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Monthly Archives: December 2010
Online Resources: Francis Schaeffer, Donald Barnhouse, Walter Martin
A few sources of good teaching online: Francis Schaeffer, who has some free online lectures here. who was a great Christian thinker. He recognized trends in culture and faith and was extremely good at predicting the consequences of thought. However, … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Bible
1 Comment
Science and Faith
There seems to be a surge of Christians who hold that there is no essential disharmony with the vast majority of modern science theory and Christianity. In such fields as Theistic Evolution, their views try to harmonize naturalistic science with … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
New Testament Variants: Is the New Testament Copied Accurately?
I ran across a skeptic that has raised the old criticism of textual variants in the New Testament. The quote below is a representation of the typical criticism we see: It has been estimated that these manuscripts and quotations differ among … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Bible
5 Comments
Birth Rate
Last week there was a series of news reports about birth rates. Teen birth rates are down in 2009, to the lowest teen birth rate numbers since health officials started tracking the numbers in 1940. Prior to the 1960′s, most people … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
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Jesus Is Born: Glory to God in The Highest
Jesus had to be born as a man so that He could be mediator, so that His death would be able to pay for human sin. If He were not 100% fully human, His death would not pay for human … Continue reading
Posted in Bible, Theology
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Was Jesus A Story That Copied Pagan Myths?
Skeptics often claim that the story of Jesus in the Bible is a copy of ancient pagan myths. We are told that ancient pagan gods were born of a virgin, had 12 disciples, rose from the dead, etc. This is supposed … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Skepticism
37 Comments
The Problem of Consciousness
Philosophers and brain researchers have had many brain and mind questions elude them. For example, why is it that when we hear a song, we perceive a melody, and not a series of individual tones? We don’t hear 1000 hz, followed … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Atheism, Philosophy
2 Comments
What Was The Star of Bethlehem?
The Bible speaks of a star that the wise men followed to find the newborn Jesus. Often we encounter people who try to explain the star by way of astronomy, trying to align the birth of Jesus with some astronomical … Continue reading
Posted in Bible
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Bankruptcy of Newsweek
This year Newsweek magazine went bankrupt. According to a US News report, they were sold for one dollar to a 91-year old billionaire, who merged the magazine with another money-losing operation. I subscribed to Newsweek off and on for many … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
2 Comments
Support for the Resurrection
Of all the historical evidence that supports the resurrection of Jesus, today I offer but two points. If you were a Jewish leader in the first century and wanted to stop all this new talk about Jesus’ resurrecting, all you … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics
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Aqunas, Free Choice, & Divine Sovereignty, Part 3
This is part 3 of an intermittent series on Thomas Aquinas’ view of free will and divine sovereignty. In the Summa Theologica, 1.83.1, the question is posed “Whether man has free choice?” As is Thomas’ custom, he presents several objections … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Aquinas, Bible, Philosophy
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A Lesson on Being, from The Summa
The following is a quote from Aquinas’ master work, Summa Theologica. It speaks of how God must continually uphold the universe for it to continue its existence. (The first sentence is a little dense, but after that he explains it … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Aquinas, Philosophy
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Yodeling Offensive to Muslims, so QUIET!
It seems some Muslims in Austria “could have been offended” by their neighbor’s yodeling, so the neighbor was fined 800 euros. See the story here. So now we must consider how our normal everyday lives might offend someone who is … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
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Apologetic Quotes
As Christians we accept one foundational truth – God – and everything else makes sense. An atheist denies God and has to accept incredible explanations for everything else. It takes more faith to deny God than to believe in Him. … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Culture
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Book Review: Descartes’ Bones
Descartes’ Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason by Russel Shorto Vintage Books, 2008 Descartes’ Bones tells the story of the life, death, and influence of Rene Descartes. It speaks of Descartes’ ideas and how … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Philosophy
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Soul-Body Dualism? Or Soul-Body Unity?
Rene Descartes (d.1650) is often credited with starting the discussion about a distinction between mind and body. In his book Meditations, Descartes began a mental exercise that involved systematic doubt. He doubted everything he could doubt……doubting whether his senses were deceived, … Continue reading
Posted in Aquinas, Bible, Philosophy
2 Comments
What is the Relationship Between Faith and Reason?
Most people have incorrectly come to say that faith is accepting something blindly, without evidence, or even contrary to evidence. However, faith is defined differently; faith means to take something by authority, as contrasted to by empirical evidence. For example, … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics
12 Comments
What is Apologetics? Why Should We Use It?
Apologetics comes from the Greek word apologia, which means to give a defense. Apologetics defends Christianity from attack. The field of apologetics gives a defense of the Christian faith, both from attacks that originate externally and internally. As Norman Geisler … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Bible
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Flannery O’Connor Quote
A telling quote from the famous author Flannery O’Connor: “So I couldn’t make any judgment on the Summa, except to say this: I read it every night before I go to bed. If my mother were to come in during … Continue reading
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A Few Quotes About Hell
Sigmund Freud defined an illusion as beliefs that are derived from human wishes. “We call a belief an illusion when a wish-fulfillment is a prominent factor in its motivation, and in doing so we disregard its relations to reality” (Future … Continue reading
Posted in Bible
10 Comments
Homosexual Molestation, Eagle Scouts, & Society
It seems that every few months there is a story of a Christian minister or priest involved in some sex scandal. There was another in the news a few days ago. Whenever I see a story on this, I am … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
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Evidence Against Myth, Legend, & Copy Errors: The John Ryland Fragment
In 1920, Bernard Greenfell acquired some papyri in Egypt. Among them were some small fragments.. This 2.5 by 3.5 inch papyrus rested in the collection of the Johm Rylands Library at Manchester, England until 1934 when a Fellow of … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Church History
2 Comments
The Universe Had A Beginning
An earlier blog post gave the essence of the Kalam argument for the existence of God, which is: 1. Everything that has a beginning had a cause. 2. The universe had a beginning. 3. Therefore the universe had a cause. … Continue reading
Posted in Apologetics, Philosophy
4 Comments
Calvinism & Evangelism: Whence Cometh Thou?
John Calvin (d.1569) was one of the primary leaders of the protestant reformation. His followers developed what is now known as Calvinism, a theological system that focuses on God’s actions. Questions have periodically arisen about how Calvinism relates to missions … Continue reading
Posted in Church History
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The Problem of the One and the Many
When thinking of how people relate to each other and to God, we have the following questions: 1. How can a finite man relate to an infinite God? How can an infinite God communicate with finite man? 2. Why is … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy
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