Apologetics is a person-specific enterprise. We are not trying to convince some generic Joe Blow, but specific individuals we encounter. Our apologetic should be tailored to meet the needs of the person we are dialoguing with.

For example, when someone tells you they don’t believe in God, the first thing you might do is ask them why. Their answer will help you to better direct your response. If the lone reason they reject the

existence of God is because of the problem of evil, it won’t do much good to hit them with every offensive apologetic argument for God’s existence, beginning with a cosmological argument. No. You need to go straight to a defensive apologetic, showing the logical consistency between theism and the existence of evil.

(more…)

I posted back in October that I was starting a podcast series on the resurrection of Jesus. That series is still on-going. Right now I’m in the midst of a sub-series focused on explaining so-called contradictions in the Gospels, particularly in the empty tomb, resurrection, and post-mortem appearance narratives. I spent three weeks laying the foundation for how we ought to approach and understand Gospel differences. The episode to be released this Friday will start to explore specific examples of differences in the empty tomb narratives. Check it out wherever you get podcasts, or at https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com.

We are all searching for significance. We want to believe that our life matters. We want to feel like we are special. We want to know that our life has made a difference in this world. That’s why people seek to do extraordinary things. It’s why people seek fame. What we need to recognize is that we are already significant. We are made in the image of God. Our significance is rooted in God. We will never truly feel significant until we are in a close relationship with God.

I’ve argued that pro-lifers should vote for Trump and the Republicans this November despite their recent backpedaling on the pro-life cause, because allowing the Democrats to win will result in many more babies being murdered. We should always act to save the most babies possible. Since more babies would be saved under Trump than under Harris, we should vote for Trump and the GOP.

However, some pro-lifers have a different perspective. They argue that if we vote for Republicans next week simply because they are better than the Democrats, and they win, they’ll have little reason to revert the platform back to its strong pro-life position in 2026. If the GOP knows they can win elections without the pro-life vote, or if they know that pro-lifers will always vote for them because they are better than the Democrats on abortion, they will have no motivation to reverse course and re-adopt their former platform on abortion. Indeed, they are likely to deprioritize the issue going forward and continue making concessions to Leftists. So as a strategic move, these pro-lifers suggest that we let the Democrats win this election to teach the Republicans a lesson, namely that they need to be a strong and principled pro-life party if they ever hope to win another election.

(more…)

What is the mark of the beast (Rev 13:16; 14:9-11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4)? John the Revelator describes it in Revelation 13:16-17: “Also it [second beast] causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

I’ve always thought of the mark of the beast (MOTB) as being some kind of physical branding or object on/in the hand or forehead that would allow one to participate in commerce under the Beast’s rule. Given the fact that technology has already been developed and tested that employs microchips in the hand or forehead, I considered it likely that the MOTB will be some sort of microchip that one is forced to implant in their body as a sign of their allegiance to the Beast and as a condition to engage in commerce.

(more…)

I’ve begun a new podcast series on the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. The series will not only cover the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, but also explore alternative (naturalistic) explanations, the evidence for Jesus’ existence, the theological and practical significance of the resurrection, questions and objections, our own future resurrection, an examination of the Shroud of Turin, and a harmonization of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Listen wherever you get podcasts, or at https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com.

Government was God’s idea. It has a divine purpose: justice. As such, good government requires the participation of the just. We should care about that which God cares about. That’s why Christians should be informed about and involved with politics. To that end, I have started a new podcast series on political theology. I will address the Biblical teaching concerning government, the relationship of Christians to politics, principles for voting, the separation of church and state, the Christian foundation of the United States, etc.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or at https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com/

 

Some people say that America has a mass incarceration problem: Too many people are in prison. That’s only possible if one of two things is true: (1) Large numbers of incarcerated persons were wrongly convicted; (2) We are incarcerating people for frivolous reasons.

Regarding (1), human epistemic limitations will always result in some people being wrongly convicted of a crime they did not commit. However, given the safeguards of our judicial system (innocent until proven guilty, appeals process, etc.), this is bound to be a very small percentage of the incarcerated population.

(more…)

Four years ago, I wrote a post titled “Rethinking the Will of God.” It was a rather terse summary of my thoughts on a big topic. I hoped to eventually flesh that post out into a lengthy paper. Perhaps someday. For now, however, I am teaching through the topic in a six-episode podcast series titled “Simplifying God’s Will.”

I am doing a thorough examination of what the Bible teaches concerning God’s will for our lives, and how God reveals His will to us. What I discovered changed my life, and it could be lifechanging for you as well. So check out the first two episodes wherever you get your podcasts, or at https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com.

A lot of modern evangelism focuses on the love God. We rarely hear it preached that God is angry at us because of our moral rebellion, and we rarely hear about the coming judgment. And yet, when you look at what the early church preached in Acts, it was a lot about judgment and not a word about the love of God or inviting people to have a relationship with God (see Evangelism: Are we preaching what the early church preached?).

I’m not saying we shouldn’t preach that God loves sinners. I’m saying we need to preach both that God loves us and that we are sinners. Indeed, only if we understand that we are enemies of God does the message of God’s love and forgiveness make sense. Apart from that context, why should anyone even care that God loves them?

(more…)

The final argument for God’s existence in my podcast series, Does God Exist?, is a version of the existential argument. I argue that our deepest existential longings can only be explained by and satisfied by a theistic God: the desire for meaning and purpose in life, objective morality, immortality, free will, and love. People must either (1) believe there is a God who can satisfy our deepest longings or (2) believe there is no God and that our deepest longings are misguided and can never be satisfied.

The final episode just got published today. Check it out at https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com, or wherever you get podcasts.

An increasing number of professing Christians will acknowledge that the Bible is opposed to some practice, but then claim that God has evolved regarding the issue and the Spirit is speaking something different to the church today. Apart from the epistemological problems that such a claim entails, isn’t it interesting that the Spirit is always being more permissive today (just like our culture)? That’s quite strange, because when God has given new revelation in the past, it was not in the direction of moral permissiveness, but in the direction of moral stringency.

(more…)

The truth of a doctrine is not determined by its age or by a historical consensus, and yet we naturally assign great weight to doctrinal tradition. After all, there’s something to be said for a historical consensus, and it should not be dismissed lightly. We should not ignore the understanding and insights of the majority who have preceded us. And in general, we should not dismiss a doctrinal tradition unless we have compelling reasons to do so.

(more…)

The design argument for God’s existence that I presented in my “Does God Exist?” podcast series could be succinctly summarized as “the universe looks designed because it was designed.”

This could be fleshed out a bit more as follows: “Our universe exhibits a level of specificity and complexity that cannot be explained by chance or physical necessity, but only by a designing intelligence who transcends the universe and intentionally designed the universe to be inhabited by advanced lifeforms such as ourselves.”

I will offer one final version with a bit more detail: “There are many features of our universe that have to be just right for intelligent life to exist, including the initial conditions. The level of precision involved defies human comprehension. It can’t be explained by pure chance and there’s no reason to think it is due to physical necessity, so the best explanation is that these features were designed by a transcendent source. Design requires a designer > A designer requires intelligence > Intelligence requires a personal being = God.”

“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (ESV).

Many people have changed their beliefs because they heard someone make a persuasive case for some other point of view. Slow down. Don’t be so quick to change your beliefs. You need to examine their case more closely. If you can’t find anything wrong with their argument, ask others what they think of it. It’s particularly important that you ask someone who shares your current belief to examine this new point of view to see if they can find fault with the case being made. Or, see if you can find any formal debates on the matter. At the end of the day, you may discover that you were wrong and the other view is true, but more times than not, you’ll find that the case being made is not as strong as you first believed.

I just wrapped up my podcast discussion of Aquinas’ Five Ways by examining his Fourth and Fifth Ways. The Fourth Way argues that the grades of perfection we observe in the world can only be explained by the existence of a maximally perfect being. The Fifth Way argues for the existence of an intelligent being who guides everything towards their natural ends.

Check it out wherever you get your podcasts, or at https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com. Feel free to comment on the episode here as well.

There are so many ways to summarize the moral argument for God’s existence that I have a hard time boiling it down to just one or two. The most concise summary of the deductive moral argument for God’s existence could be stated as follows: “If objective morality exists (and it does), then God exists.”

This summary is so concise, however, that it does little more than state the logic of the argument. Why think that only God can explain morality? Here is a concise summary that also attempts to explain the connection in a bit more detail: “If God didn’t exist, there would be no moral laws and no moral obligations. But all of us know that moral laws exist and that we have an obligation to obey those laws, so God must exist. Laws require law-givers and obligations require persons to be obligated to. God is the source of moral values and the One to whom we are obligated.”

(more…)

My episode on Aquinas’ Third Way is now live. This is his argument from contingency. Aquinas argues that the existence of contingent beings can only be explained by the existence of a necessary being whose essence is identical to His existence.

Listen wherever you get podcasts, or at https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com.

I published my episode on Aquinas’ Second Way for God’s existence on Friday. Aquinas argues that a causal series can only be explained by a first, uncaused cause who is the source of all causation (which we call “God”).

I also covered a related argument (the existential proof) that Aquinas offers in a different work. The existential proof argues that things whose essence is distinct from their existence can only be explained by a being whose essence and existence are identical; i.e. a being who just is existence itself.

Give the episode a listen (https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com) and feel free to comment on the arguments presented on this blog post.

As I continue to examine additional arguments for God’s existence, I have finally come to Thomas Aquinas’ Five Ways. The first episode on the First Way went live today.

The First Way is Aquinas’ argument from motion. Aquinas argued that only God can explain why things change. Change can only be explained by a First, Unmoved Mover; i.e. a Being who is the ultimate source of all change, but is itself not changed by anything.

Check out this episode (and the ones to follow) wherever you get your podcasts, or from https://thinkingtobelieve.buzzsprout.com