Category Archives: Apologetics

Adam: a historical figure?

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What options are available for relating the biblical account of Adam and Eve to the scientific account of the evolution of the human race?

Todd Beall lists some of the main alternatives.  Adam and Eve are variously considered to be:

(1) historical persons, though if there were many humans around at the same time, they would be chieftains of a tribe specially selected by God (Collins 2011, 121);

(2) archetypes but historical people, though not necessarily the first or only humans (Walton 2015, 96–103);

(3) literary figures who may or may not be historical (Longman 2013, 122); or

(4) not historical at all, though Paul thought that they were (Enns 2012, 120–122, 138).

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The problem of evil – three pillars of truth

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With regard to the problem of evil, three things can be asserted with confidence:-

1. The evil reality of evil, Isa 5:20.

2. The all-embracing sovereignty of the Lord, Eph 1:11.

3. The perfect goodness of God and of his work, Gen 1:31.

There is, no doubt, great difficulty in reconciling these three, yet we hold them all to be true. Indeed, we find them intertwined on the cross, ‘an evil than which no greater can be conceived’ (Hick), which, nevertheless, was predestined by God, (Acts 4:28) and which was the ultimate expression of the goodness of God.…

The Christian revolution – putting the record straight

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I was prompted by this post to get hold of an (audio) copy of David Bentley Hart’s 2009 book Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies.

I listened to the whole thing during the course of a short walking trip.  Here are a few random thoughts by way of response.

As some other reviewers have pointed out, the book’s main title (‘Atheist Delusions’) was quite possibly chosen by the publishers, and not by the author, and serves more as an attention-grabber than as an accurate guide to content.  …

Evil and God’s providence

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Of the evils that infect God’s world (moral and spiritual perversity, waste of good, and the physical disorders and disruptions of a spoiled cosmos), it can summarily be said:

1. God permits evil; (Acts 14:16)

2. he punishes evil with evil; (Ps 81:11-12 Rom 1:26-32)

3. he brings good out of evil; (Ge 50:20 Acts 2:23 4:27-28 13:27 1 Cor 2:7-8)

4. he uses evil to test and discipline those he loves; (Mt 4:1-11 Heb 12:4-14)

5.…

Jesus’ apologetic methods

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Jock McGregor has an excellent introductory lecture on apologetics which can be listened to or downloaded from Christian Heritage website. Near the beginning of this lecture, he outlines the apologetic method used by Jesus in Luke 24:36-45. This passage records one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ. The disciples doubted, taking it to be an apparition.

As McGregor says, our Lord does not merely say to the disciples, ”Just believe.” Instead, he takes time to persuade them.…

Boghossian vs McGrew: faith and evidence

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Peter Boghossian is a teacher of philosophy, an atheist, and author of a recent book, A Manual For Creating Atheists.  Tim McGrew is also a philosophy professor, and a Christian.  They met up recently on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable show.

Let me begin by saying that I don’t particular appreciate the tone of Christian writer and apologist Randal Rauser’s response to this debate.  There’s not much point in (rightly) commending McGrew for not resorting to ‘low blows or rhetorical cheap shots’ and then Rauser littering his own impression of Boghossian’s performance with expressions such as ‘ridiculous…complete buffoon…nonsense…nauseating’ and so on.…

History is not bunk

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Michael Licona, in the course of an interview discussing his 2010 book The Resurrection of Jesus, makes a number of helpful points about historical investigation.  He asserts, for example, that alleged miraculous events do not lie outside the provenance of historical enquiry: any past event that has left some kind of trace can be studied.

Drawing on the work of McCullagh, Licona outlines the following criteria for a successful historical hypothesis:-

  • explanatory scope (i.e. successfully accounts for more of the data than competing hypotheses do)
  • explanatory power
  • plausibility (i.e.
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Tactics

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This is the title of a book by Greg Koukl.  The author suggests a number of ways in which the Christian, in seeking to commend her or her faith to others, might guide the conversation.  In other words, the book covers not the ‘what’ of Christian apologetics, but rather the ‘how’.  Recognising that the person who seeks to commend Jesus to others needs (a) knowledge, (b) wisdom, and (c) character, Koukl focuses mainly on the second of these.…

Tom Wright doesn’t believe in miracles…

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…and I (sort of) agree with him!

In the course of a wide-ranging interview with Justin Brierley on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable show, Tom Wright explained why he’s uncomfortable with the word ‘miracle’, as popularly understood.  ‘Let’s give up the word “miracle”,’ he said,

The word comes from an Epicurean or deistic worldview which envisages a God who is outside the process and occasionally reaches in, does something funny, and then pushes off again.  That’s not what the New Testament is talking about.  

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“The biblical God commanded genocide”

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At last, in chapter 6 of God or Godless?, we have a real problem to debate.

Atheist John Loftus regards this as completely cut-and-dried: in several places in the Old Testament, the biblical God commanded genocide.  He cites the following texts: Joshua 6:16-25; Deuteronomy 2:4-34; 7:1-6; Numbers 31:7-18.  Since there can be no possible justification for this genocide, John thinks that apologists either have to concede that they never took place, or they have to argue that they did take place, but were mistaken in thinking that it was God who had commanded them. …