Reasons for God

Two Common Evangelism Mistakes

Don’t you sometimes wish that life came with a giant eraser that you could use to get rid of really big mistakes? This would be nice even when you order dessert and then realize about an hour later, oops, I probably shouldn’t have eaten ‘The …

We Searched the World For You

At the 2013 Harvard Law School Commencement, the J.D. speaker, Josie Duffy, shared a beautiful insight from the beginning of her studies.

To set the stage, Josie related a story from one of the first orientation events for new students at Harvard Law. In Memorial Hall, Dean Martha Minow regaled the entering class by praising them for all of their incredible achievements, the reason they were admitted into Harvard’s hallowed gates.

These are people, Josie remarks, who have cured diseases, written books, and run small countries. At this moment, already feeling rather impressed by her remarkably talented classmates, Josie looked down and realized she was wearing her sweater inside out.

Does the Gospel of Mark Claim that Jesus is God?

One of the more challenging claims against the Christian faith is the historical claim that the earliest writings about Jesus don’t even claim that Jesus was God.

After all, if the earliest biographers didn’t worship Jesus as God, why, the question goes, should we? If Jesus’ divinity is a later, legendary, and mythological development, then there’s no point in maintaining that fiction.

In this post, let’s consider, first, Dr. Bart Ehrman’s statement of the problem, and then, a rebuttal of this claim from the opening lines of the Gospel of Mark.

Start with Your Friend

Have you been studying apologetics for a while? Perhaps you’ve read Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig and dug into a few books by C.S. Lewis. Armed with this new and exciting knowledge, you’re fired up about Jesus, the evidence and reasons for God, and looking for someone who is willing to listen!

This is a recurring temptation.

Flight: The Genius of Birds – A Review

As you may have heard, there is a tremendous debate about the best explanation for the emergence of all the many varieties of living things on our planet. As the documentary Flight: the genius of birds notes, we have discovered over a million animal species, with perhaps five million more to be discovered! How did all of this diversity emerge?

The culturally dominant opinion is that a random, unguided, and naturalistic evolution best accounts for the flourishing of so many creatures. In some quarters, to even ask probing, thoughtful questions about the adequacy of this theory is tantamount to a declaration of war against science. And from some religious groups, mainstream scientists are sometimes called the worst names. With so much acrimony, it is hardly a conversation that most of us want to participate in!

So what did I love about the documentary Flight?

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona — A Book Review

Are you considering if you want to become a Christian? Then you need to know if Jesus bodily rose from the dead.

Are you already a Christian? Then you need to know if Jesus bodily rose from the dead – both for greater confidence in your own beliefs and to be prepared to answer the most important question your curious friends have about Christianity.

In either case, then, you need to not just read, but study, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona. (In two other posts, I’ve summarized and simplified for memorization the argument of the book).

Currently, this book is my #1 recommendation for studying the evidence for the resurrection.

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Five Challenges For Your Secular Friends

Do you feel like you’re always on the defensive about Christianity? There’s the Crusades, Westboro is probably inappropriately protesting something, and a prominent Christian leader has likely said something your friends think is wrong. And even once you get past the stereotypes, it takes a lot of hard work to intelligently share the gospel with your secular, skeptical friends.

But what about atheism? Though it has been persistently marketed to us as a worldview that stands for reason and science, the truth is that the atheistic worldview is riddled with contradictions and outlandish claims. And because most secular people haven’t studied why atheism is true, an excellent evangelistic strategy for you and your church is to understand these five challenges for atheism.

Are You Tired of Defining Yourself?

Are you tired of trying to define yourself?

There is enormous pressure to define yourself well. What is your personal brand on social media? Or are you simply invisible and irrelevant to the global, hyper-connected world?

How do you define yourself based upon your job? Your net worth? Your neighborhood? Your family? Your health? Your looks?

We all have different ways of defining ourselves. (I usually choose the standards that make me look the best).

All of these subtle pressures to define ourselves can exhaust us. In the midst of such pressure, one option is to look in the mirror and keep saying, as Al Franken’s Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley famously did, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”

The Jabberwocky Response

Have you ever heard of experiential learning? From ropes courses to trust falls, or hearing a ‘what is the meaning of life?’ talk while standing in a cemetery, the point of experiential learning exercises is to give participants a richer, multi-dimensional encounter that leads to new and lasting insight.

But did you know that there’s a powerful way to bring experiential learning into everyday conversations?

Today I want to introduce you to what I call “The Jabberwocky Method.” You practice The Jabberwocky Method whenever you deliberately practice a nonsensical idea that the other person is asserting makes complete sense.

Kumaré and Jesus: A Comparison

Have you seen the documentary Kumaré? It is a fascinating expose of false religious movements: how they are created, maintained, and grow to influence others. The filmmaker, Vikram Gandhi, said he made the film to “tell a cautionary tale about spiritual leaders. We trick ourselves to believe them so we can be happier too, so this was just sort of trying to unveil the trick.” [Warning: spoilers below].

The basic plot line of the film is aptly described on the official film’s webpage:

Sri Kumaré is an enlightened guru from the East who has come to America to spread his teachings. After three months in Phoenix, Kumaré has found a group of devoted students who embrace him as a true spiritual teacher. But beneath his long beard, deep penetrating eyes, and his endless smile, Kumaré has a secret he is about to unveil to his disciples: he is not real. Kumaré is really Vikram Gandhi, an American filmmaker from New Jersey who wanted to see if he could transform himself into a guru and build a following of real people…
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