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  • Must we apologize for the apologists?

    February 25th, 201011:59 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Apologetics is a mainstay of Christianity and for good reason. As 1 Peter 3:15 declares, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...." So what exactly is apologetics? The word comes from the Greek word "apologia" meaning a "defense". W...

  • Genesis Creation as Myth and a Scientific Worldview

    February 22nd, 201004:13 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Here, dear reader, continues the conversation of Mr. A and Ms. B from "Is the Genesis story of creation and fall a myth?" Mr. A: I guess I see how myths can be true, but how is the narrative of creation and fall true if it is understood as a myth? Ms. B: Perhaps you're familiar with the quote of Cardinal Baronius, made famous by Galileo: "The Bib...

  • “Prove God exists lowly theist, or prove yourself a fool!”

    February 20th, 201001:11 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    We've all heard stories about the lone American soldier, stranded on a South Pacific island, who was discovered decades later still believing that World War II was in full swing. The image provides a fine metaphor for people who remain inexplicably locked in the past in their understanding of reality. It is with that background that I note my...

  • Is the Genesis story of creation and fall a myth?

    February 19th, 201012:00 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Here, dear reader, continues the conversation of Mr. A and Ms. B first begun at "Do Christians need a historical Adam and Eve? (Part 1)": Mr. A: So to sum up our conversation thus far, you're saying that Genesis 1-3 could be a myth that God appropriated as part of his divine revelation. Ms. B: Emphasis on could be, so long as you recognize that "...

  • Atheists are smart and theists are stoopid, right?

    February 15th, 201011:31 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In my last post I made the point that atheists can evince indoctrinational elements in their thinking as surely as anybody else. Indeed, the myth of the "free thinking" atheist can sometimes make them more liable to this danger. The primary evidence of indoctrination is found in dependence upon untenable binary oppositions between good and bad, rig...

  • How to spot a brainwashed atheist

    February 14th, 201008:13 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    What is it to be brainwashed? Unfortunately, the popular images that this term invokes often center on stereotyped images of a naïve Midwestern farm girl who has been sucked into a miniscule California cult and is now convinced her dear leader is the messiah. If you are one of today's brand of new atheist, that image gets widened substantially...

  • The atheist that left me at a loss for words

    February 12th, 201011:44 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Time and again in this blog we have circled back to the questions of rationality, belief and knowledge. Over that time I have been honored to have a number of atheists visiting my parlor (a noun which has a warmer resonance than "my blog") to debate these issues. A number of them, locked in a certain set of categories about belief, rationality, and...

  • Are atheists all fools?

    February 10th, 201005:40 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    It would seem that Psalm 14:1 and 53:1 are both pretty clear: "Fools say in their hearts, 'There is no God.'" If fools say in their hearts there is no God, and atheists say there is no God, then atheists must be fools, right? So perhaps I should go out and buy a "April 1 is Atheist Day" bumper sticker for my car. On the other hand, maybe thi...

  • The Tim Tebow Ad: Has Focus on the Family gone too far?

    February 08th, 201001:28 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    The Super Bowl is a time for mindless sports and salacious beer ads. So imagine the shock of people across the nation when CBS aired the Focus on the Family ad celebrating the love of a mother and son. Shocking indeed. After all, where were the Budweiser girls? But seriously, this was the first political ad during a Super Bowl. That is indeed...

  • Do Christians need a historical Adam and Eve? (Part 1)

    February 08th, 201011:51 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Mr. A: Do Christians need a historical Adam and Eve? Ms. B: Need them for what? Mr. A: To be good Christians. Ms. B: How do you mean? Mr. A: Well, if a Christian interprets the creation and fall of Adam as a mythic story rather than a broadly historical one, what else might a Christian be giving up? Ms. B: Oh, I see. You're worried that if you...

  • Do people in hell continue to curse God?

    February 05th, 201012:04 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    I have been engaging questions over the justice of the doctrine of hell as eternal conscious torment with the main suggestion being that this appears deeply morally problematic. MGT2 demurs. From his perspective, people choose to be in hell as they pile up sins eternally: Why does God allow people to continue to suffer in hell? And why does God pu...

  • Is hell merely the sum total of our poor choices?

    February 03rd, 201004:45 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In the last post I raised the question of the justice of hell. In short, what could justify punishing a person eternally? One of my readers, MGT2, offers the following reply to this question: I look at it this way. Two boy scouts, boy A and boy B, both standing before a bonfire with their troop leader. The boys are playing a game of chicken to see...

  • When there is hell to pay: On the problem of eternal punishment

    February 01st, 201005:26 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In the last post I turned to the most difficult of Christian doctrines, the doctrine of hell as eternal conscious torment. There certainly are passages that seem to suggest this doctrine. For instance, consider Jesus' chilling words in Matthew 25:41: "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire...
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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).