Ten Philosophical Challenges Christian Students Face at Secular University

activism, Biblical Worldview, college, Higher Education, Leftism, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, LGBTQ, Owen Anderson, philosophy, Progressivism, radicalism, university
The Christian student who attends a secular university will encounter very recognizable challenges to his/her Christian faith. As a professor who has taught in a secular university for 24 years, attended faculty meetings where professors discuss how to deconstruct the faith of Christian students, and seen firsthand the animosity administrators have toward Christianity, I am giving you an inside look at the workings of the secular university. Did God Really Say . . . ? I have outlined these ten challenges to illustrate the original temptation in order to show that they follow a similar strategy and that little has changed. “Did God really say? . . . You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:1). God knows the day you eat you will be as God knowing good and evil.…
Read More

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…
Read More

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…
Read More

Key Tenets of Marxism VS America’s Philosophical Foundations

Apologetics, Christianity, Free Thinking Ministries, government, Karl Marx, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Marxism, Politics, Tim Stratton
I’ve been fascinated by Marxism since my parents first told me about the Cold War we were living in when I was almost 10-years-old (1983). I remember asking them why the Soviet Union had nuclear weapons aimed at us. After my parents reassured me that we had just as many nuclear missiles aimed back at them — ensuring that they will not use these weapons against us (peace through strength) — they explained it to me like I was 10-years-old (because I was). While not using these exact words, my parents basically told me that the Soviet Union was based upon a philosophy called Marxism which is logically incompatible with America’s theological and philosophical foundations. This sparked a desire to learn more about our fundamental disagreements. I wanted to know…
Read More

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…
Read More

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,…
Read More

Voting as a Kingdom Ambassador

abortion, Apologetics, Christian Nationalism, Christianity, cultural apologetics, FreeThinkingMInistries, Gospel, How should Christians vote, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Politics, Tito Santiago
During the presidential elections there are many voices “crying out in the wilderness,” as it were, proclaiming all sorts of weird ideas. One of those ideas is the thought that within this seemingly hostile and divided political and cultural climate even within the church, Christians who hold to a particular view are looking to crown a new political messiah and usher in some sort of a new kingdom. Voting for President, not a Messiah I cannot speak for all who claim to follow Jesus Christ. Perhaps there is some odd and rare breed of believers who sees the presidency as salvation. I do not! So I will speak for myself as to how I view the privilege and honor of voting not only as an American citizen, but more importantly…
Read More

The Ethics of AI in Writing

Academic Integrity, Apologetics, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, cheating, Christianity, Gospel, John Ferrer, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, plagiarism, publishing, Writing ethics
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, I’m a luddite. I’m analog over digital. Forget Pandora® and Spotify® or even CD’s. Vinyl LP’s rule them all. I grew up playing outside, climbing trees, chasing things, reveling over sticks – not joysticks, just sticks. If they look like a sword or a gun, even better. I’m a Labrador retriever, but literate. I have the tech-savvy of your average canine too. That’s because I’m Gen X. I was raised before the interweb, before social media and Netflix. I remember Atari, Nintendo, and Sega, and Alladin’s Palace. I slogged through the dial-up era. I even met my wife on Myspace. Rock on! When Sunday comes, I actually leave my house to go to church! I turn my phone off to listen to the sermon.…
Read More

In the Gospels, Jesus is Pro-Life

abortion, Apologetics, bioethics, ChristianConcern.com, Christianity, Gospel, Jesus, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, New Testament, pro-choice, pro-life, Sean Redfearn
When you encounter Jesus in the gospels, it’s not hard to see why the world would be a better place if everyone was more like him. And in the gospels, Jesus is pro-life. In fact, life is the issue for Jesus. ‘Life’ is why Jesus came into the world. The Bible is About Life The Bible’s most famous verse even says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV) Humans weren’t originally created to face death (Romans 5:12), and Jesus hates death – that’s why he conquered it (Romans 6:9; 2 Timothy 1:10). Jesus’ mission is to bring dead people to life (Mark 10:45; John 5:24; 1 Timothy 1:15)…
Read More

The New Cultural Christianity

Apologetics, Christianity, Culture, FreeThinking Ministries, Gospel, Josh Klein, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, LGBTQ, Nietzsche, Post Christian, Progressive Christianity, Ubermensch
A few months ago I wrote an article on the West’s move towards a post-Christian culture (Post-Christianity: What’s That?). Since the article’s publication at least two prominent atheists decried the fall of Christianity in the West. One claims to have converted to Christianity (Ayaan Hirsi Ali) and the other maintains atheism but embraces “cultural Christianity” (Richard Dawkins).[1] They, along with fellow atheists Bret Weinstein and Tom Holland recognize that the fall of the West will be accomplished with the dismantling of the Church. The New Atheists of twenty years ago assumed that logic, reason, and science would provide the basis for a moral society as it abandoned God and moved into the post-Christian era. Much to their chagrin, however, this has not been the case. Dawkins began to recognize the threat radical…
Read More