Most people believe that Ignatius Martin Perrish raped and killed his girlfriend, Merrin. Ig didn’t do this, but since that tragedy he has steadily spiraled into chaos. He wakes up one morning after a drunken binge to discover horns growing out of his head. It makes a twisted kind of sense. The horns are just a visible reminder of what is arising deep inside. He has the power … [Read more...]
Are You an Expert?
Now more than ever, we seem to be surrounded by experts and intellectual giants on all corners. Throw out a question on Facebook and you will get a response, often from an "expert". Google a contentious question that has plagued philosophers for centuries and you will discover reams of pages linking to the blogs of "experts". I am also often told that you don't need to be a … [Read more...]
Evaluation of Darwin's Doubt by Stephen C. Meyer, Part 2
This is the second post in my series on Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design. You can read my introductory post HERE. A Cautionary Note on Internet "Reviews" If you have investigated the book much at all, you will have noticed some nasty pseudo-reviews posted around the internet. As I mentioned in my introductory post, I have … [Read more...]
Why Telling Your Story is NOT the Best Way to Share the Gospel
Anyone who’s ever taken a class on how to share their faith has heard some well-intentioned teacher say, “You don’t need to learn a lot of big words. Just tell them your story. Just tell them how Jesus changed your life. No one can argue with that.” Then everyone sighs a big sigh of relief because they thought they’d have to spend time learning how to answer hard questions. … [Read more...]
Do Apologists Employ the "Humpty Dumpty" Defense?
When Alice meets Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass, she finds that he uses words very creatively. In fact, a word means exactly what Humpty wants it to mean, no more and no less. Christian apologists are sometimes accused of employing a “Humpty Dumpty Defense” by our opponents. This particularly is seen with faith, which is understood as a form of loyalty to a … [Read more...]
Strange Bedfellow
In a recent New York Time article, Thomas Nagel offers a brief but robust explanation why a purely physical explanation of the universe will not work. This may not seem, at first glance, to be a big issue. However, if it is true that the universe is only physical, then there can be no human mind/soul and certainly no god. Here is the kicker: Dr. Nagel is an atheist. And, he … [Read more...]
Do We Have a Soul (Part 2)
(Part 1) (In this part, I continue the case for the soul using philosophical arguments) Not only is theology a valid realm for knowledge, but philosophy can provide insight into the nature of the soul. The first philosophical argument for substance dualism I will outline pertains to whether mental states are physical, i.e. whether our conscious properties (such as thinking … [Read more...]
Alvin Plantinga's Free Will Defense
Many philosophers throughout the course of religious history have drawn upon proofs and evidences to suggest that the existence evil and suffering undermines theistic belief. For instance, William L. Rowe in his argument in An Exchange on the Problem of Evil [1] first asks, “Do the evils that occur in our world significantly lower the likelihood of God’s existence?” [2] … [Read more...]
Inerrancy, Scripture, and the Easy Way Out
Inerrancy, defined as simply as possible, is the Christian doctrine that the Bible is divinely inspired and without error. But it is important to move beyond this simple definition, because people often come away with misconceptions about the doctrine. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy explicates what evangelicals mean when they speak of inerrancy. I highly recommend … [Read more...]
Vajrayana – Fast Track to Nirvana
Vajrayana Buddhism, also called “Thunderbolt Vehicle” or “Diamond Vehicle,” is considered by some to be the third vehicle in Buddhism, the other two being, Mahayana, and Theravada. It is widely believed that this school of thought originated as a reaction to the highly philosophical Mahayana Schools in India in the Nalanda University, one of the earliest universities in the … [Read more...]