I grew up in a Christian tradition that greatly valued the certainty of one’s convictions: the “man of faith” was the one who fully trusted God, not the one who doubted. As a result, I came to believe that doubt is the enemy of faith. But is that really true?
doubt
Should we be (most) certain that God exists?
Today this tweet from Douglas Axe (director of Biologic Institute who tweets here) caught my attention: Since we humans always have to settle for something short of absolute proof, I'm not sure we have to qualify our certainty of God's existence in this way. We can be as confident of his existence as we can […]
God, Evolution, and Creation: A Short Interview
Here’s are some clips from an interview I did with Pastor Todd Petkau of Riverwood Church in Winnipeg. In these clips we discuss creation, Darwinian evolution, and doubt. Dr. Randall Rauser Interview – Unapologetic from Riverwood Church on Vimeo.
When you can’t believe, the church can do it for you
Yesterday while I was doing the Run for the Cure I listened to Krista Tippett’s interview with author and pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber. While the whole conversation is worth a listen, I was particularly intrigued by Bolz-Weber’s comment about the corporate nature of prayer and faith. In this excerpt she begins by noting that the call to […]
Doubters and Questioners
Today I was reading through Cormac McCarthy’s Sunset Limited: A Novel in Dramatic Form, (New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2006). It’s a simple play that features a conversation between two individuals, “White” and “Black” pondering the great questions of existence. It’s a short play that can be read in a couple hours and it’s well worth your […]
On the Use of People to Benefit Other People: A response to Jason Thibodeau
In my review of John L. Schellenberg’s book The Hiddenness Argument I offered the following scenario as a possible reason why God would choose to defer the initiation of personal relationship with a non-resistant nonbeliever: “It is possible that in the decade during which she is an atheist, Liz will bring many resistant nonbelievers to a greater understanding of absolute […]
Thoughts on Certainty: The Evangelical Leader and the Liberal Bishop (Part 2)
In my opening installment of this series I cited Dave Tomlinson’s parable of the evangelical leader and liberal bishop. I’m now going to begin offering some critical response to it. I’ve already observed how the parable is intended to be provocative and paint our two leaders in stark tones. And because it is aimed at […]
Read Chapter 1 of Is the Atheist My Neighbor?
It’s been awhile since I talked about my book Is the Atheist My Neighbor? That’s the same book that received this stellar endorsement from J.L. Schellenberg who is perhaps the leading atheist philosopher of religion in the world today. Schellenberg wrote: “There are some whose way of following the first of the great commandments has, […]
Are atheists rebelling against God? Greg Koukl says “No Duh!”
In a new 3 minute video Greg Koukl, Christian apologist from “Stand to Reason”, answers the question “Are atheists just suppressing the truth in unrighteousness?” by replying: “No duh!” Fortunately, Koukl then proceeds to explain why he believes this is a “No duh!” question based on the standard Rebellion Thesis reading of Romans 1 (i.e. all […]
Atheist tweets on faith: A response to Justin Schieber
The other day I came across this tweet from Justin Schieber in my twitter feed: First off, let me say that this is a good tweet: pithy and provocative, so much so that it’s apparently worth two blog posts. That’s right, two! So let’s get started. And let’s make that start on a positive note […]
Belief and Doubt in the 21st Century
On March 8, 2015 I sat down with Justin Schieber for an evening of discussion on “Belief and Doubt in the 21st Century.” The event was hosted by Dr. Ralph Korner and Taylor Seminary. I’ve included the video below and an audio version just below that for those who prefer an mp3. As an added […]
Belief and Doubt in the Twenty-First Century is Coming! (March 8th)
Here’s the poster for my upcoming dialogue with Justin Schieber on March 8th. Thanks to Justin for putting this fine poster together.
Belief and Doubt in the Twenty-First Century: A Christian-Atheist Dialogue
First the bad news: my upcoming Calgary debate with Justin Schieber (scheduled for March 8th) has been cancelled. (Fear not, the March 7th debate in Edmonton is still very much a go.) This leaves us with a free Sunday to fill. As a result, currently Justin and I are planning a second event for Sunday, […]
Then We Shall See Face to Face: Some reasons for divine hiddenness
In this article I pick up the thread of a conversation with philosopher Jason Thibodeau in response to my podcast “The 59-Second Apologist: The Argument from Divine Hiddenness. First, the background. Jason began by outlining what he called a “reciprocal affection tendency” (henceforth RAT): “Suppose, then, that a significant percentage of humans have reciprocal affection […]
