How Can I Believe in a Miracle If I’ve Never Seen One?
I’ve been working my way through a blog series in light of the recent release of my book, Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College (Crossway, 2021). This series includes 7 videos that tackle key intellectual questions about the Christian faith.
We now come to the seventh and final video, and this is a big one: “How Can I Believe in a Miracle If I’ve Never Seen One?”
Of course, skepticism over the supernatural is nothing new. Even when it seems a miracle just may have occurred, the knee-jerk reaction of most people is to prefer a naturalistic explanation: someone is lying, eyewitnesses … Continue reading...
So, What Did Jesus Think about the Old Testament?
The Old Testament has run into some hard times as of late. It’s seen by many as a curmudgeonly, legalistic, violent, confusing, and, maybe most of all, boring sort of book. As the atheist Richard Dawkins famously opined, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction.”
On top of these sorts of complaints are questions about the historical veracity of the Old Testament. Are we really supposed to believe in a literal Adam and Eve? A global flood? Sodom and Gomorrah? People struggle to believe these sorts of things really happened.
Sadly, however, the critiques don’t come from just non-Christians. Even believers, … Continue reading...
Can We Believe God’s Word is True Because our Parents Told Us?
How do you know the Bible is the Word of God?
Virtually every Christian has heard that question at one time or another. And when we do, our hearts beat faster and we feel a flutter in our stomachs. We want to offer an insightful, sophisticated, and compelling answer. Just something that will keep us from looking foolish.
So, we search our brains for that apologetics talk we heard years ago and the numerous historical data points that were mentioned. But, since we don’t remember the details, we mumble something about the Bible having good “historical evidence” for its truth (hoping no one asks for the details).
But, lurking in … Continue reading...
5 Things Every Christian Should be Doing with God’s Word
Psalm 119 is an amazing Psalm. Not only is it the longest Psalm (176 verses!), but it is also the Psalm that deals the most directly with the topic of Scripture. Virtually every verse, in one way or another, refers to God’s Word.
David (who is most likely the author) uses a variety of terminology to describe God’s Word: commandments, law, statutes, precepts, ordinances, rules, words, testimonies, etc. These all refer to the Scriptures as they existed in David’s day (essentially the Pentateuch).
Thus, Psalm 119 is one of the best examples of Scripture speaking about Scripture. It is the Word about the Word.
And in it, we find David … Continue reading...
Want to Give a Book for Christmas? Here’s My Top Ten List for Books on the Authority of Scripture
‘Tis the season. . . to give books.
I think solid Christian books are a great gift, and books on the authority of Scripture are always relevant in our world today.
Thus, for your shopping pleasure, I have compiled an annotated list of the all-time 10 best books on this topic. It goes without saying that such a list is highly selective (and debatable). So many good books deserve to be included.
But my list is guided by these main criteria: (a) books that focus on the theological side of biblical authority and not as much on the historical evidences for the Bible’s history (though some overlap is inevitable); (b) … Continue reading...