09Oct 2024 by Post

Do Oral Cultures Operate the Same as the Telephone Game?

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Bellatori Christi, biblical apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, Inerrancy, Infallibility, inspiration, Liberty University, New Testament, reliability, Sherene Khouri
Secular scholars, especially those who attack the historicity of the New Testament, claim it is difficult to establish historical knowledge that is valid and reliable because of the infallibility of the human memory. People do not recall information accurately, especially if the account is written years after the event. However, historians and archaeologists have been able to make strong cases for their accounts considering several factors, such as the closeness of the written document to the event, multiple attestations to the incident, and so on. In this article, I will discuss the factor of oral tradition communities, how literate people recorded their history, and whether their methodology is reliable or not. Western and advanced societies might not realize that there is a pattern that oral communities usually follow to preserve…
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07Oct 2024 by Post

Prioritizing FAT Christians: A Practical Theology for Pastors

Apologetics, Christianity, Church, discipleship, Faithful Available Teachable, FreeThinkingMinistries.com, Gospel, Great Commission, Pastoral Care, Paul Rasor, practical theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
Several weeks ago, I was listening to the podcast “Wise Disciple” with Nate Salah ( “Is Voddie Wrong about Churches?”). He was discussing the need for pastors to focus on finding FAT Christians in their congregations. (Don’t worry. FAT is an acrostic.) This is to say, pastors need to prioritize their time and efforts upon Christians who are Faithful, Available and Teachable. There are multiple reasons why this principle ought to be followed by pastors. But before addressing those reasons, we need to understand what exactly a FAT Christian is.[i] What are F.A.T. Christians? FAT Christians are not just interested in Jesus but are committed to him as true disciples. Specifically, these are believers who are faithful in many things in the local church, such as attendance to Sunday worship, small group studies, and Sunday school. They are…
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04Oct 2024 by Post

Were the Gospel Accounts Reliably Recorded?

4. Is the NT True?, : Telephone Game, Al Serrato, Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, Gospel, manuscripts, NT Reliability, Oral Tradition, Uncategorized
A common challenge to believers is the contention that the gospel accounts we read today are not particularly reliable. Referring to the “telephone game,” the skeptic will claim that since the gospel accounts were penned three to five decades after the life of Christ, the accounts they portray are probably much different than the original accounts, just as the tenth telling of what was said in the “telephone game” is much different than the first. This analogy resonates with many people, who realize how hard it is to memorize in exact order a string of words that are spoken once. By the time the sentence is repeated to that tenth person, it will indeed bear little resemblance to its original form. But does this analogy aptly describe what occurred with…
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04Oct 2024 by Post

Navigating the American Political Landscape

Apologetics, Christianity, Culture and Politics, Democrat, election, Gospel, Heaven Not Harvard, How should Christians vote, Jennifer Defrates, Law, MamaBearApologetics.com, Politics, Republican
Surviving political landscapes as a Christian has always been challenging (ancient Rome was harsh, y’all!). However, this U.S. presidential election cycle feels like the most difficult in recent history, and the American political landscape seems to grow more contentious every year. So, how do we navigate this minefield with truth, love, and joy? It’s not easy, but it can be simple. [If you know how to coopt this “click-to-tweet” function so it redirects to the CE article go ahead, otherwise, let’s Block Quote these] So, how do we navigate this minefield with truth, love, and joy? It’s not easy, but it can be simple. Let’s talk about how. Click To Tweet Should we get Political at all? First, let’s address the elephant (and donkey) in the room. Should Christians even get…
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25Sep 2024 by Post

How The After Party Curriculum Is Sowing Political Confusion in the Church

After Party Curriculum, Apologetics, Christianity, Curtis Chang, David French, Democrat, freedom of religion, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Natasha Crain, NatashaCrain.com, Politics, Progressivism, RINO, Russel Moore, separation of church and state
For those who haven’t heard of it, The After Party (TAP) is a small group curriculum and corresponding book that is being heavily promoted this election year to individuals, churches, and Christian institutions (such as colleges) to counter the “dangerous trend” of evangelicals having their political identity formed by “partisan forces, not by true Biblical faith.” What is The After Party Curriculum? The curriculum was developed by David French (New York Times columnist), Russell Moore (Editor-in-Chief of Christianity Today), and Curtis Chang. Fewer people are familiar with Chang than with French and Moore, but for context, his most notable project was called “Christians and the Vaccine,” through which he led a national effort to convince Covid vaccine-resistant evangelicals that their “anxiety, distrust of institutions, and political polarization” was threatening the vaccine’s potential for “healing…
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25Sep 2024 by Post

Three Bad Arguments for Euthanasia

Apologetics, assisted suicide, bioethics, ChristianConcern.com, euthanasia, Gospel, imago Dei, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, mercy killing, Sanctity of Life, Sean Redfearn
Polling sometimes suggests that the UK public is in favor of ‘assisted dying.’ This is an illusion, caused in many cases by people not knowing what ‘assisted dying is.’ A recent poll showed that only 42% of the public understood what ‘assisted dying’ refers to, with 10% thinking it meant hospice-type care and 42% believing it meant stopping treatment. There is no legal or ethical mandate that a terminally ill person must be kept alive “at all costs.” There is, however, a major difference between withdrawing medical treatment and thereby allowing a patient to die of his or her own medical condition and intentionally ending a patient’s life. What Is Euthanasia? Euthanasia (as well as assisted suicide) is most basically understood as the lethal dose of drugs to deliberately end…
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16Sep 2024 by Post

The Early Martyrs Were Cross Examined to Death

4. Is the NT True?, Al Serrato, Apologetics, Early Church, Gospel, historical apologetics, Martyrdom, New Testament, Persecution. Evidential Apologetics
Skeptics often challenge believers by claiming that the “evidence” for Christianity would never hold up in a courtroom. It’s hearsay, they contend, and since these witnesses can’t be cross-examined, the case would never even see the inside of a courtroom. For many unfamiliar with the legal system, this challenge seems solid. After all, why should we trust our eternity to a message that wouldn’t pass muster in a court dealing with comparatively less important issues? Christianity On Trial A bit of reflection shows the problem with this line of reasoning. First, it doesn’t take into consideration that we know many things that could never be “proven” according to the rules of evidence in a courtroom. Just about any historical event that is beyond the lifetime of living persons would suffer…
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11Sep 2024 by Post

What If I Don’t Like Either Candidate?

Apologetics, Christianity, cultural apologetics, Gospel, Harris, How should Christians vote, How would Jesus Vote?, John Ferrer, Legislating Morality, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Trump, Who Should I vote for?
If you’re like me, this upcoming election feels like a choice between which electric outlet to jab a fork into. I’m not a big fan of either candidate. It may be tempting to just sit-out this election. But we shouldn’t give up that easily. This November, you won’t be voting for a pastor, or a personality. You’re just voting for a president either. You’re voting for a package deal. We’re going to get the president and everything that comes with them. So, we owe it to ourselves to look past their personality and consider the rest of the caravan that’s coming along with them. Here are eight reasons why you and I should still vote in this election even if we don’t like either candidate. If You Won’t Vote for…
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09Sep 2024 by Post

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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04Sep 2024 by Post

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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