Introduction Apologetics is a branch of Christian theology that helps provide reasons for belief in the explanatory power of Christian theism. It is true that other faiths attempt to provide reasons for justification for their own truth claims. I have talked to my share of people from a variety of religious backgrounds such as Islam, Mormonism, The Bahá’í faith, The … [Read more...]
Becoming an Ambassador, part 3
Third post in a series. Part one and part two. In this post I want to deal with the third leg of my metaphor for evangelism, knowledge. Again from Stand To Reason’s article on the ambassador model, at a minimum an ambassador “…must know the character, mind, and purposes of his king.” The scope and depth of subjects one could study is, candidly, staggering. Thus in this post I … [Read more...]
Consistency Among Disciplines
Every day thousands of scientists around the globe perform experiments and observations of the natural realm. They note a certain condition, make (or allow) a change, then note the new condition. Many times, the same experiment or observation is conducted repeatedly to be certain the results of the first (second or third) were not just "flukes." Scientists combine many of these … [Read more...]
Jesus and the Spiderman Fallacy
An atheist with whom I was in dialogue last week tried to support his disbelief in Jesus through the use of the “Spiderman fallacy”, which is a contrived argument that has been defined in the following way by Urban Dictionary: Archaeologists 1,000 years from now unearth a collection of Spiderman comics. From the background art, they can tell it takes place in New York City. … [Read more...]
Religion As A Crutch
A criticism that is sometimes levelled against religious faith is that it is ‘a crutch’ for those who want comfort and who are unable to deal with death and other hardships in life. It argues that belief in God is simply a coping mechanism and that if people were able to deal with life without God they would not believe in him. This criticism and others like it are particularly … [Read more...]
Introduction to Incarnational Apologetics
There are a lot of ways to “do” apologetics, but from my perspective far too many of the books and educational programs focus on winning debates rather than winning souls for Christ. My friend Paula summarizes this concern well when she writes, My concern is that apologetics, which is by nature a rational sharing of information, has become for some an emotional tool of … [Read more...]
What Does Philosophy Have to do with Apologetics?
I’m in the process of getting a Master’s in Philosophy. Right now, I’m taking a class on thesis writing and we’re working through the process of choosing a topic. Since I attend a Christian University, most, if not all, of the students are Christian. The thesis, however, as my professor said, has to be “purely philosophical.” In this case, “purely philosophical” means that it … [Read more...]
Mature, gracious debater
Debates are inherently confrontational, right? The entire point is to make your opponent look like an idiot by puffing yourself up, isn't it? Debates certainly do serve a different purpose than run-of-the-mill conversations, but even within a debate setting it is certainly possible to engage in a reasoned and compelling defence of one's own perspective without denigrating one's … [Read more...]
Credentials or Competencies
Several years ago, I was invited to help train a set of agents for a call center. It would have been easy if not for the fact that the people we had to train thought in a different language (Visayan), and had to communicate in English to serve (American) English-speaking callers. It was quite a task, but we managed to get a good team working in around three months. My … [Read more...]
Has the Church Become an Atheist Incubator?
I suppose I should first apologize for baiting you into reading this article with a catchy title. No, I don't actually suspect the church is creating a huge number of atheists, as there simply aren't that many of them (as vocal as they may be!). While their numbers are on the rise, they are statistically few. What I am going to argue the church is often creating, might be … [Read more...]