There are some upcoming
posts to expect in the next several weeks based on (1) certain things I have
reflected on before and (2) content that will come from an apologetics book On
Guard by Dr. William Lane Craig which I will briefly summarize with some detail.
This book is basically designed to be a study manual for individuals and
groups.
I will list each topic one
by one, briefly touch on what they will entail, and summarize what I will
already have covered.
The impact of Christians’
interpretation of the Bible based on their view of it
In a nutshell, how people look at the Bible is going to influence how
they seek to interpret and understand it. Their background, frame of mind in
relation to their “secular” and “faith” life, and theology (beliefs about God)
will heavily influence how they try understanding the Bible’s purpose and the
different elements in it (Human and divine). This post will try to highlight
some examples on how and why people differ on their viewpoints of the Bible and
even how certain passages ought to be or not to be applied today, and my
personal take on the matter.
Logical rules of inference and
Common formal and informal fallacies
People, more often than not, don’t understand how to reason correctly.
This is no indictment on people in general because you can be sincerely
ignorant of something. The purpose of this post is to help people reason
accurately about different important matters and to be able to identify common
errors in how people reason for a particular thing.
Reflection of Love Your God With
All Your Mind by J.P. Moreland
I intend on finishing the book and giving my thoughts on each chapter of
the book on what the author covered and what some important lessons can be
learned from them. J.P in a nutshell sketches out what it looks like to cultivate a life of the mind as a Christian, certain hindrances to intellectual cultivation, and ways to overcome obstacles in pursuing a life devoted to Christian maturity.
Reflections on Salvation & Sovereignty: A Molinist
Approach by Kenneth Keathley
This book has really opened up my mind to the typical debate over God’s
sovereignty and human freedom or responsibility in God’s role of salvation.
This issue is not merely academic in nature but has deep practical implications
for how we see God, His role in salvation, and man’s role in response to God’s
calling to him to be saved. It will be a rewarding enterprise!
Considerations
of each chapter in On Guard by Dr. William Lane Craig
I will be facilitating an 8 weeklong study at my church on Apologetics
featuring Dr. William Lane Craig’s material in On Guard this coming May. I will
lay out the brief contents of each chapter, briefly elaborate on each relevant
point, and summarize what was said. In this post, I will mention the names of
each chapter and the particular arguments featured in each chapter:
Chapter 1 – What is Apologetics?
Chapter 2 – What difference does it make if God exists?
Dr. Craig does not attempt to prove that Christianity is true but simply
addresses the consequences that occur if atheism is true (No objective value,
meaning, and purpose)
Chapter 3 – Why does anything at all
exist? Dr. Craig will use the reasoning from the mathematician and
philosopher Gottfried Leibniz to show that since everything that exists has an
explanation for its existence, and the universe exists, it therefore follows
that the universe owes its existence to the existence of God.
Chapter 4 – Why did the universe begin?
This chapter will whip out the famous Kalam Cosmological argument, which tries
to show that the universe is not eternal in the past but had an absolute
beginning in time.
Chapter 5 – Why is the universe
fine-tuned for life? Many scientists have discovered that various constants
and quantities in the universe have to be arranged in perfect precision for
life to be possible. Dr. Craig sketches out three candidates for explaining
this remarkable fine-tuning: physical necessity (it had to be this way), chance
(accidental), or design.
Chapter 6 – Can we be good without God? Dr. Craig
shows that human beings have no intrinsic value in the absence of God’s
existence and since objective moral values are very real in our experiences, it
therefore follows that God exists.
Chapter 7 – What about suffering? Bill mentions two
versions of the problem of evil: logical and evidential. The logical version
says it’s contradictory to affirm that (1) An All-Loving and All-Powerful God
exists and (2) Evil exists. Both cannot be affirmed at the same time. The
evidential version is more modest and makes a more powerful objection than the
logical version in this way: It is improbable that God exists given the
immense/great degree of suffering in the world.
Chapter 8 – Who was Jesus? Dr. Craig
draws in several strands of evidence in showing that Jesus claimed to be (1)
The divine Son of Man prophesied by Daniel, (2) The unique Son of God, and (3)
the Messiah to redeem Israel and that this has been established by several
marks of authenticity in the texts.
Chapter 9 – Did Jesus rise from the dead?
There are four important facts about Jesus’ passion week that must be
explained: Jesus’ burial, His empty tomb, His post-mortem appearances, and the
origin of the disciples’ belief in his resurrection. Craig argues that the best
explanation of those facts is that Jesus was raised from the dead and that
naturalistic attempts to explain away these facts fail.
Chapter 10 – Is Jesus the only way to
God? This chapter addresses the deep problem of religious pluralism. It’s
the view that there are really multiple ways to salvation or to God and that no
particular religion can claim to be the exclusive true religion. Dr. Craig
takes in several considerations on how to resolve this challenge to Christian
Particularism (the view that Jesus is the only way to salvation) and does it
brilliantly.
This will come in segments
at a time. So look forward to keeping you all posted!
