Showing posts with label Apologetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apologetics. Show all posts

Monday, November 24, 2014

REVIEW: Dr. Sarfati Answers Science Questions LIVE!


http://backpack.podbean.com/e/dr-sarfati-answers-creation-science-questions-live-10262014/
http://backpack.podbean.com/e/dr-sarfati-answers-creation-science-questions-live-10262014/

BACKPACK RADIO: Episode #214 [October 26, 2014]

Sometimes my kids, all earnest and curious about the world, ask me random questions like, “How far away is the moon?” and “Where are snakes’ butts?”

Inevitably, I’ll answer, “Ask your dad.”

Yeah, I’m that kind of mom.

Early on, I made sure my kids knew what daddy did for a living. When the fridge would break, the eldest declared, “Daddy will fix it! He’s a scientist!” When a battery needed to be changed, the little one would—as instructed—dump it on his desk to wait for his return home. “Daddy’s a scientist! He can do it!”

You’ve got that one right, kid!

True. I married a scientist, and I did it so I never had to change a light bulb again.

Why they never want to know whether or not a verb agrees with its subject, I don’t know. Why they do not want to listen to a spontaneous, albeit fascinating, lecture on the modern novel, I’m not sure.

Really, they just want to hear about the mysterious, elusive, seemingly intangible snake butt.

And, well, you know what I’m thinking: I don’t give a rat’s a## about that. Let’s talk Hemingway, Mark Twain.

Ah, well, science!

I had the opportunity to be among the live audience for this show, and I’m so terribly thankful for guys like Jonathan Sarfati of Creation Ministries, who was on hand to celebrate Backpack Radio’s Fourth Anniversary. I’m thankful for the way Sarfati and others have worked so hard, so tirelessly—often in the face of academic ridicule that is painful and downright nasty—to show Truth.

I actually listened to this broadcast (on computer for the second time) immediately before I listened to Episode #5 on “The New AtheisticMorality” (from October 2010). I happen to also be reading this other book by Nancy Pearcey called Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. My hope is to write another reflection on Episode#5 soon, and a semi-official/really-kind-of-informal book review of Pearcey later. Taken together, however, there’s an interesting and important message for Christians. We’re talking worldview. People like Sarfati and other scientists are on the front lines, so to speak, of a raging battle between presuppositions. I think it brave, frankly, to be so forthright.

I was pretty much raised as a creationist. I distinctly remember one instrumental book I read during my Christian high school education: The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris. I really don’t know how the book has weathered the years, but I do know that when I officially became an “adult” and owned my own bookshelves, I went ahead and made sure I had that book on them. The real science impressed me.

In college, I remember the early scoffing. There were two separate occasions when I admitted that I thought that God created the world and we did not evolve from apes. I remember these two instances, especially, because I was on the road during both of them. Traveling with friends. Talking. No doubt getting into it because people talk about big stuff on the road, and we were college kids. We had ideas, and a few of us said we believed in God—I was not the only one. But when I said that I did not believe in Darwinism, the mouths of friends dropped open. Seriously! You believe in Adam and Eve?!?

The not-so-subtle implication was that only idiots believe in creationism.

What I admire so much about Sarfati and other scientists like him is his willingness to work faithfully in a pretty hostile environment. Why would one do this? What compels such work? What kind of understanding does this involve?

I hope that listeners fully engage with this material. My guess is that many, many people—the religious and the irreligious alike—would be surprised (really surprised!) by the intellectual rigor and integrity and stamina involved in this kind of hardcore scientific work.

LINK to hear the show

Written by Jennifer Bell

Friday, March 14, 2014

Covenantal Apologetics | Backpack Radio Reflection Episode #178


Oh, I loved this one! The guest is K. Scott Oliphint, a professor at Westminster in Philly, and he’s got a book out. He sounds like he really knows his stuff.

Let’s see if they let me post this one.

I guess I want to talk about the importance of getting into it. Of going all analytical. Of “over-thinking,” whatever that means.

This very morning, I was driving my kids to school and they launched into an impromptu comparison of the churches we’ve attended. Among the things they noted was the fact that, at this church, there’s a ball pit in the home where we go for our small or community group meetings, which is a vast improvement over the non-pit offerings of other churches. The ball pit, one of my kids said, is “awesome.” But, she continued, “someone kicked me in the head” in the pit. Alas, it’s a trade off. When one picks a church, one must consider whether or not there is a ball pit—but one must understand the risks: You Might Get Kicked In The Head.

And by sharing this, I am illustrating what exactly?

We make our choices based on what we believe, on what we value.

Here’s the thing: I’m not much of a theologian or an apologist. I prefer reading Ernest Hemingway, probably Charles Dickens, and maybe even obscure poetry or some William Faulkner’s wild prose over and above this hard-core doctrinal stuff. That said, I think it’s super important. One has to get over one’s own prejudices and weaknesses. The apologetic must come first. If you’re a Christian, but you don’t really know why—or if you can’t speak intelligently about beliefs—it’s a problem. I think it’s why we Christians get a bad reputation. We kinda sound dumb. It isn’t our odd dating habits or even the whole creationism thing; it’s that we can’t adequately back up our beliefs about these things. We get a little stupid.

So, like, don’t pick your church because you get to play in the ball pit. Go for the apologetic, the Truth.

All this to say that I really liked this episode. I found it rigorous, substantive, good for the soul.

I know I think anecdotally. This has been highlighted more and more in my life as a writer. I’ll be approached to look at some piece of analytical writing and I’ll kinda wince at the dryness of it all. I’m sure the analytical-types read my stuff and ask, “But where’s the content?” I’m all like, You have to earn your content through story.

The interesting thing is that God does it this way too. I don’t want to say that He “earns” His content, but God talks doctrine often enough by using story. He “backs up” the apologetic with the life of Abraham or Isaac or Moses or Joseph or Hannah or Elizabeth or Mary.

So don’t diss story.

But don’t diss apologetics, either.

My guess is that many a fine Christian is backing off this stuff because it seems so esoteric. Really, that can’t be right. God did give us exciting stories like the Red Sea parting and King David doing stuff you see in the movies—but He also gave us the book of Romans. Go figure.

This episode will give you some apologetics to ponder. This way, you go beyond Ball Pit Thinking.
  

Jennifer Bell is mostly a writer, but she's also an English teacher. The author of two books of fiction, she lives with her husband and two kids in Phoenix.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

We Believe in God: Some Theistic Proofs [video]

Sanjay Merchant, Instructor of Theology, Moody Bible Institute 
is giving some evidence for believing in God.

Roosevelt Institute Class -Introduction was done by Pastor KJ Jaramillo
 (http://www.rooseveltchurch.org/about/pastoral-staff/kj-jaramillo).

Filmed: June 3, 2012 @ RooseveltChurch


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