Category Archives: Apologetics

The anthropic principle

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According to the anthropic principle, the universe is extraordinarily adapted for the emergence of life in general, and human life in particular.

The Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics outlines an ‘incredibly restrictive set of demands’ that needed to be present in order for life as we know it to emerge.

  1. Oxygen comprises 21 percent of the atmosphere. If it were 25 percent, fires would erupt, if 15 percent, human beings would suffocate.
  2. If the gravitational force were altered by 1 part in 10 to the power of 40 (that’s 10 followed by forty zeroes), the sun would not exist, and the moon would crash into the earth or sheer off into space.
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Some thoughts on Young Earth Creationism

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According to Young Earth Creationists (YEC) the cosmos came into being not more than about 10,000 years ago.  I must admit that I have tended to regard this view as unnecessary from a biblical point of view, and implausible from a scientific point of view.

But let me just note, without irony or mockery, what kinds of arguments could be used to support it.

1.  YEC regards its theory as theologically coherent. 

YEC is committed to a high view of Scripture. …

Miracles yesterday and today

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Many Christians must have wondered: If so many miracles are recorded in the pages of the New Testament, why are few (if any) witnessed today?  For sceptics, the answer is that the New Testament accounts of miracles cannot be believed.  For some believers, the answer is that although the New Testament accounts can be believed, the gift of miracles ceased when the canon of Scripture was completed.

New Testament scholar Craig Keener has recently published a work that bids fair to blow both the sceptical and the ultra-conservative views right out of the water. …

The Lewis ‘Trilemma’ revisited

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What possible answers could be given to the question, “Who was Jesus?”

C.S. Lewis famously wrote:-

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.…

The Sceptic’s Annotated Bible

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The Sceptic’s Annotated Bible (SAB) is a god-send for Christians.  If you want a convenient summary of the many and various objections that might be raised against the Bible, the SAB is just the thing.

There’s nothing new about it, of course.  Over a century ago two ‘freethinkers’ rejoicing in the names of Foote and Ball (I tell you no lie) produced their innocently-named Bible Handbook, which attempted much the same job.  I have previously written about this:-

‘Far from being an informative guide to the Bible it turned out to be a compilation of supposed errors and contradictions as uncovered by two ‘freethinkers’. 

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Has neuroscience killed God?

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I recently got round to listening to the podcast of a discussion on this topic on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable show.  The Revd Dr Alasdair Coles is a neurologist and a Christian.  His interest in the subject was stimulated by meeting a Christian patient who claimed to have some very powerful religious experiences but which, as it seems, were actually being triggered by epilepsy.  The sceptical perspective was represented by Martyn Frame, a psychological therapist.…

Christ’s resurrection – Unbelievable?

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On a recent edition of Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable programme, the question under discussion was “Is apologetics a waste of time?”

Answering in the affirmative was atheist James Croft.  Obviously skilled as a debater, he projected himself as a calmly reasonable person who has considered the truth-claims of Christianity and found them wanting.

I think that his underlying unreasonableness came across in two particular ways.

Firstly, he complained that Christian apologists such as W.L Craig keep coming out with the same arguments, even though (he said) these arguments have been comprehensively refuted time after time. …

Meyer vs. Fox – ‘Signature in the Cell’

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A recent edition of Premier Christian Radio’s ‘Unbelievable’ show featured a discussion between Stephen Meyer, Director of the Centre for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute in Seattle and a proponent of Intelligent Design, and Keith Fox, Professor of Biochemistry at Southampton University and Chair of Christians in Science and a disbeliever in Intelligent Design.

It was a rather frustrating experience to listen to this discussion.  The main problem was Stephen Meyer.  Although not overtly aggressive, he seemed only interested in what he himself had to say. …

Stephen Law: anything but God

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Last Monday, Christian apologist William Lane Craig debated atheist philosopher Stephen Law on the question ‘Does God Exist?’

Craig presented three arguments in favour of God’s existence:-

1.  A version of the cosmological argument: everything that begins to exist must have a cause for its existence; the cosmos had a beginning; therefore it must have a cause beyond itself, and this we may call a Creator).

2.  A version of the moral argument: objective moral facts exist; these are best explained by the existence of a supreme moral being.…

The Gospel miracles

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For many people, the miracle-stories of the Gospels present the chief difficulty in the way of accepting those writings as historically reliable.

Since these miracle-stories are related by authors who can be shown on other grounds to be trustworthy, then they are worthy at least of serious attention by historians.

The Gospels do not ask us to belief in ridiculous miracles; they are precisely the kinds of work that might be expected from such a person as Jesus is represented to be.…