Many people think that God is basically mysterious. This is both a pop sentiment, like, "OMG! God is like, so, you know, mysterious! I mean, God is GOD, so that's BIG!" And it seems to be the careful explanation of sophisticated thinkers. For instance, a famous hymn by William Cowper begins with the stanza: God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His … [Read more...]
Responding to a Jewish Objection: “Is Belief in the Incarnation Idolatry?”
Introduction Over the years I have had the opportunity to have plenty of discussions with Jewish people about whether Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. As usual, the objection that to believe in Jesus as a divine figure as a deity is idolatry. For starters, I advise reading the book The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ” by Daniel Boyarin which shows that the belief … [Read more...]
Forsaken
Elyon, Elyon, my king, my lord Deliver me from this sword Why have you forsaken me In your eyes, forsaken me In your thoughts, in your heart, In your wrath, forsaken me … [Read more...]
Fallacy Friday: Ad Populum (Appeals to Popularity)
This week I am going to look at the ad populum fallacy. Ad populum is Latin for “appeal to the people”. This fallacy occurs when a person argues that a particular claim is true because a large number of people accept it. Put crudely it contends that a position is true because it is popular – a majority of people, or a majority of one’s peers accept it. Appeals to what others … [Read more...]
Secularism's Ongoing Debt to Christianity
In his post in the online journal American Thinker called “Secularism Ongoing Debt to Christianity,” Secular Atheist and author John D. Steinrucken made quite a surprising admission. One only need to read the title of the article to see that what followed was a drastic departure from the normal anti-religious rhetoric coming from more prominent Atheists and Secularists. And … [Read more...]
Melancholia: Hollow People, Hollow Worlds
"The human race is just chemical scum on a moderate size planet, orbiting round a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a billion galaxies." - Stephen Hawking, 1995, in "Reality on the Rocks: Beyond our Ken." I saw the movie version of Hawking's perspective yesterday. Melancholia, a highly praised film from Lars Von Trier, follows the imploding lives of the … [Read more...]
Darwin's Quantum Leap
Early in 2009, the International Year of Darwin got underway in Shrewsbury, England, the birthplace of Charles Darwin. As part of the celebration marking both Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, On the Origin of Species, a sculpture was unveiled in Shrewsbury’s Mardol Quay Gardens. Nearly forty feet high, sixty feet long, … [Read more...]
1 Peter 3:15 Revisited
The oft-quoted, passion-instilling, lock-yourself-in-a-room-to-read-Plantinga inducing slogan for apologetics comes from 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." How many times have we heard this at conferences and seminars or read this on blogs and apologetics posts? I know I've seen or heard … [Read more...]
New Kids' Website For Atheism Evangelism
The American Humanist Association has launched a website called "Kids Without God" aimed at promoting and glorifying atheism. It abounds in the usual fallacies (seriously, haven't these folks ever taken Logic 101?) and is blatantly evangelistic. The slogan across the bottom of the home page reads: "Welcome to Kids Without God, a site for the millions of young people around … [Read more...]
Atheist, meet God
This is a fascinating story of one Atheist's journey to Faith (Marilyn Adamson). She highlights the role that her friend played in that decision and this interaction provides another good case study of what was done right. Here are a few observations I hope you'll keep in mind as you read it. … [Read more...]