Nov 1, 2020 | Apologetics
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 undirected “natural” random processes a la Darwinism could result in a human brain defies reason. I will quote several paragraphs, and see if you don’t agree. (more…)
Sep 26, 2020 | Apologetics
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 I was expecting, but it’s tremendous. Koukl uses what he calls “The Columbo Method,” named for the 1970s series with Detective Columbo, Peter Falk, who had the effective habit of asking annoying questions to get to the truth. What Koukl shows us is that Christians don’t have to be on the defensive, but that we can put the challenges to Christianity, and those who make them, on the defensive. It’s clear that those challenges can’t be defended very well because they are so weak, and questions expose their weaknesses. The beauty of Tactics is that it demonstrates that we as Christians don’t always have to have all the answers. Any Christian can utilize these tactics regardless of the depth of their knowledge. Of course, more knowledge is better than less, and thus we need to do our homework, but the playing field can now essentially be leveled.
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Jul 12, 2020 | Apologetics, Parents and Family
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 culture that is often seen by Christians as a threat to their children is in fact their best friend, if we know how to use it. Woody Allen is always a great opportunity to do that. He is one of the few movie makers in Hollywood (although New York through and through) who deals with the big questions of life head on, and this movie is a wonderful example of that. Allen’s worldview is as secular as secular gets, and his movies are an excellent way to teach your children, or anybody else, the shallow, vacuous nature of such a life. It promises fulfillment, meaning, purpose, and hope, but never delivers. His movies always end in resignation to one degree or another. Since he can’t bring himself to believe in God, and in this movie he tries really hard (and it’s hilarious), whatever this unfulfilling life offers, that’s the best you can get. So eat, drink, and be merry, and go to art shows, as best you can. (more…)
Jun 10, 2020 | Apologetics
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 imply, is that I have a really hard time believing in an afterlife, that there is an actual eternal, forever life after we die. Don’t you too? It’s intuitively easier for me to believe that when we die we just become worm food, and that’s it. We pass out, the heart stops beating, the brain goes silent, and it’s darkness forever. Part of the reason for my incredulity is that the communications apparatus of the entire Western world is secular from beginning to end: our education, media, entertainment, all of it asserts and implies, 24/7, that this life is it! So of course it’s difficult to believe that this life isn’t it! (more…)
May 8, 2020 | Apologetics, Epistemology - Trust
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 ministry at USC, and had some part in leading him to Christ. We stayed friends after that, and he even attended Westminster Seminary with my wife and I for a time, but we lost connection with him somewhere in the mid-90s. The dream was simple. He showed up in the dream, and let me know he was no longer a Christian. I asked what he was, and he said nothing. I told him that wasn’t possible, that he had to believe in something! Then it was over. When I woke up I said to myself, I have to write something about this!
Most people are under the impression when they don’t believe in Christianity, or reject it, they are in some neutral place where belief or faith or religion isn’t required; they’ll just sit this one out for now. That, of course, is impossible, as I’ve argued here before. There is no metaphysical neutrality. As Dylan sang in his Jesus phase, you gotta serve somebody, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody. (more…)
Apr 9, 2020 | Apologetics
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 last week, probably the most important chapter in all of the Bible because it credibly affirms that event, the resurrection of Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us that the implication of Christ’s resurrection has eternal implications for those of us who trust its salvific meaning, the resurrection of the dead. If Christ was raised from the dead, so will if; if he did not, neither will we. He did, and we will! As I argued in my previous post, we have every reason to be confident this is true. In this final section of the chapter, Paul gets into detail about what exactly our resurrected bodies will be like, although for us words can hardly capture the reality.
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