The Widening of God’s Mercy – Book Review

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Christianity, Christopher Hayes, Culture and Politics, Duke, Fuller, gay marriage, Gospel, Homosexuality, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, LGBTQ, New Testament Ethics, Progressive Christianity, Richard Hayes
In the mid-1990’s a Theology professor at Duke Divinity School, named Richard Hayes, wrote a book called The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation, A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics. It made waves in the Evangelical world because it was the first time a relatively liberal theological scholar took a definitive stance on the biblical sexual ethic. For decades conservative Christian scholars and pastors have cited Hays’s work in this book as evidence that scripture speaks clearly on issues concerning human sexuality and morality. There were other, more conservative, names that had come to the same conclusions as Hays prior to and after his book was published. However, the very fact that someone of his pedigree, hailing from such a scholarly institution as Duke University, so…
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How to Make Disciples by Exploring Doubts with CORE Apologetics

Christian Apologetics, Christianity, CORE Apologetics, Dr. Ben Shaw, Dr. Frank Turek, Dr. Ron Davis, morality, philosophy, Podcast, religion, theology
What impact has CORE Apologetics made since its launch just a year ago? At last year’s SES Steadfast conference, CrossExamined Board Member Dan Hodges sat down with Dr. Ben Shaw, CORE’s president and protégé of Dr. Gary Habermas, about the mission of this new apologetics ministry. Now, one year later, CORE has made exciting strides in reaching young people and truth seekers on a journey to discover the facts about Christianity. In this midweek podcast episode, Dr. Ben Shaw returns, joined by CORE’s founder Dr. Ron Davis, to share the latest updates and breakthroughs the ministry has achieved. Join Dan as he catches up with Ben and Ron who will share how CORE is training up a new wave of apologists, how they’re making disciples, engaging Gen Z, and helping…
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Did the Idols of the Old Testament Actually Have Power?

3. Are Miracles Possible?, Apologetics, BellatoriChristi.com, Christianity, Daniel Sloan, False Gods, Gospel, idolatry, Idols, paganism, polytheism, Theology and Christian Apologetics, World Religions
One of the questions that people ask when they read through the Old Testament is “did those little statues that people worshipped actually have any power behind them?” Many scholars agree that people believed that the idols themselves did not hold power but instead represented the pagan gods. The Old Testament itself has two major views on idolatry, one located in the prophets and another located in Deuteronomy. Idolatry in the Prophets The prophets identify idolatry as a major issue within both Israel and Judah during their time and argue that idolatry is worthless.[i] For example, in Isaiah 41, Isaiah 44, and Jeremiah 10, the prophets make it clear that idolatry is useless and meaningless. It holds no power because the idols themselves are created and the gods that they…
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Postcard from Venice: First Pan-European Conference on Intelligent Design

Alessandro Giorgetti, Alfred Krabbe, Carlo Alberto Cossano, Casey Luskin, Centre for Intelligent Design, Centro Italiano Intelligent Design, David Galloway, Discovery Institute, En Arche, Europe, Evolution, Ferdinando Catalano, Intelligent Design, Rope Kojonen, Stanisław Karpiński, theistic evolution, thought police, Venice, Zentrum für BioKomplexität & NaturTeleologie
Recently I had the great privilege and honor to attend a remarkable event in the beautiful and historic city of Venice, Italy. Source
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Pastor Responds to Blowback from His “Vote Like Jesus” Sermon with Pastor Josh Howerton

Christian Apologetics, Christianity, Dr. Frank Turek, Jesus, Josh Howerton, morality, philosophy, Podcast, Politics, religion, theology, Trump
Why do people remain shocked that a majority of Christians (and the nation) voted for Donald Trump? How is that voting like Jesus? This week, Frank invites Pastor Josh Howerton of Lakepointe Church in Dallas, TX to talk about Josh’s recent (and somewhat controversial!) political sermon, ‘How to Vote Like Jesus‘. In it, Pastor Josh points out that when the government moves past things like building roads and teaching kids their ABCs, to redefining marriage, promoting transgender ideology in public schools, and reframing infant murder as “reproductive rights”, it should be clear that Christians need to be involved. But with so much confusion going around about “legislating morality” and “the separation of Church and State”, how can Christians (and their pastors) develop a proper theology of politics? In this podcast, Frank asks Pastor Josh…
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Fossil Friday: New Research on How Delicate Soft-Bodied Organisms Can Be Perfectly Preserved

arthropods, bacterial decay, Burgess Shale, Cambrian Explosion, Charles Doolittle Walcott, China, clay mineralogy, Devonian Hunsrück Shale, digestive tracts, Emu Bay Shale, Evolution, eyes, Fossil Friday (series), fossils, Intelligent Design, Kangaroo Island, Karl Popper, microbes, mudslides, paleontologists, paleontology, preservation, South Australia, taphonomic processes, Theodosius Dobzhansky, turbidites, Waptia fieldensis
All the just-so-stories of macroevolution are completely dispensable in real (experimental) biology. Source
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Design, Engineering, Specified Complexity: Appreciating the Fruit Fly Brain

brains, C. elegans, coherence, Complexity, cortex, crystals, Drosphila melanogaster, efficiency, flight control, fruit flies, Intelligent Design, mating courtship, morphology, mouse, navigation, neural network, neurons, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, optimization, pheromones, Research, snowflake, specified complexity, subnetworks, swarming
Groundbreaking new research has documented the complexity and design of the brains of fruit flies. Source
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ORFanID: An Online Search Engine for Identifying Orfan Genes

bacteria, bioinformatics, C. elegans, D. melanogaster, Discovery Institute, DNA, E. coli, Evolution, evolutionary paradigm, fungi, gene classification, genes, genomes, genomics, genomics analysis, H. sapiens, Intelligent Design, nucleotide sequences, O. sativa, ORfan genes, plants, PLOS ONE, S. cerevisiae, search engine, taxonomic groups, Z. mays
The existence of such genes is surprising given the hypothesis of universal common descent. Source
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