Apologetics and Evangelism

Deen Responds Fails the Muslim Challenge

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Guys, I’m living in Deen’s head. The rent is free, but the view is terrible. Here’s his video response to me on the question no Muslim can answer. Here’s my original video for context: And finally, here’s another similar version of the argument: First, Deen Responds says I’ve “refuted myself” by using an argument from silence against Islam but not applying it consistently to the way I defend the New Testament. But let’s get this straight—not all arguments from silence are created equal. I’ve never claimed all arguments from silence are fallacious. See Dr. Tim McGrew’s 2013 peer-reviewed paper on the argument from silence. (Link) That’s what I reference when I discuss this topic. A … Read more

Got Doubts? Stop Doing This!

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shallow focus photography of man wearing red polo shirt

From working in public apologetics ministry for a few years now, one common mistake I see from Christians struggling with their faith is that they try and prematurely flex their apologetic muscles by spending tons of time listening to atheist YouTubers, podcasts or reading blogs but they don’t get the bulk of the Christian evidences strong under their belt first. When they come across a few things that stump them, they get troubled, anxious, or even set aside their faith altogether. This is falling prey to what the great English logician Richard Whately called “the fallacy of objections.” Whately defined the fallacy of objections as “showing that there are objections against some plan, theory, or … Read more

Learn to Make a Maximal Case for the Resurrection

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I used to love sharing the minimal facts with unbelievers.  It’s easy to present in a few minutes and sounds rhetorically powerful. When I tell my friends that the facts I’m sharing are universally acknowledged by scholars, even those who are skeptical, it seems like I am not coming at them with something that only conservative evangelicals believe. And on the surface, taking an end-run around the Gospels seemed helpful because unbelievers tend to view them as dubious sources.  However, I ran into a couple of issues. One was practical. Let’s say I got the skeptic to hear me out. Does it really make sense to say: “OK, I granted for the sake of argument … Read more

9 Famous Thinkers Who Said They’d Rather Go To Hell than Worship God

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CS Lewis famously remarked that “the gates of hell are locked from the inside.” In other words, the residents of the damned are there based on personal preference. It’s not because they’d rather be in heaven but only lacked sufficient information.  Echoing Lewis, Christian philosopher Dallas Williard wrote that hell isn’t “an ‘oops’ or a slip. One does not miss heaven by a hair, but by a constant effort to avoid and escape God.”  But are these famous Christian thinkers correct? Doesn’t it seem crazy that anyone would prefer hell? Based on the statements of many influential skeptics and atheists, the answer might surprise you. Many hardheartedly reject the Biblical picture of God. If such … Read more

Are There Any “Good” Atheists?

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One of the most popular arguments for God’s existence is the moral argument. It can take different forms, but a popular version runs like this:  If God doesn’t exist, there are no objective moral values or duties.  But moral values and obligations exist – objectively.  Therefore, God exists.  It’s not unusual for someone to say, “Are you saying that all atheists are bad people? Rude!” The Christian apologist will often reply that the issue isn’t about belief in God but whether or not God exists. After all, we all know moral atheists.  It’s true that this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the argument. But do we really know of many good atheists?  Relatively so, absolutely. … Read more

The Fear of Death Drives You More Than You Think (Q+A With Dr. Clay Jones)

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My favorite book on the problem of evil is Clay Jones’ Why Does God Allow Evil?: Compelling Answers for Life’s Toughest Questions. Jones flips the problem of evil on its head by suggesting that the real question isn’t so much why God allows evil, but why God allows human beings. After all, we’re the ones carrying out so much evil. (And if you take a rosy view of humanity, Jones’ chapter on genocide over the past 100 years will shake that out of you!) Jones says that the problem of evil ceased to be a problem for him after getting a deeper understanding of the life that is to come for the believer. He writes, … Read more

How I Got Into Apologetics (And How You Can Too!)

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I am often asked, “how did you get into apologetics?” For some believers, they’ll get interested in apologetics because of a crisis of faith. They’ll have intellectual hurdles that come up that they have to overcome. For me, I never was plagued with doubts. While I spent several years of my life as an atheist, I had a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit. As I walked with God, the inner witness of the Holy Spirit was a real and regular experience. After coming to faith, I felt burdened to share my faith. I would share my testimony with anyone who would give me the time of day and led several of my friends to … Read more

No, Hebrews 11:1 isn’t Advocating Blind Faith

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Many atheists play word games when it comes to defining the word “faith.” They’ll reduce all religious faith to blind faith and then subject it to ridicule. That’s an easy way to score rhetorical points, but it’s also an anti-intellectual way to shut-down a serious discussion. The majority of Christian theologians throughout the centuries haven’t defined the faith this way.  That doesn’t stop critics from trying to redefine faith. In my last post, I discussed how atheists co-opt John 20:29 as a proof-text that Jesus praised blind faith when he rebuked Thomas. We saw from the context of John that the critic is way off-base, but the skeptics have another go-to passage to show that … Read more

Was Jesus Praising Blind Faith When He Said: “Blessed Are Those Who Have Not Seen and yet Believe”?

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Sorry Mark Twain, but faith is not “believing what you know ain’t so.” Many skeptics try to redefine faith into belief without evidence, or contrary to the evidence. For example, atheist philosopher Peter Boghossian says that faith is “belief without evidence” or in other words ”pretending to know what you don’t know.” Faith as painted as a cop-out for having to think. Thinking Christians will often retort that faith is far from blind. After all, faith means trust and you cannot trust that which have you zero evidence for. Christian mathematician and philosopher John Lennox would be in agreement with Christian theologians throughout the centuries when he says that “faith is not a leap in … Read more

Did Paul really change his tactics after Athens and begin to take a dim view of apologetics?

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Some Christians have argued that apologetics is a waste of time. We aren’t supposed to be arguing with unbelievers, we’re just called to preach the simple gospel. If we’re faithful to do that, the Holy Spirit will supernaturally come to our aid — either in supernatural conviction, or performing signs and wonders through us that no one can gainsay. To support this view, these well-meaning believers will point to Paul’s so-called ‘failure’ in Athens. Paul debated with the thinkers of Mars Hill, using natural theology and quoting their own philosophers in order to persuade them of the truth of the gospel. Paul’s results were modest. Acts 17:32-34 reads: “Now when they heard of the resurrection … Read more

Is Jesus Alive?