While browsing the news the other day, I ran across this article on CNN’s ‘Belief Blog,’ “Will camel discovery break the Bible's back?” by Joel Baden, an associate professor of Old Testament at Yale Divinity School. I soon discovered it was one among many even more umm, ‘provocative,’ articles gaining popularity around the Internet. The conclusion of many of the articles was … [Read more...]
A Look at the New “Street Epistemology” Atheist Movement
Introduction I am about to read Peter Boghossian’s new book A Manuel for Creating Atheists which is just one more attempt to turn atheists into an army of evangelists. I recently went to the facebook page called “street epistemology” which happens to be an open group. By the way, my friend Tom Gilson has recently written a response to the book which is available on … [Read more...]
Creation Ex Materia? – Conclusion
Part 1 - Part 2 (I conclude my critique of creation ex materia) Fourth, we will address one inductive argument using scientific evidence for the beginning of the universe. In the middle of the nineteenth century, several physicists discovered the Second Law of Thermodynamics by noticing that all processes within a closed system tend toward a state of equilibrium.[i] This … [Read more...]
Questions That Are Off-Limits- Part 1
I have always been a curious person. I love to ask questions. What things work, how they work, and why they work. Math and the sciences had a great appeal to me in school. I always interacted with the teacher or professor. I was always trying to make connections among different pieces of knowledge that I was being taught. As I got older, if someone told me something, I liked to … [Read more...]
7 Tips on Engaging Skeptics Like Paul Did in Athens [Part 1]
Cultural Engagement Tips My studies at Dallas Theological Seminary have challenged me to think about practical lessons we can learn from Paul’s engagement in Acts 17. I recently had a conversation about this passage with my mentor, Dr. Darrell Bock, and I’ve discovered some cultural engagement tips that every defender of the faith should know. … [Read more...]
Ask the Alliance: Did God murder his son?
:::Ask the Alliance #8::: Did God murder his son? Question submitted by Riovesil: Did God murder his son for us or did he give him up for us? Riovesil, thank you for your question. Here are some responses from The Christian Apologetics Alliance: Damoksta: This is such a great question - because any opportunity to discuss why Christ died on the cross is the bread and butter … [Read more...]
Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 8
As I investigated the claims of the Bible concerning Abram leaving Ur of the Chaldees, traveling to ancient Haran, then on to Canaan, I came across many archaeological discoveries that supported the dating of the story in Genesis about his life and journey. I had been told for a long time that the stories in the Bible were fairy tales without any possible connection to real … [Read more...]
Answering Critics with Grace and Logic
I know that when I find certain pieces of content online, it is a lot more fun to skip the article and go right to the comments. Sure, the article may have valuable pieces of information, but the comments seem to be where people really get down to the heart of the issue. Ideally, journalists are objective. Ideally, they present the facts and let you form your own opinion based … [Read more...]
Answering the Atheists' "Extraordinary Claims" Gauntlet
Not too long ago, I was reading Michael Shermer’s preface to Peter Boghossian’s book, A Manual for Creating Atheists. In the preface, he criticizes belief in eternal life, Jesus, and God’s work of salvation as being extraordinary claims made by Bible believing Christians. He reminisced about how he used to be an evangelical Christian, but he found these claims unreasonable. … [Read more...]
The Legitimate Use of Thomas Aquinas in Apologetics
Much has been said of the 13th-century philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, from both secular as well as religious critics alike. For instance, Bertrand Russell once wrote with respect to Aquinas that he “cannot. . . feel that [Aquinas] deserves to be put on a level with the best philosophers either of Greece or of modern times” [1]. This is due to Aquinas’ apparent prior commitment to … [Read more...]