Some Christians think that the life of Christian discipleship is a life of victorious Christian living in which we are content in all things. But what if Christian discipleship has room for the full range of human emotional responses to God including doubt, sadness, disappointment, and even anger?
The Tentative Apologist
RZIM, as Shameless as Ever, Engages in Public Relations Disaster Management
Just over a month ago, the CEO of RZIM, Sarah Davis, posted a video addressing Ravi Zacharias’ pattern of habitual lying, sexual predation, and shady misappropriation of funds. The video has 2.1K likes and only 63 dislikes, including mine. Why don’t I like the video? After all, she mentions “abuse” in passing and calls for […]
Biblical Violence and Epistemology: A Conversation with Counter Apologist
In this video, I have a conversation with atheist blogger Counter Apologist over biblical violence and epistemology in conversation with my book “Jesus Loves Canaanites.” ?
On Transgender Athletes
This morning, I posted the following poll on Twitter: Regarding transgender women competing as women in sport. This is not a flippant question: I'm quite serious. If LeBron James announced that she genuinely self-identified as a woman, should she be allowed to play in the WNBA? — Tentative Apologist (@RandalRauser) June 28, 2021 One supporter […]
Writing Infectious Books
COVID19 introduced me to the “R number”, a way of rating the ability of a disease to spread. The higher the R number, the more infectious the disease. For example, with no safety protocols taken, COVID19 has an R number of approximately 3 in an unvaccinated population meaning that for every infected individual, three additional […]
Could God Command You to Rape and Cannibalize? If not, Why Think He Could Command You to Slaughter?
Long-time readers of my blog (all fifteen of you!) may recall my past critique of the accommodationist approach to the Canaanite genocide. But others will not. And for those folk, I offer this article. From a Christian theological point-of-view, it is a truism to note that God accommodates to various suboptimal understandings of the nature […]
Does the Bible include Evil Moral Teaching?
In this video, I argue that the mandate to punish people by pelting them to death with rocks is always immoral and I seek to appeal to the moral intuitions of others in support of this claim by way of an actual modern instance of stoning. If we agree that stoning is always wrong, we […]
The Treatment of the Canaanites is Unique and Unrepeatable? Rebutting a Popular Genocide Apologetic
One of the common gambits of the Christian apologists who defend the Canaanite genocide is to insist that the narrative does not provide a general justification for genocide because the circumstances were “unique and unrepeatable”. (For example, that is a description I have heard Paul Copan use on different occasions.) The statement seems to have […]
Welcome to my new podcast!
I just launched a new Tentative Apologist Podcast. My first podcast burned me out several years ago so this one is going to be stripped down in terms of production values. You can listen on Spotify here. It should be available shortly on other major streaming platforms as well.
Jesus Dwells Within You Really But Not Literally
In this video, I explore the importance of metaphor in theological language as a powerful heuristic tool for exploring reality. We focus, in particular, on the spatial metaphor of Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwelling within the Christian. ?
Looking to Disagree: The Problem of Pugilistic Evangelicals
The other day, I posted the following tweet criticizing a t-shirt being marketed by evangelical apologist Frank Turek: “Frank Turek is selling a shirt that replaces the “Coexist” logo with one that says “Contradict” as if belief in the truth of Xianity entails that all the claims of other religions are false. That is wrong. […]
Atheists “Stealing” From God And Other Apologetic Mistakes
A few years ago, Christian apologist Frank Turek authored a popular book called Stealing from God in which he argued … Well, let’s just let the promotional blurb do the work for us, shall we? “If you think atheists have reason, evidence, and science on their side, think again! Award-winning author Dr. Frank Turek (I […]
The Bible, Divinely Commanded Violence, and Inspiration: My Opening Statement
In May 2021, I debated John Loftus on Modern Day Debate. The debate resolution was “The Bible, with its divinely commanded violence, wasn’t inspired by a perfect God.” Here is my opening statement in full. Thanks to Modern Day Debate for the invitation to debate and to John Loftus for agreeing to participate. I’d like to […]
Frank Turek on the Slaughter of the Canaanites. And My Response.
The perfectly awful apologetic defense of the Canaanite slaughter in this clip concisely captures why I wrote Jesus Loves Canaanites. Let’s begin with the video (it’s only six minutes). I’ll then post my commentary below. ? The video begins with a question posed by the moderator of what appears to be an in-church training event. […]
