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The Hitchens Challenge

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Arch-atheist Christopher Hitchens repeatedly held out the following challenge to religious people:-

“Name me an ethical statement made or an action performed by a believer that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer.”

Hitchens seems to think that he has religious folk stumped.  “As yet,” he claims, “I have no takers.”

I am very far from wanting to defend ‘religion’ in general.  So I would respond by asserting that it is not difficult to find multiple instances of moral acts that would only be performed by followers of Jesus Christ, and others that would more prevalent amongst followers of Jesus Christ than among non-believers. …

Options for rich Christians

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John Stott outlines three options for rich Christians.

Become poor

It might be supposed that 2 Cor 8:9 teaches this. Consider also:-

(a) The example of Jesus. He was born into a poor home. He had no home and few possessions. ‘He taught from a borrowed boat, rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey, spent his last evening in a borrowed room, and was buried in a borrowed tomb. He and his disicples shared a common purse, and depended for their support on a group of women who sometimes accompanied them.…

Science vs religion: what do scientists really believe?

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This is the title of a new book (not yet available in the UK) by Elaine Howard Ecklund.  It reports the results of a survey of nearly 1700 leading American academic scientists.  The questionnaire survey (with an impressive response rate of 75%) was followed up by 275 interviews.

A summary of the findings of the research is available here.  There is an interesting (and, I think, even-handed) interview with Ecklund on the Point of Enquiry website.…

Biblical rationale for apologetics

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Here are a few reasons, drawn from Scripture, why Christians should engage in apologetics:-

  1. Apologetics is a biblical command, 1 Peter 3:15.
  2. Christians are to contend for the faith, Jude 3.
  3. Christians are to pull down strongholds that stand against Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:4.
  4. Christians are to eliminate doubts in the mind of the convert, 2 Corinthians 10:5.
  5. Christians are to give a reason for their hope in Christ, 1 Peter 3:15.
  6. False doctrines and ideas should be addressed, Titus 1:9-11.
…

Religion as ‘wish-fulfilment’

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It was Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) who first popularised the notion that religious belief is merely the projection of human longing, the objectification of a false idea that people wish to be true.  ‘God’ is, according to this view, an entirely human invention, ‘a dream of the human soul’, brought into being to give comfort along life’s difficult and dark path.

Religious people are unaware of this.  They think that the God they have imagined has some objective existence. …

Free agency and free will

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Clear thinking about humankind’s fallen nature requires a careful distinction to be made between ‘free agency’ and ‘free will’.

Free agency is part of what it means to be human.  We all make decisions as to what we will do and how we will behave, based on our personal inclinations and our sense of what is right and wrong.  We are moral agents, accountable to God and to one another for our voluntary choices.

Free will, on the other hand, has been defined as the ability to choose from all the moral options that may be available in a given situation. …

Approaching Bible ‘contradictions’

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Christians adopt a high view of the reliability and trustworthiness of the Bible for a number of reasons, not least on the testimony of Jesus Christ himself.  But what kinds of responses are available to those who question the truthfulness of certain sections of the Bible?

Paul Copan makes a number a helpful suggestions:-

  1. Clarify a passage by examining its context or by using clear passages to examine the unclear. Context reveals that “justify” and “works” in James 2 mean something different than they do in Romans 3.
…

Judges 19:11-28 – The priest and the concubine

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As evidence for the nastiness of the Old Testament and its God, Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion, 240f) can find no better example than the account of an unnamed Levite and his concubine while travelling in Gibeah (Judges 19:11-28).

Quoting the Authorised Version (why?), Dawkins outlines the ghastly unfolding of events.  The two of them spend the night in the house of an old man.  While eating their supper, the men of the city come to the door and demand that the old man hands over his male guest so that they can have their way with him. …

Preacher, guard your character

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There is, as Bryan Chapell points out, no shortage of scriptural teaching on the necessity of the minister of the word to be a man of good character (2 Cor 6:3-4; 1 Thess 2:3-8, 11-12; 2 Tim 2:15-16, 22-24; Titus 2:7-8; James 1:26-27; 3:13).

Those who preach Scripture should take care that their lives are under the rule of Scripture.  John Wesley once explained to a young preacher why his ministry was ineffective: “Your temper is uneven; you lack love for your neighbors.…

Mt 13:3-9; 18-23 – The Christian and the Bible – sermon notes

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It is springtime by the Sea of Galilee. Great numbers have come enthusiastically to hear Jesus preach, but what will be their response? The seed was being faithfully sown, but what will the harvest bring? We can picture Jesus sitting in the prow of a boat, pointing, perhaps, to a field where a sower is scattering corn seed onto the ground. Look: some of it is falling onto the pathway, and you can already see the birds coming along behind and pecking it up off the hard ground.…