Was Jesus a Jerk? A Response to the Friendly Atheist

Apologetics, Christianity, Erik Manning, IsJesusAlive, Jesus, New Testament, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Erik Manning A few weeks ago, CNN Tonight host Don Lemon said: “But here’s the thing, Jesus Christ, if that’s who you believe in Jesus Christ, admittedly was not perfect when he was here on the Earth. So why are we deifying the Founders?” As you can imagine, this caused quite a stir over social media and on the blogs, since the Bible clearly teaches Christ’s sinless perfection. While a few right-wing Christian leaders went a little overboard in their denouncements of Lemon,  “The Friendly Atheist” took it as an opportunity to take some jabs at Jesus.  Hemant Mehta, the author of the blog, writes:  “Let’s talk about what Jesus did. * Jesus once got so angry he flipped over tables and benches. * Jesus cursed a fig tree…
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Busting One Of Bart Ehrman’s Favorite Bible Contradictions

Apologetics, Bart Ehrman, bible contradictions, Erik Manning, IsJesusAlive, New Testament, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Erik Manning Skeptics say that the gospels are riddled with contradictions and therefore are not reliable historical sources. And these same skeptics say that some of these contradictions are downright absurd. For example, agnostic NT scholar Bart Ehrman points out one of his favorite Bible contradictions in his book best-selling book, Jesus, Interrupted. One of my favorite apparent discrepancies—I read John for years without realizing how strange this one is—comes in Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse,” the last address that Jesus delivers to his disciples, at his last meal with them, which takes up all of chapters 13 to 17 in the Gospel according to John. In John 13:36, Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, where are you going?” A few verses later Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going” (John…
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Reflecting God’s Character in Apologetics

Apologetics, ApologeticsGuy, apologist, Christian Apologetics, compassion, Evangelism, God's Character, Gospel, Listening, Loving, Mikel del Rosario, Reflecting God's Character, theology, Uncategorized
By Mikel Del Rosario Character Counts Our spiritual conversations should reflect God’s character Explaining reasons to believe doesn’t have to strictly be an intellectual thing. In fact, it shouldn’t be—especially when we’re talking to our skeptical friends, neighbors, and others who see Christianity differently. No, apologetics is way more profound in terms of its role in cultural engagement. Character plays a key role in this. And it isn’t just about adding memorized apologetic answers to your life. Developing a Christian character needs to be part of our discipleship to Jesus. I can’t tell you how many times the importance of character has come up in my work with other apologists, in my ministry, and in my teaching at William Jessup University. Let me give you just four examples from my…
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What Does Paul Say About Homosexuality?

Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, Culture, Homosexuality, JesusIsNotFakeNews, New Testament, Paul, Ryan Leasure, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Ryan Leasure In this post, we’re asking the question: What does Paul say about homosexuality? To find out, we need to investigate Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and 1 Timothy 1:9-10. Let’s consider each text in turn. Romans 1:26-27 This passage is probably the most significant biblical text addressing homosexuality. In the broader context, we read that God reveals his wrath from heaven against all ungodliness. Even though people know God exists through natural revelation, they have suppressed the truth and worshipped idols instead. Therefore, God hands them over to their depraved minds. Verses 26-27 give us an example of this depravity: For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature (para physin); and the men…
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Marx Attacks!

Bible, Christianity, Critical race theory, critical theory, FreeThinking Ministries, God, Karl Marx, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Phil Bair, Politics, Racism, theology, Worldview
If I were to ask you who the most influential philosopher of the 21st Century is, what would your answer be? The correct answer might surprise you. It is Karl Marx. Karl Marx believed that class struggle would occur naturally on its own without the help of any social engineer. He believed the Communist Revolution was the inevitable outcome of socio-economic forces, and it was only a matter of time. He was wrong. The marxists of today believe in the class struggle, just like Marx did in his day. Except that now, the new Marxists recognize that it won’t naturally happen on its own. They have forged a new agenda to bring about a social revolution similar to the one Marx imagined. Except this time the intended outcome will be…
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What Is The Fine-Tuning Argument For God’s Existence, And Does The Multiverse Counter It?

2. Does God Exist?, Apologetics, Christianity, Creation, creator, designer, Evidence, existence of God, God, multiverse, The progress of science, theology, universe, Wintery Knight
By Wintery Knight  One of the best arguments for the existence of a Creator and Designer of the universe is the cosmic fine-tuning argument. The argument argues that individual constants and quantities in nature cannot be much smaller or larger than they are, because it would remove the ability of the universe to support life of any kind. Dr. Michael Strauss, an experimental physicist, explains some examples of the fine-tuning in a recent post on his blog. He writes: I liken the finely-tuned universe to a panel that controls the parameters of the universe with about 100 knobs that can be set to certain values. If you turn any knob just a little to the right or to the left, the result is either a universe that is inhospitable to life…
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Book Review: How Reason Can Lead To God by Joshua Rasmussen

Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, Free Thinking Ministries, God, How reason can lead to God, reason, Stelman Smith Jr., theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Stelman Smith Jr. “I write for a specific sort of person. You value reason, science, and independent thinking. You question beliefs propped up by ‘faith’ without sufficient evidence. Maybe you would like your life to have a deeper purpose, but you cannot believe something based on a mere wish. Whether you are a student, an academic, or just a curious person, you want one thing: the truth. If you can relate, this book is for you” (Rasmussen).  In what promises to be one of the great Christian Apologetics books of all time, Dr. Josh Rasmussen leads us across a bridge of reason. A bridge that begins with his own doubts and questions as a teenager. A bridge built by the tools of reason, on which we can learn to think…
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Christian Naivety is Harming the Church’s Engagement with Today’s Culture

Christianity, ChristianMomThoughts, Christians, Culture, Discernment, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Natasha Crain, Politics, society, theology
By Natasha Crain I had no idea my last article, “5 Ways Christians are Getting Swept into a Secular Worldview in This Culture Moment,” would resonate with so many—it’s been liked and shared over 250,000 times to date (!). Although I no longer leave comments open on my site (I just don’t have the time to moderate and respond), I had the opportunity to observe a flurry of conversation threads on social media related to what I had written. Those conversations threads generated all kinds of ideas for future articles, but the one that pressed on me most over the last few weeks was this one. As I considered the types of pushback I received from some fellow believers (not skeptics!), I started to realize that their comments had little to…
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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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We Know Moral Truths Better Than We Know Many Scientific Claims

Apologetics, Erik Manning, IsJesusAlive, moral, Moral Truths, Philosophy of Science, Scientific, Scientific Claims, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Truths
By Erik Manning I recently came across this article “10 Things You Should Know About Scientism” by Christian philosopher JP Moreland, and he dropped a truth-bomb that is too good to not share. But let me give you a trigger-warning. This is sure to rankle a lot of atheists who seem to unquestionably accept the philosophy of scientism. Contrary to scientism, there are things we know with greater certainty in theology or ethics than certain claims in science. Consider these two claims: 1. Electrons exist. 2. It is wrong to torture babies for the fun of it. Which do we know with greater certainty? The second claim is the correct answer. Why? The history of the electron has gone through various changes in what an electron is supposed to be. No one…
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