When I was growing up my parents owned many vehicles: three Audi 5000s, a Nissan Maxima, a Jeep Wagoneer, a Datsun 210, a Ford Ranger, a Honda Prelude, and so on. Of all those vehicles, there is one I dearly wish I still had in my own driveway: my dad’s 1969 GMC truck with a […]
Archives for October 2015
Hell and Mr. Fudge: A Review
Twenty years ago I took a course in apologetics at Trinity Western University. The main assignment was a debate in front of the class at the end of the semester. My friend and I were given the task of defending annihilationism — the view that hell constitutes the final destruction of the unregenerate — over-against […]
Those who ignore the causes of Palestinian violence…
This morning the following tweet appeared on my Twitter feed (as retweeted by Michael Brown): First, let me begin by noting that while ISIS apparently posted the pictures, I take it the focus of Cantor’s comments is not so much ISIS as the Palestinians since (1) the Palestinians are on the frontline of this abhorrent incitement […]
What Joe Biden can teach us
These days folks don’t merely “agree to disagree”. They go out of their way to call into question the very motives of those on the other side of the ideological aisle. The Rebellion Thesis that dismisses all instances of atheism as sinful rebellion against the plain and clear witness of creation is yet one more […]
Offensively trite suburban reasons to believe in God # 257: New earbuds just when you need them
Yesterday I was out for a run when one of my earbuds stopped working suddenly. Completing the run with the loss of stereo sound was bad enough, but even worse, I had no backup earbuds. What was I supposed to listen to now? Running with one working earbud was simply not an option. And the prospect […]
The Atheist My Neighbor on “The God Show”
On October 25th I appeared on “The God Show” with Pat McMahon on KTAR 92.3 FM in Glendale, AZ. It was my second appearance on “The God Show”, this time to talk about my book Is the Atheist My Neighbor? Pat McMahon is an institution in Arizona radio, and it’s no surprise as he is […]
Misoatheism: A New Label for Anti-Atheist Prejudice
Edward Feser has continued his critical exchange with Greg Koukl in “Repressed knowledge of God? Part II.” Feser and I agree on the key point that “not all atheism stems from intellectual dishonesty.” Koukl, by contrast, insists that atheists are actively, willfully suppressing their innate disposition to believe in God in analogy with a person […]
Thoughts on The Martian
A couple weeks ago I saw The Martian and I’m telling you, it’s out of this world. (Yes, it’s true. I began a serious review with a pun that Henny Youngman wouldn’t deign to use.) But don’t let that awful opening line throw you. I loved this movie. It’s got all the right elements of a […]
Gift Shop Wisdom
Today one of my students stumbled upon this quote attributed to Walt Whitman: This is a great example of “gift shop wisdom”, i.e. the kind of sloganeering which may not mean much, but despite, or rather, because of that fact, it looks great on calendars and coffee mugs. In cases like this, you inevitably wonder, did […]
Does the religious status of New Testament documents undermine their historical veracity?
In his classic 1943 book The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, F.F. Bruce makes the following observation: “Somehow or other, there are people who regard a ‘sacred book’ as ipso facto under suspicion, and demand much more corroborative evidence for such a work than they would for an ordinary secular or pagan writing.” This […]
Koukl responds to Feser and I respond to Koukl
Greg Koukl has offered a response to Edward Feser’s critique of his 2 minute video on the Rebellion Thesis. You can read “Koukl Responds” here. In turn, I posted a comment in response to Koukl’s essay which I have reposted below. * * * It is difficult to know where to begin with Koukl’s comments. So let […]
Does Wintery Knight believe the sun orbits the earth?
Yesterday I challenged an anonymous blogger who calls him/herself “Wintery Knight” (henceforth “WK”) on his/her anonymous defense of the Rebellion Thesis (the claim that all atheists are actively and sinfully suppressing their natural knowledge of God). Wintery Knight’s Ad hominem Rebuttal Sadly, WK responded less like a bold knight fighting for truth than an insecure lord defending his […]
Slandering atheists
The other day blogger Wintery Knight wrote an article in support of R.C. Sproul’s book If there’s a God, why are there atheists? According to Sproul, atheism is (always) the product of sinful rebellion. In short, atheists refuse to submit to the revelation that God has provided to them. Sproul is among the foremost defenders of the “Rebellion Thesis” […]
Songs Jesus Would Sing: 2. The Alarm, “How the Mighty Fall”
In my humble opinion, The Alarm never received the critical or commercial respect they were due. That’s too bad because they recorded some great albums like Declaration, Eye of the Hurricane, and my personal favorite, Change. If Change is my favorite album by The Alarm, one of the lesser known tunes from the album, “How […]
