Really Recommended Posts
Really Recommended Posts 02/03/12
Says the Madman, “Humanity is Dead, and We Are Its Murderers”– An insightful post which argues that naturalism has undermined the worth and value of humans.
Zombies of Christianity– I really enjoyed this discussion of the diversity of doctrine in Christianity and how to approach it.
My latest post on abortion generated some controversy, but I’d like to point out that scientifically, the unborn simply is a human being. One can find this not only in numerous medical textbooks on embryology, but also in the words of abortions-rights advocates themselves. Check out this phenomenal post which outlines the fact that the unborn are human beings, period- Medical Testimony.
C.S. Lewis is one of the greatest Christian Apologists of all time. Check out this post which brings us Beyond Mere Christianity. Interested in literary apologetics? Check out Holly Ordway’s guest post on my blog here.
A Response to the Problem of an ‘Evil God’ as Raised by Stephen Law.– An excellent article, which I don’t fully agree with (I think Edward Feser answers the challenge correctly, for example), but which provides a thorough critique of Law’s position.
The Artist: A Film Review and Reflection- Holly Ordway shares her thoughts on “The Artist.”
How Many Atheists in America? Fewer than You Might Think– Pretty self explanatory.
Really Recommended Posts 01/26/12
Jump: Hiking the Transcendent Trail– I can’t describe how aesthetically pleasing this site is. But, apart from that, Anthony Weber outlines a basic argument from aesthetics towards the existence of God. I found this post really interesting and mind-opening. Check it out!
Was Adolf Hitler a Better Man Than Martin Luther King, Jr.?– Relativism cannot make sense of moral heroes. Arthur Khachatryan makes an excellent argument towards this end here.
Maverick Philosopher: Why Do Some Physicists Talk Nonsense about Nothing?– A discussion of Lawrence Krauss’s position on the universe from “nothing.” [Warning: There are a few curse words here.]
My recent discussion of the moral argument had many up in arms about the fact that I didn’t explicitly defend its premises. [Note that that was never the intention of the post, as its title explicates.] Glenn Peoples has an excellent post defending P1 of the moral argument: that If God did not exist, there would not be any objective moral values or duties. Check out his “The conditional premise of the moral argument.”
Ehrman’s Problem: He Misreads the Bible and Impugns God’s Fairness– Clay Jones discusses a number of difficulties with Bart Ehrman’s interpretations of the Bible. Check out the entire series. Part 2: Free Will and Natural Evil Part 3: God Could Have Made Us So We’d Always Do Right Part 4: Why Don’t We Abuse Free Will in Heaven? Part 5: God Should Intervene More to Prevent Free Will’s Evil Use He’s Confused About the Free Will Defense
Alexander Vilenkin: “All the evidence we have says that the universe had a beginning.”- Discussion of reasons to hold the universe began based on cosmology.
Really Recommended Posts 01/14/2012
It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these. The holiday season had me a bit too busy to explore other sites! Sorry all! But here’s a new slew of posts I really recommend for your reading!
Did Jesus even exist?– the title is pretty self-explanatory. Rather than focusing on varied historical accounts, though, this post surveys several non-believers quotes on the topic.
Undesigned Scriptural Coincidences: The Ring of Truth– One of the old, forgotten arguments of historical apologetics is experiencing a major revival thanks in large part to the contributions of philosopher Tim McGrew. Christian Apologetics UK has this simply phenomenal post on the topic. Basically, the argument shows that without intending to do so, writers in the Bible omit and fill in each others’ details that they wouldn’t have seen as all that important. In doing so, however, they demonstrate the truth of the Biblical account. Check out this post!
Does the Bible teach that faith is opposed to logic and evidence?– Check out this post on the Biblical view of faith.
What if God were really bad?– Glenn Peoples is one of my favorite philosophers. He’s insightful, witty, and just plain interesting. In his latest podcast, he confronts Stephen Law’s “Evil God challenge” head on. Check it out!
William Lane Craig rebuts the “Flying Spaghetti Monster”– Self-explanatory. Check out Craig’s answer to a question about the FSM.
Nicolas Steno: bishop and scientist– I love posts that are mini-biographies of Christians who also did science. Check this one out, I bet you didn’t know about this guy!
Stephen Hawking: God Could not Create the Universe Because There Was No Time for Him to Do So– Jason Dulle provides an analysis of Hawking’s argument against creation. This is an excellent post and I highly recommend it.
Modal Realism, the Multiverse, and the Problem of Evil– Considerations of the multiverse with the problem of evil. Succinct and interesting!
Really Recommended Posts 11/5/11
Over at Hope’s Reason, Steve Bedard wrote a succinct post on the “Roots of Religion.”
A debate between Paul Copan and Norman Bacrac on “Is God a Moral Monster?”
Josiah Concept ministries has been featuring a series on “True Christianity.” Great stuff. Check out Part 3.
Philochristos has a great section on Mormon Epistemology that has a number of posts worth checking out.
Why do people hate Tim Tebow so much? Is it a reflection of Christophobia? Check out what First Things has to say on the topic. See also Erik Manning’s discussion.
What do you mean by literal? N.T. Wright makes some great points about interpretation of Scripture.
A serious challenge to Stephen Law’s “evil god” theory is brought up by Edward Feser. For a quick explanation of the challenge, see his posts on the topic.
Many people have been wishing that William Lane Craig had used the ontological argument in the debate with Stephen Law. Why? Well, because it would have really undermined his ‘evil god’ challenge. See Doug Geivett’s thoughts.
Really Recommended Posts: Halloween Edition 2011
Halloween is tomorrow, as you all know. Christians often wonder about this holiday. I’ve collected some links to blogs on the topic. The list will grow through tomorrow.
Sent into the Harvest: Halloween on Mission– Over at Desiring God, check out this post which points out Christians are sent to the world.
The Tricky Topic of Halloween– RTB scholar Ken Samples discusses Halloween. As usual, his insight is both clear and compelling. He shares some history of Halloween as well as suggestions to Christians about the holiday.
Halloween- The Great Omission?– A phenomenal post on a mission-oriented view of Halloween.
Hallelujah, Harvest, and Halloween Alternatives– Discussion about how Christians have utilized Halloween and made an alternate celebration or holiday.
A balanced perspective on the topic found at: As a Christian, Should I celebrate Halloween?
Redeeming Halloween– Discussion of the book, “Redeeming Halloween” by Kim Wier and Pam McCune.
Thank God for Halloween– John Mark Reynolds writes about the topic and points out a key fallacy in the argument that Christians shouldn’t celebrate Halloween.
Halloween: Fascinated by Spirituality?– Interesting discussion on the motivations of Halloween and Christianity.
What is Halloween?– Discusses the background of the holiday and some of the traditions that go with it.
A different perspective (with which I disagree, but respect) is given over at Christian Answers: Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?
A respectful, middle-of-the-road answer to the question “Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?” is given over at Grace Communication International.
Image Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pumpkin_Patch.jpg
Really Recommended Posts 10/22
Why Do Atheists Talk So Much About Religion?– A short, interesting post with a self-explanatory title. Check it out.
Ah, Richard Dawkins, when will he learn that attacking people doesn’t make their views wrong? His buddy PZ Myers has actually attacked me personally as well, but that’s beside the point. Check out Max Andrews’ thoughts on Dawkins refusing to debate Craig. Dawkins, of course, enlists the help of his yes man Myers.
Undesigned Coincidences and the Historicity of the New Testament– This is a great apologetics video making the rounds. The “undesigned coincidences” argument is one which is slowly seeing a revival–in part due to Dr. Tim McGrew, a friend of mine and a phenomenal philosopher. Check it out.
A Review of “The Magic of Reality”– Dawkins has been adamant that we should not indoctrinate our children. Yet his new book is intended to do just that: indoctrinate children with atheism. Check out this timely review over at Deeper Waters.
Sharing the Gospel – 10 Surprisingly Simple Tips for Talking with Cult Members (part 1)– it is what it says… some great hints for witnessing when the cults come a-knockin’.
The Book of Mormon, 1/18– part one of a series in which an apologist reads through the Book of Mormon. Great stuff.
Really Recommended Posts 10/15/11
Mexico City Proposes Temporary Marriages– Yeah, it’s crazy.
On Symbiosis– Paul Adams points out a simple, but important point. Check it out.
Is Intuition an Unjustifiable Reason for Faith?– Great post by Erik Manning on the use of of intuition and issues of faith.
What is True Christianty?(tm)– at Josiah Concept Ministries, a great discussion of what makes someone a Christian (or not).
Humorless Humanist Humor– At “No Apologies Allowed”–a great comic showing the bankruptcy of humanism.
Is Mormonism a Cult?– A phenomenal side-by-side comparison of Christianity and Mormonism.
Richard Swinburne on “A skeptical age.”
Really Recommended Posts 9/23
The World’s First Talking Chair Shows Up in the UK– one of my favorite websites, No Apologies Allowed, has recently featured a comic on Dawkins’ failure to man up and meet William Lane Craig in a debate on the existence of God. Given the absolute trouncing Craig gave to Dawkins’ buddy, Sam Harris, it’s not surprising Dawkins is hiding as far from this debate as possible.
Thinking Christian is another site I follow closely, and he recently had two fantastic posts. The first is a review of the Intelligent Design movie, “Metamorphosis.” I recently purchased the film but have yet to watch it. I anticipate it greatly. The second post points out some pretty interesting aspects about how the “person” status of slaves was revoked–just as people now revoke the unborn’s “person” status. Check out his post, “Non-Persons Yesterday and Today.”
Holly Ordway over at Hieropraxis has another interesting post which reflects on why we should be “Reclaiming Story for Christ.” Holly has a ton of awesome posts, and I highly recommend her site.
“God is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of ‘Love Wins'” by Kevin DeYoung. I think the title says it all.
Randy Everist over at “Possible Worlds” has a fun post reflecting on the “Worst Objection to the Kalam Cosmological Argument.” For some reason I can’t get a direct link, so simply go to his site http://randyeverist.com/ and scroll down.
Readers should recognize that I’ve also been focusing on the Kalam recently, and can check out my more recent posts on the topic: Dawkins and Oppy vs. Theism: Defending the Kalam Cosmological Argument; “The Multiverse Created Itself” and “Who Made God after all?”- The Kalam Cosmological Argument
Do you like Biblical Archaeology? I do! Jason Dulle over at Theo-sophical Ruminations has featured another post in his series on the topic. This one features the ossuary of Caiaphas.
Image Credit:
Really Recommended Posts 9/16
Yes the picture is another pun. I know, I know.
Infatuation with the “New” a Defense of the Old– Ever catch yourself latching onto something just because it’s the latest thing on the block? You’re not alone. But there’s something to be said for this infatuation of the “new.” Check out this excellent post on the topic.
The Dead Sea Scrolls- Biblical Archaeology– the 32nd in a series of posts at Theosophical Reuminations by Jason Dulle on… you guessed it, Biblical Archaeology. Really a phenomenal series. I can’t stress enough how much I think readers should check out the whole thing.
Imaginative Apologetics: A Reflective and Analytical Review– You won’t often see links to book reviews on my recommended posts, but I think this is a very interesting review. I have not read the book, but it seems the basic premise is that we must use our imaginations when it comes to a defense of the faith. Really interesting read.
Could a universe create itself?– There is some confusion among astronomers and physicists of late. Stephen Hawking proposed the universe could create itself. Lawrence Krauss argued in his debate with William Lane Craig that “nothing” has potential to create. Edgar Andrews, author of the book Who Made God? (my review here) addresses these arguments clearly and succinctly. Highly recommended.
The Essence of Every False Religion– No Apologies Allowed is one of my favorite apologetics websites. Most often, comics are featured–with a video here and there. They all give me food for thought. After checking out this link/comic, check out the rest of the site!
Christian Responses to 9/11– a list of Christian Apologetics Bloggers’ responses to 9/11.
Really Recommended Posts 9/8
I’ve decided to change up my format a bit for these posts. Rather than just offering links with brief explanations, I will offer a bit of commentary and/or critique as I see fit. Also, rather than having links at the end, you can click on the link titles to go directly to the pages. Finally, yes that picture is supposed to be a pun.
Mathematicians and Philosophers: René Decartes: a really awesome discussion from Marvin Bittinger which explains briefly Descartes’ contributions to math and faith.
If you liked that one, check out Marvin’s other posts, including one on Blaise Pascal here.
Jason Dulle has been writing a series of posts on Biblical Archaeology. They each focus on a discovery which shows the truth of specific Bible passages. These posts are eminently readable and Jason helpfully sums up the Biblical significance. I highly recommend both his main site and the series. You can a sample of his posts here: Belshazzar; Nehemiah 2. Check out his site.
Joy of Dead Babies? Steve Bedard looks at one of the hard verses of the Bible: “Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” (Psalms 137:9 ESV). I think Steve has some really excellent points here about interpretation. We must remember the genre and intent of the verses we read.
Living in the Multiverse: Is it Science?– a great blog about the multiverse from Max Andrews. He outlines some philosophy of science, then delves into multiverse theories, and finally adds a comment (I hesitate to call it an argument) that the multiverse would show the artistry of the Creator. I’m not sure I buy into the multiverse, but Max makes a compelling case. You can also check out his post on the theological implications of the multiverse.
Letter to a Christian Nation: Entry 1, Pages 1-7– Justin Effler is reading through Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation and doing a great job pointing out some fallacies and errors in thinking. First up: Harris’ redefinition of “atheist.”
Rejecting Christian Theism Because It’s Just Too Much Work– Wintery Knight outlines a dialogue in which Jim Wallace and an atheist were speaking. The atheist rejects theism because they don’t feel like taking the time to investigate.
http://whomadegod.org/ -Edgar Andrews’ site for his blog and book, “Who Made God.” It’s a phenomenal read that I just finished today. I highly, highly recommend it. Find it on amazon.
J.W. Wartick - Reconstructing Faith 
