The following is intended for a Sunday School class at McIlwain Presbyterian Church. Atheists: A Sampling of the More Popular Players: Sam Harris Richard Dawkins Christopher Hitchens (deceased) Daniel Dennet Bill Nye Lawrence Krauss Peter Singer Alex Rosenberg Steven Pinker Alex O'Connor (Cosmic Skeptic) Frederick Nietzche (deceased) Bertrand Russel (Deceased) ---------- Humanist Manifesto I [...]
When it comes to the world of mixed martial arts, you'll hit someone in one of two ways. The first occurs in the gym while sparring. Here the idea is to sharpen each others' skills without intentionally crippling the other. The second happens in the ring. Here the intent is to take your opponent's head [...]
Debates are a fickle thing. In order for them to be helpful, which, unfortunately, many are not, there needs to be a few crucial ingredients. (1) Both speakers need to really understand the position they are defending. (2) Both speakers need to be clear and competent presenters. (3) Both speakers need to really understand the [...]
Apologetics 315 Interview with David Wood Excellent interview exploring the subject of Islam. Instead of looking at the historical evidence, which is rarely what Muslims care to explore, David Wood very helpfully shows how one can and should use the Koran itself as a foil to the Muslim’s most common objections against Christianity. Good stuff. [...]
Forget Bell’s drift towards universalism for a moment. If there’s anything apparent in this debate/interview, it’s that Pastor Bell is intent on playing a game. Over and over again he’ll sidestep direct questions about his view, joke around, and play cat and mouse with Justin and Adrian. Don’t get me wrong, the guy is winsome, [...]
The audio bin is overflowing with stuff! So, you guessed it, it’s time to pull out the shotgun and just start firing. Here we go: Peter Williams on the Reliability of the Gospels There are those who can discuss the historical reliability of the Gospels and there are those who can discuss the reliability of [...]
I’d like to draw your attention to a new, snazzy, Reformed, gentle, but not too gentle (like pansy gentle or girl pushup gentle) blog where yours truly is a fellow contributor. In a nutshell, we share our musings about theology, culture, history, books and pretty much anything and everything that strikes our fancy. Since Calvinists, [...]
I never cease to be amazed at what I hear from the mouths of pro-choice advocates. Never wavering from calling the unborn baby a fetus, Professor Chadwick, the pro-choicer, nevertheless concedes that the fetus is human life. This is chilling. For here you have an educated woman advancing, nay, trumpeting the belief that a woman [...]
There is something strangely refreshing, but ultimately terrifying about a consistent atheist. In the course of my listening, it hasn’t been uncommon to hear atheists, even devout atheists, seek to objectify morality, as though there were, even in a wholly materialistic universe, something beyond the purely relativistic with which to anchor their claims. The entire [...]
LinkIt was supposed to be a discussion about extra-terrestrial life, and that occurred to some extent, but it ended up being mostly a debate about intelligent design. And in this discussion revolving around ID, astrophysicist Paul Davies, a man who is also chair of the SETI post detection task force (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), aired [...]
Across the pond in the UK there’s a radio show called “Unbelievable” hosted by Justin Brierley. The purpose of the program is to allow Christians and non-Christians interact in a controlled environment about a variety of topics. Most of the episodes are interesting, although I find myself feeling frustrated with some of guests representing the [...]
LinkNT Wright has written arguably the best book on the literal/physical resurrection of Jesus Christ to date. It is a scholarly gem. So when you set him next to John Dominic Crossan, a man who co-chaired the Jesus Seminar for over ten years, a venture known for its atrocious liberalism, you expect disagreement. And disagreement [...]
See links belowHere recently my wife and I rejoiced over the baptism of our baby daughter, Felicity. It’s funny how things change. Ten years ago I never would have dreamed of having one of my children baptized as an infant. But alas, I’ve been won over by those pesky Presbyterians. Some would say fooled though. [...]
LinkIt was an evening of eschatology… and escalation at times! I can still remember Piper expressing shock over how strongly some of panel members felt about their particular eschatological views. And the funny thing is that Douglas Wilson, who happened to be a contributor that night, was by far the most subdued. He remained perfectly [...]
Click the cigaretteWhen I first heard that Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson were going to be in the same room, on the same stage, at the same time, a shiver of excitement shot through me. I felt like I had been thrown back to sixth grade when Scott Harper started a fight with Daniel Spencer. [...]
Debates between Christians and atheists over the subject of suffering and evil are plentiful. Having listened to a good number of them myself, I cannot say how many times I’ve come away from the dialogue wishing the Christian would be more, well, yes, Christian. In other words, the tendency among apologists is to lose sight [...]
The Sound of Doctrine 