I happened to be perusing the Internet recently (a very poor idea, I know) and came across the following meant-to-be-ridiculed scenario. “We are to fear God. We are to love God. There is no fear in love.” The idea is that the Bible is demanding a contradictory state of affairs, or something impossible to fulfill. This article shall demonstrate this is not a problem. The Bible … [Read more...]
It is okay and good to question our beliefs.
In "The Reason for God" Tim Keller points out “A faith without some doubts is like a human body without any antibodies in it.” He sees that all doubts emerge from a starting point of alternate belief and encourages skeptics to “doubt their doubts” with as much force as they require justification for Christian belief. Everyone (whether they consider themselves secular or … [Read more...]
Five Ways To Answer A Question
Christians seem to have a poor reputation for answering questions. Would you like to know why people don't listen to our answers? And do you want some ideas for changing this situation? Then this post is for you! Let's start by understanding the problem a little better. There are at least three reasons why people are not always interested in our answers: For one, sometimes … [Read more...]
Friday Fallacy: Equivocation
In my post on Assessing Arguments I noted that a valid argument is one where it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. I gave the following example: Premise: All men are under 10 feet tall; Premise: John is a man; Conclusion: John is under 10 feet tall. This argument is valid because it is impossible for both premises to be true and the conclusion … [Read more...]
"Apolo-what?" Misunderstandings about Apologetics
I love meeting new people, hearing where they come from and what they do. I get excited to learn about their passions, and in turn share with them about who I am and what gets me excited in life. I’ve started to notice a trend though. Usually when I share my passion for Christian apologetics I get a blank or quizzical stare. What exactly is Christian apologetics? Why is it … [Read more...]
Isn’t it arrogant and immoral for Christians to evangelize?
Are Christian missionaries doing something wrong by trying to share their faith with others? I mean, they have to believe that they have some elite status with God. After all, they think that their faith has given some sort of audience with God, and those who do not hold to their particular view are mistaken and are failing to embrace something that is extremely important. If … [Read more...]
Jesus, the Philosopher
Reprinted with the gracious permission of Dr. Douglas Groothuis. This question was posed by the moderator at an early Republican presidential debate in 1999: “Who is your favorite political philosopher?” George W. Bush surprised, if not stunned, his fellow candidates, moderator, and audience when he tersely declared, “Jesus Christ, because he changed my life.” At the … [Read more...]
The Importance of Defining Terms
A few years ago I listened to the podcast "The Word Nerds". This podcast helped me gain an appreciation for the power of the English language. In my conversations with people I have noticed the power of the words themselves. Using the wrong word can cause needless arguments; using a less specific word can cause confusion, and many other effects (I just checked Dictionary.com to … [Read more...]
Fallacy Friday: Ad Ignorantiam (Arguments from Ignorance)
In the discussion following last week’s Fallacy Friday topic, Ad Populum, LJ asked about the ad ignorantiam fallacy. In particular she wanted to know about its relationship to creationism. I suspect LJ was being sarcastic but despite this it is worth exploring this issue a bit. First, we should recall that a fallacy is not simply a false position on some subject. The fact that … [Read more...]
Brief chat in a video store
Continuing in my ongoing theme of exploring conversational successes and failures I have a little ditty of an anecdote to share of my own interaction with somebody. I was meandering through our local video store looking for a movie to rent and as I did so I overheard two of the coworkers bantering with each other. The subject of religion came up and the one employee made it … [Read more...]