Ethical chocolate update
16 May 2012 2 Comments
in Serving Tags: behaviour, Change the world, Chocolate, christianity, ethics, mission, Protest, western society
I have previously reported on the ethical dilemmas posed by eating chocolate, due to the trafficking and exploitation of children in growing cocoa in West Africa (see My pleasure, their misery? and Easter eggs and slavery), and on the responses to my letters to chocolate manufacturers (see Fair Trade chocolate – report 1).
I have received some more replies, and have researched some more information, all of which is very revealing.
Learn some cosmology
05 May 2012 4 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Cosmology, God, reason, religion, science, science and faith
I’ve always been interested in astronomy and cosmology, and sometimes wish I’d studied it. I find the universe fascinating and amazing to look at, think about and learn about.
Cosmology has also always been of interest to theists, as it seems to point to the existence of a creator God. The cosmological argument and, in particular, the teleological argument (see The universe points to God) have evolved over centuries based on the discoveries of cosmology. And therefore, of course, it is of interest to atheists, who wish to combat the arguments.
I want to introduce you to one atheist physicist with expertise in cosmology who I think you ought to know – an Aussie, Luke Barnes.
Arguments against Jesus
22 Apr 2012 12 Comments
in Apologetics, Jesus Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, christianity, history, Jesus, New Testament, religion
Continuing my discussion of common arguments used against christians.
This post: arguments that seek to undermine faith in Jesus by arguing that the gospels aren’t reliable as history, or that we can know little factual about Jesus, or that Jesus could not have been divine.
Atheists who once were christians
14 Apr 2012 17 Comments
in Culture Tags: Atheism, behaviour, christianity, christians, churches, reason, religion, western society
We can read the statistics which show that, in most western countries, church attendance has fallen in the last century. In some cases it is still falling, though in others it has levelled out. The ‘leavers’ are not necessarily giving up all belief in God – many list themselves as ‘not committed’ – but some are choosing to be atheists.
But this is all statistics. There is also a human face to these changes.
Is the idea of God incoherent?
09 Apr 2012 35 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, christianity, God, making disciples, Philosophy, reason, religion
In philosophy, an idea is incoherent if it is self contradictory, and cannot even be properly defined.
There are many things about the idea of God that some atheists think are incoherent. Here is a brief summary and comment on seven arguments, all of which I have seen presented, sometimes by philosophers, as serious and telling objections to the idea and existence of God.
Does God prefer belief or obedience?
06 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in Culture Tags: apologetics, Atheism, behaviour, christians, ethics, God, mission
“God Prefers Kind Atheists Over Hateful Christians” said the article and the photo, and it caught my attention as it caught many others’ (as it was aimed at doing).
Is it true?
Arguments against God – oldies, but not goodies
03 Apr 2012 16 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, christianity, God, religion
More arguments unbelievers often use against christians. These ones are common, but not very good, but at least they provide a little amusement.
Arguments against God – from science
30 Mar 2012 3 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, christianity, God, science and faith
This post continues the series into preparing disciples of Jesus to stand against attacks on their faith, and specifically on arguments unbelievers often use against christians. I have seen every one of these arguments used in books or on the internet, even some that are clearly not very effective. Several arguments are based (loosely) on science.
Lawrence Krauss and creation from nothing
26 Mar 2012 9 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, God, reason, religion, science and faith
Creation out of nothing (ex nihilo) is one of the fundamentals of the christian faith. The Cosmological argument attempts to use the universe to show that God exists. The universe couldn’t cause itself to exist, the argument says, nor could it exist for no reason, so an external agent (what else but God?) must have caused it.
Despite various attempts to refute the argument, it remains a strong one, not least because of its basic common sense. But some atheists have argued that quantum physics shows that the universe could indeed have arisen out of nothing.
Bart Ehrman on did Jesus exist?
23 Mar 2012 10 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Belief, Books, christianity, Jesus, New Testament
Over the past two centuries, historical scholars have argued over what we can know about Jesus. Virtually all scholars (regardless of religion) now agree Jesus was a real person whose life followed the general outline in the gospels. However enthusiastic amateurs are still promoting the idea that Jesus didn’t exist. Books have been published and a thousand internet arguments launched, with little response from the scholars, who regard the Jesus myth as refuted. Now an eminent scholar has assessed the Jesus myth.
You may think this is of no interest to a christian who believes the New Testament, but I think it is important.
Easter eggs and slavery
15 Mar 2012 3 Comments
in Serving Tags: Change the world, Chocolate, ethics, Protest, western society, what is human?, world
Easter’s coming soon, and if you live in the west as I do, you’ll probably be eating your share of easter eggs. But what if the eggs came from cocoa grown using child labour, that is effectively slave labour?
Arguments against God
11 Mar 2012 6 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, christianity, God, making disciples, religion
We have been considering why believers may give up their faith and how we may train disciples to think better about their beliefs and so be better able to stand up against attacks. We have looked at some reasons to believe (and we will look at some more).
Now it is time to consider the arguments sceptics may use to attack christian belief – arguments against God, the Bible, Jesus and faith.
Arguing the resurrection
06 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, Bible, christianity, Jesus, mission, New Testament
The resurrection of Jesus is obviously one of the central teachings of christianity, and is also under attack from sceptics. Disciples need to know why they believe it in the first place, how to defend their belief, and even perhaps how to use the resurrection as a challenge to non-believers.
Photo: malpansj2008 on Picasa)
Reason and ridicule
29 Feb 2012 6 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Belief, christians, making disciples, persecution
Criticisms of christians and christian faith seem to be more widespread and trenchant than they used to be. And the main basis of the attack is that christianity is not reasonable, not based on evidence. Yet in my experience, the attacks that have greatest impact are not intellectual but emotional, built as much on ridicule as on reason.
What are we to make of this? And how should we deal with it?
Believing “by faith”
26 Feb 2012 3 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, christianity, faith, making disciples, reason
In christianity, faith is a virtue. Many christians believe in Jesus because they have been taught to believe by people they trust. Is this good or bad?
Some people say, faith is the opposite of reason. So does this mean believing in Jesus is unreasonable? Why do we have faith anyway?
And how do these questions fit in with our current theme of helping disciples to stand against attack?
Reasons to believe 1 – Jesus
21 Feb 2012 3 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Belief, Bible, christianity, history, making disciples, New Testament
1 Peter 3:15: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Jesus is the centre of our faith, so we need to understand, and be able to explain clearly, why we believe in him.
This isn’t as easy as it used to be. (This post follows on from my discussion of Training disciples to stand and Apologetics for disciples.)
Apologetics for disciples
19 Feb 2012 4 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Belief, christianity, God, Jesus, making disciples
In Training disciples to stand I suggested that we need to develop our methods of evangelism and discipleship to include some apologetics. Young disciples need to be encouraged to better think through why they believe, and how to defend their belief against attack.
But what apologetics are important and relevant?
Urban Neighbours of Hope
11 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Serving Tags: Change the world, christianity, christians, Good news, Hope, western society
I met Jon Owen at the Black Stump music festival. Over three days I listened to his stories and was impressed. I laughed a lot, but had the odd tear as well.
Jon and his wife Lisa live in one of Sydney’s most depressed suburbs as part of a community supported by Urban Neighbours of Hope, and try to bring hope to the many people who need it. I deeply admire them and their work, and I don’t think I could do it. I blogged about his book, Muddy Spirituality.
Here is an article from the Sydney Morning Herald about their life. It’s worth reading. (The photo above was taken from the article.)
Do christians believe for irrational reasons?
25 Jan 2012 6 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Belief, christianity, doctrine, ethics, God, reason
These days, christians may have to face the common accusation that their belief is based on blind, reasonless faith, and not on evidence, and that therefore they should logically give up belief. “There’s no more evidence for the christian God than for Santa or Thor”, they may be told.
This can be a major source of doubt for some believers. But is the accusation fair?
CS Lewis’ trilemma – not so effective now?
30 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, christianity, Jesus, making disciples, Old Testament, reason
I have been a CS Lewis fan since my youth. So I remember being impressed by his argument, in Mere Christianity, that Jesus was divine. He could not have been merely a great moral teacher, Lewis argued, for his claims were such that either he was mad, or evil, or truly the Lord.
These days, the argument, often called the trilemma and abbreviated (and changed a little) to Liar, Lunatic or Lord? is not so effective. It is important that we understand why.
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