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mid-week apologetics booster (1-23-2025)

Good morning friends,

Quote of the week:

I’ve always found the fine-tuning arguments in cosmology and physics quite compelling and also inspiring. But on several occasions, fellow Christians have said, “Yeah, but they don’t go far enough.”… If evidence from physics and cosmology points in the direction of a Creator, then it’s going as far as it’s supposed to go. We should rejoice if it gets people from blind materialism to theism, even if they still have a way to go in learning that the Creator also loves them and has died for them. – Jay W. Richards

Now, here are your weekly links:

Have Doubts? Here’s How You Can Respond – YouTube – Greg Koukl answers a listener’s question about why Christians sometimes doubt their faith and how to address those doubts.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcK8mlgCeeM
Canford Philosophy Students’ “Burning Questions” for Dr. Craig – YouTube – Philosophy and Theology students in the Philippa Foot Society of Canford School in England fire away on a wide range of questions for Dr. Craig.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiZBzbAjAAs
Does God Believe in Atheists? | Desiring God – John Piper. Let me suggest five different ways that the truth of God’s existence – as eternally powerful and having divine nature – can be suppressed. Here are the names I would give to them: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-god-believe-in-atheists
Are Creationists Stupid? It is quite common in Internet circles to attack the intelligence and even sometimes the integrity of anyone believing in creation. An unfortunate strategy among some leading atheists is to group all opposition to solely naturalistic origins theories into one category, perhaps the one they think can most easily be refuted – young earth creationism. They like to ignore that God can also use processes and that many scholars (both now and in the early church) don’t think that the Bible teaches the age of the universe. Clearly, some creationist claims are mistaken but is it ridiculous to hold to any belief in creation at all?: https://crossexamined.org/creationists-stupid/
Christianity Promotes Rational (and Evidential) Exploration | Cold Case Christianity: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/christianity-promotes-rational-and-evidential-exploration/
Is Joseph Smith a prophet like the Apostle Paul?: https://www.christianpost.com/voices/is-joseph-smith-a-prophet-like-the-apostle-paul.html
Why the Bible can be trusted | George’s Journal – The “memory gap” (the delay until events were recorded) for the gospels is 30-55 years, which is one lifetime and not many lifetimes. And for the other books of the New Testament it is usually less than 30 years. So, the telephone game (Chinese whispers) doesn’t apply to the New Testament. It was written when eyewitnesses were still alive who could contest the account if it wasn’t accurate.: https://georgesjournal.net/2025/01/19/why-the-bible-can-be-trusted/
Should a Christian have hobbies? | GotQuestions.org: https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-hobbies.html
‘Promise Keepers’ Founder Bill McCartney Has Passed Away – Protestia: https://protestia.com/2025/01/14/promise-keepers-founder-bill-mccartney-has-passed-away/
Should we use AI and LLMs for Christian Apologetics? – lukeplant.me.uk: https://lukeplant.me.uk/blog/posts/should-we-use-llms-for-christian-apologetics/
How to Be a One Dollar Apologist in the Second Half of Life | Cold Case Christianity: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/how-to-be-a-one-dollar-apologist-in-the-second-half-of-life/
2021 Apologetics Awareness Top Books (69 books): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/166979.2021_Apologetics_Awareness_Top_Books
Jewish Feasts and Festivals Chart Listing | carm.org: https://carm.org/christianity/jewish-feasts-and-festivals/
Resurrection Defense Series: Archaeological Evidences Supporting the Resurrection: https://crossexamined.org/resurrection-defense-series-archaeological-evidences-supporting-the-resurrection/
Science Can No Longer Ignore These 3 Discoveries That Point To God – ‘Return Of The God Hypothesis’ Explains Why Science Can No Longer Ignore Intelligent Design: https://thefederalist.com/2021/09/02/return-of-the-god-hypothesis-explains-why-science-can-no-longer-ignore-intelligent-design/
How to Christian-Celebrity Proof Your Kids – Mama Bear Apologetics: https://mamabearapologetics.com/how-to-christian-celebrity-proof-your-kids/
The More Science, the More Reasonable the Pro-Life Position | Cold Case Christianity: https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/the-more-science-the-more-reasonable-the-pro-life-position/
Evidence of Design in the Biological Realm – 1 Peter 4:12-16: https://1peter41216.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/evidence-of-design-in-the-biological-realm/
Nine Points about Biblical Slavery and Skeptics’ Condemnation of the Bible – Christian Apologist: https://christian-apologist.com/2017/11/15/nine-points-about-biblical-slavery-and-skeptics-condemnation-of-the-bible/
Objections to the Harvester vs. Gardener Approach – Stand to Reason: https://subsplash.com/u/standtoreason/media/d/vkq5sxb-objections-to-the-harvester-vs-gardener-approach
Christ’s Resurrection: The Cornerstone of Christianity – YouTube – Did Jesus rise from the dead? There’s good evidence supporting this belief. See for yourself.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nI0el9vjWY
From Genesis to the Gospel | Answers in Genesis – Jesus Christ is the central figure in the Bible, so we should focus on Him, rather than Satan, the serpent, or even angels and heroes of the faith. God has been so gracious as to present the Bible to man. Let us not neglect it-but use it in every area of our lives.: https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/from-genesis-to-the-gospel/
The Christian Apologetics Mandate – Reasons to Believe – The Greek word apologia is the root for the English term “apologetics.” Apologia and its root forms are found in the New Testament (Acts 26:2; Romans 1:20; Philippians 1:7, 16), with 1 Peter 3:15 revealing the mandate imploring Christians to be ready to explain and defend their faith. Throughout Christian history, apologetics became known as the enterprise by which apologists sought to give a reasoned defense of the truth of Christianity. Today, Christian apologetics involves the use of various disciplines to defend the faith, including the biblical, doctrinal, philosophical, historical, literary, and scientific fields. In more technical terms, apologetics is a branch of Christian theology that seeks to provide rational justification for the truth claims of Christianity.: https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/reflections/the-christian-apologetics-mandate
The Empty Tomb – The John 10:10 Project (7 min video) – The reality of the empty tomb was confirmed by hundreds of eyewitnesses, Roman historical accounts, first century tradition and the rapid growth of the early Christian church. Featuring Mike Licona, Mark Strauss, Lee Strobel, J.P. Moreland, Gary Habermas, William Lane Craig and Craig Evans.: https://thejohn1010project.com/video/the-empty-tomb/
Should Christians Ever Offend Anyone? | Answers in Genesis – Do Christians need to avoid offending anyone? What does Paul mean when he says to “give no offense in anything”?: https://answersingenesis.org/bible-questions/christians-should-never-offend-anyone/
Origins – OR2406 | CornerStone Television Network – Join Origins host Ray Heiple as he welcomes, Spike Psarris for, “Our Designed Moon.” Earth has a unique natural satellite and it benefits life on our planet in multiple ways. According to secular scientists, our Moon was formed in a random event billions of years ago, when a giant object hit the Earth. But there is strong evidence against this claim. Not only that, our Moon is unusual in many ways, has multiple lines of evidence for youth, and is well-designed to support life on Earth and fulfill its stated purposes, as described in the Bible.: https://ctvn.org/episodepages/origins-or2406/
How Does the Old Testament Law Apply to Christians Today? As New Testament Christians in the New Covenant, which commands or moral principles are obligatory and would apply regardless of the covenants because they are universal morals that transcend the Mosaic Law? God’s laws-from both the Old Testament and New Testament-are not just arbitrary expressions of His power. God does not make one thing up today and make up something contradictory tomorrow. He is not a nasty monster asserting that whatever He says goes, even if He says the opposite of what He said yesterday. The Mosaic Law of the Old Testament was written for the chosen people of Israel. Let me make a distinction between how the Israelites were chosen then and how we as Christians are chosen now because it relates to the purpose of the Law and how we apply it today.: https://www.str.org/w/how-does-the-old-testament-law-apply-to-christians-today-
A new series of posts about the adventures of an effective Christian woman | WINTERY KNIGHT – I try to encourage my Christian friends to study topics related to the Christian worldview, and to make connections between the Christian worldview and topics like economics, science, politics, etc. I want them to have deep conversations with non-Christians. Well, I just noticed that Laura, who writes at An Affair With Reason, started a series of posts about her experiences having these conversations.: https://winteryknight.com/2020/09/27/a-new-series-of-posts-about-the-adventures-of-an-effective-christian-woman/
Hebrews and the New Covenant by Keith Mathison: https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/new-covenant
What is the doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture? Is the Bible perspicuous? | GotQuestions.org: https://www.gotquestions.org/perspicuity-of-Scripture.html
Why Intelligent Design Is an Argument from Knowledge, Not Ignorance: https://www.str.org/w/why-intelligent-design-argument-knowledge-not-ignorance

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalms 42:11

Blessings to you all