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mid-week apologetics booster (4-9-2026)

Good morning friends,

Quote of the week:

Christian “Case Making” is not simply an approach to Christian apologetics; it’s an approach to Christian living. Christian “Case Makers” refuse to live unexamined lives; they understand the value of rationality and good philosophy. As a result, Christian “Case Making” raises the bar on thoughtful living. God has created us in his image and given us the capacity to live beyond our natural impulses and desires. He’s given us the ability to dream and reason; the ability to exceed our own natural limits. Let’s use what God has given us to make the case for the Christian Worldview. -J Warner Wallace (from, Eight Steps to Investigating the Case for Christianity)

Now, here are your weekly links:

One Third of the Bible Is Prophecies – Jesus fulfilled 100s of them! – – AmericanMinute.com-William J. Federer: https://americanminute.com/blogs/todays-american-minute/one-third-of-the-bible-is-prophecies-american-minute-with-bill-federer
The A, B, Cs, Ds & Es of Defending the Gospels – YouTube – In this lecture, Mike Licona addresses the 5 major objections to the reliability of the Gospels: Authorship, Bias, Contradictions, Dating, Eyewitness Testimony.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOfBhrqHJF4
The Forbidden Chapter: Isaiah 53 in the Hebrew Bible – YouTube – Did you know that Isaiah 53 is a FORBIDDEN CHAPTER in most synagogues? We read this powerful prophecy with Israelis on the streets. See how deeply they were moved as they came face to face with their Messiah!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=cGz9BVJ_k6s
That’s Just Your Opinion – YouTube – Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason shares how to respond when someone says, “That’s just you’re opinion” when you’re sharing your faith.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_r51x10Paw
Why Would God Punish Jesus for My Sins? – YouTube – You’re in a conversation and someone says, “Why would God punish Jesus for what I did? It’s barbaric and abusive for God to require a blood sacrifice from his own son for sins Jesus didn’t even commit. It sounds like ‘cosmic child abuse’.” What would you say? The next time someone says, “The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross sounds like ‘cosmic child abuse’,” here are three things to remember: Number 1: Jesus was not a mere human. Number 2: Jesus went to the cross voluntarily. Number 3: The sacrifice of Jesus is not an act of abuse, but a gift of God. Thanks to J. Warner Wallace for his contributions to this video. J. Warner is a Dateline featured cold-case homicide detective, popular national speaker and best-selling author. You can learn more by visiting coldcasechristianity.com.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeRPizoYiXw
The 34 Wives of Joseph Smith (And Their 11 Husbands), by Chip Thompson & Doris Hanson – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfqNenhKdls
Former False Prophet Andy Poland Talks about Mormonism and Feelings – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBda3vWOBsU&t=1s
St. Patrick’s Bad Analogies – YouTube – The problem with using analogies to explain the Holy Trinity is that you always end up confessing some ancient heresy. Let the patron saint of the Irish show you what I’m talking about.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw
Creationists Discovered Natural Selection Before Darwin – YouTube – Natural selection isn’t evolution-it was actually discovered by creationists before Darwin. This fundamental biological process works by “reproduction of the fittest,” not survival alone. Post-Fall, it operates primarily as a culling force that removes information rather than creating it. Can beneficial mutations truly drive upward evolution? The evidence reveals they’re typically “downhill” changes-breaking existing functions that happen to provide survival advantages, like bacteria losing receptors to resist viruses or polar bears losing pigmentation for camouflage. Dr Jonathan Sarfati explores why natural selection supports biblical creation rather than contradicting it. He demonstrates the scientific limitations that prevent this process from explaining life’s origins or complexity.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EseE_awrof8
Evidence for the Resurrection | Craig Hazen Apologetics Conference – YouTube – In this apologetics presentation, Craig Hazen shares evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and considers naturalistic challenges in light of the historical data: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocbtjLgUnQY&t=684s
Is Hell Real? – YouTube – You’re in a conversation and someone says, “I don’t believe a loving God would send anyone to Hell. He wouldn’t even allow a place like that to exist.” What would you say? It’s easier to believe in things like Heaven, redemption, and eternal joy with God – you know, the things we want to be true — than those things that are hard to imagine and even stomach, like eternal punishment. Hell is a hard thing to talk about, but the next time it comes up in conversation, here are three things to remember: First, God doesn’t force anyone into Hell, but He doesn’t force anyone to love Him or be with Him either. Second, Jesus taught that Hell is real, and talks about it more than anyone else in the New Testament. Third, Hell does not diminish God’s love; it displays it.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucC8O471qyE
What did Jesus’ tomb REALLY look like? Join Frank as he examines a genuine 1st century tomb-rolling stone and all!: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1262356719434424
Deductive vs. Inductive Arguments! (Dr. William Lane Craig explains) – YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TYssW3uI-LI
Frank Turek (co-author of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist”) shares the reasonable basis for the Christian Faith (4.5 min video). He deals with the questions of Truth, God, the Bible, and Jesus, establishing a reasonable foundation for Christianity.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ5s-kzT52M
Is Zechariah 14:4 a prophecy about the second coming of Christ? | GotQuestions.org: https://www.gotquestions.org/Zechariah-14-4-second-coming.html
What happened at the Council of Laodicea? | GotQuestions.org – The 59th ruling of the Council of Laodicea declared that only canonical books should be read in church. The 60th ruling specified this canon as the traditional 27 books of the New Testament, minus Revelation; and the 39 books of the Old Testament, plus the book of Baruch and its extended ending, the Epistle of Jeremiah. In harmony with the writings of early Christians such as Origen, Melito, Jerome, Cyril, and Athanasius, early conventions such as the Council of Laodicea generally treated the Apocrypha as a separate category from inspired Scripture. The apocryphal books were considered useful, even sacred, but not inspired and not on the same level as the traditional canon.: https://www.gotquestions.org/Council-of-Laodicea.html
Substance dualism and property dualism are two main types of mind-body dualism. Substance dualism claims mind and body are two distinct substances (Descartes’ mind/soul vs. body). Property dualism posits one physical substance (brain) that has two distinct properties: physical and mental. Substance dualism holds the soul lives on after death, whereas property dualism holds the mind ends with the body. : https://share.google/aimode/790hH7jEgPgVVsL9m
Who was George Berkeley? | GotQuestions.org – George Berkeley (1685-1753) was an Irish Anglican bishop who made numerous contributions to philosophy, including the philosophy of religion, physics, and epistemology (the theory of knowledge). He is most famous for developing and defending a metaphysical view of idealism, which holds that reality consists not of matter but of spirits and that material things are merely perceived ideas. The University of California, Berkeley was named after George Berkeley. The name was chosen in 1866 by the university’s trustees, led by Frederick Billings, to honor his “Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America,” specifically the line “Westward the course of empire takes its way”.: https://www.gotquestions.org/George-Berkeley.html
The mind-brain debate | Creation.com – This is a mentally challenging article and I’m sure reading the book would be even more so… It is a review of Minding the Brain: Models of the mind, information, and empirical science by Angus J. Menuge, Brian R. Krouse, and Robert J. Marks (Editors), Discovery Institute Press, Seattle, WA, 2023. Is who we are bound to just our physical brain, or is there more to us? This book explores proposed philosophies to explain the mind in relation to the brain. One thing that most authors seemed to agree on was that the materialist view that all we are is our physical brains is untenable. I would not say that this is an ideal introductory text to the subject area, with some chapters easier to follow than others, and some more relevant than others. However, to the reader with a background in some of the topics covered, it can be a useful resource on the mind-brain problem.: https://creation.com/en/articles/mind-brain-debate
Grand Canyon: Defending The Genesis Account of Creation – Calvary Chapel Magazine – The Grand Canyon’s nearly 40 different rock layers hold clues to their origin. Jay noted how the layers are virtually flat, “stacked like pancakes.” If they were formed over millions of years, with millions of years in between, “You would see erosion in between the layers-soil, plants, bioturbation, animals burrowing, and undulating surfaces,” emphasized Jay. “So these layers would be hilly and uneven, not straight across. Yet they look like they were laid out with a trowel, virtually flat.” Moreover, there are polystrate fossils (i.e., embedded in across multiple geologic layers)-such as fossilized trees. “That would be physically impossible over millions of years,” explained Jay, “because that tree would have rotted away. Also, they are missing their root systems, which indicates they were ripped up from the roots and redeposited-some even sideways or upside down-as several layers of mud and sediment quickly settled around them. We have these all over the planet because there was a global flood.”: https://calvarychapelmagazine.org/articles/grand-canyon-defending-the-genesis-account-of-creation
Jesus and Taking the Posture of a Learner – The Benefit of the Doubt – So in making Jesus our intellectual exemplar, we should very often and regularly take the posture of a learner. We need to spend time listening and asking questions of those with whom we sit. There are many with whom we should sit, listen to and ask questions. And, at times, this should include those of differing views. We can learn a lot from these sorts of conversations (notice I didn’t say debates!). But most importantly and most fundamentally we must apprentice under the Lord Jesus Christ and be taught by him. I think we too need to sit with him, we listen and ask him questions. He is brilliant. He is the embodiment of wisdom. “For, in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” : https://www.travisdickinson.com/jesus-and-taking-the-posture-of-a-learner/
External, Ancient Evidence in Support of the New Testament by Harry Stark – Christian Apologist – this is an amazing list of ancient documentation of biblical evidence!: https://christian-apologist.com/2024/12/29/external-ancient-evidence-in-support-of-the-new-testament-by-harry-stark/
Did Noah need oxygen above the mountains? | Creation.com – Question: If mountain climbers need oxygen tanks to climb Mount Everest, how were Noah, his family, and the animals able to breathe on the Ark when they were above the mountains (‘ … and the mountains were covered.’, Genesis 7:20)?: https://creation.com/en/articles/did-noah-need-oxygen-above-the-mountains
Who were the Philistines? | Creation.com – The history of Egypt, Crete, Israel, and Canaan all speak to the reality of the biblical people called the Philistines. The Philistines are a problematic people group in the Bible. Scholars argue about who they were and where they came from. Skeptics like to point out that the Bible claims the Philistines were in Canaan fully 500 years before they could have arrived. The Philistines lived in Canaan, but they were not ‘Canaanites’. They fought against the Israelites from their home base on the Canaanite Mediterranean coastland, but they were not listed among the seven nations that the Israelites were supposed to drive out (Deuteronomy 7:1). The archaeological evidence points to Crete, not Canaan, as their original homeland, and a 2019 DNA study on over 150 graves in Ashkelon confirmed their Aegean origin.1 How can this be? Is the Bible wrong about them?: https://creation.com/en/articles/who-were-the-philistines
You Can’t Preach the Gospel without Freedom – When I hear Christians saying we ought not get involved in politics but just “preach the Gospel,” I show them this satellite picture of the Korean peninsula. Here we see a homogenous population of mostly Koreans separated by a well-fortified border. South Korea is full of freedom, food and productivity-it’s one of the most Christianized countries in the world. North Korea is a concentration camp. They have no freedom, no food, and very little Christianity. What’s the primary reason for the stark difference between these two countries? Politics. The South politically allows freedom, while the North does not. Ironically, Christians who shun politics to supposedly advance the Gospel are actually allowing others to stop the Gospel. How so? Because politics and law affects one’s ability to preach the Gospel! If you think otherwise, visit some of the countries I have visited-Iran, Saudi Arabia and China. You cannot legally “preach the Gospel” in those countries-or practice other aspects of your religion freely-because politically they’ve ruled it out as they have in North Korea.: https://crossexamined.org/you-cant-preach-the-gospel-without-freedom-2/
Review of Seven Days That Divide the World by Lennox | Answers Research Journal – John Lennox is a professor of mathematics and a fellow in the philosophy of science at Oxford University. He is a devoted follower of Christ and a skillful apologist. In his book Seven Days That Divide the World, Lennox explores the “potential minefield” of the controversy of Genesis and science. He wrote the book for people who have been put off considering the Christian faith because of the “. . . very silly, unscientific story that the world was made in seven days,” (Lennox 2011, p. 12) for convinced Christians who are disturbed by the controversy, as well as for those who take the Bible seriously but do not agree on the interpretation of the creation account (Lennox 2011, p. 12). Although the book is not intended to be exhaustive in its scope, it has been written in response to many requests made of Dr. Lennox over the years. It is important to respond to this book as Dr. Lennox is influential in evangelicalism, and the book itself is endorsed by many leading evangelical apologists.: https://answersresearchjournal.org/seven-days-divide-world-lennox-review/
Hummingbirds! | The Institute for Creation Research – Who doesn’t pause to marvel when a hummingbird flies by? These tiny, colorful birds perform amazing aerobatic feats, and yet some very smart scientists insist that mere natural forces mimicked a real engineer to construct these fascinating flyers. Authors of a Nature paper on hummingbird flight wrote in 2005 that “the selective pressure on hummingbird ancestors was probably for increased efficiency.”1 They imagine that hummingbirds evolved from ancestors that could hover only briefly. But an examination of just a few key hummingbird features leaves no doubt “that the hand of the LORD has done this,”2 not natural selective pressures.: https://www.icr.org/article/9245

Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan–the one you testified about–well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” John 3:23-26

Blessings to you all