Apologetics

As an aspiring theologian I desire knowledge of God's nature. I also aspire to gain a proper understanding of foundational Christian teachings on the nature of God. Given this goal, a great deal of my apologetics and philosophical journey has been researching the attributes of God. Not only do I strive to attain justified true beliefs regarding God's character, but I want to grasp His relationship with His creation and His actions in creation. A couple of years ago, I was re

William Lane Craig is famous for resurrecting and defending the Kalam Cosmological Argument (KCA). The argument appeals to both philosophical and scientific evidence for the beginning of the universe. If the Kalam is sound, it seems to prove the existence of God. The question is raised: Is the argument sound given our modern, scientific understanding of cosmology? In this essay I will review and examine the premises of the Kalam to see if we have good reason to affirm them a

Tim Stratton's two recent articles entitled, Confusing Bible Verses, Free Will, & Determinism ( Part 1 , and Part 2 ) have sparked much discussion among the theologically inclined on social media over the past couple of weeks. Here is a conversation I had providing further illumination: Calvinist : What about John 6:44 that specifically says that no one can come unless God the father draws him. That word in draw in Greek being helkysō meaning to drag, the original text isn

Question: Tim, I can't say I admire your exegesis in your article Confusing Bible Verses, Free Will, & Determinism (Part 1) , explaining the biblical texts. Within the context of John 6:44 it's clear the key is not the word "can" but the statement as a whole that those who come to Jesus (believe in him) are able only to do so because the father draws them. That is that the Father has freed them to do so. Freed them from what? the bondage of their will in sin and unbelief. Al

Over the past few years my life has been completely transformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2)! There have been many academics who have sharpened me along the way, but if push comes to shove and I were asked to provide the "Mount Rushmore" list of people who have influenced me the most when it comes to the branch of theology known as apologetics, I would offer these four names: William Lane Craig, Alvin Plantinga, JP Moreland, and Mike Licona. William Lane Craig Dr.

Question: Hey Tim, after reading pretty much everything on your website, it has reaffirmed my belief in free will. Although there are a few Bible verses that are troubling me... this may just be bad interpretation, but if you could explain how these play into the free will mindset, that would be great: John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day” and Ephesians 1:4-5: “Just as He chose us in Him before the

Like clockwork, whenever I offer logic-based arguments or syllogisms that deductively conclude a certain worldview is false ( like this one ), those who presuppose otherwise come out of the woodwork to express their disdain. It never ceases to amaze me how some are so blindly committed to a certain view that they reject opposing conclusions based on the bedrock of all reason -- LOGIC -- demonstrating their view is false. They inadvertently affirm that they are holding illogic

Welcome to the fourth - and LONG overdue - edition of my series . This is where I deconstruct some of the sillier slogans that some atheists use as conversation-stoppers with theists. (And if you haven’t checked out the first three yet, you can catch up here: part 1 , part 2 , part 3 .) This article will focus on statements atheists make about atheism. Bad “argument” #6: Atheism is a lack of belief in God. Nowadays it’s cool to redefine words that have had longtime, common

God is Omnibenevolent! Simply put, God is perfectly good and all-loving. Not only does the Bible make this clear (Psalm 100:5; Psalm 145:17; John 3:16), but logicians have also deductively concluded this apart from the Bible through the Moral Argument and the Ontological Argument . Now, if God were simply omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing), but not perfectly good and all-loving, then we would have reason to be frightened. In fact, this is how Muslims vie

It was my first visit to Disneyland. I had been on numerous rides and was overwhelmed by the general atmosphere of the place (actually, I pretty much hate Disney, but will still go along with my friends and if I can get in for a steeply discounted price). I was almost to the front of the line of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” talking to a friend about our current cultural milieu, and somehow zombies came up. Not sure if it was because of the undead pirates we were about to see,

While we were milling around prior to the Richard Dawkins speech I wrote about in part one , I spotted the notorious Mitch Kahle, probably Oahu's most publicity-seeking atheist (some will remember him being marched/dragged out of the Hawaii State Capital after interrupting opening prayers in 2010). Mitch has an intolerant organization called "Hawaii Citizens for The Separation of Church and State". I view him as Oahu's Madelyn Murray O Hair. The Jefferson Memorial I had alrea

To even suppose that logic is false is to utter gibberish: 1. Logic is not a proposition that expresses a truth value; rather, it is merely the form that expresses true or false propositions. Logic cannot, itself, be called "false." 2. A rejection of the laws of logic actually affirms the laws of logic. If one says that logic is incorrect, then by rejecting the fundamental Laws of Thought they say, simultaneously, that logic is actually correct because (1) there is no such

In my previous post , I discussed Jeffery Jay Lowder's opening statement in his debate with Frank Turek on the topic "Naturalism vs. Theism". Lowder defends the following three propositions: (1) The best explanation is the explanation with the overall greatest balance of intrinsic probability and accuracy. (2) Naturalism is an intrinsically more probable explanation than theism. (3) Naturalism is a more accurate explanation than theism. In my previous post , I evaluated Lo

A friend invited me to see atheism evangelist Richard Dawkins speak at Aloha Tower recently. At some point while we were sitting there, I read the flier for the event, which falsely claimed America had a secular founding. "This is amazing!" I thought to myself; "just last night at another presentation somebody was trying to convince me that our Founding Fathers were Illuminati devil-worshippers! How cool it is that # 1) we have tons of documentation of their self-understandi

What is atheism? More importantly, what does an atheist believe? Believe it or not, most atheists I interact with are rarely confident about their beliefs. Those who think they are cannot make a logical case to support their claims. Much of this confusion is based on a misunderstanding of the word "atheism." According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary , the simple definition of an atheist is (accessed 1-25-17) : "a person who believes that God does not exist." It follows that

Jeffery Jay Lowder recently debated Frank Turek on the topic "Naturalism vs. Theism" (see https://youtu.be/ENZYEPpR2Jc ). In this post and the next, I wish to examine the arguments that Lowder advances in his opening statement in support of naturalism (the view that physical reality is the ultimate reality and that no supernatural, non-physical beings, such as God, exist). In his opening statement, Lowder defends the following three propositions: (1) The best explanation is t

“Don’t like abortion ? Don’t have one.” “Don’t like guns ? Don’t buy one.” “Don’t like drugs? Don’t use them.” You’ve probably heard one of these - or something similar - before. It expresses the notion that if you don’t like something, don’t do it, and don’t try to take away someone else’s right to do it either. It’s simple, persuasive, and sounds very . Liberty, freedom, independence, and all that good stuff. But there are serious problems with this line of reasoning. Mainl

"¡El Cristianismo NO es cierto!" Me ha sorprendido que un número cada vez mayor de pastores, maestros de la escuela dominical, y cristianos en general están afirmando esta misma declaración muy a menudo. Ahora, no me malinterpretes, esto no es una cita directa, pero la clase de cosas dichas detrás de los púlpitos en muchas iglesias evangélicas hoy en día están ciertamente insinuando que el Cristianismo no es cierto. Para ser claro, esta es una implicación inadvertida que es

http://freethinkingministries.com/lex-luthors-lousy-logic/ “¡Si Dios es todopoderoso él no puede ser bueno, si Dios es bueno él no puede ser todopoderoso!” – Lex Luthor en Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ¿Por qué Lex piensa algo como eso? Él llega a su conclusión basado en todo el mal y el sufrimiento en el mundo (especialmente el sufrimiento que él experimentó de niño). Lex no está solo. De hecho, este razonamiento es presentado hoy como la más grande objeción contra l

"¡Solo necesito la biblia, no filosofía del hombre!", "¡No necesitamos usar filosofía ya que tenemos al Espíritu Santo!", "¡Mis creencias son conducidas exegéticamente, las tuyas son filosóficas!" Muchas declaraciones como las que se acaban de mencionar suenan reverenciales y benignas para el oído religioso, pero estas afirmaciones necesitan ser refinadas. A menudo cuando uno presiona este tipo de declaraciones para una precisión técnica encontrarán en ellas la actitud genera