginnings” (40, cited below). Such is the hope … [Read more...]
The Atheist’s God of the Gaps
I want to present you with a hypothetical conversation between your everyday Christian and your everyday atheist. Christian: “I believe that God is the ultimate cause of the universe.” Atheist: “Why would you believe that?” Christian: “I believe that there are certain things that science can’t explain, and God is the most reasonable explanation for those things such as the … [Read more...]
Solving the Problem of Privatization
In this part of my ongoing series on Incarnational Apologetics, I want to explore the four key problems: Secularization Pluralization Privatization Polarization Today’s video post picks up with a discussion of Privatization. So what is Privatization? David Wells in his book, “No Place for Truth”: It is axiomatic that secularism strips life of the divine, but it is … [Read more...]
Are Christians anti-intellectual?
One common objection formed against Christianity is the idea that Christians abandon intelligence and knowledge in favor of unreasonable, blind faith. If Christians really thought through and questioned what they believe they'd see that there is no intellectual basis for their faith. Yet instead of embracing reason, Christians choose to blindly cling to their beliefs, willfully … [Read more...]
Evaluating Mormonism
[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: Latter-Day Saint (LDS) scholar Stephen Robinson writes, “Latter-day Saints and Evangelicals do not understand each other very well, and much of what we say about each other is untrue." … [Read more...]
Evaluating Universalism
[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: Universalism is the belief that every individual will eventually be saved. After all, if God is all-loving and all-powerful, then surely He could ultimately bring all people into heaven. Perhaps after death God … [Read more...]