Tracking Baruch Brody’s view, brain-life theorists claim that, being fully human, a being must possess properties “such that their loss would mean the going out of existence (the death) of a human being”(Brody 1975, 102). The property of being human, they argued, is human brain function. J Savulescu, for example, contended: If we cease to exist when our brain dies, we only … [Read more...]
Boys in the Girls' Locker Room?
Last week in California, a news article reported that state legislation was passed to enable "students in California schools to compete on sports teams and use facilities, including restrooms, based on their gender identity, regardless of whether they are listed as male or female in official campus records." This basically means that if a boy believes he is a girl, despite his … [Read more...]
Jesus’ Gospel Teachings are Authentically Jesus
Can we trust the four canonical Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? More specifically, are the teachings they ascribe to Jesus authentic? The Jesus Seminar (JS), a collection of skeptical Bible critics active in the 1980s and 90s, concluded that only 18% of what the Gospels had attributed to Jesus were actually genuine. For many, this puts the kibosh on the Bible. If it’s … [Read more...]
Slideshow: What Best Explains Jesus’ Empty Tomb?
There is little to no debate among both Christian and non-Christian historians on the facts of Jesus’ empty tomb. By contrast, there is widespread debate as to what best explains those facts. The historical facts of Jesus’ death and empty tomb are these: Jesus was murdered and buried. Three days afterward, his body went missing. Accounts of Jesus’ appearance to both his … [Read more...]
Why Apologetics is More Powerful Than You Think
I’ve recently been reading Mary Jo Sharp’s Defending The Faith: Apologetics in Women's Ministry. For some reason this particular book has brought back long-lost memories of why I began studying apologetics in the first place and how it has changed my personal faith. Sharp writes passionately about the need for Christian women to learn more about what they believe. If they’re … [Read more...]
The Wolverine: Dark Roads, Monsters, and Men
"The great battle, I always thought with Wolverine, is the battle within himself." - Hugh Jackman, aka Wolverine _____________________________________________________________________________ Since the disastrous events at the end of the last X-Men film, Logan (aka Wolverine) has retreated into the woods, living a life of solitude among the another animals. His past haunts him … [Read more...]
Defining the good: The Golden Rule
A major argument for God’s existence is that, if there is no God, there is no “true” good, because truth is that which corresponds to reality, to real being. A common counter-argument heard from atheists, agnostics, and skeptics is that this does not account for the definition of moral goodness. If God is the source of goodness, does he define what it means to be good via his … [Read more...]
The Resurrection of Jesus: A Christian Apologetics Cornerstone
Jesus' resurrection after his crucifixion and death is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. The apostle Paul, after giving an account (1 Cor 15) of this event, says that if it didn't happen, the Christian religion is useless. He adds that, then, Christians should be most pitied because they are still in trouble with the God of the universe. But even on a practical note, it … [Read more...]
The Moral Facts of Life
A Review of What We Can’t Not Know: A Guide, by J. Budziszewski J. Budziszewski wants to talk about the facts of life. No, not those facts of life. The moral and ethical realities built into the created order – those common truths we all really know about right and wrong that have historically been referred to as the natural law. To suggest the existence of such a thing as a … [Read more...]
The Resurrection of Jesus and the Cognitive Dissonance Hypothesis
Introduction Cognitive Dissonance is all the rage these days. In other words, more and more skeptics are trying to postulate that the birth of the Jesus movement is the result of cognitive dissonance. As N.T Wright says: “One theory which would go against this conclusion [that the rise of Christianity is best explained by Jesus' bodily resurrection] was very popular a few … [Read more...]