Apologetics

I admit, I hate asking Christians for advice or to share my troubles. They just don't listen! You pour out your heart and they respond with trite statements like "Smile, Jesus loves you!" "Everything will be okay!" "Trust in God!" “Jeremiah 29:11!” While you're talking, you see in their eyes that they aren't even listening; they're thinking of some Christian-ese slogan or random Scripture to share. And while they may be well-meaning, they don't help. If anything, you leave fe

Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole wo

Dear Isaac, Thank you for your open letter to me  published in The Huffington Post . The first thing I want to make clear is that I really do love you, brother! Although you disagree with some of my thoughts and beliefs, I truly do feel loved by you. My prayer is that you know you are loved in return, even though I do not agree with all of your thoughts and beliefs. After all, isn’t that what tolerance is about? I’d like to interact directly with your open letter to me. In

In a television episode of The West Wing ,  President Josiah Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen) is aggravated by a conservative female talk-radio personality who defends calling homosexuality an "abomination" by citing Leviticus 18:22 -- "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." This aggravates the liberal president who later notices her in the crowd at a speech he is giving and proceeds to ask her a few sharp and sarcastic questions as he compares

Growing up, my Dad taught me apologetics. He was really excited about it, and good at it too. As someone who studied under Norman Geisler at Southern Evangelical Seminary , my Dad got some of the best training out there. As a result, He taught me a lot of what I now know. I found myself eating it up! I am a person who defined himself as a "dumb kid" for most of my life, so finally grasping something and understanding it well fueled me. The more I dove into apologetics, the m

We’ve been called a lot of names: pagans, snakes, wolves in sheep’s clothing. And that’s by fellow Christians! Why is there so much friendly fire within Christianity? Why can’t we all just get along? Doctrinal differences have turned into a turf war and the Church has been causing its own casualties. I love the approach C.S. Lewis offers in his classic book, . He envisions “mere” Christianity as a hall with many rooms that represent the various denominations. His goal is simp

I have recently been involved in a very good debate stemming from the article I wrote last week entitled, Islamic Terror, Homosexuality, and the Consequences of Ideas . In summary, the article demonstrates what three different world views affirm regarding the terrorist attack at the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida: 1-  Consistent Islam:  this attack was GOOD as Muhammad’s final commands were to kill the infidels ( Take five minutes to understand by clicking here ). 2-  Co

Sunday morning I awoke to horrific news on my Facebook feed: an Islamic terrorist brutally gunned down and murdered around fifty of our fellow human beings at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. This broke my heart and made me extremely angry! I cannot imagine the sorrow, pain, and anguish the friends and family members of the deceased victims are currently experiencing. This was an objectively evil act – it was wrong! As soon as I read the headlines and processed the fact

A common objection to the notion that a human being is composed of both a material and an immaterial aspect of existence (substance dualism) is the problem of interaction. The naturalist will object and question: “How can an immaterial soul cause matter to do anything?” Even though we have scientific evidence suggesting this occurs, explaining exactly how this works is a different matter. Self-Directed Neuroplasticity The psychiatry department at UCLA has done outstanding w

Defining Special Pleading Special pleading (also known as a double standard) is an informal fallacy that occurs when an exception is created to a principle, law, rule, generalization, or something roughly similar to these when we would expect that principle (or whatever it may be) to apply to whatever is being excluded and no rational justification is given for why the exclusion is created. For example, suppose two roommates (call them S and T) have study habits which confli

We’ve made up a lot of “requirements” to being a Christian. For example: Do I really have to believe in a talking snake, angels & demons, a man swallowed whole by a whale, and weird Old Testament laws ? Do I have to stop believing in science , evolution, climate change, a universe older than 6,000 years, and stem cell research? Must I quit supporting gay rights and women’s rights? Do I have to give 10% of my money to the church, stop working on Sundays, wear bonnets, homescho

Disclaimer: I am not a politician; I am an aspiring logician who strives to be reasonable. I am not a Republican and I am no Democrat either. I am a freethinking Independent who is not bound by any political dogma. I am not taking political sides in this article, but simply pointing out logical inconsistencies regarding the current transgender debate. Title IX Women have not always had equal educational opportunities as their male counterparts. That began to change in 1972

Determinists determined to defend determinism often counter the  Freethinking Argument  by proclaiming that computers seem to be rational and they do not possess libertarian free will. They state this is sufficient refutation of premise (3) of the Freethinking Argument , and therefore, the conclusions: free will exists, the soul exists, and naturalism is false, do not follow. This article exposes a major problem with this objection and demonstrates that the deductive conclusi

Heads up: This post contains minor spoilers for ( too). Do we have moral responsibility for our actions if they have been predetermined for us? This question has massive implications on our view of reality and is briefly touched on in . In , we discover that Captain America’s long-lost buddy, James “Bucky” Barnes, has been brainwashed and turned into a human weapon. In , we witness how Bucky is controlled: through a series of random trigger words that open him up to sugges

In this episode, Tim and Richard discuss the practical side of apologetics. The emphasis is weaving apologetics into your normal ministry life. Tim's background in youth ministry is a key part to his approach in apologetics! If you would like to submit a question to be answered by our podcast, please contact us at contact@freethinkingministries.com

I asked a friend of mine to explain to me exactly why he is a Christian and why he strives to live in a manner that honors God. Specifically, I asked him this question because I have seen him experience more pain and suffering than most people will ever face. Through his journey of affliction, I've seen him grow stronger in his love and passion for Jesus. His response to suffering got my attention as many atheists I know say they do not believe in God any longer because of

Is it logically possible that God exists? That is to say, is the concept of God logically incoherent or not? God is defined as "something which nothing greater can be conceived.” Or rather, in more idiomatic English: “God is the greatest conceivable being.” With this definition in mind, is there anything logically incoherent about the concept of a greatest conceivable being or a maximally great being (MGB)? Is the definition of God on the same logically fallacious level as m

"Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword" (Joshua 6:21). Why would God command the execution of all the Canaanites (along with the children) in the Old Testament? Many think this is one of the biggest objections to Christianity; however, when thinking logically, we can see that this is not an objection to Christian theism at all. We must recognize the real objection; at most, t

https://youtu.be/0-_LKgHpE-w

Understanding the differences between internal and external critiques is critical for Christian apologists since any and every objection they will face will fall into one of these two categories. Moreover, if one has not sufficiently grasped these concepts, then one will be prone to conflating them or else might have trouble identifying when others commit this error. With respect to internal critiques, these seek to falsify or demonstrate a discontinuity with an idea by hypot