I love apologetics! Anyone who has either heard me speak, sat in my class, read any of my books, or spent more than twenty minutes with me knows that I believe deeply in the importance of defending the Christian faith.

I'm not alone in my belief. Pastor and author Timothy Keller, who ministers in New York and has written one of the better apologetics books of our time, The Reason for God, says one of the big issues facing the church today is the need for a renewal of apologetics. Keller says apologetics is important for two reasons.

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Last Monday I was interviewed by Jim Wallace for the Please Convince Me podcast. If you are not familiar with his ministry, I give it my highest recommendation. Jim does an amazing job of taking philosophical, scientific, and historical evidence and presenting it in a logical and compelling way. He's a former atheist and really understands how many non-Christians really think. We had a great chat about my recent debate with James Corbett and other apologetics issues. Check it out!

Click here to listen to the podcast.

My recent debate with James Corbett on the topic, "Is God the Best Explanation for Moral Values?", has generated quite a stir. A number of people from various backgrounds and beliefs have chimed in with their thoughts, including a popular atheist blogger, a Christian science-fiction writer, a Christian postmodernist, the "Apologetics Junkie," and the Saddleback College paper (the debate was held at Saddleback College).

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Check out this interview I did last week with Apologetics 315, one of the more popular apologetics Podcasts. We talked about effective apologetics today, youth and apologetics, as well as some of the more pressing questions people are asking about the faith.

Click here to hear the Podcast.

The response to the release of the Apologetics Study Bible for Students has really been encouraging and overwhelming. I knew there was a pressing recognition of the need for apologetics in youth ministry, but I had no idea now much. I received this email from a youth pastor this week and was deeply moved by it. Check it out:

"I'm one of the youth leaders at our church, and I'm in between a couple of Sundays where I'm giving the message during the youth service. I'm taking the opportunity to introduce the students to apologetics, and the response so far has been more enthusiastic than I'd anticipated, which gladdens my heart to no end.

"At first I was simply happy to see the arrival of the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, but then God laid it on my heart to take action, so my wife and I are using a chunk of our tax refund to purchase 35 copies to give out to our youth during an upcoming Wednesday night function. In price shopping around the Internet, my wife discovvered a promotional video you did for the Bible at Lifeway.com. I'm going to show that video to the kids before unveiling the surprise.

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As many of you know, this year I helped my dad update his classic, "More Than a Carpenter." We added a chapter on the New Atheists as well as included responses to common objections to the Christian faith (such as the Da Vinci Code and the so-called Gospel of Judas) that have arisen since "More Than a Carpenter" was first released in 1977.

One of the fun things in updating the book was learning that it played a key role in Mark Driscoll's decision to become a Christian. Well, since Driscoll is a Calvinist, I guess it wasn't really his decision, but you get the point!

This spring my dad's ministry, Josh McDowell Ministry, is launching a huge campaign entitled, "Reclaiming Easter," to help get the word out about the evidence for the historical Jesus. For the past few months my dad has been working on developing free PowerPoint slides and sermons to go along with the updated "More Than a Carpenter." 

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A coupe of weeks ago I spoke at Snellville Baptist Church in Georgia. The youth pastor, Jody Shelton, is a friend of mine. Check out his brief blog about my visit there. You can listen for free to the three talks I gave: (1) Shattering the Myths of Evolution; (2) Understanding Intelligent Design; and (3) Why the New Testament Can Be Trusted.

Jody also gave a little shout-out for the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, which was just released last week. This Bible is revolutionary for students. I just received a message on Facebook from a fellow apologist, Lenny Esposito from Come Reason Ministries, who helped write some of the articles in the Study Bible. He received this note about the Bible from a brand new user:

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Next month I will be debating James Corbett from Capistrano Valley High School on the topic: "Is God the Best Explanation for Moral Values." This promises to be an interesting and informative evening! Jim got his Ph.D from Ohio State University and has taught for 37 years. The debate will be held at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California, on Friday, February 26 from 7 to 9:30 pm. If you're interested in attending, you can get more information from my website, where I've posted a pdf announcement of the event. If you can't attend in person, be sure to watch it live right here at ConversantLife.com.

 

The year is 2154, and humans are attempting to mine the valuable mineral unabtanium from the planet Pandora. Humans have virtually destroyed their own planet and desperately need extra-planetary resources to survive. Jake Sully, a wounded marine, is assigned to infiltrate the seemingly hostile indigenous aliens (the Na’vi) to win their trust and talk them into relocating their colony, which happens to be situated right atop a massive amount of unabtanium.

If he can successfully infiltrate the Na’vi people and negotiate their relocation, then the humans will not have to force them to move through military intervention (those of you who are observant already notice the political insinuations about the U.S. allegedly only going to war in Iraq for oil).

To infiltrate the Na’vi, Jake transposes his consciousness into an Avatar body under the supervision of Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver).

The Apologetics Study Bible for Students is here! The Bible shipped January 31, and now you can order from Amazon. This is something I've been working on for two years and I am absolutely thrilled about it.

The Apologetics Study Bible for Students will anchor younger Christians in the truths of Scripture by equipping them with thoughtful and practical responses for whenever the core issues of their faith and life are challenged.

Multiple research studies have shown that spiritual focus often weakens among teenagers as they head into the attention-dividing realm of young adulthood. Up to 66% of them leave church altogether. The Apologetics Study Bible for Students works against that trend by helping this audience begin to better articulate its beliefs.