Articles on Apologetics
The Apostles Turning the World Upside Down-Today!
Reading through Acts is an incredible apologetics experience. I once heard an ex-atheist interviewed on the Side B Stories podcast say it was reading through Acts that brought him to faith. He said there was no way it could be made up, and of course I agree! One of my...
Uninvented: Resurrection, The Foundation of the Church in the Book of Acts
We won’t be surprised to learn that the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth was the most important factor in the establishment and growth of the early church. As we’ll see from Acts, the Apostles proclaimed it everywhere they went and it was clearly the foundation of...
Uninvented: Reading A Biblical Text Theologically and Apologetically
Given we live in an utterly secular age it is important for the sustenance of our faith that we learn to read biblical texts through apologetic lenses. The inspiration for my book Uninvented came from a growing conviction I developed as I studied apologetics that the...
Uninvented: John the Baptist Beheaded—You Don’t Make That Up!
We read of John’s beheading in Matthew 14:1–12 and Mark 6:14–29. Matthew’s account is more concise, while Mark gives us much more detail, as his consistent with Mark. He covers fewer events in Jesus’ life, but gives more details of those he does address. Christians...
Uninvented: Who Is the Greatest and the Criterion of Embarrassment
One of the most powerful arguments for the veracity of the historical accounts of the Bible is the criterion of embarrassment. The idea is simple: Nobody tells stories to make themselves look bad. Nor do they tell stories making themselves look bad to try to prove...
Jim Caviezel to Jordan Peterson: “This is the Best Interview I’ve Ever Had in my Life . . . .”
I imagine as a famous actor Jim Caviezel has had a few interviews in his life, so when I saw that headline I simply couldn’t pass it up. By now you’re probably familiar with the blockbuster hit movie, Sound of Freedom, which has become a hit despite “Hollywood” doing...
Uninvented: Jonah Had to be Real, Big Fish and All
If there is one book in the Bible that really gives the doubting Thomas’s among us fits it’s Jonah, the reluctant prophet. It wouldn’t be so hard to swallow, pun intended, if it wasn’t for putting that silly big fish in the story, but more of that below. As for the...
The Resurrection is the Only Explanation for Christianity
This weekend we celebrate what we’ve come to call Easter, but what is in fact the celebration of the death and resurrection of the Savior of the world, who has been saving His people from their sin (Matt. 1:21) since he rose from the dead. When we come to that claim...
Take 3 on My Encounter with The Rationalist: Why I Believe the Evidence
In my previous post on my encounter with The Rationalist, I explained the nature of evidence and how it is used in a court of law as “proof” for conclusions to either convict a defendant or not. Everyone uses evidence in life in all kinds of ways that acts for them as...
Take Two on My Encounter with The Rationalist: Evidence
In a previous post I discussed my two-and-a-half-hour grilling at the hand of a quintessential rationalist. One thing especially stood out to me was how The Rationalist used evidence as a weapon against me by discounting anything that I claimed was evidence. Only what...
My Interesting Encounter with The Rationalist
I say The Rationalist not because there is one such person in the world, but because the person I encountered is the quintessential rationalist. There is a lot I want to unpack here and get off my chest so this may take several posts; we’ll see. Before I get to what a...
Why I Am Not a Presuppositionalist, Evidentialist, or Classical Apologist
I am not a presuppositionalist. I don’t believe there is only one correct apologetics methodology as the presuppositionalists claim: I’m in the whatever works camp. For those not familiar with such methodologies, these are ways of going about defending the truth...
Uninvented on The Unbelievable Podcast with Justin Brierly
As promised . . . . I had the incredible privilige of appearing on two popular British apologetics podcasts in one week! And Unbeliebale is the longest running apologetics podcast in existence. I would love to see what everybody thinks about which perspective is more...
Psalm 127: Unless the Lord Builds The house . . . .
When I wrote my first book, The Persuasive Christian Parent, this short Psalm by Solomon was an inspiration, especially the first verse: Unless the Lord builds the house,the builders labor in vain.Unless the Lord watches over the city,the guards stand watch in vain....
Does God Exist? A Conversation with Tom Holland, Stephen Meyer, and Douglas Murray
If you’ve been around a while you’re no doubt familiar with the “New Atheists” who fleetingly crossed the cultural firmament for a decade early in this century. There was nothing “new” about these “New” atheists because their arguments, such as they were, were as old...
“Unbelievable” Podcast, Apologetics, and Christian Conversions
I had my biggest show biz break earlier this week appearing on the Unbelievable Podcast with Justin Brierly. Promoting a book as a “nobody” author without a “platform” is a formidable challenge. Zillions of people write books and are trying to get noticed, so not...
Consideration of the Alternative: Putting Ourselves AND Non-Christians on the Defensive
I recently wrote a piece about a young man who “de-converted” from Christianity, and in it I made this assertion: “the burden of proof is on everybody!” Non-Christians attack Christianity while assuming Christians are the only ones who need to defend their beliefs....
What a Book Review! I Think She Liked It
Given I'm not a "somebody" with a big "platform," getting book reviews is not easy. I finally did get one, and it was at a site that was instrumental in my journey back into apologetics, Apologetics315. It was worth the wait. The author's final words are most...
God’s Amazing Goodness and My Apologetics315 Interview
I had an interview recently about my book with a website that has special meaning in my Christian journey, Apologetics315. God, as he often does with his children, made this uniquely special for me as I'll explain. When I became a Christian at Arizona State...
Third Time’s A Charm—The Persuasive Christian Parent is Finally Available!
I made one of the big mistakes of my life back when I was a young Christian some four decades ago. I asked God to give me patience . . . . and I've been waiting ever since! Writing a book, and finally getting a version up I'm not embarrassed by, has been a long, long...
The Human Brain: Praise Chance!
Reading through Denton's book is a mind blower. As I'm reading I keep thinking, I have to quote and write about this, then that, then this, then that, but when I got to his discussion of the human brain it was just too much. The complexity is staggering. To think that...
Tactics: Learning How Weak Christian Alternatives Are By Asking Questions
I just finished reading Tactics by Greg Koukl, and it's a book that should be read by every Christian young person in our anti-Christian culture. I recently bought it for my kids, and myself, and it was better than I thought it would be, much better. I'm not sure what...
Watch Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters” With Your Kids!
Well, probably teenager kids. It's Woody Allen, after all. My wife and I recently re-watched Hannah and Her Sisters with our two sons (our daughter wasn't available; she's married), and it was an incredibly wonderful apologetics moment. I've argued that a secular...
Is Ravi Really With Jesus?
What? Don't I believe that Ravi Zacharias was saved? That when he died recently he went directly to heaven, to meet the Savior he so boldly proclaimed all over the world for 57 years? Of course I believe that, absolutely! What I mean by that question, or want to...
The Consideration of the Alternative and the Burden of Proof
I had a dream recently, like I do every night, but this one was inspiration for a blog post. Most of my dreams are way too bizarre for the word bizarre, but this one was very specific. I made a friend when I got out of college and was involved in the Navigator...
Jesus and the Resurrection of the Dead: What’s the Alternative?
Given we are celebrating this week the most important event in human history, and given mortality is on everybody's mind, it is a good time to reflect on the very long term, which would be forever. Providentially, I've been making my way through I Corinthians 15 the...
I Corinthians 15:1-8 – Our Creed: The Resurrection and the Eyewitnesses
As we come upon the Easter celebration, albeit in very odd times, I thought I'd share some thoughts from my meditations upon one of the most important chapters in all of the Bible. In it Paul deals extensively with the resurrection of Christ, and the resurrection of...
The Cosmological Argument: Can Something Really Come from Nothing?
If that question doesn't make you laugh, you haven't thought about it enough. I listened to a podcast the other day on the cosmological argument. Simply, it is a philosophical argument for God's existence that everything that comes to exist has a cause, that there...
Can Meaning Be Found Between The Polls of Meaning-Less-Ness?
In a universe without God, we come from a meaningless past, and are destined for a meaningless future; we came from chance for no reason at all with no purpose at all, and are hurdling through this eye blinking thing called life toward extinction.
The Stupefying, Amazing, Incomparable Jesus Christ: God is the Only Explanation!
God has revealed himself in creation, Scripture, and ultimately in the person of Jesus Christ. In previous posts about creation and the Bible, I argued the only plausible explanation for each is God. Jesus is the ultimate manifestation of God's revelation of himself...
The Stupefying Coherence, Content, and Power of the Bible: God is the Only Explanation!
In a previous post I argued that God is the only explanation for the stupefying complexity, functionality, and beauty of creation, the first and most obvious of God's revelations of himself to mankind. In this post I will argue that the Bible is way too mind blowing...
Take 2! The New and Improved Version of The Persuasive Christian Parent is Here!
As you may know, because of improved technology anyone can publish a book today. Writers are no longer dependent on all powerful book publishers to to get their books in print, or face limited shelf space to get it purchased. Publishing is a tough business, so...
Evidence for the Veracity of Christianity: Gospel Inspired Love
In my previous post I argued that the transformed life of converted sinners is a profound defense of the truth of the Christian faith. We can't see God, like the wind, but the evidence of his reality, like the wind, can be seen in the effects of his Spirit in the...
The Wind, Its Effects, and the Invisible Apologetic
I was praying recently, and said something to God like, it's difficult to believe what we can't see, but . . . . I can't help but believe it! And for many of the reasons I argue here. Then something different came to mind, an apologetic I don't believe I have ever...
We Must Test Any Religion or Worldview’s Claims to Truth
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...
The Most Unexpected, and Consequential, Event in History: Christmas
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,...
It is Much Easier to Believe Christianity Than the Alternatives
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...
No, Jordan Peterson, Nature or Evolution Can’t Create Anything
My middle son and I are reading Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life together. Peterson has become a cultural phenomenon, and one the secular left hates. That alone is enough to take him seriously, but from the little I'd read and heard, it seems he wants to help men...
Miracle Stories in The Gospels Reveal their Historicity
Critics and skeptics of the Bible think that the miracle stories in the gospels are what make them so hard to believe as history. Just the opposite is the truth. In fact, the way the stories are portrayed, and that they happened at all, are evidence for their...
“The Robe”: How the Gospel Message Spread, You Can Believe It!
In my previous post I wrote that the historical novel, The Robe, was the greatest historical novel ever written. I haven't read every one, so this may be a bit of hyperbole, but author Lloyd C. Douglas makes a compelling case about how the spread of the gospel message...
“The Robe”: The Greatest Apologetic Historical Novel Ever!
If you've never heard of the The Robe (later made into a movie), I'm delighted you are now. The book played an important role in bringing me to Christ. My grandmother gave me a copy when I was 16, and it captivated me. I just finished reading it again for the fifth or...
“None of the above” fastest-growing religion in the U.S. Ain’t No Such Thing as a None!
When I first came up with a title for my book four plus years ago I was going call it, Apologetics for Parents: How to keep your kids from becoming "Nones." Since most Christians don't know what apologetics is, or what "Nones" are, that wasn't ideal. Keeping our kids...
Korn’s Brian Welch Responds to his Critics-It Takes Revelation and Evidence
I wrote recently about a documentary of Korn guitarist Brian Welch's conversion to Christianity. He had a serious issue with drug addiction, even after his conversion, and some people are accusing him of replacing his addiction to drugs with an addiction to religion....
The Bible is an Historical Book, Not a Religious One!
I can't tell you how many moronic, absolutist, immature, know-it-all atheists I've come across in online comments sections who declare with absolute certitude that the Bible is all myths and fairy tales, full of metaphorical unicorns and other such unbelievable...
Josephus and the Historical Credibility of the Bible
Not many Christians are familiar with first century Jewish historian Josephus, which is unfortunate. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (the latter rejected purely out of anti-supernatural bias) are the most well-attested facts in all of ancient history. But...
“Science Uprising”: New video series unmasks materialism for what it is: Wrong!
Too many Christians allow low-simmering doubt into their minds because the dominant Western secular cultural narrative assumes materialism at every point, that is that the material, matter, is all that exists. And, if materialism is true, Christianity is not. In the...
Where Did The Idea of a Personal, Creator God Come From?
Being a person of extreme apologetic bent, I'm always looking to validate Christian truth claims. Apologetics is critical in a Western culture drenched in secularism, where most people fit into one of the Triple A categories: Atheist, Agnostic, or Apathetic. For them...
Christianity, The Greatest Force for Good Ever, is Exploding All Over the World
It's a common theme in secular Western media that Christianity is all but on its last legs, that "nones" are the future, and that religious faith is an exhausted remnant of a benighted, pre-scientific past. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even in the secular...
Rock n Roll: “They Don’t Get That It Points Beyond Itself!”
Raising children, even for my wife and I in the late stages in which we find ourselves with the youngest of our three at 17, offers a plethora (love that word) of opportunities to bring the reality of God into their lives. Christian parents in a secular culture...
Would David Hume Come to the Same Conclusions Today?
I've been slowly reading through Frederick Copleston's A History of Philosophy, and having recently finished the section on the great Scottish skeptic David Hume, I got to wondering if Hume might come to the same conclusions today. An impossible question to answer, no...
The Jewish Context of Jesus’ World: A Psychological Apologetic
Did you know Jesus was a Jew? That he grew up and lived his entire life among religious Jews? Did you know that this fact is critically important in establishing the credibility and plausibility of the gospel stories? If you don't, then you may not be familiar with...
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: Can We Trust the Gospels?
I'm listening to a wonderful series of lectures by pastor of Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, California, Kim Riddlebarger called "Apologetics in a Post-Christian Age." He argues, persuasively, that the central fact of the apologetics enterprise is the resurrection....
You Can Use The Ontological Argument With Your Kids. . . . No Really
A favorite tactic of skeptics to justify their rejection of God is to take some example of what God has ostensibly done or does, and assert that if there was a God he certainly wouldn't have done it this way or that. The silliest direct example of this in my life...
Apologetics315 – An Invaluable Website for Defenders of the Faith
If you've ever heard, read, or interacted with an atheist you'll be familiar with one of their most absurd tropes: there is no evidence for the veracity of Christianity. Thus they define "faith" as a religious term that means believing without evidence, or in spite of...
Telos: The Secularists’ Worst Nightmare
Back in 1968 as the sexual revolution was raging, Pope Paul VI wrote a profoundly counter-cultural encyclical called Humanae Vitae. One of the things that made it so profound (and something completely missed by the Evangelical leaders of the day) was its appeal to...
Not Made Up Stories: That we may know the certainty of the things we have been taught
In addition to writing here at The Persuasive Christian Parent, several years ago I started writing my way through the Bible. I gave that blog the uninspiring title of, My Walk Through the Bible. Recently I finished the gospel of Mark and moved on to Luke. As I was...
Do Your Children a Favor: Watch “Brad’s Status” with Them
I'd never heard of this movie with Ben Stiller until a few days ago, and when I read the premise and learned it was on Amazon Prime I figured we'd give it a go. Brad's Status is about a 50-something middle class man watching his only son explore college, Harvard no...
Secularism: To Believe Otherwise
That we live in a secular age there can be no doubt. I've attacked secularism as a paper tiger (actually, Berlin Wall) in a number of posts, which is why I looked forward to reading James K.A. Smith's How (Not) To be Secular. (It's a book about a book, Charles...
Did a Dead Guy Really Come Back to Life 2000 Years Ago?
The whole of Christianity and it's validity rests on one simple historical event that we celebrate this Easter weekend, that Jesus of Nazareth was killed and came back to life. As I immersed myself back into apologetics over that last eight or so years, I've learned...
Secularism Revisited – The Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR)
When I finished up my last post on secularism and the Berlin wall, I came across an article at Evolution News & Science Today that takes on an atheist scientist Sean Carroll, who asserts that the universe is a "brute fact," a concept I discussed in that post. If...
Study Shows Atheists Thought Immoral, Even by Fellow Atheists
Atheists are fond of accusing Christians of believing they can't be moral or good just because they are atheists. Christians don't believe this, and atheists can be moral or good, but that doesn't keep them from saying it. Atheists can be as good and moral, or bad and...
DNA Confirms the Bible: Israelites did not wipe out the Canaanites
I recently saw this headline at Real Clear Politics: "DNA Contradicts the Bible on Canaanites." Of course I had to click on it. What I found, no surprise to me, was that DNA did no such thing. For the last 150 plus years, skeptics have declared over and over again...
The Logic of Atheism Drove This Scholar to Jesus
Logic is an amazing feature of the universe God created, but one that is unfortunately often ignored. It is no longer taught in public schools, which is obvious from the tenor of public debates over politics and religion. And those of us who attend weekly worship...
Why Is the Question, “Who Designed the Designer?” Logical AND Absurd?
A common question when talking to children about God being the creator of all things is, "Who created God?" The question is logical enough, but absurd. Many atheists and agnostics, who often think like children, often ask the same question: Amazingly, it’s the chief...
10 Basic Facts About the NT Canon that Every Christian Should Memorize
Most Americans do not believe that the Bible gives us reliable history, let alone a divinely inspired authoritative history we can trust for the salvation of our souls. Most Christians do believe they can trust Scripture, but few know why. This is unfortunate because...
The Criterion of Embarrassment, And Why You Shouldn’t be Embarrassed By It
The more I read the Old Testament, the more amazed I am that a people could be proud of such a book. I'm currently reading through Jeremiah, a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah that was shortly to be destroyed by the Babylonians as God's judgment for their sin....
Is It Wrong to Torture Babies for Fun?
I can imagine you thinking at this moment, What kind of person would ask such a stupid question! Hang with me, and you'll realize it's not such a stupid question after all. In my previous post I shared an Alice in Wonderland adventure I had with a...
What and Why is This Thing Called Death
In my previous two posts I wrote about how death in a movie contributes to a secular plausibility structure, and how death lends more credibility to Christianity than atheism/materialism. In this post I want to explain what death is from a Christian perspective, and...
Are The Gospels Historically Reliable?
Came across this piece today, "A Christmas question: Are the Gospels more reliable than scholars once thought?" And the answer is a resounding yes! The Gospels, and the Bible in general, have been under attack since forever, but especially since German Higher...
Science is Becoming God’s Best Friend
We live in a secular age, at least in the West, in which the dominion of science for all the good it has done has essentially replaced God for many people who find religion untenable. If "Science" says it, people believe it, few questions asked. In a little discussion...
The Moral Argument for God’s Existence
Some time ago listening to an apologetics talk I heard something that was so obvious I wondered why I had never thought of it just that way before. I probably had to some degree, but it never made as much sense in the context of evidence for God's existence. The...
“Risen” Trailer Available
I learned about this movie called "Risen" coming out next spring, obviously around Easter. It looks very promising, with a big name lead, Joseph Fiennes, and obviously excellent production values. From the piece at Empire: Kevin Reynolds’ film, which he co-wrote with...
Notable Quotation
[M]oral relativism implies that neither cultures (if conventionalism is in view) nor individuals (if subjectivism is in view) can improve their moral code. The only thing they can do is change it. Why? Consider any change in code from believing, say, racism is right...