CADRE Comments

Well, it's that time of year again to look at why Christian apologists spend so much of our time and energy meticulously arguing dozens and dozens (and hundreds of dozens!) of little points in favor of believing that something happened in history and what it means in principle for people. That may not sound like evangelism, especially to professional and gifted evangelists, but sceptics sure realize (and sometimes suspiciously resent, perhaps reasonably so) the evangelical character of such activity -- because they're sensitive (for better or for worse) about where all those big and little pieces are ultimately pointing. Where those pieces are pointing is an idea that, like any good idea, can still be abused in various ways to hurt people and to promote non-fair-togetherness (or "injustice" or "unrighteousness" as the term in Biblical Greek is usually translated) between people. It might be abused so that people get the idea that mutual cooperation bet...

see Metacrock's Blog , today, for my original NEW essay "Did Mark Invent the Empty tomb?"   The purpose of this argument is merely to establish that the events described in the four canonical Gospel resurrection accounts can be construed as a coherent event. Atheists are always harping on the many differences in the accounts. They seem to feel that these amount to insurmountable contradictions, marking a totally contradictory story. But I will argue that we can pull together the events described in all four Gosples to create a unified haromny which shows that there was a single coherent event taking place.This may not mean that call differences vanish away, but most of them can be explained by the process of eye witness testimony and story telling based upon the accounts of eye witnesses. There may be a couple of loose ends, but I will argue that these are not important when one considers the over all agreement and ensuing harmony, (for ...

This past winter, I taught a class at my church on some of the writings of C.S. Lewis. Towards the end of the quarter, the class and I read through several short works by Lewis and discussed the content of each of the works in light of contemporary America. The short works were “Screwtape Proposes a Toast,” “Meditation in a Toolshed,” “Bulverism” and “Man or Rabbit.” The classes were each one hour long and mainly focused on the questions or concerns that arose from the materials.  I am posting hereunder my discussion questions prepared for the class for Lewis’ “Screwtape Proposes a Toast”, Part I.   I have posted part II as Screwtape Proposes a Toast, Discussion Questions, Part II .  I am purposely not posting my answers to the questions asked in the discussion questions. I want each person to work out their own answers in light of Scripture and what they may otherwise know of Lewis’ work. I would be happy to answer individual questions as they arise. I pray that t...

[Note: last substantially updated Wednesday morning April 16, 2014] Just to be clear -- although clarity is hard to come by on this topic -- the "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" text that will be making it to publication for Easter 2014 is the possibly-forged snippet published (at the subsequent hyperlink) as a critical edition article (since a single copy of one snippet with only a few vague words and phrases doesn't need a full book for a 'critical' edition) by Dr. Karen King and Harvard University. This GJW is not the very full text supposedly found (by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson) in a drawer in a British museum after being supposedly lost/suppressed for 2000 years, which is probably nothing other than a translation of the well-known 1st century romantic poem Joseph and Asenath . Totally and completely different texts, but the marketing histronics around each of them are kind of similar. For details about the non-King GJW, our article from October 2013...

Arrogant [ ar - uh -g uh nt]   adjective 1.     Making claims or pretensions to superior importance of rights; overbearingly assuming, insolently proud; an arrogant public official. 2.     Characterized by or proceeding from arrogance, or a sense of superiority, self-importance, or entitlement: arrogant claims. A few days ago, I was listening to a dialogue between Oxford Mathematician and Apologist John Lennox and atheist Lawrence M. Krauss entitled “ Science, theUniverse and the God Question. ” I call it a dialogue only because that was the goal of the program, “ Unbelievable .” However, from the outset, Mr. Krauss adopted the condescending attitude that is common among those who ascribe to the views of the New Atheists which quickly drove the program into a more combative tone. The first words out of Mr. Krauss’ mouth were very combative. Here’s what was said: Host (Justin Brierly): Yo...