Can Atheism Explain the Existence of our Universe? Part 1 In this second installment of our new miniseries, "GOD: The Best Explanation?", we begin to investigate whether a personal Creator God might or might not be a good explanation of the features we observe about our universe and reality in general. In this video we will take a look at Feature #1 that needs to be … [Read more...]
Is Naturalism Rational? The Self-Defeating Epistemology Behind Evolutionary Theories of Cognition (Part 3)
This is Part 3 in a 3 part series on evolutionary theories of cognition. This part discusses Alvin Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism. Part 1 examined C.S. Lewis’ Argument from Reason and part 2 covered Plantinga’s Argument from Proper Function. See Part 1 of this article here and Part 2 here. Alvin Plantinga’s Evolutionary Argument Against … [Read more...]
A Response to the Friendly Atheist (Part 1)
It’s rare for me to get worked up anymore over statements that atheists make about Christianity. For many years now, I’ve debated and exchanged dialogs—both in person and over the Web—with many atheists and hatetheists (there is a difference) and have gotten pretty used to the primary arguments of the former group and the flawed caricatures / misrepresentations of the latter, … [Read more...]
Religion and Violence
“Religion poisons everything. As well as a menace to civilization, it has become a threat to human survival.” – Christopher Hitchens (1) We are often told that religion, including Christianity, is the cause of great evil in the world—that in the words of Christopher Hitchens, “religion poisons everything." It is claimed that if religion is removed violence will be greatly … [Read more...]
No Christian Children?
In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins writes that “a Christian child” is nonexistent. As he puts it: Atheists need to raise their own consciousness of the anomaly: religious opinion is the one kid of parental opinion that – by almost universal consent – can be fastened upon children who are, in truth, too young to know what their opinion really is. There is no such thing as a … [Read more...]
In The Cultural Apologetic Box?
If you are anything like me, you never really fit into a box. People try to put you in a box, and you search for the box you should fit into. This is what we do in Western culture; we identify people by their boxes. I am a Myers Briggs ESTJ, a senior engineering design technologist with an associate in theology and an MA in apologetics, an Australian with an American wife, a … [Read more...]
Slideshow: For Those Who Doubt Jesus Ever Lived
In the halls and classrooms of accredited universities and among scholarly historians—both Christian and non alike—the idea that Jesus of Nazareth never lived is ridiculous. However, in some internet atheist haunts, the claim is still very much alive. Is there good historical evidence for believing that Jesus existed? Absolutely. The seventh presentation of the free … [Read more...]
How should I respond to religious pluralism?
Religious Pluralism has become common in our daily lives. Not only do we live in a religiously diverse nation, one that claims to uphold each individual’s right to choose their faith, we also live in a culture that has adopted the belief that all religions are fundamentally the same. I’m daily confronted with the reality that many people believe all religions are true, teach … [Read more...]
Solving The Problem of Secularization
Having defined 4 key epistemologies in my previous video posts on Rationalism, Agnosticism, Experientialism, and Pragmatism. It is a good time to remind new readers that the focus of this series is to develop a healthy Incarnational Apologetic which I define as follows. Incarnational Apologetics is not to convince others that the Church is “relevant” NOR to persuade them of … [Read more...]
Dancing, Chanting and Apologetics?
Last night was Laylatul Qadr, or the Night of Power. It was the 19th night of Ramadan and the night that many Muslims believe the first revelations of Islam were given and the prophethood of Muhammed began. Usually the people stay up most of the night, waiting in hope for a special revelation from God to themselves. While I had planned to go uptown to spend time with the … [Read more...]