The Scandal of Elite Evangelical Compromise

academia, Apologetics, Big Eva, Bill Dembski, BillDembski.Sustack.com Shepherds for Sale, Christian culture, Christianity, Evangelical, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Megan Basham
A blogger I read regularly alerted me to Megan Basham’s new book Shepherds for Sale, subtitled How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. It was released [at the] end of July. I was intrigued by the book because it claimed to be exposing compromise infecting many evangelical elites, especially among Southern Baptists. As it is, she is a Southern Baptist, and for over a decade I had moved in that world both at the more liberal Baylor University (the “largest Baptist university in the world”) and then at two of the main Southern Baptist seminaries (in Louisville and in Ft. Worth). Baylor president Robert Sloan had hired me in 1999 to found and run an intelligent design think tank (the Michael Polanyi Center). The backlash from Baylor faculty was intense,…
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A Quarter of Comatose Patients May Be Aware But Unable to Communicate

brain activity, brain responses, brain scans, cognitive motor dissociation, comatose, communication technologies, consciousness, Elon Musk, fMRI, Julian Nowogrodzki, Medicine, Neuralink, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, Noland Arbaugh, patient assessment, patients, Technology
“Covertly” means that the patients were not able to respond directly but brain activity showed that they understood what was asked of them. Source
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How to Love Your Neighbor Through Politics | with Wintery Knight & Desert Rose

AFR, Apologetics, app, Bible, Christianity, cross examined, Desert Rose, faith, google play, Jesus Christ, philosophy, Podcast, Politics, Radio, Spotify, stitcher, Wintery Knight
What’s the best way to love your neighbor? Christians have a biblical responsibility to love their neighbors by being politically engaged, which is why we’re kicking off a series of very important podcast episodes this fall with the #1 goal of educating you on where each party stands on important cultural, moral, and economical issues. On today’s episode, Frank is joined by special two guests, Wintery Knight and Desert Rose, who have experienced firsthand the negative implications of what happens when a country loses sight of biblical values and goes totally off the rails. How can we prevent the same mistakes from happening here in America? They’ll answer questions like: What is socialism and was Jesus a socialist? Is a forced redistribution of wealth the answer to America’s problems? Does the Book of Acts…
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Robin Collins’s “Fine-Tuning for Discoverability” Argument

anthropic fine-tuning, cosmology, Creation, creator, discernable-discoverability-optimality range, entropy, fine structure constant, fine-tuning, fine-tuning for discoverability, initial conditions, Intelligent Design, John Templeton Foundation, Messiah College, particle physics, physics, Physics, Earth & Space, Robin Collins, signal, The Privileged Planet, Two Dozen (or So) Arguments for God, Yale University
In November 2000 we each presented at the “Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe” symposium at Yale University. Source
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Atheist on the Ropes: Piers Morgan Confronts Richard Dawkins About ID and Stephen Meyer

Atheism, Big Bang, cathedrals, Christmas carols, coder, cosmology, cultural Christian, DNA, faith, Faith & Science, God Hypothesis, Intelligent Design, mental health, physicists, physics, Physics, Earth & Space, Piers Morgan, psychiatrists, Return of the God Hypothesis, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Meyer, theism, young people
There’s something wonderful about watching Dawkins being compelled to watch Stephen Meyer and then being obliged to respond. Source
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Becoming Skeptical of Modern Skepticism

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, bellatorchristi.com, Brian Chilton, Charles Darwin, Christianity, cynicism, David Hume, Doubt, faith, Gospel, Michael Licona, rudooph Bultmann, skepticism, Stephen Meyer, Theology and Christian Apologetics, william lane craig
Some skepticism is warranted. None of us want to live within a paradigm of naivety. No one wants to blindly accept every foolish notion that comes down the pipeline. A quick glance at social media along with the acknowledgment of the tweaks and twists that artificial intelligence can bring to videos and audio files only intensifies our need for discernment. Even still, as believers, we must differentiate between discernment and all-out skepticism. Discernment evaluates data to see whether the information is valid and trustworthy. In contrast, skepticism doubts or denies claims that seem to be grandiose or beyond the status quo. Even more to the point, skepticism can deny propositional claims. When left unrestrained, skepticism could lead to doubt, which in turn can lead to the denial of propositions (i.e.,…
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Beware of People-Pleasing Christians – Plus Q&A

AFR, Apologetics, app, Bible, Christianity, cross examined, faith, google play, Jesus Christ, philosophy, Podcast, Politics, Radio, Spotify, stitcher, Tim Keller
We were made to be the “salt and light” of the world, but if you find yourself getting too much praise from the culture are you really living your life for Christ? Last week, Frank tackled the subject of calling out shepherds that we know are in the wrong (be it theological, political, etc.). For this midweek episode, he continues the conversation by citing an article by Bill Dembski which explores passages in the New Testament that get into the promise of persecution and the dangers of being liked too much by the world. Frank will also address listener questions on the topics of creation, including: Is the universe expanding AND contracting like an accordion? And how can we be confident that creation actually had a beginning? All this and more will be…
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Biophysicist Proposes “Spiritual Particle”

beetroots, consciousness, Daniel Dennett, Darwinian evolution theory, Darwinism, Douglas Youvan, eliminationism, Energy, Evolution, Galen Strawson, illusion, matter, natural selection, neuroscience, Neuroscience & Mind, panpsychism, Physics, Earth & Space, psychology, random mutation, snakes, spiritual particle, universe
It has, Douglas Youvan suggests, a dual nature, interacting with both matter and consciousness. Source
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