Keeping It Simple
Maybe it’s formulaic but it’s also true, in my humble opinion: All we have to do is accept Christ and try our best to do what He wants.
“Blast from the Past” (film)
My wife and I one recent evening felt like watching a movie, and she loves romantic comedies and I had a list from the February 23, 2009, National Review of the “25 best conservative movies of the last 25 years.” And so we rented Blast from the Past for 79 cents. That 79 cents turned … [Read more…]
Today’s News: John 19:1-23
In reading the first half of John 19 the other day, I was struck with how real, how straightforward the narration is. It does not read like a made-up mythopoetic fantasy, but instead like reportage (I’m paraphrasing C.S. Lewis). But see what you think: Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together … [Read more…]
An Awesome God
Driving during a cold sunset in December, I was overwhelmed with so many sublime intricacies in the landscape, natural and manmade both. It beggars the imagination to think this could all be accidental, just molecules colliding. But, one hesitates, does it not also beggar the imagination to think that this could all be known and … [Read more…]
Michael R. Licona, “Paul Meets Muhammad: A Christian-Muslim Debate on the Resurrection”
This is a very engaging book, with an exciting premise: It imagines what it would be like if St. Paul and the prophet Muhammad were to have a formal debate on whether or not Jesus was resurrected (!). The idea is that MIT has been able to create two opposing lifelike holograms that, by computers … [Read more…]
Did God Concede Too Much to Abraham?
Any time we question God, it’s cheeky at best and can be dangerously disrespectful, so let me begin this blogpost by reassuring the reader that it will conclude with, well, whaddya know, He was right again. *** So I was thinking about the part of Genesis where God tells Abraham that He is going to … [Read more…]
Three Overarching Thoughts on the Bible for the New Year
1. I can think of three arguments for recognizing that such a thing as Scripture exists (and, without going into a lot of detail here, by Scripture I mean a text that is not only true but has a special kind of inspired truth). First and foremost, Jesus recognized it. Second, we need Scripture as … [Read more…]
Peter Kreeft, “Ha!: A Christian Philosophy of Humor”
I’m a fan of Professor Peter Kreeft’s, put this book on my Christmas list, and (thanks, kids!) received it. I read it right away, and it’s short (93 pages) and sweet. And I’m happy to begin a Happy New Year for readers with a work that focuses on a happy topic. The first part of … [Read more…]
Gary R. Habermas & Michael R. Licona, “The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus”
This is a good book, and an unusual one. Its core idea is how to present a rather specific apologetic argument. The first part lays out that argument in some detail, and the remainder focuses principally on responding to various objections. Woven in throughout are pointers on effective, person-to-person evangelism. Hence the book’s epigraph: “Be … [Read more…]
You Could Make This Stuff Up — But Why Would You?
I (and others) frequently note that one argument supporting the veracity of the Bible is that it contains much that is unflattering to the people who supposedly made it up. The Jews in the Old Testament are complaining and ungrateful backsliders, the apostles in the New Testament are uncomprehending and cowardly, to give just two … [Read more…]