Feb 11, 2022 | Explanatory Power
If I had to play a one-note Samba in apologetics it would be the consideration of the Alternative. In my last post I mentioned a Christian who advertised his “deconversion” on Facebook, and suggested he might want to put his new alternative faith on trial as much as he did Christianity. The Bee’s headline reveals something most most people, including Christians, have probably never considered: atheists are people of faith too! They are “believers” every bit as much as Christians. Unfortunately, while Christians are referred to as “believers,” those who are not Christians are referred to as “unbelievers,” as if such at thing existed. In our modern secular culture this is a problem, as I will explain. Let’s see how the Bee explains our fictional atheist’s struggle:
Sources say that Marcus often says that he’s just a random collection of atoms and chemical reactions—that he’s just ‘dancing to his DNA’—but recently he just can’t seem to shake the idea that there’s more to his existence.
“What if it’s all a lie? What if atheism is just made up to make people feel smart and have a false sense of superiority?” Marcus cried out. “I mean obviously we’re just here by random chance, with no benevolent Being watching over us. But then again, why has a single good thing happened in anyone’s life—much less on a daily basis?”
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Jan 30, 2022 | Truth
It seems deconversions, from Christianity, are a popular thing now. Those that get attention on the Internet are people who are well known for one reason or another, and given these people advertise their trek away from Christianity, it’s worth considering their rationales for abandoning their faith in Christ. One I came across yesterday was a gentleman who attended the seminary my wife an I graduated from some years ago, Westminster Seminary Philadelphia. In addition to being a long-time Christian, he was also a musician, “Influential Christian Rapper and Westminster Theological Seminary Grad Denounces Christianity.” I would encourage anyone to carefully read his reverse testimony, and note why he decided to denounce his faith in Christ. (more…)
Jan 26, 2022 | Culture, Truth
I love and respect Tim Keller, immensely. Not only was he our pre-marital counselor when my wife and I were in seminary back in 1987, but his teaching has been a significant blessing to me both theologically and apologetically. I also pray for him daily as he deals with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. However, when he wades into discussions of politics he often loses me. Over the years I’ve always questioned the way he focuses on “social justice.” The phrase is loaded with political and ideological baggage, specifically Marxist baggage, and I do not believe Christians should use it. All justice is by definition social, so there is no need to use the phrase, and when they do Christians play into the hands of the leftist mob that dominates so much of political and cultural discourse. But here I want to address the issue of Keller’s moral equivalence between left and right. (more…)
Jan 23, 2022 | Parents and Family
I had a wonderful experience, and privilege, last week, of being on a podcast with a couple British lads discussing my international best seller, The Persuasive Christian Parent (I’ll do another post about the discussion, great fun). In the podcasts I do, I always point out that this is not a parenting book, but an apologetics book for parents. It is not do a, b, and c, and you can get results x, y, and z, or 10 steps to accomplish this or that with your kids, and so on. I’ve never been a fan of such books, on parenting or not. Thinking about this for the last several days, I realized I could boil the purpose of the book down to one. It came to me as I thought about my discussion with my two new British friends, Dan and Phil, and as I struggled to tell them what the book is really all about. This responsibility can be boiled down to this: We must teach our kids that Christianity is The Truth. Everything else is fluff. Of course the latter assertion is over the top hyperbole, but it makes my point. If we don’t major on the former, the latter might not matter. Why? (more…)
Jan 18, 2022 | Culture, Plausibility
I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I learned Jordan Peterson’s daughter, Mikhaila, had recently become a Christian. If you’re not familiar with Peterson, five or six years ago he became a cultural phenomenon by speaking what to most people is common sense, but not in the Canadian university setting in which he worked. One piece on him put it well, “Mr. Peterson is the canary in the toxic coal mine of political correctness and petty thought police.” He became a Youtube sensation back in 2015 when he started to challenge leftist Canadian groupthink. He then published a best seller called 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, which launched him into a popularity he seemed to endure far more than he enjoyed. A good introduction is a documentary you can see on Amazon Prime called The Rise of Jordan Peterson. (more…)
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