Answers that our churches have forgotten.There are times when an employer would almost look unfavorably on a candidate who had direct experience in the industry. The candidate would have learned a certain way of doing things and it would be more difficult to unlearn that approach than it would be to train somebody else. The same general principle can be… read more »
Our lives are very much ethic-centric. We typically try to cut immoral people out of our lives. If we do something morally unjustified, we often find ways to justify ourselves or make amends lest we live in a tumultuous contradiction. That is why the moral argument is a favorite among Christian apologists. But in a… read more »
I typically do not write about alleged Bible contradictions because there are more interesting things to talk about. There is also the fact that on many atheist blogs, anything that could pass as a contradiction at first glance will make the big list, and to try to respond to all of them would a herculean… read more »
Do you ever wonder why people believe the things that they do? If you do not share those beliefs, then you might be inclined to assign nefarious or otherwise unsavory reasons for these beliefs. The psychology of religious thinking is of particular interest. Most religious people never actually see a miracle or anything transcendent invading… read more »
As Graham Oppy pointed out somewhere in The Best Argument Against God, there are thoughtful, reflective people on both sides of every argument. Unfortunately, most people (atheists and theists) are only familiar with shallow, popular level arguments and they often wield the deadly combination of arrogance and ignorance. This can lead to frustration on both… read more »
The term indoctrination has a very negative stigma. When people hear that phrase, they will think of parents telling their children what to believe and how to think. They think of religious zealots who are just creating more clones of themselves to perpetuate their religion for generations. When those children get older, they will teach… read more »
There are some sophisticated atheists out there. Intellectuals with beards who write books, engage with the nuances of the Christian faith, understand Calvinism, trinitarian theology, the gospel and the different interpretations of soteriology. These sophisticated atheists will roll their eyes when hear somebody spouting a one-liner from The God Delusion. They will repudiate the movement… read more »
Christians share the gospel. During Jesus’ public ministry, he told men to repent and believe the gospel, because the Kingdom of God was near. But repentance is about changing your attitude. When somebody repents, she will change her mind about sin and about Christ, submitting herself to the gospel. It is something that happens internally,… read more »
Throughout their poetry, the psalmists would contemplate the character of God. They would marvel about his wisdom, strength, glory, and his righteousness. Even in times of turmoil, they would write what we find in Psalm 145:17. “The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.” Psalm 89:14 says, “Righteousness and… read more »
In the Showtime hit Dexter, the lead character by the same name suffered from a sociopathic personality. With that came the urge to express his inner-rage against other people. It was described throughout the series as something like an addiction. He felt a need to kill in the same way that people feel the need… read more »
In defending the Christian faith, apologists will use arguments leading to conclusions that have theistic significance. Typically, they will lead to something like, “God.” God is thought to be the best explanation for a wide range of phenomenon. However, if the concept of God has no explanatory power, then the apologetic arguments would be undermined… read more »
There are certain aspects of the Christian worldview that many people find objectionable. The man with the unregenerate heart will not enjoy hearing that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. The individual who aspires for moral autonomy will posit a form of relativism, suggesting that you cannot impose your morals upon them. The… read more »
The Christmas tradition that we see today did not just pop into being in its’ fullest form. People did not wake up one day and place a pine tree in their living room and convoke the big man in a red suit. It is similar to many other social customs and holidays. It evolved over… read more »
The concept of unintelligent design is a response to the creationist movement and philosophy of intelligent design. It proposes that there are too many flaws in the universe to have been created by an intelligent agent. If this argument is successful, it leads to the conclusion that an omniscient and omnipotent and omnibenevolent creator is… read more »
Dan Linford recently published an article about the moral argument, stating that it was guilty of the is/ought fallacy. While I was interested in the topic, I did not respond directly to Linford because I was more interested in rendering a general response to the argument. So I did some research on this objection and… read more »
It is often said by Christian apologists that the atheist cannot live consistently within the framework of their worldview. They will adhere to their ethical convictions and act as though they really were binding. They will object to the evil in the world and labor to make the world a better place. As such, atheists… read more »
Does free will solve the problem of evil? Burdened by the issue of the evil in the world, many Christians will turn to free will. God allows men to make immoral decisions, even when it brings about suffering, because he wanted us to have free will. He wanted us to turn to him freely in… read more »
As Christians present the gospel, they are often confronted by difficult philosophical quagmires that they cannot find their way to wriggle out of. Not the least of these is the issue of Hell. Would a loving God send anyone to Hell? So the skeptic will ask. For the Christian, when presenting the gospel message will… read more »
Sometimes religious people will claim that they were healed of cancer, or some other illness. They will have great joy that this sickness has departed their body. Then the atheist, almost in an attempt to steal that joy and put other people down, will come in and say, “ah, so God healed you. But why… read more »
Christians are plagued with an almost Islamic conception of the Bible. Some even want to say that because Jesus is the Logos (the Word) and the Bible is the word of God, that therefore, Jesus is the Bible. But this view immediately leads us to the worship of the Bible, and we are no better… read more »