Category: Apologetics

Intellectualism and Scholarship for Christ

On the other side of our language is something which sustains it which can’t be contained within it … and that’s what we call God.

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Olin Hall

As Christians, we naturally emphasize faith because faith is what God rewards. Faith is what connects us to God. Without faith it’s impossible to please God. But, faith also separates people from God – when they don’t have it.

Faith is a stumbling block for the agnostic and the atheist.

When agnostics and atheists (and sometimes even Christians) talk about faith, they often talk about faith in the “blind” sense, divorced from reason and rationality. Real faith, however, is anything but blind or irrational.

For the Christian, faith informs a God logic that is captured in doctrine. This logic is far from irrational or inconsequential. Faith is part of that God logic, but it isn’t divorced from logic or truths discoverable in  the material world that God created. Continue reading “Intellectualism and Scholarship for Christ” →

The Exclusivity of Truth

We cannot take the position that all religions are getting at the same truth unless we claim the kind of superior knowledge that we say no one has a right to claim.

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On the Right Road - Ellen Posledni
On the Right Road – Ellen Posledni

Most people are not comfortable with atheism. They believe (know?) there is something greater than us, a cosmic Being or some Divine Truth. They intuitively know that the universe did not form itself out of nothing. But many people are also not comfortable with the exclusivity of religious propositions, especially in this post modern, pluralistic world.

In my opinion, the statement that all religions are equally true just doesn’t hold up. I say this having studied world religions in college and being a religious nerd for the last 40 years.

There are some similarities among religions at the surface, and there are some shared principles, but the ultimate, fundamental propositions of the various religions cannot be aligned with each other. Each of them has principals that are exclusive of other principals of other religions.

Most people who are realistic and honest (in my opinion) don’t attempt to say that all religions are true, in this ultimate sense, because it simply isn’t a tenable position, but that thought creates a dilemma. It makes us uncomfortable in the increasingly pluralistic world in which we live.

Continue reading “The Exclusivity of Truth” →

The Ebla Tablets Confirm Biblical Accounts

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Ebla (Syria) by Klaus Wagensonner
Ebla (Syria) by Klaus Wagensonner

Bible skeptics often talk as if there is a dearth of evidence that any of the events in the Bible took place. Skeptics consider the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, as fictional, a fanciful product of the imagination trumped up many, many years after the actual events took place, and full of places and characters that never actually existed. The Ebla Tablets found in Northern Syria tell a different story.

The Ebla Tablets predate the Biblical record that is ascribed to Moses and confirm many of the names, locations and other assertions found in the Mosaic text of the Old Testament.  Continue reading “The Ebla Tablets Confirm Biblical Accounts” →

Exploring the Gospels from Different Angles: Location, Names and Nuance

Dr. Peter J. Williams looks at the Gospels from the angle of location, names and nuances that confirm the authenticity of the Gospels.

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Kinnereth (Sea of Galilee), Israel - panorama of the southern end, February 5th, 2014

I am continually interested in the latest evidence for God and the authenticity of the Bible. Not that I am doubting and looking for evidence to bolster my faith. for me, it’s more like opening presents on Christmas.

I searched, and I found the path that I am on long ago. Not that I was a great discoverer; far from it. God saw me coming. Not that I have arrived, but there is no other path for me. I was meant to be on this one. When Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me”, I believed, and I have not been disappointed in that belief.

I still believe. Not that this belief is unsubstantiated faith. Far from it! God made Himself known to me years ago. He met me where I was then, and He continues to be true, trustworthy, faithful and present today. The older I get and more I learn, the more true it rings. 

At the same time, I have never been more open to entertaining truth than at any other time in my life, except (perhaps) for those years of searching before I became a believer. If God is true, then He stands up to truth wherever we can find it!

Continue reading “Exploring the Gospels from Different Angles: Location, Names and Nuance” →

Previewing the Minimal Facts Critique of the Resurrection

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canstockphoto18553034

If Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead, Christians are to be pitied above all people. These are not my words, or even the words of a famous pastor or teacher. These are the words of Paul right out of his first letter to the Corinthians:

“[I]f Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified [concerning] God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise…. and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” (1 Cor. 15:14-15, 17-19)

Christianity, far from being closed to reason, invites investigation. The importance of reason is built into the greatest commandment: love God with all your heart, soul and mind.

The earliest adherents to Christianity did not hide the fact that the resurrection of Christ is the central tenet of Christianity. They put it out there, front and center, and they were not shy to state the importance of the resurrection.

If the resurrection really happened, it is the single most important event in human history. If it is false, it is the single most influential hoax of all time. Christianity is built on the foundation of the resurrection, and without it, the entire structure of Christianity crumbles.

Dr Gary Habermas knew this when he was struggling with his faith, doubting the veracity of the Bible and Christianity. He knew that the resurrection was the central and crucial component of Christianity. If the resurrection did not happen, not only is the tomb not empty, Christianity is a complete and utter sham.

That was over 30 years ago when Dr. Habermas began exploring the claim that Jesus rose from the dead to confirm or deny his own doubts. That personal exploration led to a career of scholarship on the subject of the resurrection.

Continue reading “Previewing the Minimal Facts Critique of the Resurrection” →