God is the Good

Apologetics, Bellator Christi, Bible, Brian Chilton, Christianity, God, God is the Good, Good, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Brian Chilton At our church, we often say, “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.” But do we really contemplate what that means? What is the good? What does it mean to say that God is good? Around 420 BC, the famed Greek philosopher Socrates conversed with a gentleman named Glaucon about the nature of goodness and justice. Socrates held that an objective standard of the Good existed which transcends personal opinion and belief. Plato, Socrates’s student, analyzed their conversation in his book The Republic. Plato likened the Good to the sun as both provided individuals clarity of sight. As the sun allows one to see in the visible realm, the Good allows one to see in the realm of rationality and metaphysical truths. Like…
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Why We Can’t Know If The Universe Created Itself

Al Serrato, Apologetics, Atheism, beginning of the universe, Christianity, Creation, God, Theology and Christian Apologetics, universe
By Al Serrato In the beginning, was… not the Word …. but the singularity event occurring in absolute nothingness and timelessness that spontaneously created all we see in the universe around us.  So said physicist Stephen Hawking anyway, in his popular book The Grand Design, where he explained that spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing. It is not necessary to invoke God; he concluded, “to light the fuse to set the universe going.” “All it takes is gravity and the existence of, well, multiple other universes.”  Soundbites like these can be disturbing for people of faith. More to the point, they can provide false comfort to those who prefer to suppress their innate knowledge of God. In a recent conversation with a skeptic who…
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How Jesus “Emptied Himself”

Apologetics, Christianity, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Deity, JesusIsNotFakeNews, Ryan Leasure, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Ryan Leasure Few biblical texts receive as much attention as Philippians 2:5-8. It reads: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Theologians have spilt much ink over this text. After all, it’s a rich Christological text which proclaims significant truths about the nature of Christ. But far and away, the most controversial part is the phrase “but emptied himself.” What does this statement mean? The Dilemma Does this mean that Jesus…
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Whose Morality Should We Legislate? 44 Quotes from Frank Turek and Norman Geisler

Apologetics, Culture, Faithful Thinkers, Frank Turek, God, Legislating Morality, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Luke Nix, morality, Norman Geisler, Politics, theology
By Luke Nix “We’re living in a society in which people feel no obligation to control their own actions. Instead, we rationalize and justify every aberrant behavior under the umbrella of freedom granted by the First Amendment, never admitting that freedom without reasonable and responsible limits destroys individual lives and ultimately destroys the fabric of a civilized society.” “It is critical to recognize that the founders [of America] were pledging their lives to restore not someone’s revealed religion, but everyone’s self-evident morality.” “It is important to note that even though the Founders believed the Rights of the people came from God, they did not insist that every citizen believe in God; they simply saw no way to justify those natural moral Rights unless there was a God.” “The Moral Law actually is clear to everyone. It is evident by a person’s reactions rather than by his…
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The Best Kind of Love

Apologetics, christ, Christianity, Culture CrossExamined, Free Thinking Ministries, free will, God, Gospel, If God why Evil, Jesus, Love, the problem of evil, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Tim Stratton
By Tim Stratton Question: Dear Dr. Stratton, In your interview with Jorge Gil on Cross Examined’s Hope One, you attempted to answer “all the problems of evil” by appealing to love. In fact, you said that “the best kind of love requires libertarian free will.”  Surely this is false, for I can think of a counter-example that clearly shows this to be false. After all, the members of the Trinity are the epitome of perfect love and they do not have libertarian free will. They cannot do otherwise. They must love by necessity. So how can “the best kind of love” require libertarian free will? – Phillip Tim’s Response I am thankful for your question, Phillip! When I read it I could have kicked myself for not providing this vital clarification…
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Society in the Hands of an Angry God

Bellator Christi, Brian Chilton, Culture, forgiveness, God, Grace, Jonathan Edwards, Judgment, looting, men, Riots, Sin, Sinners, society, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
On July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards, famed pastor and theologian of colonial America, delivered one of his most famed messages of all-time at a church in Enfield, Connecticut. The title of his message was “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Using Deuteronomy 32:35 as his text, Edwards argued that sinners are kept in the hands of God. Their sin pulls them to hell, whereas God tries to save them from their awful fate in hell. Using vivid language and descriptive adjectives, Edwards notes that the normal state of humanity leads toward destruction. That is, if humanity is left to its own devices, human beings drag themselves to hell. Three important truths are found in Edwards’s classic declaration. The weight of our sin drags us toward destruction. Edwards writes,…
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The Word Of Truth

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Bible, Christian Apologetics, Christianity, God, Jason Jimenez, Skeptics, Stand Strong Ministries, The Word of Truth, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics, truth, Word of God
By Jason Jimenez The Bible has been bashed, terrorized, and burned more than any other book of antiquity!  It has faced enormous challenges of its literal expression as well as the debates over its validity and accuracy from God.  And yet, despite the growing hostility of the Bible, it still remains the most translated, bought, and read book in all of history! The word bible literally means book, which comes from the ancient Greek Papyrus plant, biblos.  Of course, the Bible is not just any book…it is the Word of Truth!  R.A. Torrey explains the Bible as “a revelation of the mind and will and character and being of an infinitely great, perfectly wise and absolutely holy God. God, Himself, is the Author of this revelation. But to whom is the revelation made? To…
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What, Me Worry?

Al Serrato, Apologetics, Christianity, Culture, Doubts, God, Gospel, Jesus, Question, salvation, Security, Sin, soul, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Al Serrato Alfred E. Neumann, the famous face of Mad Magazine for many decades, popularized this slogan. While he wasn’t referring to the question of salvation, this saying does seem to describe the way many people view that question today. Yes, there may be a God; they will concede. But “I’m not worried,” they say. “I’m a good person, after all, and God will judge me accordingly.” In my last post, I considered one of the ways to address this modern mindset, by making the point that expecting God to grade on a curve may not be a smart bet. This time, I’d like to explore a different approach, by examining what people mean when they say they are “good” and why a God they never bothered to get…
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17 Quotes From Ravi Zacharias on God’s Plan For Your Life

Apologetics, Christianity, Faithful Thinkers, God, God's Plan for your life, Luke Nix, Quotes, ravi zacharias, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Luke Nix Introduction I was introduced to Ravi Zacharias‘ talks and books about fifteen years ago. He has had a profound effect on how I communicate and defend the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The way that he always answered an intellectual question yet never forgets the desires, longings and pains of the questioner in his answer has been inspiring. The pain and suffering of life cause many to question God’s goodness and even His existence. One of my favorite books penned by Zacharias is “The Grand Weaver.” Today, I bring you several of my favorite quotes from that book and talk that Ravi presented in 2017 on God’s purpose plan for your life. The Passing And The Abiding “You have no idea how [God] can use you…
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Does Paul’s Silence About Jesus Prove That He Didn’t Exist?

Apologetics, Christianity, Erik Manning, Evidence, God, IsJesusAlive, Jesus, Jesus Christ, New Testament, Paul, Paul's Testimony, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Erik Manning Over 99% of historical scholarship acknowledges that Jesus was a real person. It doesn’t matter if that scholar is liberal or conservative, or Christian, atheist, agnostic or Jewish. The <1% of historians that believe Jesus is a myth are mostly atheists or agnostics. And it’s only the ‘internet infidel’ crowd that takes their arguments seriously. One of the arguments that Jesus mythicists will often push is that Paul was mostly silent about the historical Jesus. Here’s GA Wells, one of the minority voices, who writes: “Paul’s letters have no allusion to the parents of Jesus, let alone to the virgin birth. They never refer to a place of birth…. They give no indication of the time or place of his earthly existence. They do not refer to…
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