Apologetics

Circular reasoning is generally understood to be fallacious. The reason for this is that circular arguments assume what they purport to prove. At least one premise in a circular argument depends upon the truth of the conclusion, making the argument lose any justifying force. For in order to accept the relevant premise, one would have to already believe the conclusion. But if one already believes the conclusion then one has no need for the argument, and if one does not already

Question: Hello Dr. Stratton, I just finished reading the section about the Kalam Cosmological Argument in your article about various arguments for the existence of God. I have been doing some very serious soul searching the past few months and have been questioning the validity of my own non-belief. While I wasn't surprised to find plenty of attempts to prove God's existence (many of them quite ridiculous, such as Anselm's original ontological argument), I was shocked by th

As a theologian and apologist who regularly offers a cumulative case for the existence of God, I am often asked to disclose my favorite argument in my repertoire. Indeed, near the end of a good Q&A session, where all kinds of questions and objections are raised, I can count on someone asking me what I take to be the best argument. This is often the one question that "stumps" me. Although I have made a commitment to " never be stumped by the same question twice ," this questi

Whenever I’m asked what I’m reading, my answer is always the same: TLC on repeat. At any given time, I will be reading something by J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, or G.K. Chesterton. Or, I’m reading something about them or their works. Recently, I completed by Michael Jahosky, which, as the title states, reflects on the gospel message within Tolkien’s created world. But more importantly, it also illustrates why imaginative works are so important to sharing the good news. While

It’s common for atheists to be a “Grinch” over the Holidays and exclaim that Jesus is just a “Santa Claus for adults!” When I hear that claim, I immediately respond with a question: “What do you mean by that?” If one means that children often believe in fictional fairy tales and adults believe in fact-based evidence, then I agree – Jesus is for adults (and actually people of all ages)! But I don’t think that’s the intent behind this claim. I believe the intent of the atheist

This year, I have the privilege of studying abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland. While Scotland is now considered one of the more secular places on earth, it has a rich history of Christianity dating back to perhaps the early third century. So naturally, I made sure to enroll in Edinburgh University’s History of Christianity as a World Religion course. Readings for the course varied in time period, language, cultural context, and subject matter; they ranged from the diary of Perpet

A number of years ago, Christian astrophysicist and young earth creationist Dr. Jason Lisle wrote a book entitled The Ultimate Proof of Creation (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2009). The book is a creative introduction to presuppositional apologetics (hereafter PA) but from the perspective of the debate over origins. The aim of the book is to provide a defense of the Christian faith that is irrefutable. While this book review will be largely negative, let me take some time

A parable, according to Merriam Webster , is "a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle." Jesus was famous for teaching morality through the use of these tools. With that in mind, consider a thought experiment, a modern-day "parable," if you will: A trained MMA fighter notices a suspected rapist/murderer was breaking into his neighbor's house to presumably rape and kill his neighbor's daughter who was home alone. What if the highly s

I was raised in a family and a community where religious beliefs were considered personal and virtually never discussed. I attended a Catholic grade school and continued with religion classes through high school. I was a good student and knew what I was supposed to believe – but no matter how hard I tried, I just could not convince myself that any of it was true. I had a long list of questions, but mostly kept those to myself. I was pretty sure that these doubts made me a bad

How should we live? How should we think? How should we vote? Are these questions with objectively right or wrong answers? That is to say, is it true -- apart from human opinion -- that humanity ought to live, think, and even vote in a certain manner? If it is not objectively right or wrong to live, think, or vote in a certain manner, then does anything really matter? Moreover, if it is objectively wrong to live, think, and vote in a certain manner -- how would we know? A

“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 . If you can relate, this book is for you” (Rasmussen). In what promises to be one of the great Christian Apolog

Why does God allow all kinds of bad stuff? That's the million-dollar question! We can answer it in four steps. Step One We first need to recognize exactly WHY humanity exists. That is to say, what is the objective purpose of life? It stands to reason that if God created humanity on purpose and for a specific purpose, then there would be objective facts about humanity irrespective of the subjective opinions from humanity. That's great, but how would we know such a thing? Ho

Updated : May 4, 2021 When we aren’t discussing theology, apologetics, and worldview, we’re probably talking about one of our favorite things in the universe: Star Wars ! We especially love finding ways to use Star Wars to discuss worldview issues. I’ve compiled a list of all of the resources we have on worldview and a galaxy far, far away, as well as some by friends and other ministries. So here it is— Star Wars and Worldview: the Greatest Guide in the Galaxy! Star Wars a

Whether one embraces Christian theism or not, it should be somewhat uncontroversial that a Christian worldview supplies satisfying answers to humanity’s deepest questions and longings. Is man determined by external forces, or may he chart his own path? Should he be held responsible, and to what extent? Does the complexity of nature hint at design, or is it the result of mindless naturalism? Is there a point to all of this? What happens when we die? A relevant worldview will h

Philosophy of science is a fascinating and complex field. The job requires one to philosophize about well-established scientific observations, patterns, theorems, theories, models, laws of nature, and more. A good philosopher of science will also philosophize about the standards of science and the standards of communicating science. And a brave philosopher of science will even attempt to hold scientists to these standards when they stray. Recently I’ve been reviewing the tra

Note from Tim Stratton: I first met Ross Hickling when we arrived for summer residency at Biola University. This US Marshall and I were both enrolled in the MACA program and were assigned as roommates. We also both went on to attain doctoral degrees from North-West University. This article was originally published on the Ratio Christi website ( ratiochristi.org ). Tracking Down a Fugitive I was confident that if we were patient enough, we would snag our fugitive in a mobi

Are you under a stay-at-home order? Consider thinking about the problem of evil (PoE). Here is a brief exercise. Suppose someone says the following to you: “God would never permit COVID-19. So, since there is COVID-19, there is no God.” How would you respond? Notice that this is an example of the PoE. But there are many versions of the PoE. So, your first step is to determine whether your interlocutor is expressing the emotional PoE or the intellectual PoE. If the former, t

Suppose you awoke tomorrow and the coronavirus pandemic had come to an end and all suffering had ceased. Not only are you no longer experiencing any suffering of any kind, but neither is anyone else. All suffering resulting from moral or natural evil — including COVID-19 – was nothing but a memory. Is there any reason to think that it would stay that way? To answer this question, take a short quiz: Question #1: Would you take this “suffering-free world” for granted? Would yo

The primary goal of FreeThinking Ministries is to equip the church to engage the culture. In my opinion, no one is doing that better than MAVEN , an organization founded by Brett Kunkle focused on helping the next generation “know truth, pursue goodness, and create beauty” (to learn more about MAVEN, click here ). FreeThinking Ministries is also devoted to bringing rational discussions about Christianity to college campuses. In my opinion, no one is doing that better than

The problem of evil is one of the most common arguments used by non-believers, atheists, agnostics, and seekers when trying to develop an intellectual argument against God. Trying to reconcile the cognitive dissonance of acknowledging evil while accepting the reality of an all-powerful (Omnipotent), all-knowing (Omniscient), and always present (Omnipresent) supreme being is seemingly untenable. Alvin Plantinga is considered by many one of the most influential Christian philos