Throughout the last 24 hours, the Christian philosopher David Wood has been posting images that memorialize his friend Nabeel Qureshi who passed away on September 16th, 2017. For those who do not know Dr. Wood, he is a Christian apologist whose ministerial efforts are primarily angled toward converting Muslims to faith. As a philosopher, he did not expect his expertise to be in counter-Islamic apologetics, but he began to focus on that when he was in college where he met his friend Nabeel. When they met, Nabeel was a devout…
Category: Christian Life
How Religion, Philosophy And Atheism Can Be A Crutch – And That’s Fine
Religious epistemology is one of the frequent targets of our secular friends. They might suggest that the way we come to learn our beliefs are not likely to produce true knowledge. This is a point that we should take to heart. As believers, we should do our epistemic duty. We should not believe things merely because we prefer to believe them. This is relevant to the notion that religious belief functions as a crutch for weak-minded people who cannot bear reality. Again, I think there is some truth to that.…
How Christian Thinkers Can Earn A Seat At The Atheists’ Table
It can be difficult to convince people on the other side of the ideological spectrum to take you seriously. But that is part of the challenge of being a Christian. Jesus told his disciples to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Sometimes we have a tendency to limit that to just backsliding believers who we want to return to the fold. Atheists would not be worth our time because they have secularism too thoroughly ingrained in their minds. But as rational, free creatures, atheists could…
Why I Am A Heretic And You Should Be Too
When we talk about heresy, we usually refer to a denial of one of the core Christian claims. But sometimes overzealous Christians will extend the concept a little too far. They will refer to anybody who disagrees with them as a heretic. Any dissidence from their traditional values is thought to be heresy. When I explain why I am a heretic and you should be too, I am using the word in this latter sense. I am certainly not saying that we should deny the trinity or compromise the gospel.…
Things Just Happen – Why I Developed A Cynical Interpretation of The Leftovers
Things just happen. Loved ones die. Spouses have affairs. People lose their homes. Millions of people suddenly disappear into thin air, leaving the rest of the world confused and susceptible to false beliefs, forming cults and living with a constant emotional burden. Alright, that last one might not just happen, but that is a synopsis of The Leftovers. Throughout the series, viewers had a lot of questions. What is all of this building up to? What does it mean? Why did all of this happen? After watching the final episodes…
How To Practice Religion Without Being Superstitious
As children of Descartes, westerners tend to think of the world in scientific terms. That may account for the increasing secularization of the culture. People are less likely to turn to religion for answers and more likely to turn to science. There is thought to be a vast chasm between religion and science and one must choose one or the other. That position is often based on the experience of the individual. The religious people that they have encountered and the religious sects to which they were exposed were exceedingly…
The Pros And Cons of Being A Christian Blogger
The printing press revolutionized the way that we transmit texts. There were monasteries full of scribes, diligently copying the text of the New Testament so that word of God would be preserved. Other books were transmitted in the same way. If you want a copy of something, somebody would have to sit down and actually copy the text from somebody else who copied it. Many individuals did not have access to their own copy of the Bible. The printing press changed that. The Internet provided the next revolution in transmitting…
A Few Things To Keep In Mind When Watching NFL Football
Football has become more than just a game for many Americans. It is essential to the atmosphere. When the summer dwindles to a close, cool winds blow and leaves start falling, we will know that NFL football is on the horizon. Holidays and weekends are very much defined by enjoying the games. There are parties replete with food, friends, laughter, shouting, alcohol, and a big screen television to complement your Sunday experience so that you can get the most out of the game. Watching your favorite team develop over the…
Why Does My Life Sometimes Seem So Pointless?
You woke up this morning to the sound of your alarm clock. After turning it off, you went to the bathroom to take a shower. Then you went to work, came home, went to sleep, and the next day, you did the same thing. Eat, drink, sleep, work. That is your life, and it repeats itself over and over again. As you cycle through this seemingly endless pattern, you will begin to reflect on it. Why are you even bothering? You tell yourself that if you received that promotion at…
Should Christians Attempt To Be Edgy?
There is nothing that is cooler and more apt to make you relevant than a swear word every now and then. When a Christian goes before a live audience, the audience have certain expectations. They expect us to fit into the old caricatures that have developed over time of what a Christian is. So, when the Christian behaves in a way that seems edgy, the audience thinks that not all Christians are wacky fundamentalists. Perhaps they need to rethink this whole Christianity thing. After all, it might be more hip…
Biblical Ways To Deal With Breakups
Breakups can be difficult. It is a brand of pain with which everybody has been confronted at some point in life. This person in whom you have put all of your trust and confidence has left you. They no longer want anything to do with you because of a mistake that you made or because the circumstances do not allow you to be together at this particular point in your lives. This can be difficult. When people are confronted with this pain, they often flee to unhealthy ways of dealing…
Why Do People Who You Love Have To Leave?
We live in a world that is full of despair, pain and suffering. Every day, there are tragedies across the world that take the lives of loved ones. People die unexpectedly. Sometimes the day after a wedding, when the bride and groom are looking forward to their lives together, one is tragically taken. When a family seems stronger than ever, an unexpected flood overwhelms one’s home and somebody dies. The only remnants of their death is a report on the news that says, “One dead” and they are hastily forgotten.…
The Pros And Cons of Being A Christian Introvert
In the early church, one monk named Anthony finally agreed to return to the Christian community, on the condition that people do not visit him very often. This was an introvert who had thoroughly accustomed himself to life in the monastery and to being alone. He was content with being alone, studying the Scripture and seeking God. He was not burdened by pestering interruptions from people quizzing him with questions like, “What are you up to?” “What are you studying today?” “Is something wrong? You seem sad.” He was a…
5 Reasons Christians Should Not Support Donald Trump
Consider for a moment the sort of person in whom you want to put your trust, who you believe can represent your interests, values, ethics and those of the entire nation. What would that sort of person look like? We obviously cannot expect an ideal candidate, for all of our criteria to be met, but we still need to be wise in discerning what sort of compromises we are willing to make. I believe that with Donald Trump presently the leading as the Republican nominee, we have compromised far too…
A Critique Of Fundamentalism From A Fundamentalist
Sometimes we will encounter blog posts from authors who are trying to ‘win the internet’ by pontificating about how conservative Christianity has faltered. They will say that we ought not be so stringent in our beliefs and doctrine, and that Jesus may not have really risen from the dead. They will say that the Bible teaches outdated morals or the church has misunderstood the Bible for the last two thousand years and they are going to relay to us some new interpretation that just happens to be swept away by…
Beware Of Christian Bloggers Who Disseminate Misinformation
As a blogger and representative of the Christian faith, I consider it a duty to relay accurate information to my readers. If I present something concerning atheism, apologetics, comparative religion, science, philosophy, et cetera, I want to ensure that what I am representing is accurate. In this way, I labor to properly equip Christians. I do not want to just throw red meat to my Christian audience. I do not want to just rile up the crowds. I want my Christian audience to have good information and real answers to…
7 Ways To Tell If An Atheist Is Not Worth Your Time
Christians sometimes find themselves engaging in dialogue with people identify as atheists. Often, these conversations will amount to nothing more than intellectual sparring or preaching. The atheist is only looking for a platform to recite the latest one-liner that they read in a meme. Yet the conversation persists out of pride. The Christian does not know when to back away from the conversation because they may not have a lot of experience with atheists. One needs to realize that congruence is unlikely. There are times when continuing in the conversation…
Do Christians Have Moral Duties?
Often as Christians read the Bible and learn the doctrines therein, they will over-extend the logical implications of these doctrines, which leads to unwarranted conclusions. One of the most obvious examples of this is the over-extension of justification by faith alone. In an attempt to avoid the error of works-salvation, some people will say that since the faith is alone, this entails that we do not really have to do anything in our Christian lives. We can live however we want. We can live evil lives. We can even become…
My Visit To Saddleback Church
Having not been in Los Angeles for long, I am non-committal to the churches that I have visited. However, I have attended a few small group meetings, which are quite nice because they offer an outlet to meet and get to know new people who happen to kindred spirits; Christian by faith. Among those small groups that I have attended, one is a subset of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. This morning was the first day that I had the opportunity to go to Saddleback Church. Although, it was in Los…
Is Mark Driscoll A Heretic?
Is Mark Driscoll a heretic? When my 2013 article 5 Popular Christian Teachers To Avoid went viral, there were a number of reactions. Some people wanted to know what I meant by what I said, and whether I condemned them as sinners going to Hell. The answers to that would be that I do not. My message was simply that these are ministries that have propagated false information, and they should be avoided. Another common question was why it was that more people were not included. Among the names, the…