Jan 10, 2020 | Notable Quotations
[H]ere another important lesson is implied in regard to the miraculous in the Gospels. The history shows how little spiritual value or efficacy they attach to miracles, and how essentially different in this respect their tendency is from all legendary stories. The lesson conveyed in this case, is, that we may expect, and even experience, miracles, without any real faith in the Christ; with belief, indeed, in his power, but without surrender to his rule. According to the Gospels, a man might either seek benefit from Christ, or else receive Christ through such benefit. In the one case, the benefit sought was the object, in the other the means; in the one, it was the goal, in the other, the road to it; in the one, it gave healing, in the other, brought salvation; in the one, it ultimately led away from, in the other, it led to Christ and to discipleship.
—Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah
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Jan 4, 2020 | Apologetics
In a previous post I argued that it is much easier to believe in Christianity than the alternatives, and discussed three ways we can judge a religion or worldview’s claim to truth. I argued that absolute certainty is impossible, so our goal should be beyond-a-reasonable-doubt certainty. The three ways (apologetics methods) bring us well beyond reasonable doubt for Christianity, and help us to compare it to the alternatives. Here are some examples of how these methods help us do that. (more…)
Dec 28, 2019 | Notable Quotations
Alasdair MacIntyre once described Marxism as “a secularism formed by the gospel which is committed to the problem of power and justice and therefore to themes of redemption and renewal.” The problem, however, is that its diagnosis is superficial, and its cure fatal. For this reason, Marxism, whether in classical or cultural form, can be viewed as a corruption or parody of the gospel—replete with its own false prophet (Marx), false Bible (Das Kapital), false doctrine (dialectical materialism), false apostles (Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Marcuse), and false hope (a communist utopia). Therefore, the fact that Cultural Marxism is a real ideology making a real impact on our world is not good news.
—Robert S. Smith, “Cultural Marxism: Imaginary Conspiracy or Revolutionary Reality?”
Dec 25, 2019 | Apologetics
Christmas is upon us again, and for those of us who’ve experienced more than a few, it kind of loses its wonder after a while. It shouldn’t. If what Christmas celebrates actually happened, if it is actually true, then it is the most profound event in all of history, by far. We need to ask ourselves why we should believe this preposterous history in the first place. It is certainly preposterous on its face. God becoming man? Seriously? You have to be kidding. Nope! The incarnation, God becoming man, makes perfect sense in the context of the Christian message: God himself saves his people from their sin (Matt. 1:21). He accomplished it by becoming one of us, and paying the price for us in our place. God himself, in Christ, fulfilled for us, all that he demanded of us. No wonder so many find it hard to believe! (more…)
Dec 21, 2019 | Apologetics
This assertion is completely counter intuitive to secularists, and unfortunately hard for many Christians to believe. But the more you know about the claims for the truth of Christianity, and those of the alternatives, the more you can’t help but believe that Christianity is true. Some explanation of reality has to be true, has to be the way things actually are. Contrary to the silly COEXIST bumper stickers on cars of people signaling how tolerant they are, every religion can’t be true. They all make contradictory claims, so the most basic law of logic, the law of non-contradiction, holds: a thing cannot both be A and not-A at the same time and in the same sense. Aristotle said “that without the principle of non-contradiction we could not know anything that we do know.” Put another way, religion and worldviews are not like ice cream, simply a personal preference. If we don’t believe in Christianity, we have to believe in something else. (more…)
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