27Jul 2026 by Post

A Fifteen-Second, Five-Finger Response to the Evolution Question

2. Does God Exist?, 3. Are Miracles Possible?, Christianity, Evolution, Gospel, Intelligent Design, Richard Stevens, Scientific Apologetics. apologetics
The friendly, mature volunteer at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden showed us the fascinating internal features of a saguaro cactus skeleton. I marveled aloud at its “amazing design.” The docent (guide) continued: “Yes, the mutations made this beauty of nature.” I didn’t want to argue and so decided not to contest the “mutations made it” claim. But I realized I need a powerful, clear, non-combative, easy-to-remember response to the question, “Why don’t you believe in evolution?” Here’s what occurred to me. We have a Five-Finger Response that does not immediately trigger the usual arguments about the fossil record, Darwin’s finches, bacteria resistance to antibiotics, or species sharing common DNA segments. And we can deliver it all in 15 seconds. The 15-Second Answer When someone asks you: “Why don’t you believe…
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20Jul 2026 by Post

A BRICKMAKER Defense for God’s Existence

2. Does God Exist?, 3. Are Miracles Possible?, Apologetics, bellatorchristi.com, Brian Chilton, Brickmaker, Christian Apologetics, Christianity, God’s existence, Gospel
Recently, several people have approached me and asked if there are good, simple ways to defend the existence of God. Some have said, “You cannot see God, so how do I know for sure that he’s there?” This seems to be one of the most pressing issues that I have seen as of late. In my book Layman’s Manual on Christian Apologetics, I offered a five-point acronym to defend God’s existence; the acronym was called BRICK (BVG theorem, right conditions, information, compassion and ethics, and the Kalam cosmological argument). [1] The book was published in 2019. Since then, I have come across numerous other reasons to believe in God’s existence. With a few adaptations, we can expand BRICK to a BRICKMAKER defense. Let’s take a look at ten good reasons for believing in God’s existence.…
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04May 2026 by Post

Jonah and the Big Fish, Part 2

3. Are Miracles Possible?, Anthony Williams, Apologetics, Archaeology, Assyria, bellatorchristi.com, Big Fish, Christianity, Gospel, history, Jonah, miracles, Nineveh, Old Testament, Prophet
In my previous article, Jonah and the Big Fish Part 1, I spoke about Jonah, the wayward prophet who initially tried to avoid God’s command to warn the people of Nineveh about the impending judgment they were about to receive for the wickedness of their culture. In that article, I discussed the identity of Jonah, who is also mentioned in 2 Kings, as well as the historical realities of Israel, Nineveh (an Assyrian city), and the archaeology that helps us connect what is written to what has been found in the dirt, including what was known for centuries as the grave of Jonah near the lost (but now found) city of Nineveh. I will hereafter do my best to add to the historical and Biblical evidence to show that Jonah and…
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29Apr 2026 by Post

Jonah and the Big Fish (Part 1)

3. Are Miracles Possible?, Anthony Williams, Apologetics, Archaeology, Assyria, bellatorchristi.com, Big Fish, Christianity, Gospel, history, Jonah, miracles, Nineveh, Old Testament, Prophet
The Book of Jonah is very short, only four chapters long. It tells of a prophet named Jonah who was told by God to go to the great city of Nineveh and warn them of a coming judgment. Jonah goes the opposite way on a ship, but a violent storm ends with Jonah being tossed overboard by the sailors because they learn he is fleeing from God. Jonah is swallowed by a great fish, and after three days and some prayers of repentance, he is spit out at Nineveh. [1] He gives his short warning and waits for God to destroy the evil inhabitants. However, the Ninevites repent, and God spares them from the judgment. Jonah is upset with God, Who reminds Jonah that He (God) has every right to…
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20Apr 2026 by Post

Jesus as Clark Kent

3. Are Miracles Possible?, Apologetics, Christianity, Christmas, Clark Kent, Gospel, HeavenNotHarvard.com, Hidden Identity, Jennifer Defrates, Jesus, Superman, Theology and Christian Apologetics
My inner geek is going to show for just a second here. I love superhero origin stories. My favorite part of the story is watching them learn who they truly are, struggle with their powers, and choose the responsibility of sacrificial heroism. Can you imagine Jesus as Clark Kent? Jesus is the ultimate hero, but we really don’t know what his life was like before he was the teacher we know. I really wish we could see those early moments of Jesus’s life. Talk about the origin of the hero of all heroes! This advent, I’ve been really focusing on Christ’s coming to earth, becoming human, really imagining what that had to be like for Him, to live as a child while being God. We know from Luke 2, that…
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30Mar 2026 by Post

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

3. Are Miracles Possible?, 4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Christianity, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?, Gospel, history, IsChristianityTrue.Wordpress.com, New Testament, Resurrection, Steve Lee
When it comes to the fate of Jesus and determining if he rose from the dead, a historian employs a two-step or stage process to uncover the relevant historical facts surrounding the fate of Jesus and then sifts through the various live explanations to determine the best explanation.  It is somewhat like being a detective. A detective gathers the clues (the established historical facts) and then solves the case (provides the best explanation for the historical facts). ESTABLISHING THE HISTORICAL FACTS There are four established historical facts or truths concerning the fate of Jesus that are widely accepted by critical scholars today.  Here is a quick acronym to remember these four historical truths: BEAT.   B = Burial E = Empty Tomb A = Appearances of Christ T = Transformation of the Disciples   Dr. Craig…
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10Sep 2025 by Post

Why Demanding Extraordinary Evidence Makes Little Sense

3. Are Miracles Possible?, 4. Is the NT True?, Al Serrato
Many skeptics approach “the evidence” for Christianity with a closed mind. Hobbled by a number of presuppositions, they typically end up where they begin: convinced that God simply would not have made himself so difficult to detect. Many will back up their position with a challenge – because Christian claims are so “extraordinary,” they say, only “extraordinary evidence” will be sufficient to persuade them. Upon reflection, however, it is quickly apparent that this is a rather odd, and in the end self-defeating, way to go about the task of acquiring knowledge. It’s odd because it demonstrates a misunderstanding about the way evidence works. It’s self-defeating because reviewing evidence is supposed to be done so that one can arrive at the truth about what occurred, and when one option – that…
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13Aug 2025 by Post

Let’s Help Harvard Understand Intelligent Design

2. Does God Exist?, 3. Are Miracles Possible?, Apologetics, Christianity, design argument, Evolution, Gospel, Harvard, Intelligent Design, Jonathan McLatchie, JonathanMclatchie.com, naturalism, scientific apologetics
Last week, my wife and I spent an afternoon at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, in Cambridge, MA, near where we live. We both were generally impressed by the exhibitions, particularly the dinosaur section, and would recommend the museum to anyone visiting Boston. I was, however, quite disappointed to see this notice at the entrance to the display on evolution: It was disappointing to see the inaccurate representation of intelligent design (ID), along with the poor scientific epistemology. A “Super-Natural Explanation”? First, proponents of ID have long stressed that ID, in its purest sense, does not necessarily postulate a supernatural cause but is consistent with a natural or supernatural intelligence. Furthermore, I would contend that the natural / supernatural distinction is problematic. What precisely is meant when a phenomenon…
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23Jun 2025 by Post

The Miracles in Acts, and Their Evidential Value Part 2

3. Are Miracles Possible?, 4. Is the NT True?, and Philip., Apologetics, Gospel, In this second part of a two-part series, Jonathan McLatchie surveys the historical evidential case for the miracles of Acts, Peter, with the miracles of Paul
[Editor’s Note: In part 1 of this series, Jonathan McLatchie introduced the book of Acts for it’s miracle accounts and the evidential value they carry. He argues that at least some of these miracles cannot be rationally dismissed out of hand but rather carry demonstrable evidential value for understanding the events of biblical history. McLatchie began by focusing on the miracles of the Apostle Paul. In Part 2, we pick up with more Pauline miracles.] Striking Elymas Blind: Acts 13:4-12 recounts Paul’s and Barnabas’ encounter with a magician by the name of Bar-Jesus, also called Elymas, on the island of Cyprus. Luke indicates that “he was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God,” (v. 7).…
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18Jun 2025 by Post

The Miracles in Acts, and Their Evidential Value

3. Are Miracles Possible?, 4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Book of Acts, Christianity, Early Church, Evidence for God, Gospel, historical apologetics, Jonathan McLatchie, JonathanMclatchie.com, miracles, natural, supernatural
The book of Acts recounts various miracles performed by Paul and the other apostles, as well as the deacons Stephen and Philip. If it can be shown that these miracle reports substantially represent the testimony of these individuals, then this is an important aspect of the testimony that must be accounted for. For reasons I have discussed at length previously, there is strong reason to believe that the apostles sincerely believed what they claimed. As William Paley puts it, “there is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be original witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,…
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