About a month ago, I wrote about my frustration with being a lay apologist and I stated my frustration often came from two camps, both fellow Christians and unbelievers. I mentioned in that post how it seemed I could not win sometimes because unbelievers told me I was not intellectual enough, while my fellow church members often said I made things too complicated. In my first … [Read more...]
Why Apologetics Should Be a Requirement for Every Pastor
Are you fit to lead the flock? Imagine you live in the first century and you’re a shepherd. You are leading your flock to the water when lo and behold, you notice a wolf is coming. Being the good shepherd, you approach the wolf and say, … [Read more...]
Conundrum: You want to get into apologetics but don’t have a degree – pt2
This is part two of my series on helping out the GED Apologist. For the first post, click here. 6. Enroll in certificate programs This is probably one of the best things an aspiring Apologist can do and I can personally testify as to how much I've benefited from going this route. I've either completed these programs, currently working on them, or will most likely do them in … [Read more...]
“See to it that No One Takes You Captive through Philosophy”
What ought Christians do with philosophy? Isn’t this contrary to theology and explicitly warned of in the Bible? This is particularly poignant in the letter to the Colossians 2.8. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementry principles of the world, rather than according to … [Read more...]
Conundrum: You want to get into apologetics but don't have a degree – pt1
When I became a Christian, I was immediately drawn to apologetics. Apologists are all wired a certain way, and I'm definitely wired in a way which causes me to dig deeper for answers to questions, especially those related to Christianity. I have plenty of questions which come from my own proclivity to doubt, plus there are questions from other Christians, questions from … [Read more...]
Book Review: The Reason for God by Tim Keller
The Reason for God, by Tim Keller, is an outstanding response to the biggest questions of our day. Tim Keller is the highly regarded pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, a church with weekly attendance around 5,000. Redeemer has planted dozens of other churches and is generally considered to be one of the most influential churches in America. From the first … [Read more...]
Making Effable, the Ineffable
In college I attended a town hall meeting with the president of New York University awhile back and I remember him saying, “God is ineffable! We can’t possibly hope to know anything about God!” He said this to try to poke holes in the arguments for knowing God personally and wanted to provide a basis for Religious Pluralism. He argued that, essentially, we’re all in the dark, … [Read more...]
Genuine Faith Is Never Blind
I grew up believing that reason can only take you so far--after that, faith takes over. In one sense this belief is true: Intellectual faith/belief, if it isn’t blind, comes ‘after’ good evidence. However, in the sense that faith persists independent of reason or even in spite of evidence to the contrary (the sense preferred by New Atheists) this belief is false. One cannot … [Read more...]
Frustrations of a Lay Apologist
I seem to get into a catch-22 often where nonbelievers tell me I am not intellectual enough, but then I am told by those in the church I make things too complicated. Does anyone else have this problem too? It is frustrating for sure. In this post I want to deal with the church side of things. I will likely address the nonbelievers in a future post. On September 28, 2010, I … [Read more...]
Why Share Reasons to Believe?
Maybe you’ve encountered well-meaning Christians who look down on the practice of providing evidence for Christian truth claims. I used to get that a lot. How should you respond? … [Read more...]