Feb 11, 2022 | Explanatory Power
If I had to play a one-note Samba in apologetics it would be the consideration of the Alternative. In my last post I mentioned a Christian who advertised his “deconversion” on Facebook, and suggested he might want to put his new alternative faith on trial as much as he did Christianity. The Bee’s headline reveals something most most people, including Christians, have probably never considered: atheists are people of faith too! They are “believers” every bit as much as Christians. Unfortunately, while Christians are referred to as “believers,” those who are not Christians are referred to as “unbelievers,” as if such at thing existed. In our modern secular culture this is a problem, as I will explain. Let’s see how the Bee explains our fictional atheist’s struggle:
Sources say that Marcus often says that he’s just a random collection of atoms and chemical reactions—that he’s just ‘dancing to his DNA’—but recently he just can’t seem to shake the idea that there’s more to his existence.
“What if it’s all a lie? What if atheism is just made up to make people feel smart and have a false sense of superiority?” Marcus cried out. “I mean obviously we’re just here by random chance, with no benevolent Being watching over us. But then again, why has a single good thing happened in anyone’s life—much less on a daily basis?”
(more…)
Dec 9, 2021 | Explanatory Power
I’m not sure there is anything more annoying then a pesky fly, other than maybe a pesky mosquito. Recently one of those pesky flies somehow made its way into my office, and didn’t want to leave. Eventually, swatting it withy my hand wasn’t going to dissuade it from bothering me, so I pulled out the big stick, a rolled up newspaper. Numerous times as it landed I did my best to anticipate it’s next move, and slammed the newspaper where it was no longer. Finally I got it, but not completely. The injured fly did everything it could to flee from impending doom, but eventually the newspaper was too much, and it left the land of the living. I felt bad. I’d just taken a life, albeit an annoying one. It got me thinking of a conversation I had with a friend some time ago who asked me an unexpected question: Are you afraid of dying? Well, yes, I am, as a matter of fact. His response was stark: I’m not. I’ve wondered about that encounter ever since, and it came back to me as I watched the fly struggle for existence. (more…)
Nov 28, 2021 | Explanatory Power
A few months back I wrote a piece with a similar title. The musician who helped make the argument without making an argument was Pat Metheny. I recently learned of an interview legendary producer (or so I’m told) Rick Ruben did with one of the two remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney, called McCartney 3, 2, 1. If you’re a Beatles’ fan, you will love it. I used to poo-poo nostalgia when I was younger even calling it the dialogue of the dead, but young stupid know-it-alls say such things. As I get older, and that is happening faster and faster, I find nostalgia, well, nostalgic! One definition of the word is a sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition. As such, nostalgia says something profoundly sad about the state of our fallen condition, even as it brings the joy of memories of times long past. (more…)
Oct 21, 2021 | Explanatory Power
It’s amazing to me how many Christians in the 21st century live in a state of insecurity about their faith and the nature of reality. I’m not myself immune to the secular temptation that wafts unseen through the secular culture pushing material reality as the only reality. Mind you, I and very few other people believe that the universe and everything in it is somehow a product of mere matter and chance. Just ask anyone you come across if they believe that there is no God, and that the universe is a product of mere matter and chance, and 95 plus percent will say, no way! Yet most of them live as if God is absolutely irrelevant to their lives, practical atheists if you will. Yet we, if we’re honest, are tempted to live the same way. I know I am, which I why one of the verses most on my mind and lips and prayers is Paul’s declaration in Romans 1:20, that “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Meditate on that, clearly seen, being understood from what has been made . . . . We just need to open our eyes! And we will know, God is. (more…)
Sep 17, 2021 | Explanatory Power, Theology
Most mornings when I pray I find myself thanking God for revealing himself in creation, Scripture, and Christ. I think how futile existence is without God’s revealing himself to us. Without that revelation, the human race is like a blind man in a dark box groping around without any way out. Every which way he runs looking for an exit he only finds a hard, cold wall, so he looks and runs harder. The history of philosophy is a perfect picture of the endless futility inside the box, speculation built upon conjecture based on assumptions based on nothing but human reason or human senses. Such thinking will only take humanity as far as human reason and senses can go, which is far, but not outside the box. The brilliance of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle is a testament to just how far human thinking can take us, but soon descended into philosophies not nearly as brilliant, like Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Cynicism. Many other great thinkers came after, but without revelation it was all just a big intellectual food fight. (more…)
Sep 11, 2021 | Explanatory Power
If you’ve ever had any kind of conversation with a hard core Darwinist, especially of the most ignorant kind, you’ll have heard the phrase, “Evolution is a fact.” This statement is affirmed in the most cocksure way, as if nobody with half a brain would question it. Or if you work in the biological sciences, or work at a university, Darwinian orthodoxy is the faith that shall not be questioned. You know how weak a position or idea is if totalitarian tactics are required to silence heretics, and keep everyone else in line. Reminds me of a certain virus that too shall not be questioned. We find, however, when we question “the narrative,” whatever that is, that maybe there are other ways to look at things, other facts to be considered that challenge the orthodoxy. It so happens that Darwinian evolution (random mutation through natural selection, and magically everything that exists, exists!) is a very weak orthodoxy, and a truly open-minded inquisitor will likely find it so regardless of whatever religious presuppositions he brings to the table. Neil Thomas is one of those, and I think you will enjoy hearing about his journey to Darwinian skeptic even as an agnostic. It’s a fun interview, and you’ll remember it next time some snotty Darwinist insists that, “Evolution is a fact!” Uh, no is it not!
Recent Comments