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mid-week apologetics booster (12-22-2022)

Good morning friends,

Quote of the week:

Nature is but a name for an effect whose cause is God. – William Cowper

Now, here are your weekly links:

How to Evangelize with Humility: https://www.str.org/w/how-to-evangelize-with-humility

Does James Contradict Paul? Part 1 Faith versus Works | Biblical Worldview Academy: https://biblicalworldviewacademy.org/does-james-contradict-paul-part-1-faith-versus-works/

Just My 2 Cents: Was America Founded on Christian Principles?: https://justmy2-cents.blogspot.com/2016/05/was-america-founded-on-christian.html

Credo The Story Of Reality (Greg Koukl lecture) – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm4Z8A2Co3A

How Christian Case Making Impacts the Convinced, the Opposed, and the Undecided: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/how-christian-case-making-impacts-the-convinced-the-opposed-and-the-undecided/

Two Signs From Your Opposition Your Argument Is Sound | Cold Case Christianity: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/two-signs-from-your-opposition-your-argument-is-sound/

From Belief in Jesus to Belief in the New Testament | Reasonable Faith: https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/question-answer/from-belief-in-jesus-to-belief-in-the-new-testament

That’s a Fact – The Fossil Record on Vimeo – Do fossils really show that creatures gradually evolved from simple to complex? The late fossil expert and evolution-defender Stephen Gould recognized they didn’t. He said the fossil record shows two clear features 1) Sudden appearance, and 2) Stasis.: https://vimeo.com/290548930

Puzzling over evolution of language – From an evolutionary perspective, our speech and language development remains one of the longest-standing puzzles of science. Fossils are no help, as language and linguistic signals do not fossilize. So, working on the presumption that certain creatures are evolutionarily closer-related to us than others, evolutionists have long hunted for clues of language evolution in our closest relatives, the great apes.: https://creation.com/puzzling-evolution-language

5 Tips For Beginner Apologists | Hope’s Reason – Being interested in apologetics does not make you an apologist. An apologist is one who is active in using apologetics. There are a whole bunch of steps to get to before that. Here are five tips for those who want to get into apologetics:: http://www.stephenjbedard.com/2015/06/18/5-tips-for-beginner-apologists/

Is Christianity at War with Science? | Sean McDowell – The claim that Christianity is at war with science is one of the most common claims I hear from young people today. In fact, the belief that Christianity is opposed to modern science is one of the top reasons young people cite for leaving the church.: https://seanmcdowell.org/blog/is-christianity-at-war-with-science

61% of Netflix Originals Feature Mature Content | Answers in Genesis – The trend in media is clear display as many perversions of Gods design for marriage, gender, and sexuality as possible. Instead of Netflix Try PureFlix.com: https://answersingenesis.org/culture/61-percent-netflix-originals-feature-mature-content/

Population Growth Matches Bible and DNA Clock | The Institute for Creation Research – The majority of evolutionary speculation alleges that modern humans didn’t arise until our ancestors migrated out of Africa between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. However, a number of secular and creationist research studies analyzing a variety of DNA clocks have indicated a far shorter time-scale of not more than 5,000 to 10,000 years.: https://www.icr.org/article/population-growth-matches-bible-dna/

Stop Making Speeches and Start Asking Questions: https://wisedisciple.org/article/stop-making-speeches-start-asking-questions

Why the Appearance of Design in Biology Is a Problem for Atheistic Naturalism | Cold Case Christianity: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/why-the-appearance-of-design-in-biology-is-a-problem-for-atheistic-naturalism/

How Accurate Is the Bible? | Ken Boa – How can you be sure the Bible is the same now as when it was written, given that it’s been copied and translated so many times? These common charges against the Christian Scriptures are often followed with an assertion like, Historians and scientists have long since proven that the Bible is inaccurate and unreliable. But how accurate is that statement? Is the Bible really full of contradictions? Is it outdated, inauthentic, and full of scientific and historical errors as so many assert? In short, Can we trust the Bible? Here, we will consider some objections to the accuracy and reliability of the Bible to help you make a more informed decision about whether or not the Bible is trustworthy.: https://kenboa.org/apologetics/how-accurate-is-the-bible/

Why It’s Important For Every Christian to Select a Good Jury – YouTube – In this video from a message delivered at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, J. Warner Wallace describes the importance of jury selection for Christians who want to effectively share Christianity with the people in their lives. How can principles of jury selection help believers better communicate the Christian worldview? Can good jury selection help us to identify which approach we should take with people? All believers must think more carefully about the people they are trying to reach as described in the book, Forensic Faith: A Homicide Detective Makes the Case for a More Reasonable, Evidential Christian Faith.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaudT1xinUk

Jeff Hester Debates William Lane Craig On The Topic Is Belief In God Rational In A Scientific Age? – Dr. Craig’s opening speech Dr. Craig went first, and he presented four arguments, as well as the ontological argument, which I won’t summarize or discuss. He later added another argument for theism from the existence of the universe that does not require an origin of the universe.: https://crossexamined.org/jeff-hester-debates-william-lane-craig-on-the-topic-is-belief-in-god-rational-in-a-scientific-age/

Gen Z is spiritually illiterate and abandoning church: How did we get here? Our society is in the midst of a massive cultural shift. According to the Barna Group, rates of church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God, prayer and Bible-reading have been dropping for decades. Americans beliefs are becoming more post-Christian and, concurrently, religious identity is changing. This is the environment in which Generation Z is growing up.: https://www.kentuckytoday.com/baptist-life/gen-z-is-spiritually-illiterate-and-abandoning-church-how-did-we-get-here/article_ea994828-6cd4-5fbd-8352-496ef3eb9c8e.html

The Prophecy of Isaiah was Clearly Fulfilled by Jesus Christ Think Divinely: https://thinkdivinely.com/the-prophecy-of-isaiah-was-clearly-fulfilled-by-jesus-christ/

What are the pseudepigrapha? | GotQuestions.org – The pseudepigrapha are the books that attempt to imitate Scripture but that were written under false names. The term pseudepigrapha comes from the Greek pseudo, meaning false, and epigraphein, meaning to inscribe, thus, to write falsely. The pseudepigraphical books were written anywhere from 200 BC to AD 300. They are spurious works written by unknown authors who attempted to gain a readership by tacking on the name of a famous biblical character.: https://www.gotquestions.org/pseudepigrapha.html

How the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation falsified atheism | WINTERY KNIGHT: https://winteryknight.com/2021/04/17/how-the-discovery-of-the-cosmic-microwave-background-radiation-falsified-atheism-10/

Do the Unpersuaded Have Enough Proof? | The Institute for Creation Research – Carefully presenting Gods truth along with its many infallible proofs can simultaneously glorify God and serve others, benefiting them with relevant information and insights. But no matter how skilled our presentation is, no matter how conclusive our evidences are, we cannot choose for others to believe that truth.: https://www.icr.org/article/do-the-unpersuaded-have-enough-proof/

Do Believers Always Need to Be Ready to Defend the Gospel? The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on 1 Peter 3.: https://www.gty.org/library/bibleqnas-library/QA0144/do-believers-always-need-to-be-ready-to-defend-the-gospel

Who’s Waiting for You? When you leave the safety of a Christian home or youth group and head off to college and work, are you ready to meet people who are hostile to the Christian faith? Are you prepared to meet their challenges?: https://subsplash.com/strquickreference/media/mi/+bd15cbe

William Lane Craig: Christians are idling in intellectual neutral | WINTERY KNIGHT – as Christians we face two tasks in our evangelism: saving the soul and saving the mind, that is to say, not only converting people spiritually, but converting them intellectually as well. And the Church is lagging dangerously behind with regard to this second task. Our churches are filled with people who are spiritually born again, but who still think like non-Christians.: https://winteryknight.com/2020/01/11/william-lane-craig-christians-are-idling-in-intellectual-neutral-3/

Why the Debate over Christian Origins Matter THINKAPOLOGETICS.COM – Over the years I have studied a good deal about the birth of the Christian faith. When I mean birth I mean the rise of the Jesus movement pre 70 AD. I am well aware that many people view Christianity through the events of the Council of Nicaea or at a much later date than 70 AD. There is still an ongoing debate as to when we actually have an official Christianity. Anyway, I have always found the period of 33 AD to 70 AD to be immensely important…: https://chab123.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/11107/

Who Wrote the Bible? See How It Came About and Why Trust It – The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years, by 40 writers. Unlike other religious writings, the Bible reads as a factual news account of real events, places, people, and dialogue. Historians and archaeologists have repeatedly confirmed its authenticity.: https://www.everystudent.com/features/bible.html

Five Apologetic Topics Every Christian Should Learn About THINKAPOLOGETICS.COM: https://chab123.wordpress.com/2017/06/09/five-apologetic-topics-every-christian-should-learn-about/

3 Beliefs Some Progressive Christians and Atheists Share: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/3-beliefs-progressive-christians-atheists-share/

Is the Church A Cruise Ship Or A Rescue Boat? | Cold Case Christianity – When describing the difficulty in creating a more thoughtful version of Christianity in America, I sometimes describe the Church as a large ocean liner. If we, as Christian Case Makers, hope to have a significant impact on what appears to be a sometimes uninformed (or apathetic) Christian culture, we must turn this large ship one degree at a time. The Church is not a jet ski we can turn on a dime; it is a large, established institution requiring gentle nudging from the tugboats amongst us who want to change its direction.: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-the-church-a-cruise-ship-or-a-rescue-boat/

Ready for the Knock on Your Door – Most of us have answered a knock on our door, only to discover a smiling, well-dressed couple, Watchtower publication in hand, standing on the other side, waiting to talk with us about the gospel according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I used to dread these encounters. In fact, while they were introducing themselves, I’d be frantically thinking up excuses to get them off of my porch and out of my life. I came to realize, though, that I avoided these conversations because I was not equipped to engage the Witnesses in a thoughtful way. They seemed to know their stuff. I didn’t. They trained for hours prior to our conversation. I hadn’t trained at all. I only knew what I believed. I had no idea why I believed it.: https://www.str.org/w/ready-for-the-knock-on-your-door

What is the difference between a Christian and a disciple? | GotQuestions.org – The terms disciple and Christian are related but not synonymous. The Greek term for disciple in the New Testament is mathetes, which basically means student or learner. But a disciple is also a follower, someone who adheres completely to the teachings of another, making them his rule of life and conduct. : https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-disciple.html

How Atheism Fails To Explain A Beginning To The Universe | Reasons for Jesus – atheisms struggle is to explain how the universe is eternal when all scientific discovery shows it had a beginning. Many people do not like the idea that time has a beginning, probably because it smacks of divine intervention.: https://reasonsforjesus.com/atheism-fails-explain-beginning-universe/

Is Apologetics Needed Because of a Lack of Faith? THINKAPOLOGETICS – Anyone who has been in the apologetics endeavor knows that there is always the need to properly define apologetics. Every now and then, one objection I hear from my Christian friends is that those who are overly committed to apologetics must be somewhat weak in their faith. In other words, why should a Christian need all this reason and evidence stuff? After all, faith, not reason, is what God requires (Heb. 11:6). And if we are growing in our relationship with God, our faith should be more real than before.: https://chab123.wordpress.com/2021/08/06/is-apologetics-needed-because-of-a-lack-of-faith/

Tips to Remember When Responding to the Problem of Evil – By far the most common objection raised against Christian theism is the so-called problem of evil. If God is all-good, and God is all-powerful, why do suffering and evil exist? Every Christian apologist should be prepared to answer this inevitable question. How you answer this question will depend on a variety of factors, including your apologetic methodology and theological/philosophical commitments. In formulating your response, here are three tips to remember for consistency and effectiveness.: https://www.str.org/w/tips-remember-when-responding-problem-evil

Mormonism Disproved – Plagiarism – I’ve presented this information in a summarized way before, but felt that seeing the full text side by side would give the reader a much greater appreciation of the extent that Joseph Smith plagiarized from the King James Bible. In several cases, the plagiarism is proof that Joseph Smith was the author of the Book of Mormon, since the source of the copied text was not accessible to the alleged Book of Mormon authors. In many other cases, Joseph Smith made minor word changes or additions. Fortunately, his changes were typically poor or just plain wrong, further demonstrating that he did not translate the Book of Mormon with the gift and power of God: http://www.mormonismdisproved.org/plagiarism.html

From Genesis to the Gospel | Answers in Genesis – the real focus of the Genesis account is Jesus Christ. The Bible is the Word of God and reveals to us Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whether directly or indirectly. For example, Jesus even said, For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me (John 5:46). The fall of mankind, the entrance of sin, and the need for Christ to die for us originated in Genesis 3. Would we expect to see Christ there? Absolutely, but perhaps more than you realize.: https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/from-genesis-to-the-gospel/

What caused space, time and matter? – YouTube – Cross Examined, Dr. Frank Turek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFzokmX6who

Canaanite Golden Calf Discovered Creation Moments: https://creationmoments.com/sermons/canaanite-golden-calf-discovered-2/

European ‘Christians’ no longer align with Christian faith: https://www.wnd.com/2018/05/european-christians-no-longer-align-with-christian-faith/

Two Bad Objections To Christians in Politics – YouTube – Dr. Frank Turek addresses two objections against Christians in politics. To get the entire presentation, “Does Jesus Trump Your Politics?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxAoTaQ3nqM

Questions about the Old-Earth View of Creation (answered by Greg Koukl) – Stand to Reason – you will have to fast-forward a bit to get to the answering of questions – Nathan is the first questioner, then David, then Nathan again. In the beginning Greg talks about his hip (medical problems): https://subspla.sh/5wxc4z5

Does the church do a good job of equipping Christians to talk to non-Christians? | WINTERY KNIGHT: https://winteryknight.com/2014/10/19/does-the-church-do-a-good-job-of-equipping-christians-to-talk-to-non-christians-2/

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8

Blessings to you all