25Nov 2019 by Post

Did Paul really change his tactics after Athens and begin to take a dim view of apologetics?

Acts, Apologetics, Christianity, Erik Manning, Greeks, IsJesusAlive, Jesus, Paul, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Erik Manning Some Christians have argued that apologetics is a waste of time. We aren’t supposed to be arguing with unbelievers; we’re just called to preach the simple gospel. If we’re faithful to do that, the Holy Spirit will supernaturally come to our aid — either in supernatural conviction, or performing signs and wonders through us that no one can gainsay. To support this view, these well-meaning believers will point to Paul’s so-called ‘failure’ in Athens. Paul debated with the thinkers of Mars Hill, using natural theology and quoting their own philosophers in order to persuade them of the truth of the gospel. Paul’s results were modest. Acts 17:32-34 reads: “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you…
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25Nov 2019 by Post

¿Por qué no soy Fideísta? Parte III

Apologética, Cristianismo, Español, Fe Razonable, Fideismo, Teología, Xavier Gonzalez
Por Xavier González Parte I: Definición e historia del Fideísmo. Parte II: La historia de cristianos con una fe razonable. Promotores de la Fe Razonable Como vimos anteriormente los primeros cristianos no fueron fideísta, y eso va en total contradicción con los fideístas y ciertos ateos que aseguran que la fe es ciega e irracional, y que existe una contradicción entre la fe y la razón, pero ¿dirían lo mismo aquellos cristianos que tienen alguna especialización académica? ¿Aquellos que procuraron en saber adónde se fundamenta su fe, pensaron lo mismo, así como lo hicieron los apologistas del segundo siglo? ¿O tuvieron (y tienen) buenas razones para pensar que realmente la fe cristiana es una fe razonable? Citaremos ciertas afirmaciones de diferentes académicos que van en esta línea de pensamiento:  La…
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24Nov 2019 by Post

Fast Track: Speeding Ben Shapiro and David Berlinski to You NOW

Ben Shapiro, Ben Shapiro Show, David Berlinski, Discovery Institute, drug trials, essentialism, Evolution, evolutionary science, Fast Track, Germans, human beings, Human Nature (book), interview, Jews, Nazis, philosophy, prescription medicines, science, social consequences, Sunday Special, USFDA
Wow, this is an amazing, hour-long conversation between Ben Shapiro and our Discovery Institute colleague David Berlinski. It’s today’s Sunday Special on the Ben Shapiro Show and you can watch it here on YouTube: Berlinski is wise and hilarious, and Shapiro a very fitting interlocutor. David’s new book, which forms the spine of the interview, is Human Nature, out now. I’ll have more to say on their interaction later. But in the spirit of the Fast Track program of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, hastening needed prescription medicine ahead of otherwise routine burdensome drug trial requirements, here are David and Ben right NOW, covering the philosophical and political attack on essentialism, why evolution is fundamentally at odds with a fixed nature to human beings (or dogs, or anything else…
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23Nov 2019 by Post

Reactions to John Crist’s Moral Failings Demonstrate Our Culture’s Confusion about Christianity

Apologetics, Apologetics for Parents, Christianity, ChristianMomThoughts, Christians failures, John Crist, Natasha Crain, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Uncategorized
By Natasha Crain News broke yesterday that popular Christian comedian and YouTuber John Crist has come forth with an admission of ongoing “sexual sin and addiction struggles” after multiple women exposed years of his sexually immoral behavior. Honestly, my heart sank when I saw this. I love Crist’s videos. We watch them with our kids. In fact, our family had just watched one of his most popular ones, “Church Hunters,” this week! If you’re not familiar with Crist, he pokes fun at evangelical culture through his videos, and in a way that you can typically nod along with because they (unfortunately and humorously) hit close to home. Church Hunters, for example, is a parody that features a couple searching for a new church, but they’re considering all the wrong criteria…something…
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23Nov 2019 by Post

Is Chick-fil-A chicken? And your questions

AFR, Apologetics, app, Chick-fil-A chicken, cross examined, cross examined official podcast, CrossExamined, crossexamined podcast, Frank Turek, google play, iTunes, Podcast, podcasting, Radio, Radio Show, Spotify, stitcher, Weekly Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window Jesus said that you can’t serve both God and money.   It looks like Chick-fil-A may be sacrificing God for money.  Under pressure from LGBTQ activists, they’ve decided to stop supporting the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  They say they want to focus their charitable giving “in areas of education, homelessness, and hunger.” Newsflash:  That’s exactly what the Salvation Army and FCA do! Now, Chick-fil-A can give or not give to whomever it wants.  But don’t say the reason you’re not giving to the SA or FCA is that you want to focus your giving on exactly what those organizations are already doing! There must be something else going on here. Join Frank as he investigates that and answers questions on: Theistic evolution:…
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23Nov 2019 by Post

“Relentless and Devastating”: Mathematician Stephen McKeown on Berlinski’s Human Nature

Dallas, David Berlinski, Evolution, history, Human Nature (book), mathematics, quiddities, science, scientific knowledge, Stephen McKeown, University of Texas, wit, writers
More terrific endorsements for Human Nature! Here is mathematician Stephen McKeown on the latest from David Berlinski: Another tour de force by David Berlinski. Few writers indeed, about science or society, can boast such a thoroughgoing command of the significant ideas of the past century, the confident mastery of every centrally significant scientific theory. Yet if Berlinski derives obvious joy from the great theories that unify the world, he is never more memorable than when he vividly displays its irreducible particulars, holding the quiddities of place and person more clearly before our imagination than we might even see them ourselves. If Berlinski glories in science’s achievements, he is no less dismissive of those attempts to see pattern and abstraction born not of vision but of ignorance; and he repeatedly marshals…
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22Nov 2019 by Post

Animal-Rights Fanatic Stabs Woman for Wearing Fur

A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy, abortion, Animal Liberation Front, animal rights, Ask Carla, Cleveland Heights, Culture & Ethics, Fairmount Boulevard Church, fur coat, Meredith Lowell, mouse, PETA, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, video game, violence
The animal rights movement insists it is peaceable. For the most part — but certainly not universally — most adherents are not violent. At the same time, the movement’s condemnation of violent acts undertaken in the name of animal rights generally is muted. As I pointed out in A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy, there was scant opposition from movement activists to the violent acts and terroristic threats committed by groups like the Animal Liberation Front and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. For example, several years ago, PETA implicitly praised the terroristic ALF by explicitly refusing to condemn activists’ lawless tactics in its “Ask Carla” feature. If It Had Been a Pro-Lifer Ditto, it seems, this story: An animal rights fanatic — previously arrested for seeking…
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21Nov 2019 by Post

David Berlinski Joins Ben Shapiro on Sunday Special; Exhaustive Discussion of…Neutrino Mass?

Ben Shapiro, Culture & Ethics, David Berlinski, Evolution, human nature, Human Nature (book), Mass, neutrinos, Stephen Meyer, subscribers, The Ben Shapiro Show
David Berlinski’s latest, Human Nature, caught the attention of Ben Shapiro, who will discuss it and other matters with Dr. Berlinski for an hour on the Ben Shapiro Show’s Sunday Special, this Sunday, November 24. Here is a preview. Yes, as a colleague points out, it’s classic Berlinski: Don’t worry, what David says here about the neutrino and its mass — he’s only kidding! David B. and Ben Shapiro are a matchup that you’ll want to see, both brilliant personalities, but in such interestingly different ways. Stephen Meyer was on the Sunday Special this past March and he and Ben had a fantastic, fascinating conversation. In case you missed, it’s here. From past experience, the Sunday Special goes out to subscribers first, and is available on YouTube by the end…
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20Nov 2019 by Post

Was Apollonius of Tyana a Jesus Parallel?

4. Is the NT True?, Apollonius of Tyana, Apologetics, Christianity, Evidence, Gospels Report, history, Jesus Christ, Jesus resurrection, New Testament, Skeptics, The Skeptics’ Best Parallel, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Ryan Leasure Bart Ehrman is the most popular skeptic in America today. Writing at super-sonic rates, his books seem to find their way on the New York Times Bestseller list about every other year. Because of his rapid output and wide popularity, his views are spreading like gangrene across the American landscape (and beyond). Additionally, Ehrman is a professor of religion at UNC-Chapel Hill where he works to cripple the faith of every young Christian who enters his classroom. He shares one of his faith-crippling tactics in his book How Jesus Became God. Ehrman tells the story of beginning his class by sharing this description of a famous man from the ancient world. “Before he was born, his mother had a visitor from heaven who told her that her…
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20Nov 2019 by Post

Another “Earth-Like” Planet Found? Or More Fake Science News?

Discovery Institute, fake news, Guillermo Gonzalez, habitability, habitable zone, ID The Future, Jay Richards, journalism, K2-18b, liquid water, News Media, Physics, Earth & Space, Podcast, press release, Privileged Planet, rain, red dwarf, science, science writers
“Of course some science writers really jumped on this, and excitedly thought, ‘Oh! Liquid water, within the habitable zone’” — and here he gasps — “‘therefore, LIFE!’” So says astronomer and Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Guillermo Gonzalez about recent media reports of yet another alien “Earth-like” planet, this one romantically named K2-18b, orbiting a red dwarf star 124 light years from us. Sample headline, “It’s got water and the right temperature: Planet found that could support life.” Rain may bespatter the surface (if it has a solid surface, which seems doubtful) of K2-18b. “That’s all you need!” exclaims Jay Richards, who co-authored Privileged Planet with Gonzalez. The two have fun with the science news on a new episode of ID the Future. Despite the hype, Dr. Gonzalez concludes, “This is definitely not…
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