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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I love The Gospel Coalition, and here’s why:
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So a second take on Chelsea King. I have been thinking about my prayers and the prayers of the thousands, most of which I assume would appear now to have gone for not. Chelsea wasn't saved. She isn't alive. And most people are left with a feeling of, excuse the passion, "What the Hell is wrong with this world?" It made me re-think something I wrote two years ago, when a similar thing happened, only that time it was cancer that did the killing. Prayer changes everything and nothing - all at the same time. |
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But even if He doesn’t… Faith, trust, belief, reliance, hope. I have faith that God will. I trust that God will. I believe God is going to. As Christians today we are smitten with the thought that God will grant our prayers, fix our problems, heal our sickness, deliver us from struggle, and rescue us from tribulation. We claim it. We focus on it. We sing about it. We preach about it. We rely on it. Perhaps He will and Perhaps He won’t. I live in San Diego and if you live here, you can't help but be impacted by the muder of Chelsea King. When she went missing, thousands began to pray for her return. Thousands turned out to search for her. Thousands now morn her savage murder. Over the past week, probably because I am a lawyer that represents death row inmates, people have wanted to talk to me about the case. Frequently the issue of God's role in all of this comes up and people will talk about it shaking their faith.
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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! |
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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. |
We may love the monkeys at the circus, but the dancing bear is what everyone wants to see. Admit it, a beast doing things it should not be capable of is enthralling. When I let worry run the show, everything else becomes a side act. Worry becomes the dancing bear. Worry controls us, confines us, and consumes us. It can stop us in our tracks. Worry is not a friend. It is an enemy of free thinkers and entrepreneurs. It can even take down those gifted by God. It can destroy anyone who wishes to live freely. From the very beginning of the church we see worry putting a stop to God’s work.
Why does Peter deny Jesus? Worry and (no doubt) fear. Like the trainer—who is likely scared out of his mind when trying to keep the dancing bear at bay—fear is a bi-product.
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Thanks to our friends at Holman Bible Publishers, we are giving away some copies of the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, designed to ground Christian students in the truths of Scripture by equipping them with thoughtful and practical responses to difficult and heartfelt challenges to core issues of faith and life. To be eligible to win a copy of the paperback edition (1400+ pages in length), here's all you do:
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Picture yourself naked. In public. What do you feel? Exposed? Self-conscious? Ashamed? Adam and Eve knew what it was like to feel this way. They also knew what it was like to feel something else entirely. Or perhaps what they also knew shouldn’t be described as a feeling at all. Perhaps they simply had a lack of awareness of the fact that something was wrong with them, because nothing was wrong with them at first. They lived in the garden and walked among the trees and made their home there, all while being naked. Moses tells us: “The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Gen 2:25). But then something changed. They were tempted, they sinned, they knew they were naked, and they hid. All of a sudden, the freedom they had in relationship with God and one another was consumed by an overwhelming awareness of self. And what they knew about themselves caused them to hide.
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The servant in Isaiah 52 and 53 is one of the most intriguing figures in the prophetic Scriptures. The questions about this passage are many, the interpretations are diverse, and the answers always seem to be different. Some have looked to Isaiah 52 and 53 in search of Jesus, others to reclaim Israel’s role in the world, and some to find a historical explanation for this prophetic text that seems to have no precedence.
Here's my translation of part of Isaiah 53:10–11:
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