Is Christ the Center of Your Social Media Message?

Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, HeavenNotHarvard.com, Internet Apologetics, Jennifer Defrates, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Online Evangelism, Social media
Social media can be one of the darkest places in the world. People comment with cruel disregard for whoever is on the other side of the screen. Yet, Christians have a responsibility to be the light of Christ in everything, including our social media message. Twenty years ago, many of us couldn’t imagine social media existing much less consuming large portions of our lives. But, it has become how most people get news and interact with the global community on a daily basis. I don’t know the exact statistics, but most people check social media first thing each morning. On June 30, 2010 people celebrated the first World Social Media Day, which is around the time I joined the ranks of smart phone users and began to dip my toe…
Read More

Why the Sheer Persistence of Antisemitism Seems Unnatural

Abrahamic Covenant, Antisemitism, Antizionism, Apologetics, Christianity, echabot.substack.com, EricChabot, Gospel, Islam, Israel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Middle East, Spiritual Warfare, Zionism
One thing is certain: antisemitism—indeed, outright Jew-hatred—is not merely an ancient problem. It remains disturbingly prevalent and resilient today. From Pharaoh and Haman in the biblical narrative, to the exiles under oppressive empires, through medieval Europe with its deicide charges (blaming Jews for the death of Jesus), blood libels, and well-poisoning myths, antisemitism has taken many forms. It appeared in pagan Rome, medieval Christendom, and in various Islamic contexts. We have seen economic scapegoating, ghettos, expulsions, and later racialized antisemitism under Nazism, followed by conspiracy theories and, in our own day, a viscous anti-Zionism and what Matt Walsh has called “Jew Derangement Syndrome.” The more I observe debates about Israel online—I see some of the most vile and hateful rhetoric imaginable—along with antisemitic attacks across the world. The sheer excess…
Read More

5 Ways to Know You Are Judging Rightly

Amy Davison, Apologetics, Christianity, cultural apologetics, Discernment, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, logic, MamaBearApologetics.com, Parenting, reason
It was the only way I knew how to explain my love of Fixer Upper to my bewildered husband. Since the show aired, I would plunk myself down, yell in frustration (who picks a midcentury modern over a classic Victorian, I mean, come on!?), and bask in the beauty of the big reveal. Yes, I loved the shiplap, but like other Christian fans, what I enjoyed most was having a show featuring a Christian couple who truly loved each other. What Christian fans weren’t expecting was to watch the designing duo green-light the normalization of homosexuality when they partnered with HBO for the newest reality, Back to the Frontier. The fallout gave fans everywhere a front row seat to a Christian accountability meeting, and they had a lot to say. “Christians shouldn’t judge (Matthew 7:1)!” “…All…
Read More

A Christian at Islamic College: What I Saw Beneath the Surface

4TimOrr.substack.com, Antisemitism, Apocalypse, Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, Islam, Islamism, Jihad, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, October 7th, Palestine, Shia, Tim Orr
I never set out to become a witness to the West’s unraveling. I was just a minister seeking to show God’s love to people. In short, I simply loved Muslims—deeply and sincerely—and believed that the surest way to honor that calling was to study Islam from within its own intellectual world. That conviction led me to Islamic College in London. I was excited that I was going to learn under Muslim scholars. So, I wasn’t seeking conflict or controversy. Far from it. Instead, I was pursuing what I saw as a ministry of respect and understanding. Shifting Cultural Currents For several years, the professors supported my work. Classmates welcomed my questions, and I completed an M.A. in Islamic Studies believing I had formed genuine friendships. Yet even then, during my…
Read More

From Substack to the Arizona Supreme Court: Why This Case Matters to Every State Employee

Apologetics, Arizona State, Arizona Supreme Court, Christianity, Critical race theory, DEI, DrOwenAnderson.substack.com, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Mandatory Training, Queer Theory, Religious Discrimination
What began more than three years ago as a Substack post is now headed to the Arizona Supreme Court. That fact alone should give Arizonans pause, not because of me, but because of what Arizona State University is arguing the law allows it to do. The controversy began with a required ASU employee training called Inclusive Communities. On its face, that title sounds unobjectionable. Having worked at ASU for over two decades as a philosophy professor, I have seen many trainings and ideological fashions come and go. Universities, after all, are places where leftist ideas circulate freely and enforce a chilling effect on the few conservatives that slip through the DEI filter. The ASU email announcing the required training read: “The training accelerates continuing efforts to encourage meaningful change at…
Read More

Teaching Our Kids to Spot Empty Statements 

Apologetics, Christianity, critical thinking, Discernment, Division, Gospel, Hillary Morgan Ferrer, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, MamaBearApologetics.com, messaging, narrative, rhetoric, Unity, Worldview
John and I were at the Iowa State Fair this weekend (in 2019). My husband loves all the fried food. Calories at the fair don’t count, right? Among our scheduled stops, we wanted to see a band that advertised itself as a mix between Stomp and Accapella. Sounds cool right? We sat down with whatever artery-clogging victual we had just purchased and as the band started to sing, John and I realized that they weren’t exactly what we had thought. They weren’t bad necessarily. They just sounded a whole lot like a group that you’d hear brought to a middle school to give some flowery feel-good generic message—which consequently is exactly what they did. The lead singer proudly proclaimed that they had decided to switch their focus from just music to making…
Read More

What Does the Bible Say About Illegal Immigration? My Friendly Response to a Well-known Pentecostal Pastor

Apologetics, Border Patrol, Christianity, cultural apologetics, Gospel, government, ICE, illegal immigration, Immigrant, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, open borders, Politics, Race, Racism, Undocumented
The topic of immigration is boiling over these days. It’s complex and emotional, especially when it affects our communities and families. Recently, a well-known Puerto Rican Pentecostal pastor named Omar Lugo  presented a Facebook video and a written post on this issue, citing various Bible verses that discuss how we should treat foreigners. His approach seemed to suggest that human laws regarding immigration shouldn’t matter because divine laws are above them (without explaining how they directly contradict God’s law). While I share his concern for showing compassion, I believe his argument stems from biblical silence and fails to demonstrate that current immigration laws violate God’s law. The Argument from Silence in Biblical Interpretation Pastor Omar used passages like Leviticus 19:33-34, Exodus 22:21, Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Zechariah 7:10, Matthew 25:35, Hebrews 13:2,…
Read More

Stranger Things: Was Vecna a Victim?

Apologetics, Christianity, cultural apologetics, FreeThinkingMinistries.com, Gospel, Henry Creel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Netflix, Richard Eng, Stranger Things, Vecna
***This review of Stranger Things Season 5 contains major spoilers. Consider yourself warned. It’s a new year, and the end of an era. Stranger Things, the wildly successful Netflix show, has officially concluded. I watched the show as a fan but also as one who is interested in the underlying worldview. No piece of media is completely neutral. In fact, the arts are meant to be an imaginative exploration of ideas. In story, you don’t just observe beliefs, you inhabit them as an “insider.” If you are not familiar with the show, I would warn that it contains language, violence, and at times depictions of what I determine to be demonic. Season 4 was particularly demonic, and I almost stopped watching. But I was a youth pastor at the time,…
Read More

The Status of Women According to Islam

Apologetics, Christianity, cultural apologetics, Feminism, Gospel, Hadiths, Islam, Islamic Theology, JonathanMclatchie.com, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Muslims, women
The status of women in Islam is a subject enshrouded in controversy. According to many Muslims, Muhammad was a champion of women’s rights, bestowing upon the women in his community privileges and rights that they did not have previously. The notion that women in pre-Islamic Arabia had no rights, however, is demonstrably untrue. Former Muslim Nabeel Qureshi lists some of the rights that women had in pre-Islamic Arabia, which included ease of divorce, the ability to marry multiple men, and become overlords. Women were even able to propose for marriage, as in fact was the case with respect to Khadija’s marriage to Muhammad. To outsiders, the hijab is often viewed as a symbol of oppression. Since April 2011, wearing of head coverings (including hijabs) in public places has even been…
Read More

Truth, Love, & Rage Bait

Apologetics, Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk Assassination, Christianity, exploitation, Gospel, Gossip, https://www.facebook.com/JohnDFerrer, John Ferrer, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Politics, Slander, Tyler Robinson
Thousands of amateur investigators across the interwebs are scouring the Charlie Kirk assassination case. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Many of them pose sincere questions and innocent curiosity. There should be no problem with a healthy exercise of free speech, free inquiry, and the marketplace of ideas. Mainstream narratives deserve a fair share of testing since they can’t all be trusted. But being popular, mainstream, or conventional never made anything false. Sometimes the truth is so widely recognized it becomes the majority view. Truth isn’t always sensationalistic. Sometimes it’s boring and predictable. Truth doesn’t care to entertain anyone. It just is what it is. But not every question is a fair question either. Sometimes questions are cloaked accusation, mean-spirited insinuation, manipulative suggestion, and trick questions designed not to reveal…
Read More