Cosmic Child Abuse? Answering Moral Objections to the Atonement

AFR, Alice Childers, Apologetics, app, 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 For two thousand years, Christians have understood the death of Jesus to be substitutionary—a sacrifice that paid for our sins. From the earliest creeds to the teaching of the New Testament to the writings of the Church Fathers to today, this has been a core belief of Christianity throughout its history. But in modern times, this idea is being repudiated as “Cosmic Child Abuse.” On today’s show, we are going to address these questions: • What is the historic belief of the Christian church on atonement?• Why does God have wrath and how can that be a good thing?• Is penal substitutionary atonement a late invention of medieval Christians?• If God required the sacrifice of his Son, doesn’t that make him a Divine child abuser?•…
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Life is Like Football

Aaron Rodgers, AFR, Apologetics, app, cross examined, cross examined official podcast, CrossExamined, crossexamined podcast, Frank Turek, google play, iTunes, Podcast, podcasting, Radio, Radio Show, Spotify, stitcher, Super Bowl, Weekly Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window Is Christianity a crutch that just makes people feel better? Is Christianity too binary? Too exclusive? Does God want to condemn most of his beautiful creation to a fiery Hell? What if Christianity doesn’t work for you? Doesn’t resonate with you? Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has left Christianity because he believes it is too exclusive, too binary, and that the Christian God wants to condemn most people to a fiery Hell.  Join Frank on Super Bowl weekend as he responds to Aaron’s characterization of Christianity and goes on to point out that all of reality (including football) is binary and that truth is exclusive.  In fact, Frank points out that life is a lot like football in at least seven ways. Subscribe on…
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William Lane Craig Lectures on The Evidence for The Resurrection of Jesus

Apologetics, Christian Apologetics, Christianity, Historical Evidence, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Resurrection, Skeptics, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics, william lane craig, Wintery Knight
By Wintery Knight Here is Dr. William Lane Craig giving a long-form argument for the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus and taking questions from the audience. The speaker’s introduction goes for 6 minutes, then Dr. Craig speaks for 35 minutes, then it’s a period of questions and answers with the audience. The total length is 93 minutes, so quite a long period of Q&A. The questions in the Q&A period are quite good. Introduction: Many people who are willing to accept God’s existence are not willing to accept the God of Christianity Christians need to be ready to show that Jesus rose from the dead as a historical event Private faith is fine for individuals, but when dealing with the public, you have to have evidence When making…
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Sacrifice and Redemption in the Skywalker Saga

Apologetics, Bible, Christian Apologetics, Christianity, FreeThinking Ministries, God, Jesus, Redemption, Sin, Star Wars, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Timothy Fox
By Timothy Fox With the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the “Skywalker Saga” is officially complete (for better or worse), and we can now examine all nine episodes as a completed whole. (Spoilers ahead!) While all of the Star Wars movies carry similar themes, such as hope, the importance of family, and the ultimate triumph of good over evil, I think there is one concept that rises above the rest: redemption. Quickly defined, redemption is the act of making up for one’s past wrongs. The greater the wrongs committed, the greater the necessary actions to atone for one’s past. Redemption usually (always?) involves some sort of sacrifice, and so sacrifice and redemption are closely linked. The two greatest examples of this in the Skywalker Saga involve Darth Vader and Kylo…
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Judaism 101 with Dr. Michael Brown

AFR, Apologetics, app, cross examined, cross examined official podcast, CrossExamined, crossexamined podcast, Frank Turek, google play, iTunes, Judaism, Michael Brown, Podcast, podcasting, Radio, Radio Show, Spotify, stitcher, Weekly Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window Here is our list of questions (we might not get to them all, but we will try to give people an overview of what Jews believe today and how we can best reach them for Jesus). What were the major sects of Judaism in the first century? Pharisees Sadducees Essenes Zealots Others Where did they come from and how did they differ in what they believed? When did synagogues begin, and why did they exist during the Temple period? Once the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, how did Judaism change? How can one obey the OT law if the Temple does not exist? What are the current denominations of Judaism and how do they differ from one another? What are the writings outside the…
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Apologetics and a Different Kind of Persuasion

Apologetics, ApologeticsGuy, apologist, Christianity, Christians, debate, Mikel del Rosario, Persuasion, Skeptics, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Mikel Del Rosario A Different Kind of Persuasion Have you ever found yourself “in debate mode” while talking to a skeptical friend about Christianity? Perhaps this is because many of us have been equipped with apologetic content (arguments for God’s existence, the reliability of the Gospels, etc.) with less of a focus on an apologetic method for use in everyday conversations. Sometimes, we can get so concerned about winning or making a certain point, that we lose the credibility that an ambassador of Christ should have. Others you don’t notice may be watching and listening to your conversation. If the exchange gets heated, some may be thinking, “I don’t care if Christianity is true if it’s not good.” So, is there a different kind of persuasion to employ? At…
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Natural-ly There Is A Problem With Evil

Alex McElroy, Apologetics, Atheism, atheist, Christianity, responding to the problem of evil, the problem of evil, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Alex McElroy One of the most difficult issues to reconcile in life is the presence of evil. This is the case whether one has a theistic, agnostic or atheistic worldview. The existence of evil is undeniable both in our witness and experience but is evil objective in nature or merely an apparition. Even atheist J.L. Mackie recognized a dilemma. In one book, he writes, “There are no objective values.”[1] Elsewhere, he writes, “We might well argue…that objective, intrinsically prescriptive features, supervenient upon natural ones, constitute so odd a cluster of qualities and relations that they are most unlikely to have arisen in the ordinary course of events, without an all-powerful god to create them.”[2] This poses a problem for the naturalist or the atheist because whatever evil does exist…
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How to Respond to People who Mock Christianity

AFR, Apologetics, app, Christianity, 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 How would you answer these questions? How do you know what is important in the Bible? How can I find out if someone is a Christian without sounding confrontational? How can I deal with coworkers who mock Christianity? Does design lose its meaning if you’re saying everything is designed? What do you say to people who claim God is a bad designer? Should Christians boycott certain businesses? These are questions sent in by listeners that Frank answers on this show. While Frank can’t get to all of them if you have a question you can submit it to Hello@Crossexamined.org.  Also, check out these resources: the CrossExamined YouTube channel has answers to hundreds of questions, and several others are answered on the CrossExamined app and CrossExamined…
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Putting God on Trial

Al Serrato, Apologetics, Atheism, atheist, Christianity, evil, God, responding to the problem of evil, Skeptics, Suffering, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Al Serrato “I can’t believe in a God who would allow so much evil and suffering in the world.” Have you encountered this challenge? Most anyone who has tried to defend the Christian worldview surely has. The person bringing this challenge will often claim to be atheist, but when you dig in a bit this challenger is more often someone who knows there is a creator but who is deeply offended by the world, and angry at the God who set all this – the carnage, the anguish, the pain – in motion. In my last post, I restated the traditional Christian response to this problem of evil.  God did not create the evil that surrounds us because evil is not a thing.  Evil is a departure- a deviation-…
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How I Got into Apologetics (And How You Can Too!)

Apologetics, Books, Christian apologetics books, Christianity, Erik Manning, IsJesusAlive, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Erik Manning I am often asked, “how did you get into apologetics?” For some believers, they’ll get interested in apologetics because of a crisis of faith. They’ll have intellectual hurdles that come up that they have to overcome. For me, I never was plagued with doubts. While I spent several years of my life as an atheist, I had a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit. As I walked with God, the inner witness of the Holy Spirit was a real and regular experience. After coming to faith, I felt burdened to share my faith. I would share my testimony with anyone who would give me the time of day and led several of my friends to Christ. (And even a handful of strangers.) I felt, for the most part,…
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